Strawberry and fig pastries – to welcome the new year

We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential. Ellen Goodman As usual we spent our New…

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It’s hot in Brisbane but it’s Coolangatta – summer salads for celebrations

It’s so hot here – unreasonably hot for November, and as my thoughts turn towards upcoming end-of-year and Christmas celebrations, I’ve gathered a collection of my salad recipes for inspiration and to help me to keep cool in the kitchen. There’s something here for all tastes, and each one has a little twist to lift it above the…

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Sweet chilli and sesame dressing

I eat a lot of salad. A lot. It’s part of a significant change in my diet to improve my health and lose weight. And I really love salad, so it’s been an enjoyable refocus, and an opportunity to develop creativity with salad and dressing ingredients. This dressing is a riff on a Jamie Oliver…

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Heritage tomatoes – no recipe required

Sometimes, the food we put on our table does not need to be cooked, or prepared in a special way, or even garnished. On its own it speaks to us; with beauty, astonishing flavour, and a certain joy that’s inherent with the feeding of the soul as well as the body. That’s how I felt…

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Cherry tomato tarts with mascarpone and herbs

It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato. Lewis Grizzard For my friends in the northern hemisphere winter is ended and spring is bringing with it the promise of picnics, long sunshine filled days and new season fruits and vegetables – asparagus, baby peas, tiny new potatoes and strawberries. I’m…

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Tomato sauce, and leaving home

  The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.    Denis Waitley Over the summer both of my boys have moved out of home and into the world of shared living. It’s a very quiet house without them, and I miss them, but I am…

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Pumpkin and haloumi bruschettta

Some of my favourite things are combined in these tasty bruschetta; perfect for serving as a snack, or to pass around among friends with a chilled glass of wine. Sweet pumpkin, salty and squeaky haloumi, tangy lemon, crunchy almonds and fragrant oregano work wonderfully together to top the toasted slices of bread. Use the best…

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Grilled peaches with thick yogurt and lime syrup

“you are ever the only one i want to give all the peaches in my heart to the only one by whom i want them bruised.”  Sanober Khan A ripe peach, headily perfumed and heavy with sweet juice, is one of the delights of summer. I have been thinking over the last few days of friends…

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Cherry pie (she CAN bake a cherry pie, Billy boy)

Oh, where have you been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Oh, where have you been, charming Billy? I have been to seek a wife, she’s the joy of my life, She’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother. Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? Can she make a cherry pie, charming Billy? She…

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Summer greens with cous cous

“A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl.” Yotam Ottolenghi This delicious salad sparkles with summer flavours and textures, and I do believe that it makes perfect sense for all of them to be there; in the bowl, on the plate, and in the…

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