Recipes

Quinoa and roasted tomato salad

Quinoa and roasted tomato salad

This salad is picnic perfection – it travels really well and tastes best at room temperature. It’s basically a meal in itself, so you could serve it on its own or as a bed for barbecued lamb chops and sausages.
Couverts6
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Ingredients

  • ¼ cup 60 ml olive oil
  • 3 brown onions thinly sliced
  • ½ cup 75 g pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
  • ½ cup 65 g slivered almonds
  • ½ cup 75 g dried cranberries
  • 2 cups 400 g tri-colour quinoa
  • 500 g 1 lb 2 oz cherry tomatoes on the vine
  • 150 g 5½ oz crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 handful parsley leaves roughly chopped

DRESSING

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  • Heat half of the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium–low heat.
  • Cook the onion, stirring often, until it is soft and caramelised (about 20 minutes).
  • Tip the onion into a large bowl.
  • Wipe out the frying pan, add the pepitas and almonds and toast over medium heat for a few minutes or until golden.
  • Tip the seeds and nuts into the bowl with the onion and add the cranberries.
  • Cook the quinoa in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 10 minutes or until tender.
  • Drain the quinoa and set it aside in the sieve.
  • Meanwhile, put the tomatoes in a roasting tin and drizzle them with the remaining olive oil.
  • Bake for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and beginning to split.
  • For the dressing, whisk the olive oil, vinegar and mustard together until combined.

Notes & Wine Advice

the quinoa into the bowl with the onion and nut mixture. Pour in the dressing and gently toss with your hands to combine. Transfer the salad to a serving platter, place the tomatoes on top and scatter with the feta and parsley. Serve at room temperature.
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Course; Salad

Banana cake with coffee caramel icing

Banana cake with coffee caramel icing

There’s something very charmingly old-fashioned about this cake. It’s soft and velvety in its crumb, but really, it’s all about that fantastically good icing. Make a big round cake as I have here, or cook the batter in a roasting tin and then ice and slice the cake into squares for a school cake stand or similar
Couverts6
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Ingredients

  • ½ cup 125 g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup 220 g caster (superfine) sugar
  • ½ cup 100 g brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 12/3 cups 250 g plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3 ripe bananas mashed
  • ½ cup 125 ml buttermilk or plain yoghurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

COFFEE CARAMEL ICING

  • ¾ cup 150 g brown sugar
  • ¼ cup 55 g butter
  • 2 Tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp instant coffee powder
  • ¾ cup 90 g icing (confectioners’) sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  • Grease and line a 24 cm (9½ inch) round cake tin with baking paper.
  • Beat the butter and sugars in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy.
  • Scrape down the side of the bowl, add one of the eggs and beat well, then add the other egg and beat again.
  • Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the bowl.
  • Add the banana, buttermilk or yoghurt and vanilla and fold until just combined.
  • Transfer the batter to the tin and smooth the top.
  • Bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, the edge is coming away from the side of the tin and the top of the cake feels springy.
  • Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then gently turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  • For the icing, combine the brown sugar, butter, milk and coffee in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  • Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the icing sugar until smooth.
  • Pour the icing over the cooled cake and quickly smooth the surface (it sets pretty quickly, so don’t mess around).

Notes & Wine Advice

You can leave out the coffee in the icing, if you prefer.
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Course; Cake / Fruit

Baked ricotta

Baked ricotta

You cannot go wrong with this recipe. Honestly, it’s so easy and everyone just loves it. Serve it either as a sort of dip, hot out of the oven, or leave it to cool to room temperature and then cut it into wedges with a salad, some bread and perhaps a plate of paper-thin pink prosciutto. The latter is my pick as the flavours seem to be much more delicious and rounded at room temperature.
Couverts4
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Ingredients

  • 500 g 1 lb 2 oz fresh whole-milk ricotta
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup 100 g grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp thyme leaves plus extra to garnish
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • A few good grinds of black pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
  • Grease and line a 20 cm (8 inch) spring-form tin with baking paper.
  • Combine the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
  • Pour into the tin and smooth the top.
  • Pop the ricotta into the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until golden and puffed.
  • Top the baked ricotta with the extra thyme and set aside to cool to room temperature.
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Course; Cheese / Side Dish

Roasted beetroot salad with yoghurt and mustard seeds

Roasted beetroot salad with yoghurt and mustard seeds

This recipe is inspired by one given in Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Simple. I love and cook it so much and I hope he won’t mind me sharing my version here.
Couverts6
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  • Rub each beetroot in a little of the olive oil, wrap in foil and place on a baking tray.
  • Roast for about 40 minutes or until cooked through (unwrap a beetroot and slice it in half to check that it’s soft).
  • Unwrap all of the beetroot and set them aside to cool.
  • Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over medium–high heat.
  • Add the cumin and brown mustard seeds and cook for a few minutes or until they start to pop.
  • Put the yoghurt in a bowl and whisk in the dijon mustard and preserved lemon.
  • Spoon the yoghurt into a shallow bowl.
  • Slice the beetroot and place them on top of the yoghurt.
  • Pour the oil and seed mixture over the top and scatter with the dill and borage, if using
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Course; Salad

Roasted capsicum salad

Roasted capsicum salad

I have made these roasted capsicums probably more than any other recipe in this book, mostly because I love how the flavours sink into each other with that low, slow cooking time. But there’s also a beautiful balance of sweetness from the capsicum, deep saltiness from the anchovies and tang from the vinegar. Plus, there’s the fact that you can make this early in the day and the flavour just improves from sitting on the bench for a few hours. Finally, I love how when you spread the roasted capsicums and tomatoes over rocket or other greens, it makes the most wonderful salad.
Couverts8
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  • Lightly oil a large ovenproof dish.
  • Add the capsicum, tomato, anchovies, garlic and capers to the dish.
  • Drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar and toss to combine.
  • Bake for 45 minutes or until the capsicum and tomato are soft and tender.
  • Combine the salad leaves and basil on a large platter and top with the capsicum mixture and all the beautiful pan juices.
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Course; Salad

Pistachio and lemon loaf cake

Pistachio and lemon loaf cake

he amount of pistachios I’ve used here is a bit extravagant, but the cake goes quite a long way and is a really great special-occasion number, so it’s worth it. Like all cakes full of ground nuts, it’s lovely and moist, plus the uniced cake keeps well.
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Ingredients

  • 1 cup 150 g pistachios
  • ½ cup 80 g almonds
  • ½ cup 75 g plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • A pinch of salt
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup 125 g butter, softened
  • 1 cup 220 g caster (superfine) sugar
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 eggs
  • LEMON ICING
  • 1 cup 125 g icing (confectioners’) sugar
  • Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
  • Grease and line an 8 cup (2 litre) capacity, 13 x 24 cm (5 x 9½ inch) loaf tin with baking paper.
  • Spread the pistachios and almonds over a shallow baking tray and roast for about 10 minutes or until they are just becoming aromatic.
  • Set the nuts aside to cool for a few minutes, then tip them into a food processor and blitz for about 5 seconds or until rough crumbs form.
  • Remove and reserve 2 tablespoons of the crumbs, then process the remaining crumbs until you have a fine meal.
  • Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and blitz for a few seconds to combine.
  • Beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a mixing bowl and wooden spoon) until pale and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • Fold in the nut and flour mixture and the lemon juice, then gently spoon the batter into the tin.
  • Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or until it is pulling away from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  • For the icing, mix the icing sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth and thick.
  • Pour the icing over the cooled cake and let it set for a few minutes, then sprinkle the reserved nut crumbs over the top.
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Course; Cake / Fruit / Nuts

Spicy lamb and spinach pie

Spicy lamb and spinach pie

One of the most complete crowd-pleasers of all, this pie has all the greens you could want, plus a layer of tasty spiced lamb and the crowning glory – the golden, crispy pastry. You could leave out the lamb and it would still be delicious.
Couverts8
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Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup 80 ml olive oil
  • 1 brown onion finely diced
  • 8 handfuls English spinach about 1 large bunch, stalks discarded, roughly chopped
  • A few pinches of salt
  • 1 cup 230 g ricotta cheese
  • ¾ cup 110 g crumbled feta cheese
  • 4 eggs
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp harissa
  • 500 g 1 lb 2 oz lamb mince
  • 400 g 14 oz tin whole peeled tomatoes
  • 100 g 3½ oz butter, melted
  • 6 sheets filo pastry
  • ¼ cup 40 g sesame seeds
  • 2 Tbsp nigella seeds
  • Tzatziki to serve

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).
  • Heat a little of the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
  • Cook the onion for 5 minutes or until soft.
  • Add the spinach, a handful at a time, waiting for it to wilt a little before adding more.
  • Add a few pinches of salt as you go and cook until all of the spinach has just wilted.
  • Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
  • Whisk the ricotta, feta, eggs and lemon zest together in a bowl, then fold in the spinach mixture.
  • Wipe your pan clean, then place it over medium–high heat.
  • Add another splash of olive oil, then add the garlic and harissa and cook for 1 minute.
  • Add the lamb and cook, stirring to break it up, for about 8 minutes or until browned.
  • Stir in the tomatoes, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Remove from the heat, check the seasoning and set aside.
  • Grease a 24 cm (9½ inch) spring-form tin with a little of the melted butter.
  • Lay the filo pastry out on a work surface.
  • Brush one sheet with melted butter and gently lay it across the tin, then press it into the base and leave the excess pastry hanging over the side.
  • Repeat with the remaining pastry.
  • Spoon the lamb into the pastry base, then spread the spinach mixture on top.
  • Bring the pastry edges up and over the filling to make a rough lid.
  • Brush the pastry with a little more melted butter and sprinkle it with the sesame seeds and nigella seeds.
  • Bake the pie for 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
  • Remove from the tin and serve warm or at room temperature (my preference!
  • ), with tzatziki.

Notes & Wine Advice

You could also bake the pie in a rectangular tin with 5 cm (2 inch) high sides.
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Course; Lamb / Quiche

Fennel and potato salad with salsa verde

Fennel and potato salad with salsa verde

This is a highly satisfying, delicious and easy salad and I think the combination of roasted spuds and fresh, crunchy fennel works super well. If you’re making this the main event of your meal, perhaps add a few chopped hard-boiled eggs and/or some hot-smoked salmon.
Couverts8
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Ingredients

  • 1 kg 2 lb 4 oz new (or small) potatoes, halved
  • ¼ cup 60 ml olive oil, plus extra for the dressing
  • Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 fennel bulbs trimmed
  • ½ cup Salsa verde
  • ½ cup podded fresh small broad beans see Note

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
  • Put the potatoes on a baking tray.
  • Add the olive oil and lemon zest, season with salt and toss to coat the potatoes.
  • Bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the potatoes are cooked through and golden on the edges.
  • Meanwhile, slice the fennel as thinly as you can (I use a mandolin).
  • Put the salsa verde in a small jug or jar and thin it out with the lemon juice and a little olive oil, if needed, to make a dressing.
  • Transfer the cooked potatoes to a platter and leave them to cool to room temperature.
  • Add the fennel and broad beans to the potatoes, then drizzle the salsa verde dressing over the top.
  • Serve the salad at room temperature.

Notes & Wine Advice

To serve broad beans raw as we’ve done here, they really need to be very fresh and small. Alternatively, cook some frozen peas, drain them under cold water to help keep their colour and add them with the fennel.

Cos lettuce salad

Coarsely chop a couple of cos lettuce heads and dress them with a simple vinaigrette made by whisking one part lemon juice or vinegar with three parts extra virgin olive oil.
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Course; Salad

Janelle’s camping biscuits

Janelle’s camping biscuits

My friend Janelle once brought these when we went camping and they were so perfect that they became an instant part of our camping and picnic repertoire. We have them crumbled over fruit for breakfast and give them to hungry kids in the afternoon. I quite like one, fireside after dinner, with a little pour of whisky. They last for ages in a tin or jar, so are great to make in quantity and pack for a trip away, and they’re filling and not too sweet – just a good, honest biscuit.
Couverts24 servings
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  • Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
  • Boil the kettle and put the dates in a heatproof bowl.
  • Pour the boiling water over the dates and leave to soak for 5 minutes.
  • Drain the dates, tip them into the bowl of a food processor and process to a purée.
  • Beat the butter, brown sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for a few minutes or until pale and fluffy.
  • Add the egg yolk and beat again until well combined.
  • Fold in the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and date purée.
  • Mix for another minute or so, until well combined.
  • Roll about 1 tablespoon of the mixture into a ball.
  • Roll the ball in the demerara sugar and place it on one of the trays.
  • Repeat with the remaining mixture, leaving a few centimetres between each ball to allow for spreading.
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and are a pale golden colour.
  • Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

Notes & Wine Advice

Variation:

These biscuits are also lovely made with dried apricots instead of dates. Just swap the dates with 1¼ cups (200 g) dried apricots, soak and proceed as above.
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Course; Coockies / Biscuit

Annie’s five-minute choc-malt cake

Annie’s five-minute choc-malt cake

This is the cake that my children, nieces and nephews (everyone, really!) love most when they visit my mum and dad.
Couverts6 servings
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Ingredients

  • 1½ cups 225 g self-raising flour
  • 1 cup 220 g caster (superfine) sugar
  • ¾ cup 90 g Milo (see Note)
  • 3 eggs at room temperature
  • ½ cup 125 g softened butter, cut into cubes
  • ½ cup 125 ml milk
  • Icing confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  • Grease a 23 cm (9 inch) spring-form tin and line the tin with baking paper.
  • Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat for 5 minutes.
  • Spoon the batter into the tin and bake for about 35 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Serve the cake dusted with icing sugar.

Notes & Wine Advice

Milo is a chocolate malt drink powder. You can substitute it here by mixing 2 tablespoons cocoa powder with ½ cup (65 g) malted milk powder. The cake will be a bit darker and more chocolatey, but still delicious!
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Course; Cake / Chocolate