Homemade Dips

Dips are so easy and versatile to make that you'll wonder why you ever bought the tiny overpriced supermarket tubs. 

Hummus

1 tin chick peas, drained

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 lemon, juiced plus zest

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tbs tahini

1 tsp paprika

1 Tbs olive oil 

salt & pepper

Toast the cumin seeds in a fry pan for a minute til they are fragrant, then wizz them in a little coffee grinder to a fine powder. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend. You can add a couple of oven roasted tomatoes or chargrilled capsicums too for variety. Garnish with parsley and serve with carrot sticks and lavosh crackers. 

Babaghanoush & Feta Dip

1 large eggplant

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tub herb marinated feta with 1-2 Tbs oil

mint, chopped

1 lemon, juiced

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend. I find adding the feta gives the dip a better texture and is a nice way to use the flavoured oil.

Leandra's Gingerbread

Christmas to me is about homemade gifts, a tradition I'm sharing with my children. This year my good friend Leandra, who is a fabulous cook, shared her wonderful gingerbread recipe with me. Tom and I wrapped our gingerbread reindeer and men in cellophane tied with red ribbon for Tim's family who were coming to stay and even a week later they were still a delicious present!

125g unsalted butter at room temperature

0.5 cup brown sugar

0.5 cup golden syrup

1 egg yolk

2.5 cups plain flour

1 Tbs ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp bicarb soda

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Then add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat well. Sift in the flour, bicarb and spices and mix. Then knead on a floured surface until smooth, wrap in gladwrap and rest in the fridge for 30mins. Preheat your oven to 180•C. 

Roll out the mixture between two sheets of baking paper and use biscuit cutters to stamp out shapes and decorate with currants. (The mixture softens really quickly so you may find you need to pop it in the freezer for a few minutes to harden it again.) Bake for 10-12 mins and cool completely on wire racks.

Summer Pavlova

This pavlova recipe is the perfect cake for a party - fresh mango & whipped cream is heavenly. But most importantly, it can be stretched to feed 20 or more with ease!

8 egg whites

500g caster sugar - look out for 'natural' sugar, not bleached.

4tsp lemon juice

2Tbs corn flour

500ml thin cream, whipped with vanilla essence 

& a little icing sugar

3-4 large mangoes, skinned and sliced

10 passionfruit

NB. The bowl & beaters you use to whisk the egg whites must be completely clean and perfectly dry otherwise the egg whites won't work. Also, if you make the pavlova on a humid day it may weep a bit but that's okay, just don't make it too early in the day and you'll get away with it. In winter you could make it a day ahead if you like and cover it with beautiful winter fruit instead.

Preheat oven to 150•C. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then whisk in the caster sugar a little at a time allowing it to dissolve between each addition. It will become very thick and glossy then add the lemon juice and sifted corn flour last. Spread evenly over two large baking trays lined with baking paper and greased lightly. The mixture should be about 3 cms thick. Bake on the lowest shelf for half an hour, turn off the heat and allow it to cool in the oven, or even sit there out of site until you're ready to assemble it.

Get a guest at the party to whip the cream. Someone else to cut up the passionfruit. If you're really organised you'll already have prepared the mangoes earlier in the day and all that needs to be done is a big assemblage. Its messy but that's one of the delights of fresh homemade pavlova!

Roast Tomato & Goats Cheese Fettucini

A delicious easy, creamy pasta dish - the goats cheese literally melts into the hot pasta. The squishy, succulent tomatoes can be roasted anytime the oven's on and stored for a couple of days in the fridge until you're ready to use them.

Serves 3

8 large roma tomatoes

120g goats cheese

handful of basil leaves

fettucini

pine nuts and sliced almonds, toasted

shaved parmesan

Slice the tomatoes length ways and arrange closely on an oven tray. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. Sprinkle with fresh thyme or sage if you like too, then pop in the bottom of an oven about 170-180• and leave to roast for an hour or so. The lower the oven the longer you can roast them and the more intense the flavour will become. 

Then cook your fettucini in a big pot of boiling salted water - reserve a little of the water when you strain it. Heat the tomatoes gently in a large fry pan if you've made them the day before, break up the goats cheese and toss in the pasta and basil adding some liquid if you need to. Garnish with shaved parmesan, nuts and cracked pepper.

Snow Pea & Prawn Stir Fry

A stir fry celebrating the crunch of Spring snow peas, which along with the Vietnamese mint, are from my garden and are both incredibly easy to grow. The ginger gives it a bite without the heat of chili which you could add if you liked.

Oh, here are a couple of stir-fry tricks that I have learnt the hard way: Prepare all your ingredients before you start cooking and use an oil with a high burning point, not olive oil. 

Serves 2
8 Green Prawns
20 or so freshly picked Snow Peas
Half a Red Capsicum, in chunky pieces
4 Spring Onions, sliced in inch long pieces
1 thumb sized piece of Ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
Vietnamese Mint leaves
1/4 cup Teriyaki Sauce
2tsp cornflour
1/2 cup Chicken Stock, or water
Peanut Oil
Sesame Oil
Rice to serve

First put on your rice, then shell and devein the green prawns and marinate them in the teriyaki sauce while you prepare the ingredients. Put a wok on a high heat then in a small bowl mix the cornflour with the stock or water to make a paste then add the remaining liquid. Add a liberal amount of peanut oil with a dash of sesame oil for flavour to your hot wok. Throw in the prawns and cook 5 minutes max then remove to a plate. Add a little more oil if necessary then throw in the ginger and shallots and keep them moving. Then add the capsicum and snow peas. Give them a minute before you put the prawns back in and pour in the remainder of the teriyaki marinade and the cornflour mixture. Stir gently to combine then leave for a minute for the sauce to thicken but don't over cook! Serve with rice and garnish liberally with beautiful aromatic Vietnamese mint.

French Toast with Blueberries

French toast sizzling in the fry pan is made even more luscious by adding a few frozen blueberries to heat through at the last minute. The trick with french toast is not to have the fry pan too hot so the egg cooks gently yet the edge becomes crisp. Add a liberal glug or two of maple syrup to serve, et voila!

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.