13 recipes that celebrate Australian bush foods (2024)

1. Braised eggplant with saltbush

A luscious combination of eggplant simmered until it's mouth-meltingly soft then served with a rich Japanese-spiced sauce and slivers of grassy, refreshing saltbush.

2. Wattleseed and thyme damper

Crunchy little wattleseeds have a flavour somewhere between coffee and chocolate, and when combined with the earthy aroma of fresh thyme in this damper, you'll be transported straight to the Australian outback.

3. Pineapple fritters with pepperberry sugar

Relive fond childhood memories of golden pineapple fritters, but in their grown-up version: pineapple is poached in a spiced syrup, and served with a sugar-salt sprinkle laced with aromatic native pepper berries.

4. Macadamia baklava recipe

If you're a fan of all things syrupy and pastry thenMark Olive's baklava rendition is a must. He adds his signature twist to this classic Levantine sweet, with the use of macadamia nuts, lemon myrtle in the cake and lemon aspen in the syrup.

5. Butterflied saltbush chook

Add an Australian twist to your BBQ-chicken repertoire with this straightforward recipe: make a rub of dried spices, lemon and saltbush, marinate, then grill. If you can't get dried saltbush leaves, bay leaves can be used as a substitute.

6. Crispy-skinned butterfish with quandong jam

Quandong is a fruit in the sandalwood family, with a sweet and tangy citrusy flavour that works perfectly in baking, preserves and sauces. This jam combines it with cherry tomatoes, lemongrass, chilli, coriander for a sweet and savoury combination that would work well with fish or meat.

7. Charred carrot salad with sorrel, macadamia and lemon vinaigrette

Roasted macadamias bring nutty creaminess to this dish that covers all textures and flavours: salty parmesan, sweet charred carrots, lemony sorrel and a herby mustard dressing.

8. Quince and lemon myrtle syrup cake

Rosey quince gets an Indigenous Australian flavour makeover by poaching them in a heavily lemon myrtle-laced syrup.

9. Purslane yoghurt dip

Purslane - or pigweed - may be more commonly regarded as a weed, but its succulent-like leaves are used in raw and cooked like other greens spinach and have a lemony and slightly peppery flavour. Here, raw purslane is blended with yoghurt for an Indigenous Australian-styletzatziki dip.

10. Scallops with Warrigal greens and Davison plum butter

Warrigal greens, like native Australian spinach, are chopped and added to the scallop shells before chargrilling, adding a fresh little green burst to sweet scallops. The decorative butter they're served with is a simple concoction of softened butter blended with a heaping oftangy Davidson plum powder.

11. Saltbush and mountain pepper squid

See you later salt and pepper squid and hello saltbush and mountain pepper squid. Same technique, but with an Indigenous Australian flavour.

12. Lemon-infused fish cooked in paperbark with herb butter

Cooking fish in leaves and bark is a technique found the world over. Cooking it in paperbark gives fish a deliciously smoky aroma, which is pepped up with some zesty lemon and herbaceous butter.

13. Chocolate and wattleseed self-saucing pudding

For a simple hack to create a native Australian-flavoured dessert, add a couple of tablespoons of wattleseeds to chocolate pud. Wattleseeds have a naturally chocolatey flavour, but with a hint of the distinct aroma of the Australian bush.