Aunty Beryl’s Cookbook from BERYL VAN-OPLOO, a respected Gamilaroi Elder, shares her love of First Nations cooking and ingredients in this book, filled with hearty meals and delicious flavours.

Read on for a recipe for pasta with creamy garlic prawns.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The term ‘dead-set legend’ often comes up when talking about Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo, a respected Elder and advisor on incorporating bush foods into a range of cuisines. Now, Aunty Beryl is sharing her life’s work with this beautiful cookbook, featuring recipes that she holds close to her heart and stories from her life of cooking.

The recipes cover pantry staples, salads, sides, easy dinners, food for feasting, biscuits, muffins, cakes and drinks. This is food that is both familiar and comforting, which also champions native ingredients. You’ll discover dishes that will become regulars in your own kitchen, such as pumpkin and honey-roasted macadamia salad with finger lime dressing, lemon myrtle chicken pies, saltbush lamb rump with bunya nut peso, easy chocolate and wattleseed mousse, and Aunty Beryl’s famous lemon myrtle butter biscuits.

With stunning food photography and artwork by artist Lakkari Pitt, this cookbook is a way of sharing culture and passing down food knowledge for future generations.

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RECIPE – Pasta with Garlic Prawns and creamy lemon myrtle sauce

400 g dried linguine or pasta of choice

40 g butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 kg raw prawns, peeled and deveined, tails intact

1 tablespoon dried lemon myrtle leaves

300 ml thickened cream

Salt and pepper, to taste

Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, to serve

The creamy lemon myrtle sauce in this dish enhances the prawns, giving them a lovely, rich lemony zing. Some people are nervous to prepare seafood at home, but prawns are quick to cook – either in boiling water with a pinch of salt or in a frying pan for 3–5 minutes. Just keep an eye on them to ensure you don’t overcook them. If you want to make things easier for yourself, buy the prawns already peeled and deveined from the supermarket or your fishmonger.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.

Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 20 seconds. Add the prawns and cook for 3 minutes, or until starting to go pink. Stir in the lemon myrtle. Pour in the cream, season with salt and pepper and cook until just warmed through. Add water to thin the sauce, if needed.

Transfer the prawn mixture to the pasta bowl and toss until coated in the sauce. Serve with parmesan and parsley.

Images and text from Aunty Beryl’s Cookbook by Beryl Van-Oploo, photography by Cath Muscat, excerpt from Murdoch Books RRP $49.99

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo OAM is a respected Gamilaroi Elder, educator, mentor and businesswoman. She grew up in Walgett, New South Wales and then moved to Sydney at the age of 16 to find work. Aunty Beryl had no formal education until she was 31 years old, enrolling in a cooking course and going on to undertake a TAFE diploma of education specialising in hospitality. She then became a teacher at Petersham TAFE and set up a Home and Work Opportunities for Aboriginal Women course at the first Eora TAFE in Redfern. She also founded the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence’s Job Ready program.

Aunty Beryl has run kitchens for several cafes and now owns her own catering business called Yaama Barrgay (which means hello family and friends in Yuwaalaraay), employing First Nations staff. She is an advisor on the use of bushfoods for top chefs including Kylie Kwong, Neil Perry and René Redzepi.

Read more about Aunty Beryl’s book here.

Visit Murdoch Books’ website here.