It's Australia Day! Celebrate with these Vegemite recipes

Vegemite

Happy Australia Day! 

The salty kick from Vegemite is a surprisingly excellent pairing with other sweet, buttery or savoury foods. It's an easy way to add some 'umami' flavour to your recipes without a lot of work, and can double as an anchovy substitute for vegetarians.

Avocado and sesame Vegemite toast

The smooth, buttery taste of avocado goes perfectly with vegemite. We take it one step further by adding a bit nutty sesame flavour.

Directions:

SPREAD 1 slice of toasted French or Italian loaf with 1 tsp vegemite.

TOP with 1 sliced small avocado slices. Drizzle with sesame oil and/or sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Photo, Irene Ngo.

Vegemite and parmesan pasta

Vegemite and parmesan are both part of the 'umami' family, so it's no surprise the two ingredients go very well together.

Directions:

COOK 100 g spaghetti pasta in boiling water according to package instructions, but omitting salt, about 8 min. Drain, then return pasta to pot.

STIR in 1 tbsp butter and 1 to 2 tsp vegemite until pasta is coated. Top generously with grated parmesan before serving.

Photo, Irene Ngo. 

Australian tree 'bark'

Don't be fooled – this might look like real tree bark, but it's edible! We paired milk chocolate with vegemite to create a sweet & salty treat. An easy decorating trick gives it that wood grain look.

Directions:

LINE a baking sheet with parchment.

MICROWAVE 100 g chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl, stirring halfway through, until melted, about 2 min.

WHISK 1 tsp vegemite into melted chocolate. Scrape chocolate onto prepared sheet. Spread to about 1/4-in. thick

DRAG the tines of a fork along top of chocolate, creating lines to look like tree bark.

REFRIGERATE until chocolate is firm, about 30 min. Break into pieces.

Photo, Irene Ngo.

Happy Australia Day to our mates down under and in Canada! The weather here is just a bit cooler than it is in Australia, so while we won't be throwing any shrimp on the barbie today, we will be paying homage to our commonwealth friends with another Australian staple – Vegemite.

Love it or hate it, this sticky, salty, savoury spread is almost its own food group in Australia. It's the country's most popular breakfast spread; 8 out of 10 Australian homes have a jar of it in their pantry. I picked some up when I visited Sydney last year to see what all the fuss was about; and though my initial reaction was debatable, Vegemite has since become a foreign staple in my fridge that I can't live without.

The salty kick from Vegemite is a surprisingly excellent pairing with other sweet, buttery or savoury foods. It's an easy way to add some 'umami' flavour to your recipes without a lot of work, and can double as an anchovy substitute for vegetarians. (Luckily, you don't need to travel to Australia to buy Vegemite. You can also buy it at local specialty stores that sell imported foods.)

Go through the gallery above for three ways to use this vitamin-B rich spread!

Originally published January 2015.