Dish up happiness with Benjamin Cooper

Get ready to dish up happiness with these delicious recipes thanks to our amazing Starlight Ambassador Benjamin Cooper and the team at Queen Victoria Market.

This year Queen Victoria Market are supporting Starlight’s Christmas Appeal and we’re so thankful to everyone involved for helping to bring happiness to sick kids. Inspired by the amazing produce at the market, Executive Chef at Chin Chin and bestselling author Benjamin Cooper has created two super tasty, family-friendly dishes for you to master in no time at all.

One that’s great to get the kids involved: Apple and Cheese Snack with Lightly Whipped Honey 

This is a delicious and healthy snack for any time of the day that you can get your mini chefs in the kitchen to help create these school holidays.

• 1 red delicious or pink lady apple (red skin apple)
• A small amount of shaved beemster cheese (a Dutch cheese similar to gouda) or tasty cheddar.
• 1-2 teaspoons of whipped honey (I whipped my honey with a milk frothing whisk to aerate it lightly)

Once you’ve chopped all of the ingredients arrange on a plate and let them devour.

A family favourite for the holidays: Sticky Soy Chicken Wings

This delicious family-friendly dish will be a crowd favourite these holidays and is super easy to make ahead of time, so you don’t need to worry about preparing everything in one go. The perfect dish to pull out when the kids have friends over or you want an easy lunch or dinner.

Starlight Ambassador Benjamin Cooper has created this recipe for his latest cookbook ‘Still Hungry’. The cookbook is available to purchase in-venue and online if you’d like to explore other delicious dinner and lunch ideas like this one

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 bunch spring onions, diagonally sliced, to garnish
• 2kg chicken wings, jointed
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• lime wedges, to serve

STICKY SOY GLAZE

• 1/4 cup (60ml) soy sauce
• 1/4 cup (60ml) kecap manis
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• pinch of black pepper
• handful of yellow rock sugar (available from Asian grocers)
• small knob of ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp caster sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all the glaze ingredients in a deep pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Be careful not to boil for too long as this can result in bitterness. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, remembering that the sauce will continue to thicken.
2. Marinate the chicken wings in ¼ of the sauce overnight. Place in a bowl and cover in the fridge
3. When you’re ready to cook the chicken, preheat a barbecue hotplate to medium. Brush the hotplate with oil and barbecue the wings (in batches if necessary) for 8–10 minutes or until they become golden.
4. Brush each wing liberally with glaze while you are cooking. Once the glaze is nicely caramelised, transfer the wings to a serving plate. Garnish with spring onion and serve with lime wedges.