Recipes

Blood orange and lemon jubes

Blood orange and lemon jubes

I’m a total sucker for any kind of sweet, especially the red ones. I know, of course, that they’re not great for us. But these home-made jubes are actually tastier than anything that comes in a bag and they’re not at all bad for you – winning! The blood orange juice adds a gorgeous colour and tang, but you could use regular orange juice and they’d be just as good.
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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine the blood orange juice, lemon juice and honey or maple syrup in a small saucepan.
  • Heat until the mixture reaches boiling point, then remove from the heat.
  • Whisk in the gelatine and keep mixing until it has completely dissolved.
  • Strain the mixture into small silicone ice-cube moulds or into a small shallow container, about 10 x 20 cm (4 x 8 inches).
  • Place in the fridge to set for an hour or so before popping the jubes out of the moulds or cutting into small cubes.
  • Store the jubes in the fridge for a few days.

Notes & Wine Advice

It’s worth looking in health-food stores or online
for a grass-fed bovine gelatine rather than buying the powdered one from the supermarket. The good stuff has no flavour at all and it boasts all kinds of health benefits.
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Course; Fruit

Danish strawberry jam

Danish strawberry jam

Danish jam often seems to be a slightly softer, less ‘set’ preserve, a little more like a compote. Mum’s Danish side of the family prefer this runnier style of jam. It tastes very fresh and bright – like strawberries. And because it uses a lot less sugar and cooks for a shorter time than traditional jam, it should be stored in the fridge. This jam would be absolutely beautiful sandwiched between two sponge cakes or in a simple trifle – jam on the bottom, thick custard on top and a layer of whipped cream and chopped nuts to finish.
Couverts3 cups
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Ingredients

  • 2¼ cups 500 g white (granulated) sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean split lengthways
  • 1 lemon

Instructions

  • Combine the berries and sugar in a large saucepan.
  • Scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan and add the scraped pod.
  • Squeeze in the lemon juice and grate in about ½ teaspoon of lemon zest.
  • Bring the mixture to the boil over high heat, stirring often, then cook for about 10 minutes.
  • Transfer the hot jam into sterilised jars and seal tightly.
  • Once it’s cool, store the jam in the fridge.
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Course; Fruit / Sandwich toppings
Cuisine; Danish / European

Pot-roasted rhubarb

Pot-roasted rhubarb

This is a fantastic way to use up a lot of rhubarb. The stalks keep their shape, the flavours concentrate beautifully and the end result freezes well so you can make up a big stash to dip into throughout the year. The extra syrup that the rhubarb produces while cooking is beautiful splashed into sparkling wine or topped up with some chilled mineral water.
Couverts4
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Ingredients

  • 10 rhubarb stalks cut into 5 cm (2 inch) batons
  • ½ cup 110 g caster (superfine) sugar
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • 2 thick strips of orange zest
  • 1 vanilla bean split lengthways

Instructions

  • Combine all the ingredients in an ovenproof dish, cover with the lid or foil and set aside for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
  • Bake the rhubarb, covered, for about 40 minutes or until tender.
  • Serve the rhubarb warm or cold, with everything from yoghurt to brownies, or even sandwiched between two sponge cakes.
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Course; Side Dish / Vegetables

Carrot, orange and walnut cake

Carrot, orange and walnut cake

This dense, delicious cake is dairy- and gluten-free, which makes it handy for any friends who can’t have or don’t like cakes that contain dairy or gluten. But most importantly, it’s super tasty and perfect for picnics and outings.
Couverts8
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Ingredients

  • ½ cup 125 ml rum
  • ¼ cup 45 g sultanas
  • ¼ cup 45 g dried apricots, roughly chopped
  • 2 cups 200 g almond meal
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ½ cup 125 ml olive oil
  • ¾ cup 165 g caster (superfine) sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Grated zest of 1 orange
  • 2 cups 310 g grated carrot
  • ½ cup 60 g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
  • Dried orange slices to garnish

CASHEW CREAM ICING

  • 1½ cups 235 g raw cashews, soaked overnight in cold water
  • ½ cup 130 g coconut yoghurt or coconut cream
  • ¼ cup 60 ml maple syrup
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • A pinch of sea salt

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  • Grease and line a 24 cm (9½ inch) round cake tin with baking paper.
  • Pour the rum into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and add the sultanas and apricots.
  • Set aside to soak while you prepare the batter.
  • Put the almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger in a bowl and whisk to combine.
  • Whisk the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and orange zest in a large bowl until smooth and well combined.
  • Fold in the almond meal mixture, grated carrot, walnuts and drained sultanas and apricots, mixing until combined.
  • Transfer the batter to the tin and smooth the top.
  • Bake the cake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Cool the cake in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  • For the icing, tip the drained cashews into a food processor.
  • Add the remaining ingredients and blitz until the mixture is combined and has a thick and creamy consistency.
  • Spread the icing over the cake and garnish with dried orange slices.

Notes & Wine Advice

For an extra large cake to feed a crowd, double the ingredients and increase the cooking time by about 15 minutes or until the top of the cake feels firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
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Course; Cake / Nuts

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