SMOKY MAPLE CHICKEN BURGERS

• 40g (1/2cup) fnely grated parmesan, (or vegetarian hard cheese) plus extra shaved, to serve

4 servings 1126 calories p/s

• 1 lemon, juiced, zested

10m prep

10m cook

6 servings 410 calories p/s

Ingredients

• 250g fresh egg noodles

Ingredients

• Bouquet garni (4 fresh or dried bay leaves, 4

2 Method Steps

Step 1

• Finely chopped continental parsley, to serve

• 2 corn cobs, husks and silk removed, halved

• Olive oil spray

• 200g streaky bacon, halved almost tender.

• 1/4 small red cabbage, fnely shredded

• 1 carrot, grated

• 3 green onions, thinly sliced

• 1/4 cup whole-egg mayonnaise

Set a 5L slow cooker to Browning. Heat oil. Cook onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, fennel and chilli. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato, beans, stock and bouquet garni. Season. Change cooker setting to High. Cover. Cook for 3-4 hours or until vegetables are

• 2 tsp lemon juice

• 100g salted butter, softened

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 gem lettuce, leaves separated

• 4 brioche rolls, split

• Smoky barbecue sauce, to serve

Step 2 chicken between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, pound to slightly fatten. Repeat with remaining chicken. Place maple syrup, paprika and garlic in a freezable airtight container. Add chicken. Toss to coat. Cover with lid. Refrigerate for 1 hour, if time permits.

Stir in cavalo nero, bread and parmesan. Cover and cook on High for 30 minutes or until soup has thickened slightly. Stir in lemon juice, to taste. Serve topped with parsley, lemon zest and extra parmesan.

2. Heat a barbecue grill on medium-high heat. Spray corn with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, turning occasionally, for 10 minutes or until tender and charred. Transfer to a plate. Cover to keep warm. Add bacon to grill. Cook for 4 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer to a plate. Cover to keep warm. Reduce heat to medium. Add chicken to grill. Cook for 5 minutes each side or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate.

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 400g pork mince

• 2 garlic cloves, fnely chopped

• 1 tbsp fnely grated ginger

• 1 bunch baby choy sum, fnely shredded

• 4 green onions, thinly sliced diagonally

• 1 tbsp light soy sauce

• 1 tbsp chilli bean paste

• Coriander leaves, to serve

Method

1. Cook the noodles in a saucepan of boiling water for 1-2 minutes or until tender. Drain well.

• Oven baked sweet potato chips, to serve

• Smoky Maple Chicken Marinade

• 2 chicken breast fllets, halved diagonally

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 1 1/2 tsp mild paprika

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed

Method

1. Make Smoky Maple Marinade. Place 1 piece of

3. Meanwhile, combine cabbage, carrot and onion in a bowl. Add mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season. Toss to combine.

4. Place butter and maple syrup in a bowl. Season with pepper. Mash with a fork until well combined. Divide lettuce among roll bases. Top each with slaw, bacon and chicken. Drizzle with a little barbecue sauce. Sandwich with roll tops. Dollop corn with butter. Serve burgers with corn and chips.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a wok over high heat. Add pork and stir-fry, breaking up mince with a fat-bottomed wooden spoon for 5 minutes or until mince changes colour.

3. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add choy sum, green onion, soy sauce and chilli bean paste and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until choy sum begins to wilt. Add noodles and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until well combined and heated through. Transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with coriander leaves.

Max Crus is a Clarence Valley-based wine writer and Grape Expectations is now in its 26th year of publication. Find out more about Max or sign up for his weekly reviews and musings by visiting maxcrus.com.au

Grape Expectations by Max Crus

Max Crus

Who knew there were so many ‘Swifties’ in Australia?

They were queuing up for yonks, even overstepping the line of criminality to get what they wanted, which in the end seemed such a feeting beneft.

Oh, no, I’m not talking about people falling over themselves for Taylor Swift tickets, I’m talking about the now notorious Gang of Four - Morrison, Tudge, Porter and Roberts (sounds

Quilty and Gransden, Orange, Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, $19.

Another good name for a legal frm, and a tricky one to say following post-Royal Commission celebrations. “Elegant, cool climate” stuff says the label and I have every reason to believe this is the truth, and it’s good value, Your Honour. 9.4/10.

Quilty and Gransden, like a legal frm…how apt) - and the Robodebt Royal Commission, although unexpectedly, there are many similarities.

Incredibly, 800,237* tickets were sold for Taylor’s upcoming Aussie concerts, exactly the same number as were “incorrectly”, “illegally”, “immorally” and “incompetently” targeted by Morrison’s invention, Robodebt, and that’s the language of the Commissioner btw, not

Orange, Sauvignon Blanc 2021, $19. 2021 is a bit older than your average SB and your Taylor Swift fan, which is appropriate because the latter are too young to drink anyway, and dare I say it, a bit brighter? No, that would be rude. 9.2/10.

Medhurst Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2021, $50. Yellow on white is a diffcult combination

Ticketek and Fair Trading talking about scalpers.

Astonishingly, fve times more people wanted Taylor Swift tix, which coincidentally is precisely the number of people indirectly affected by Robodebt. Uncanny.

But the co-incidence doesn’t stop there.

The cheapest Taylor tix were about $359 (standing room outside the toilets), the same amount as the minimum computergenerated ‘Robo’ when it comes to readability which is why all the Robodebt legislation was written in yellow. However the wine itself stands out like beacon of balance of everything one could want in a chardonnay. Lovely stuff. 9.5/10.

Eloquesta (by Stuart Olsen) Mudgee (Special 10th Anniversary) Shiraz Petit Verdot 2018, $45. The sweet

Pulling a Swiftie…on a commission basis.

debt of people who didn’t have a job or a home*. Gosh.

Anyway, who would begrudge Taylor the $2billion she will earn during 2023? Spookily, this is the same amount the Coalition hoped to reap from welfare ‘bludgers’ but instead was the extra cost to taxpayers, minus the legal bills, and believe me, Taylor Swift tickets are cheap compared to a KC’s hourly rate.

Taylor’s Swifties have fruit and aroma of this makes it dangerously alluring and easy to drink, so keep away from Swifties. A lovely warm, bright red perfect for the VIP tent, but I bet they would be too stingy even at VIP ticket prices. 9.6/10.

Shaw and Smith

Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2023, $32. This has gone up a dollar since last vintage, got nothing on Coalition swifties, all of whom now say the Commissioner is wrong and ignored the facts. Were these the facts provided by, surprise, PWC? At least PWC had the good grace (or knew they would ultimately be compelled) to pay back the $853,859** they received for the power-point concocted for the purpose.

Unbelievably that’s precisely what the most expensive Taylor Swift tickets cost! Minus the that’s 3.3 percent, which is exactly what Philip Lowe has been asking for. Now if only everyone could do that. Every year I taste this it’s worth another dollar and will undoubtedly be excellent value at $62 in 2053. Benchmark stuff.

9.7/10.

Homefullness Barossa Shiraz 2021, $22. This is a ‘collab’ - as the label says - between Forage scalpers margin but including the hotel and meal package, and spot on the amount generated by Robodebt crooks before the scheme was fnally, begrudgingly shut down.

Yep, gotta hand it to the Coalition for their money management skills, although they could perhaps take a lesson from Taylor on that.

Now, I wonder what wines came with the VIP package?

Built and Yalumba, each bottle raising funds for innovative, sustainable housing for people who don’t have any. So the marketers are likely 2030 something Swifties, and the benefciaries Robotdebt survivors. Is it altruistic if you get thoroughly decent shiraz for your donation. 9.2/10.