Daje One

Most people don’t know what seasoning actually is. This is what you need to know.

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Mandarins are just starting to arrive.

Whipped ricotta. Fresh mandarin segments. A drizzle of honey, a few sprigs of thyme, your best olive oil.

Simple. Seasonal. The ingredient does the work.

— Nick

Cooking at Tasting Australia last week — a sourdough focaccia demo in front of a crowd that made every bit of Daje One make sense.

Grateful to the team at Down the Rabbit Hole for sharing the day.

— Nick

Simple and seasonal will always beat complicated and out of season.

Not sometimes. Always.

Cook with what nature is giving you right now — at its peak, at its best — and you don’t need to do very much at all. The ingredient does the work.

Pumpkin. Generous, forgiving, and deeply underestimated.

Most people boil it. Don’t boil it. Roast it cut-side down in a hot oven with brown butter and sage until the edges caramelise and the flesh becomes something entirely different. Sweet, nutty, alive with flavour.

This is what autumn is asking you to cook right now. And it starts with knowing how.



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Here’s the recipe.

Chicken Soup with Ditalini. One whole chicken, good vegetables, three hours of patience. The stock does most of the work — make extra and freeze it. You’ll be grateful for it on the next cold night.

Swipe for the full recipe. Find your ditalini at Mercato, Glynburn Gourmet, or your local Italian grocer.



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Link in bio.

The first thing I think about every day I walk into a kitchen.

Before you touch a knife. Before you turn on the heat. Before anything —

Get your bench clear and organised.

I know. It sounds almost too simple. But I mean it.

What’s sitting in front of you tells me everything about what’s happening in your head. A cluttered bench is a cluttered mind — and a cluttered mind rushes, misses things, loses the joy of it.

Mise en place. It’s a chef term that means everything in its place. And it’s the single habit that separates cooks who look effortless from the ones who are always behind.

It’s one of the oldest ideas in a professional kitchen, and the one I come back to every single day.

Next time you cook — even just a weeknight dinner — try it. Read through your recipe before you start. Pull everything out. Do the small prep. Clear the bench. Get organised. Then begin.

You’ll feel the difference. I promise you will.

That’s what good cooking actually feels like — calm, connected, in control.

Daje One Cookery School — Adelaide

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There are ingredients that stop you in your tracks. Porcini is one of them.

We’re in that rare, fleeting window right now — the few weeks a year when fresh porcini appear, earthy and extraordinary, smelling of forest floor and autumn rain. I’ve been cooking for 21 years and this moment never gets old.

These beauties didn’t come from the market. I have someone special for this — a person who knows what I’m looking for before I even ask. A quiet phone call, a knowing nod, and a brown paper bag that makes my week. That’s the kind of relationship you build over years in this industry, and I never take it for granted.

When they land in my kitchen, here’s all I do:

Slice them thick. Heat a heavy pan until it’s properly hot. A little olive oil, then lay them cut-side down and don’t touch them. Let the heat do the work. Two minutes. Turn once. Finish with a k**b of butter, a sprig of thyme, and a pinch of salt.

That’s it. Nothing else. The porcini is the dish.

Simple and seasonal will always beat complicated and out of season. This is what Daje One is built on.

🍄 Are you lucky enough to find porcini near you this autumn?

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Welcome to Daje One

Today I released issue number 001 of my very first newsletter to the 35 people who showed up on day one.

If you would like to have a read and learn a little bit about who we are and whats to come , please find the link in the bio.

Daje One Cookery School is developed with you in mind.

Cooking is a life skill, a skill that we have and believe you should too.

Join and the waitlist and get ready for Day One of your cooking journey.

Link to the website is in the bio.