Recipes

The great Australian dinner, baked in your own kitchen

Ask an Australian what smells like Saturday arvo, and half of us will say a meat pie. But the proper one — rich minced-beef gravy, a shortcrust base, a puff lid brushed gold — has mostly disappeared from home kitchens. Let's bring it back. One 480g pack of grass-fed beef mince, a bit of patience while the filling cools, and you've got a family-sized pie that beats anything handed over in a paper bag. Sauce on top is not optional in this house.

The weekend project that pays you back twice

A proper lasagne isn't fast food, and I won't pretend otherwise. This one takes the best part of an afternoon — a ragu that simmers away for two hours, a silky béchamel, and layers you build like you mean it. But here's the thing: two packs of grass-fed beef mince become eight serious serves. Dinner tonight, and a tray in the freezer for the Tuesday you can't face cooking. Put the footy on, let the pot blip away, and call it time well spent.

Eight rissoles, one pan, and gravy from the drippings — Tuesday sorted

If there's one job a 480g pack of grass-fed beef mince was born for, it's this one. Rissoles were the dinner of my childhood — Mum grated the veg straight into the bowl, and nobody argued. They're honest food: mince, onion, carrot, an egg to hold it all together, and a pan gravy built on the browned bits left behind. Twenty-eight minutes, start to plate. And the kids ask for them again next week. That's the whole test, isn't it?

Old-world patience, one baking dish, and a filling that feeds six

Every food culture that ever had more garden than money worked this out: wrap seasoned mince and rice in cabbage leaves, braise them in tomato, and a modest amount of meat feeds the whole table. My grandmother's generation didn't call it stretching the budget — they called it dinner. So this is the slow, satisfying version. Twelve neat rolls, one 480g pack of grass-fed beef mince, and an hour and a half in a low oven doing all the work while you do none of it.

Sixteen golden parcels from one pack of mince

Across Latin America, this is what a home cook does with good mince: spice it gently with cumin and smoked paprika, fold in green olives and boiled egg, and tuck it into pastry you can hold in one hand. Sixteen golden parcels from one 480g pack. Bake a tray for dinner, freeze the rest, and watch them vanish out of school bags all week. And the pastry comes from the freezer aisle — this is a project, not a penance.

The technique that changed home burger-making forever

The smash burger technique — pressing a ball of mince hard against a screaming hot flat surface to create maximum contact and maximum crust — has transformed the way people think about home burgers. It requires no binding, no egg, no breadcrumbs. Just quality grass-fed beef, a hot pan, and confidence. With Your Farmer mince, the result is a burger that has more flavour in a thin, crispy patty than most thick burgers ever achieve.

A complete meal in a natural bowl — and a family dinner that looks more impressive than it is

Stuffed capsicums are one of those dishes that feel considered and generous without requiring much effort. The capsicums act as both the vessel and a key flavour component — they sweeten as they roast, infusing everything inside with a gentle, caramelised flavour. With a grass-fed beef and rice filling seasoned with herbs and spices, this is a genuinely satisfying, complete meal.

Bold, fresh, bright — a 20-minute dinner that punches well above its weight

Larb is a Thai and Laotian minced meat salad seasoned with fish sauce, lime, toasted rice powder, and fresh herbs. It is one of those dishes that is simultaneously the simplest thing you can make and one of the most flavourful. The toasted rice powder — made from dry-toasting raw rice in a pan until golden, then grinding — is the secret ingredient that gives larb its nutty, slightly smoky depth.

The ultimate winter warmer — and a sneaky way to get extra vegetables into everyone

Cottage pie is a dish that asks very little of the cook and delivers an enormous amount of comfort. Made with quality grass-fed mince and topped with a properly seasoned mash, it is one of those meals that makes everyone feel cared for. The addition of celeriac to the mash topping adds a subtle nuttiness that elevates the whole thing without anyone noticing.