Simplicity reigns supreme
Ingredients
2 x 390g mini lamb rump roasts
3 tsp lemongrass paste
2 tsp ginger paste or grated fresh ginger
2 tsp wasabi paste
8g packet lightly dried coriander
2 large zucchini, sliced
150g green beans, trimmed 1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthways, sliced diagonally 120g baby french kale
1. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan-forced. Place the lamb rumps in a large greased and lined roasting pan. Combine the lemongrass, ginger and wasabi in a small bowl. Spread the mixture over each rump. Sprinkle with dried coriander and season well. 2. Scatter the zucchini, beans and carrot around the lamb. Spray the lamb and vegetables liberally with oil. Roast for 20–25 minutes for medium rare or until the lamb is cooked to your liking. 3. Transfer the lamb rumps to a plate. Cover looselywith foil and set aside for 5–10minutes to rest before slicing. Return vegetables to the oven and bake for a further 5–10 minutes, until just tender. Place the roasted vegetables in a large bowl. Add the baby kale and toss gently to combine. 4. Slice the lamb and divide among serving plates. Serve with the roast vegetable salad.
Recipe by Kerrie Ray Photo by Guy Bailey REGARDLESS of whether you sell widgets or gizmos, services or indulgences, in the end every business is really all about connections. Between people, between products, between ideas.
And when it comes to mastering connections, the key is always simplicity.
Sure, I know, you’ve heard it all a million times before. But beyond the usual grandiose rhetoric and base generalisations, there is a genuine commercial business case for why streamlining communications and practices works.
There is, as everyone knows, a limited number of opportunities for any enterprise to make its case to a potential audience. After all, our media landscape, our shopping spaces and our lives generally are increasingly busy, leaving only rare chances for external voices to break in.
So, when the opportunity presents itself, a business needs to be ready to strike — clearly and concisely.
In essence it comes down to this. Don’t tell people what questions to ask, answer the questions they’ve already got. If you have to both create the need, and then provide the solution, you require two distinct moments of connection. If, by contrast, you identify a need and speak to it, that saves half of the required investment.
That lesson applies beyond the theory of business, and deeply into practices as well.
In the food we create, simplicity reigns supreme. While there will always be a place for fine food, those are culinary art experiences, not really restaurants as such.
The dishes that thrive are those whose character, design and delivery communicate most clearly with their intended market.
Think of it as excellence over creativity.
It is, after all, a fairly simple rule.
ORANGE, ALMOND AND BLUEBERRY ROCK CAKES
makes / 12
Ingredients
2½ cups self-raising flour
1 cup almond meal
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp fine salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
125g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
⅓ cup milk
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges 1½ cups blueberries*
Whipped cream and candied orange zest, to serve
Ginger and lemongrass roast lamb
Method
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Sift the flour, almond meal, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices into a large bowl. Add the butter, then rub with fingertips until crumbly. Mix in the sugar (reserving 1½ tbsp).
2. Whisk the eggs, milk and zest together, then stir in with a spoon. When half combined, add the blueberries and continue mixing, until a smooth but fairly stiff dough is formed. Use two spoons to form 12 irregular rock shapes and arrange on lined biscuit trays. Scatter with the reserved sugar, then bake for 15–18 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack, then serve within 2 hours with whipped cream and candied orange zest. *For frozen blueberries, use while frozen solid.