Carrot Cake

Bake this easy cake with your kids in the morning. Then take it straight from the oven, wrapped in a tea towel with a knife, some fruit and a bottle of water. Put your housebound kids and dogs in the car and drive to the nearest park. Pick a spot in dappled sunlight to spread a rug and enjoy life. Eating carrot cake cut straight from the tin - the outer edge crisp and crumbly and the inside moist and still warm from the oven - is one of life's most joyful pleasures.

1.5 cups self raising flour

0.5 cups of brown sugar

1.5 cups coarsely grated carrot

0.5 cups sultanas

0.5 cups chopped walnuts

zest of 1 lemon

1tsp bicarb of soda

1tsp cinnamon 

0.5 tsp ground ginger

3 eggs

2Tbs maple syrup

3/4 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 180•C. Butter one large, or two small loaf tins and line the base with baking paper. Sift flour and mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk eggs and wet ingredients then add to dry ingredients and mix til just combined. Pour into loaf tins and decorate with whole pecans and demerara sugar. Bake until a skewer comes out clean, approx 35-45 mins for a small loaf tin, or 1 hour for a regular sized tin. 

Easy Peasy Rice Pudding

This recipe is the easiest in the world. My parents made it at least once a week and I remember even eating it cold for breakfast if there was some left over in the fridge! I'll always add a rice pudding if the oven's on and its a good way of using up milk if there's an excess in the fridge.

2 cups milk

1/4 cup cream* optional

4 heaped dessert spoons of rice (preferably, but not necessarily arborio)

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs raisins (or sultanas)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Nutmeg

Mix all ingredients in a small ovenproof dish and sprinkle the top with nutmeg. Then put it in the oven at approximately 160•C and cook for 45 minutes or so, stirring two or three times. The pudding is cooked when the liquid has reduced and it looks creamy and delicious. Best served with vanilla ice cream.

Greek Lentil, Spinach & Feta Soup

This delicious soup was made for me soon after my son was born by my good friend Cybele. I don't know if it was the insatiable appetite of a breastfeeding mother, the rampant hormones or the love and care with which she made it that made it so memorable but it instantly became one of my favourite soups. It is high in iron, folate, vitamin C, calcium, protein and fibre - especially great for pregnant or new mothers!

500g brown lentils

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 ltr vegetable stock

english spinach

feta cheese (preferably a hard block that you can slice reasonably thinly)

lemon juice

Saute the onion and garlic gently in olive oil. Add the lentils and stir for a couple of minutes then add the stock and simmer for 30 mins. Meanwhile soak the english spinach in water then add to the hot soup 5 mins before serving. Serve topped with slices of the feta and a generous squeeze of lemon juice, cracked pepper and a little olive oil. 

Pina Colada

If the sun is shining, the day is warm and, particularly, if you have a swimming pool handy - this is the drink to enjoy!

2 oz. rum

1 oz. coconut cream

1 oz. thickened cream

6 oz. pineapple juice

1/2 cup crushed ice

Blend and serve in a highball glass with a pineapple wedge. 

Chocolate Almond Cake with Rhubarb Cream

Rhubarb is one of the most beautiful plants in my garden with huge leaves supported on succulent ruby red stalks. The leaves are poisonous but the stalks are delicious stewed with a little sugar and served with ice cream or as a crumble base, or with chocolate...

This is the most sublime cake from Irish chef Rachel Allen who I adore. Recently I made it for Rose's Birthday Dinner and received the utmost compliment from one of our guests who asked if I'd bought it at Bourke Street Bakery. Need I say more!

125g Dark Chocolate

4 Eggs

150g Castor Sugar

150g Ground Almonds

150g Rhubarb, sliced into inch long pieces

2 Tbs Raw Sugar

Fresh Cream, whipped

Preheat the oven to 180•C. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Meanwhile beat the eggs and castor sugar for 5 minutes with an electric hand beater. Stir in the melted chocolate and mix well. Then gently fold in the ground almonds. Divide into two lined and greased 18cm round tins and bake 20 mins. 

Stew the rhubarb with sugar and water to just cover in a pot until tender. Allow to cool then assemble cake by sandwiching the chocolate rounds with rhubarb and cream. A truly decadent dessert. 

Bean Soup

The smell of this soup cooking reminds me of Saturday night dinners at the Gelato Bar in Bondi Beach where we used to go for family dinners when I was a kid. Dad would always start with this soup and finish with lemon gelato.

Half Packet Red Kidney Beans, soaked overnight

1 Ham Hock

1 Brown Onion, quartered

2 Garlic Cloves

2 Beef Stock Cubes

Bung everything into a large pot, cover with water and bring to a low simmer. Then let it cook all day, skimming any scum from the surface and topping it up with hot water a little until you are left with a thick, delicious liquid. Some of the beans will thicken the soup and the meat will fall off the bone. Then just remove the skin and bones from the hock and break up the pork and check for seasoning.