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This is one of the nicest curries I've ever tasted. It's rich and creamy and a seriously classic dish -(Lloyd)

Preheat oven to 150 degC.

Heat the oil and brown the beef. Remove with a slotted spoon and leave aside.

Add to the beef juices the cardamom pods, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and cinnamon (add more oil if there is not enough). Cook for about 5 minutes, or until spices swell.

Add the onions and fry for about 5 minutes. Throw in the garlic, ginger and fry for 30 seconds.Stir in the dry spices and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add the beef and juices and mix well. Blend the yoghurt in slowly - one tablespoon at time - over a low to medium heat. Cook for five minutes, add 275mls of water and cover.

Finish in the oven for two hours of slow cooking, stirring every now and then. If it is looking too wet, remove the lid until sauce reduces.

The resulting meat should be coated in a lovely rich, flavoursome sauce.Sprinkle with garam masala and fresh ground pepper and serve with basmat rice and raita. Simply delicious!

Dust the shanks and brown in a little olive oil. Throw into a casserole dish. Using the dish you browned them in, fry garlic and onions until soft. Add rosemary, season and add the liquid.

Cook 5 to 10 minutes then pour over shanks. Pop into medium oven for 2 to 3 hours.

This looks amazing on a serving platter, with the bay leaves and peppercorns along side. A real stunner, and too easy to cook. Serve with Potato and Sorrel Gratin - Lloyd

Preheat oven to 240 C.

Heat some oil in a large dish. Sear pork all over in a little olive oil. Remove from dish and add the vinegar. Boil until it starts to reduce, 2 or 3 minutes. Reduce heat and add remaining ingredients, and return the pork to dish. Cover with tinfoil or place a lid over the contents and bake in the oven until cooked. Ensure that the pork is well covered with the juices and baste from time to time.

Take a handful of parsley and chop finely, then chop 2 or 3 garlic cloves. Then chop these two together a bit. Use this as the first layer in your roast. Then add a layer of olives and finally a layer of about 8 anchovies (bought from the supermarket, in oil) add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Tie the roast or roll back together and put in a roasting pan. Make several large slits in the roast and push in sprigs of sage. Add a splash or two of olive oil and some white wine to the pan

Throughout cooking baste in more wine (and drink the rest of the bottle of white wine in between bastings). When cooked, slice and serve. Make a gravy out of all the pan juices, watered down and thickened.

In a heavy skillet, fry the beef in the butter until nicely browned. Remove it from the pan and throw in the onions and saute until golden. Pour in the stock and when boiling, mix in the herbs, the lemon rind, anchovy fillets and the browned beef. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour.

Chop rosemary, mushrooms and place over beef. Drizzle over olive oil, balsamic vinegar and season. Enclose in tinfoil and cook 15 minutes for every 500gms of meat.

Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes. Mix pan juice with red wine, mushrooms and thicken with cornflour mixed with water.

Serve with the gravy poured over the top.

Tart up that classic Pork Roast with these exquisite caramalised apples, with strong overtones of Rosemay. Excess is excellent in this case!

Rub the skin of the Pork with olive oil and salt and then place into an oven bag and cook for recommended time. When cooked, take the roast out of the oven bag, saving the juices to make gravy. Remove the string bag and grill the crackling until completely crispy. Set the pork aside to rest.

Quarter the apples and remove the pips. Place them in a roasting dish and sprinkle with lots of chopped rosemary, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a dollop of honey to sweeten.

Roast in a medium oven until the apples go mushy (if you prefer firm apples, use another variety). Whilst they are roasting, make the gravy in a saucepan on the stove. When the apples are done, arrange them artistically around the Pork Roast on a serving platter. Serve hot with the gravy on the side. (Always good to have something on the side!) Roast spuds go well with the dish and a good red wine will complement the flavours. Cheers!

Pears can be prepared in the same manner as the apples, allowed to cool and served with crumbled Blue Cheese. This makes a fabulous starter.

If you are a Bacon and egg pie lover then you just have to try Harrys version. Its like a meal in a pie. As with all of Harry's recipes you will estimate quantities to suit your needs.

Flour your bench or board and roll out the flaky pastry and line a deep pie dish.

Then layer kumara, onion, potato and more onion.

Sprinkle some mixed veges and herbs

Add the beaten eggs,

Layer the bacon

Add a final layer of thinly slice potatoes and finish pouring the beaten eggs ensuring that its full

The overhang pastry, push to the middle of the pie and finish the top with grated cheese

Will take approx an hour to hour and a half to cook at 175 degrees

Bake empty egg shells hard and crumble to return grit to chooks

Lloyd's Indian Style Rice

I only make rice this way as for me its fail-proof and delicious.

Melt 100 grams of butter in a pot that you can put a close fitting lid on. Lightly sauté a medium onion that is very finely diced.

Throw in 400 grams of rice (basmati or jasmine) and toss through the onions so that the rice becomes transparent looking - this will happen quite quickly.

Add 700ml of water and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down very very low and simmer for twenty minutes by which time the water will be totally absorbed and you will be left with buttery rice.

Harry didn't used to eat Lasagne until we made up this recipe.

Heat oil and add bay leaves, thyme oregano and mince. Cook for a few minutes. Add onion, pepper, salt and pepper and soup. Throw in any other veggies lurking in your fridge, such as celery, mushrooms or whatever is there. Add parsley.

Layer with sheets of lasagna and cheese, finishing with a grated cheese layer.

Easy Cheese Sauce

1 dsp butter

1 dsp flour

1 cup milk

salt and pepper

1 beaten egg

Melt butter, add flour, milk and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Add beaten egg, and keep stirring then pour this over the top of lasagna. Bake 3/4 hour in hot oven.

Cook the rice, and put on a platter. Sprinkle cheese on top. Fry sage, torn into chunks, in oil. Remove and drizzle the sage flavoured oil over the rice. Season and serve.

Sauté the finely chopped onions in butter, throw in the tomatoes and cook all together. Add the bacon and cook for approximately 30 minutes. Flavour with salt and pepper and the fresh herbs and cook for an additional 15 to 30 minutes so that you end up with a sauce like texture that tastes great.

Whilst the sauce is simmering away, in another pot, bring to the boil enough salted water to cook the two packets of Spaghetti and when on a rolling boil add them and cook until tender. Chop the cooked spaghetti somewhat so that it’s easier to get into jars. Drain and mix into the tomato sauce mixture.

Spoon into hot Agee jars making sure there is no air space. Fill to the top of the jar but not overfull. Use a spatula down the sides of the jar to make sure there are no large air pockets then I topped the jars up and overflowed slightly with boiling water from the kettle, wipe the rim clean and seal screwing the rings down tightly.

When cold remove rings, wash the jars and store in a dark dry cupboard.

Keep the green part of the fennel. Slice the fennel as finely as possible so each piece remains attached to a stalk. Place in a bowl of ice water with lemon to prevent discoloration.

Heat up the Barbie. Drain and dry the fennel then grill until they are al dente. Place in a bowl and toss with the olive oil and lemon dressing.

Serve at room temperature.

For Lemon and Oil Dressing...

6 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt and ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and this ones ready to go!

Toss together and make a simple dressing using olive oil (3 parts) and white wine or balsamic vinegar (1 part). To this can be added a dash of mustard, salt and pepper. Crushed ripe strawberries enchances the flavour.

Wash lettuce and tear into a bowl and chill. Mix the french dressing and pour over the lettuce, toss and add cheese, anchovies and raw egg. Just before serving add the cold garlic croutons and serve immediately.

Peel and thinly slice potatoes. Just cover with cold, salted water and bring to the boil. Cook until just tender, about 10 minutes. Don't overcook or the potatoes will tend to go mushy. Drain, and place in a bowl. Put oil, freshly ground black pepper, dill, vinegar and mustard into a blender and mix well. Add salad burnet to vinegarette and pour over the potatoes while still warm and serve. This dish can be served cold with good results.

The other night I was at the supermarket faced with that usual dilemma of someone coming for dinner and what to have. There in front of me was fresh salmon, something I don't usually dabble with but I though it would be quick and easy having watched a friend cook it a couple of weeks ago.

I thought that I would try and remove the bones which turned out to be surprisingly easy. Grab those tweezers that are usually used for beautifying purposes and feel for the bones in the steaks pinch them hard and pull. I found that they were all in a row in my steaks.

I rubbed in liberally some Tarragon oil and seasoned with rock salt and freshly ground pepper. On each piece I lay slices of Kaffir limes and a whole bunch of coarsely cut Kaffir lime leaves, a generous amount of capers and some dill. I then covered the steaks with tinfoil and baked them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Remember you have to be careful not to overcook Salmon!

I served the salmon on a bed of rice cooked in an Indian style with butter and finely chopped onions, tomato salsa and tossed salad of mesculun and rocket leaves.

Heat oil in a skillet and add celery and onion, sauté until tender. Add the garlic, thyme and bay. Pour in the fish stock, tomato puree and peppers - bring to the boil and lower to a simmer. Add fish and cook for twenty minutes before adding the prawns and the seasoning. Cook another 2 minutes, serve immediately in bowls with crusty garlic bread.

Finely chop two onions and sauté in a frying pan with a little olive oil. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of capers and continue to sauté, and then add chopped capsicums and the smoked salmon. Add handfuls of chopped parsley and quite a bit of freshly ground black pepper. Add cream slowly on low heat until you get a thickened sauce.

Meanwhile have a pot with salt and water on the boil and add herbs, such as rosemary and bay leaves, and olive oil. Cook penne or pasta until tender and then rinse under hot water and drain.

Combine pasta with the salmon cream sauce. Add heaps of chopped dill and parmesan and serve with rolls and a great salad.

NOTE: You can make this with bacon, left over chicken, smoked salmon.

Grill the eggplant until soft, about 2 to 3 minutes and put to one side. Heat the oil in a large pot and sauté the bell peppers, chilli, and onion until soft. Add the garlic, stock, tomatoes, eggplant and parsley and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Serve with fresh rolls.

This is a taste sensation and easy to whip up.

Chop the onion finely and sauté lightly in the butter, add shredded lettuce and cook for approximately10 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and stock and bring to the boil, add rice and cook 20 minutes. Just before serving add the parmesan cheese and a handful of either chopped parsley, chives or coriander to give colour appeal and flavour. I used parsley as that was all I had but chervil could add an interesting flavour.

Saute the Onions in butter, add the curry paste and curry powder, Once the onion has become translucent add the diced potatoe and kumara and continue to sauté in the butter for approx half an hour or until partially cooked

Add water to just more than cover and con tinue to cook until the potatoes and kumara are cooked through. You may need to add water to make a soup consistency. Add the handfuls of cress and continue to cook for a further half an hour.

Once cooked then process the soup until pureed.

Serve hot

Preheat oven to 180C, lightly grease ovenproof dish.

Using a wooden spoon, beat egg yolks and two-thirds of the sugar until pale, then stir in flours and combine well. Add lemon juice, lemon rind,milk and melted butter and combine well. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add remaining sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into lemon mixture gently, in two batches, until just combined. Pour into greased dish and place in a deep roasting pan, then pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up side of dish and bake at 180C for 45 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with thick cream.

I have been thoroughly spoilt this week as Chris came armed not only with a beautiful gift of a collectible Narcissus cyclaminius Wilma (hope that I got the name right) but these awesome cookies and I tell you that they sound like my style of baking!!! I quote These can be eaten on their own but are nicer with whipped cream and fruit. They will store for up to 10 days in an air tight container so are excellent for afternoon tea or dessert that can be made ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 180 C

Beat egg whites with salt until foamy

Gradually add sugar sugar and continue beating until you have a glossy stiff meringue

add vanilla, almond and chocolate chips and fold togather.

Drop spoonfuls on a tray covered with baking paper

Put in oven and turn oven off and leave there for a minimum of three hours with door closed

LOL forget about for a while.

Lightly toast beans and almonds (separately) in a cast iron frying pan. Finely chop all the almonds in a kitchen whiz, coarsely chop half the espresso beans with a knife (don't forget to sharpen it again afterwards!) and use a coffee grinder to turn the remainder into fine grounds.

In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and rub in the butter. Now add all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Knead for about 2 minutes, and shape into four small, oval rolls. Lightly dust, and pop into oven for 25 minutes. When cool, cut into thin slices and lay sideways on a tray and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes until the slices are hard and crisp.

When cool, transfer to an air-tight container.

Separate eggs and beat whites until they form soft peaks. Soften butter and beat with caster sugar until creamy. Add yolks one at a time beating between, then fold in self-raising flour, coconut (or ground almonds) and baking powder. Then gently stir in milk and plain yoghurt. Fold in beaten egg whites and the 1 � cups of sliced feijoas.

Place extra feijoa slices on top to decorate before baking @ 150c for 1 to 1 � hours in a reasonably shallow dish. Serve warm as a dessert.

Remove pips from the orange and finely chop with skin on then place in a kitchen whizz and add orange juice, egg, oil and dates. Pulse briefly. Tip into large bowl and gently fold dry ingredients in orange mixture except for the brown sugar and walnuts. Spoon into greased muffin pan and sprinkle over the top the combined brown sugar and walnuts. Bake 15 minutes @ 200c. Cool briefly in pan and tip on to wire rack to cool further. Walnuts can be substituted by mixing cinnamon and brown sugar together and sprinklinge on top before baking.

Peel and slice 2 large apples, approx 2 cups.

Place apples in bowl with 1/2 cup sultanas and 1/2 cup of walnuts.

Pour over these - 1 cup of sugar.

Melt 4oz of butter.

Add 1 egg to melted butter and beat well, then pour over apples. Stir lightly.

Add to 1 1/2 cups of flour - 1 tsp of baking soda - 1/4 tsp salt - 1 tsp cinnamon - 1/2 tsp

nutmeg - 1/2 tsp mixed spice.

Sift dry ingredients into bowl with apples and stir gently until fruit is covered.

Put into well greased 8" tin.

Bake 1 hour in med oven 180c - 190c.

Cool before removing from tin.

To serve, dust with extra icing sugar.

Mix all the ingredients together. Roll mixture out on a floured surface and cut into squares or rounds and place on a baking tray. Pop the tray into a preheated oven at 215 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden on top.

Serve with whipped cream and lemon curd.

(For unsweetened scones use soda water.)

You can't go past this recipe for a better tasting, high class cake. Serve it with whipped yoghurt and cream.

Preheat oven to 325F (160 C).

Butter and flour a 30cm cake tin. Beat butter and sugar. Stir in the ground almonds and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold in peel and juice, polenta, baking powder and salt. Spoon into tin and bake 45 minutes or until set.

Put all ingredients, except eggs, into a little jug and cook on high for 1 - 2 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Mix and gradually add the egg mixture stirring well. Return mixture to jug and cook on med, stirring every minute until mixture thickens, 3 - 5 minutes. The mixture will thicken more as it cools.

Damn easy to make. Just as easy to drink and perfect to whip out for an impromptu session in the sun with friends. Just don't have too many LOL We found this recipe in a River Caf� Cook book by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers. We doubled the recipe so that it used the entire bottle of vodka and made many batches a few summers back. It looks really cool served in marguerite glasses. We found that granita made from a true lemon like Yen Ben or similar had the bestest flavour but there was no problem downing them made from the good ole Meyer.

To make, dissolve the sugar in the water and boil briefly until you have a light syrup and then cool

Wash the lemons and grate the zest of 6 of them and juice all 8. Mix the zest and juice together and you should end up with approx. 500ml

Smash the ice and mix in with the syrup, vodka and lemon zest mix. Freeze. youll find that it wont freeze properly due to the vodka so kinda smash or mix and serve and drink immediately !!!!

Dad made this most amazing cake the other day, came home to find it in our pantry. Apparently the recipe was in a copy of the Woman’s weekly. If you like Louise cake then youll love this one and I reckon that this would make a great dessert cake!!!

Cake

Mix the dried and drained tinned apricots together and leave to soften then blitz in a food processor.

Cream butter and sugar together and when fluffy start adding the eggs one at a time with a little of the flour to stabalise, fold in the remaining flour almonds zest and milk.

Spoon half the mixture into a 23cm spring form line cake tin (if you have one) that has been previously lined with baking paper and sides greased. Smooth this layer and add the apricot mixture, then top with the remaining cake mix in spoonfuls over the apricots and smooth out gently.

Topping

3 egg whites

½ cup caster sugar

1 ½ cups dessicated coconut

Topping

Whip egg white until stiff, add sugar and beat fold in the coconut and then spread this mixture on top of the cake

Cook for 60 to 70 mins in 180 C oven or until a skewer comes out clean Remove from oven loosen and cool in tin.

Now we had a meeting the other day with Chris who writes all our label descriptions amongst other things. She fronts up with all her notes and a cake tin full of Louise Cake. Now if you had a 30 year old mulberry in your garden you'd remember your mother making louise cake LOl so I dredged out the good ole Edmonds cook book so that you too could taste a blast from the past. Its meant to be made with raspberry jam but you you could use some of that home made plum jam instead.

Cream butter and sugar, add egg yolks, then sifted flour and baking powder. Press into greased sponge roll tin and spread with jam.

Topping

2 egg whites

125g Sugar

50g Coconut

Beat egg whites until quite stiff, add sugar and coconut, fold together and spread on top of the jam. Bake 30 minutes at 180 degrees

When cool, cut into small squares and serve with coffee or tea

Dad has been popping over with his brandy pot lately and a tub of ice cream which was real handy one night when we had guests over for dinner and no dessert This recipe is from The NZ Crockpot Cookbook by Joan Bishop and Im sure that you can use it as a base and modify to what ever you have in the cupboards. Im know that Harry used to make this with fruit mix and duty free Jagermeister as his own special brew.

Place all ingredients in the crock pot, cover with lid and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours.

Cool and spoon into jars and will keep almost indefinitely in the fridge. Serve over icecream

Anthony's Fail Proof Chocolate Cake

This is Anthony's fail-proof Chocolate cake. Many a time when we have been caught short for a dessert, Anthony has whipped out this recipe and rustled up this cake. He has served it just as a Chocolate cake or we have modified it to make a dessert by adding fruit, cream or whatever. The basic recipe is as follows and I always double it for an average sized ring tin. (photo shown is recipe doubled). (This recipe is even so fail proof that one time we managed to cook it on grill, and it was still edible)

Throw everything into the bowl and add half to three quarters of a cup of boiling water. Beat it all together for three minutes with an e1ectric mixer. Pour into a ring tin and bake for approx 1 hour at 180 degrees. Check after approx 50 min with a skewer.

VARIATIONS

Cherry Chocolate Cake

Grab a can of cherries and add them to the bottom of the ring tin, then pour over the cake mixture and bake.

Marble Cake

Divide the mixture into two, add cocoa to one half of the mix. Pour the two mixes together to create a marbled effect cake. Ice with melted chocolate when cooled.

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Melt the butter in a largish pot. Add feijoas and sugar and cook till sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Sift together the dry ingredients and mix the feijoas into them. Add the crystallised ginger and pour into a greased and lined ring pan and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool in pan and turn out.

This is a yummy way to use Persimmons. It is moist and caramelly - a bit like carrot cake. Pete proofed the persimmon pudding recipe and Harry decorated the cake. (He always takes the cake!)

1. Preheat oven to 400deg F. In a large bowl, mix the persimmon pulp, eggs, butter, milk and vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a third at a time.

4. Bake in a buttered glass pan at 400 degF until done (about 50 minutes).

Top with a dollop of whipped cream.

Serves 8.

We had this surplus of limes so I conned Dad into making this dessert for us. He used this recipe from (C/- Sweet Food Murdoch Books)

Roll out and press your pastry into a loose bottomed 23cm flan tin, we used a pie dish with baking paper under the pastry

Bake the base blind for approx 10 to 15mins in an oven of 180 C. (Use baking beads or baking paper with rice)

Leave to cool

Meanwhile using electric beaters, beat the egg yolks condensed milk lime juice, zest in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until well combined

Pour into the pie shell and smooth the surface

Bake again for 20 to 25 minutes or until set

Remove from oven, allow to cool completely and refrigerate until well chilled

Garnish with lime slice serve dusted with icing sugar and whipped cream

I just love this spring vegetable and we have had heaps thanks to one of the team living down the road from the grower. I have been lightly blanching the spears in boiling water and then cooling them down in cold water. Dry the spears off and drizzle over a balsamic dressing and chopped roasted pumpkin seeds or instead of the seeds finely chopped tomatoes. Make your own dressing with olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, honey salt and pepper to taste.

Dressing

Olive oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Honey

Salt and pepper

This is an utterly wonderful recipe and I highly recommend it - pure taste sensation. And all you need are those fennel bulbs - Lloyd

Heat the oil in a frying pan or large pot. Add the fennel, salt and pepper and sauté over a medium heat until the fennel begins to brown - about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to fry until it is light brown. Add sufficient boiling water to cover a third of the way up the fennel, then lower the heat. Simmer without the lid until the fennel is very soft, about 15 minutes.

The idea is to cook the fennel slowly until all the water has evaporate. Serve hot and garnish with chopped parsley. A wonderful dish.

Precook broccoli and set aside. Heat a skillet with oil and add:

Heat until seeds begin to pop and then add the al dente broccoli and sauté briefly until heated through. Simple and very good.

This was one of the easiest and nicest forms of scalloped potatoes I've made - Lloyd

Throw potatos in a pot, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook until just tender and drain. In a pan, melt the butter and add the sorrel leaves, cook until wilted (5 minutes) Slowly add the cream, over a gentle heat. Simmer for 5 minutes. Layer the potato mix with parmesan, salt and pepper.

Pour over the sorrel and cream mix over the potatos and bake in a hot oven, for about 30 minutes. Yum!

This is simple and stunning. I had planned a no-stress dinner with friends, and had decided on simply mashing the spuds. However, when the time came, I opted for this instead. Its almost as easy and damned impressive.

Take half a cup of butter and melt in a roasting pan, on top of the stove. Throw in the wedged vegetables, and thyme, salt and pepper and sauté briefly. Add balsamic vinegar and bake in a reasonably hot oven until cooked - about three-quarters of an hour. Its important to turn often. Serves 6.

Crisply refreshing, bursting with flavour and very different - try this out on dinner quests. Prepare the batter well in advance so all you have to do is deep fry the vegetables.

Mix together to make a smooth batter

A se1ection of thinly sliced vegetables. I used:

Potato

Carrot

Onion

Kumara

Florets of fresh parsley, whole sage or sorrel leaves

Heat oil for deep frying. Dip vegetables in batter, and, using a slotted spoon, place into oil. Fry in small batches - it should take about 1 - 3 minutes for the vegetables, and mere seconds for parsley or leaves. Drain on brown paper and serve hot.

This is a different way to use those odds and ends that fill up the fridge. It is quite easy to do and tastes great.

Chop the vegetables roughly and set aside.

Tapenade dressing ...

20 stoned black olives

1/2 cup capers

Tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, and a handful of parsley.

Using that sharp knife, cut all the above ingredients to make tapenade. Spread this on bottom of a serving dish. Chargrill the vegetables quickly on the barbeque, until just cooked. Arrange on top of the tapenarde, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with herbs or parmesan cheese, or both.

Add the cauliflower to a pot of boiling water and blanch briefly, or alternatively zap in the microwave. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil, sauté the garlic and tomatoes, paprika, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the hot sauce and coriander, cauli and cook further 5 minutes.

Enough potatoes for each person and the same number of bay leaves, and one and a half tablespoons of olive oil, a small amount chopped, fresh garlic.

Preheat oven to 400F, Make a deep slit in the long side of each scrubbed potato - about three quarters of the way through - and insert a bay leaf into the slit. Put oil in a baking dish in the oven and when hot, add the garlic. Roll the potatoes in the oil so that all surfaces are covered. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. The potatoes will become flavoured by the bay leaves.

Wash silverbeet in cold water. Trim stalks and discard. Melt butter in pan with rosemary and add leaves chopped with pepper and salt. Cook until tender, drain, remove rosemary and serve immediately.

Prepare meat joint as normal, dust with flour, and season with salt and pepper. With a sharp knife make deep cuts in meat and insert whole sticks of rosemary in these and alternate using garlic cloves as well. Roast in oven. Use rosemary sticks for extra tasty kebabs.

During the height of the summer, gardeners are harvesting bucket loads of tomatoes, aubergines, capsicum and zucchinis. They are the most fabulous combination when slow baked as a Ratatouille.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Pour a couple of glugs of olive oil into a wide, deep casserole dish – Pyrex is excellent. Chop onions into strips, cut aubergines into largish cubes, add them to the dish and toss them in the olive oil to coat. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes with the lid on. Stir once or twice.

Meanwhile, chop capsicum into squares, zucchini into fairly chunky rounds and peel the garlic and chop it fine. Add these ingredients to the dish when the aubergine and onion have been done for 25 minutes and are starting to soften. Sprinkle some herb salt and freshly ground black pepper and chuck in a bay leaf or three. Put the lid back on and pop the casserole back in the oven and allow another 30 minutes baking time.

Meanwhile, skin the tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them in a bowl, leave for 5 minutes and then peel the skin away. Chop into rough chunky bits, place in a bowl and sprinkle some brown sugar over them.

Add to the casserole, toss well (the French word ‘touiller’ means ‘to toss food’ – that’s where the name Ratatouille comes from) and place in the oven again for another 20 minutes – with the lid off. Turn the oven off and leave the casserole in the oven with the lid on until ready to serve.

This makes a fantastic meal on its own, served with some crusty bread, polenta or rice, or as a side to almost any meat dish. It is also fantastic mixed through pasta and sprinkled with parmesan. Those who like things hot can sprinkle some chilli devils over the dish. Yum!