I have another handy series of recipes for you to make your midweek meals a breeze. I’m posting them all together as the key ingredient is the same: Australian beef! Plus, they’re all about making the winter comfort food you’re craving a little healthier.

This little collection was created in partnership with Australian Beef, you may remember the other series I did all about quick and easy meals? Well these are quick and easy too but way more winter appropriate. All the recipes take 30 minutes or less, have a short ingredient list and are full of vegetables to compliment the beef.

I find eating a mixture of protein and vegetables helps keep me feeling satisfied for way longer than just eating loads of carbs, unfortunately the latter is what I tend to crave in winter. All of these recipes will give you that winter comfort food vibe but by using vegetables and beef to keep you satisfied. There’s delicious meatballs that are served with cauliflower puree rather than pasta or polenta, a massaman beef curry filled with root vegetables and kale to up the variety and a perfectly seasoned steak with crispy roast brussel sprouts. How great do they sound?

The cuts of beef I’ve used are really accessible and easy to cook and I’ll give you tips to make the most of them in each recipe.

The meatballs are made with Australian beef mince, I usually buy a nice lean beef mince and fill it with flavour by adding lots of herbs and vegetables to my meatballs. I love making meatballs but I don’t often do it as the usual way I go about it takes over an hour, and this post is all about making delicious comfort food that’s fast and healthy. So my traditional approach wasn’t going to cut it. Rather than browning the meatballs first, they’re cooked directly in the sauce. This makes for a soft and tender meatball that basically melts in your mouth. By grating the celery and carrot it not only cooks fast in the sauce but melts into the beef in the meatballs themselves. The flavours from the meat also mix into the sauce to create a rich and flavoursome tomato sauce in less than 30 minutes. Such a dream.

The curry can be made from scratch (see this post) or with a store bought curry paste. I went for the latter this time as I was aiming for a shorter ingredient list. By just adding a few fresh ingredients in with the curry paste you can really amp up the flavour. The key to making this curry quick to cook is making sure everything is in the same 2cm sized chunks, this way it doesn’t take so long for the beef to get nice and tender. The parsnip and sweet potato also cook relatively quickly, everything gets freshened up at the end with some fresh herbs and a squeeze of lime. So good.

The final recipe is the quickest. Grilled steak and roast veggies with a little twist. The roast vegetable this time is brussel sprouts and they’re coated in a fragrant mix of spices, that’s also used to flavour the steak. Everything is served with a creamy and tangy tahini yoghurt sauce. The sauce helps temper the heat from the chilli and balances everything perfectly. Oyster blade is also the perfect cut for these flavours as it’s rich and flavoursome itself. Just be careful not to overcook so that it stays nice and tender.

Which one will you make first?

Meatballs with Cauliflower Puree

Serves 4

500g lean beef mince

1 cup finely grated celery

1 cup finely grated carrot

3 cloves garlic

3 Tbs fesh thyme leaves

2 Tbs tomato paste

2/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1/2 cup bread crumbs (can sub with cooked quinoa if gluten free)

1 egg

2 cans chopped tomatoes

1/2 cauliflower separated into florets

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Bring a medium pot of water to the boil.

In a large bowl mix together the mince, 1/2 the  carrot and celery, 1 crushed clove of garlic, 1 Tbs tomato paste, 1 Tbs thyme leaves, 1/3 cup parmesan, bread crumbs, egg and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Place the cauliflower florets in a steaming basket over the pot of boiling water and cover with a lid. Steam for 15-20 minutes or until tender.

In a large fry pan add the oil and once hot add the remaining carrot, celery, thyme and garlic. Cook until softened and then add the tomato paste. Cook for a further minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

While the sauce is simmering shape the meatball mixture into small walnut sized balls. Once the sauce has been simmering for 5 minutes drop the meatballs into the sauce, you want at least a finger width between to make it easy to turn them. Place a lid on the pan and cook for 7 minutes. Turn the meat balls and cook for a further 7 minutes.

When the meatballs are ready puree the steamed cauliflower in a food processor with the parmesan. Taste and season well.

Serve the puree onto 4 plates and top with the meatballs and sauce. Garnish with thyme and extra virgin olive oil.

Beef Massaman Curry with Winter Vegetables

400g rump steak, trimmed and cut into 2cm dice

1/3 cup massaman curry paste

1/2 cup spring onion (plus extra to serve)

1 Tbs finely chopped coriander stalk

1 Tbs freshly grated ginger

400g parsnip, chopped into 2cm pieces

400g sweet potato, chopped into 2 cm pieces

1.5 cups shredded kale

800 ml coconut milk

2 tsp fish sauce

1 lime

1/2 cup coriander leaves (to garnish)

Serve with brown rice

Directions

Mix the diced beef with 1 Tbs curry paste. Heat a large non stick pan on medium high heat.

Once the pan is hot add the beef and brown each side. This should take 2 minutes. Once brown, add the remaining curry paste and all the vegetables. Toss to coat the vegetables in the curry paste and cook for 2 minutes until the paste becomes very fragrant. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes or until the beef is tender.

Add the fish sauce and the juice of half a lime. The sweetness of the vegetables should have sweetened the curry enough but if you feel the balance is till off add a little coconut sugar.

Serve the curry over brown rice garnished with spring onion and coriander leaves. Cut the other half of the lime into wedges and serve alongside it.

Seared Oyster Blade Steak with Spiced Crispy Brussel Sprouts and Tahini Yoghurt

Serves 2

2 Oyster Blade steaks

400g brussel sprouts, quartered

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

2 tsps chilli flakes

2 tsps cumin seeds

1 Tbs thyme leaves

1/4 tsp salt

2 cloves garlic, skin on

2/3 cup yoghurt

3 Tbs tahini paste

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

1/3 cup parsley leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius (fan forced). Line a tray with baking paper

Toss the brussel sprouts in a bowl with 1.5 Tbs of oil, the chilli, cumin, thyme and salt (do not clean this bowl you will re use it. Spread out on the lined tray and roast for 25 minutes, or until golden and crispy. Remove the garlic after 20 minutes.

The bowl will still have some spices and oil in it, place the steak in this bowl and turn to coat.

Make the sauce by combining the yoghurt, tahini, 2 tsps lemon juice and 1 tsp of lemon zest. Season to taste and once the garlic cloves have been removed from the roasting pan, squeeze them in. Stir to combine and set aside.

Once the sprouts have been roasting for 15 minutes heat a non stick or cast iron pan on medium high heat. Once hot add the remaining oil, and then once this is hot add your steak. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side or until browned and cooked to your liking. Allow to rest for a few minutes before slicing.

Meanwhile remove sprouts from the oven and dress with a generous squeeze of lemon and the remaining lemon zest.

Serve the sliced steak over the yoghurt sauce with the crispy brussel spouts nestled next to it. Scatter with parsley leaves.

HH. x

This post is sponsored by Australian Beef