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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.

Fry Bacon, Onion and Garlic in Olive Oil on a high heat. When nice and brown turn down heat and add Pine Nuts and Mushrooms. Next add Canned Tomatoes, Seasoning and Tomato Paste. Give it a stir, put lid on pan and cook for about 15mins. Cook Pasta of your choice to go with sauce and serve with a sprinkling of cheese, chopped parsley and another shake of Oregano on top. Works well if you cook sauce day before or morning before.

* Use Fresh Tomatoes if you prefer. Enjoy.

We had heaps of Passion fruit this summer and rather than let them go to waste we set about preserving them. A really simple process, the longest part is scooping the pulp from all the fruits. Its all too easy!

Combine pulp and sugar in a pot and bring to the boil. Simmer briefly approximately five minutes and pour into hot sterilised jam jars that have lids with a seal. Screw lids down tightly and they should pop down as the pulp cools.

Preserved passion fruit pulp is great to have on hand. Delicious as toppings on ice cream and the likes of pavalova. Add to fresh fruit salad or as additional flavour to other sweets and desserts

Thank you to all those that sent in recipes for Feijoas. I have to say that Feijoa and coconut cake is devine and probably one of my favourite cakes, I want to say a special thanks to Caroline who wrote Hi Lloyd and Harry and Harrys dad, If you google Peter Gordons Roast Feijoa and Manuka Chutney recipe you will find something divine. I made it when I had a glut of feijoas in our previous garden. Sadly I am still waiting for the one year old trees to come into fruit in this garden. This is one of the most amazing flavours you will ever eat!!!! Great with everything from meat to cheese. Envy the glut. Kind regards, Caroline Well I did the appropriate google printed off the recipe sheet and handed it over to dad, Well just as Caroline says its divine

Mix the first seven ingredients together and leave in a covered bowl overnight

Next day add remaining ingredients and mix well then place in a non-corrosive roasting dish and place in an oven preheated to 180c

It will take between 2 to 3 hours to cook at which point you will need to have stirred it from time to time.

It is cooked when the liquid has mostly evaporated and the onions and fruit have begun to caramelise slightly

Taste for seasoning then spoon into very hot sterilised jars and seal

Bottling fresh fruit is really easy. Open a jar of bottled peaches for all manner of desserts and cooking.

Peel peaches and stone if free stone, otherwise cut from the stone in large pieces. I keep my peach pieces in lightly salted water to stop them going brown.

Have clean preserving jars in a low heat oven to sterilise and to have hot ready for bottling.

Syrup

Sugar

Water

To make a sweet syrup use cup for cup of water and sugar but use less sugar for a lighter syrup. Make an amount of syrup suitable for quantity of peaches being preserved.

Bring syrup to the boil, when boiling add peach pieces, and bring to the boil again. Don't overcook as peaches will go mushy. Spoon fruit into warm jars until full and then overflow with syrup. If more syrup is needed for the next batch add further sugar and water and re bring to boil. Then add next lot of peaches.

Make sure that jar rim is clean and the screw on seal. Leave until cool and seals have all gone down. Remove seals and wash jars and store.

Bottle most stonefruit and pipfruit in this manner ie also nectarines, plums pears apples.

This is what we did with a surplus of figs given to us from our friend Jane. They were small dark figs and gave us delicious Jam but you could use any variety. Choose jam jars that have an inbuilt seal so your conserve is effectively bottled.

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until thick stirring frequently,

Pour into sterilised jam jars.

Delicious however you want to use. I love it on Vogels toast but could be just as nice as icecream topping or in a small tart,

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.

Anthony (Waireres Garden designer) got given this beautiful book called Ripe by Angela Redfern, from his parents. Its a way cool book and we have all been thumbing our way through it looking at all the yum recipes. Dad made this recipe using our seasonal Feijoas and a ripe Garden Belle pear that I found hanging of one of the plants in the nursery. I have written the recipe as it is in the book but he halved the quantities to make a dozen muffins though he had a vague moment as we all do and couldnt remember if he halved the fruit as well but thinks he still used the 2 cups. Update he made a new batch for a photo shoot and used half the fruit.

Preheat the oven to 180 C, Grease muffin tins or line with paper cases.

Melt the butter and let cool

In a large bowl combine eggs, milk, vanilla and sugar. Add the fruit to the wet mix. Add the flour, cinnamon and melted butter and gently fold together until combined. Dont over mix. Spoon into muffin trays until 2/3rd s full and then bake for 20 minutes until firm to the touch.

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.

As promised this is the recipe that Tony made for my birthday and its really easy to make and absolutely delicious. I made it so that I could photograph it and then took it over to the staff for morning tea. Basically you throw all the ingredients into a bowl and then cook, couldn’t be easier! The recipe that I followed said not to double and I didn’t, though it seems to make a full sized cake

I added all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mixed through well. Then added the liquid ingredients and eggs and stirred through well until I had a well-mixed batter. Pour into a greased and lined 23 inch cake tin and bake at 180 degrees for approx. 40 mins or until a skewer pushed in comes out clean

Chocolate Icing

Ice the cake when cool

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 !!!!

This recipe that Pete makes is a bit of a firm fav with all the team. Its a regular on his list of muffins, easy to make and fabulous to eat!!

Preheat oven to 180C.

Place the flour, baking powder, sugar,eggs, oil,milk and vanilla in a large bowl and stir until just combined.

Fold through the raspberry and chocolate.

Spray a 12 x 1/2 cup capacity muffin tin with canola oil and then spoon the mixture in dividing between all 12.

Cook for 20 to 25 minute or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool on a wire rack and serve dusted with icing sugar.

Dust with icing sugar and share with a good coffee.

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

Mum came into the Nursery the other day with a couple of pieces of a pie that she used to make all the time when I was a kid. I had forgotten about this rhubarb pie buts it's a goodie and damn easy to make too.

sift flour, baking powder and salt, mix in sugar, rub in butter until like bread crumbs and mix to a very firm dough with the egg yolk and water, use as little water as possible

Filling

21/2 cups of chopped rhubarb ( 12oz )

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tbs flour

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk or cream

Line a pie plate with rolled out pastry

Spread the chopped rhubarb over it.

Beat together all the remaining ingredients and spread

over the rhubarb

Bake 450 for 10 minutes then lower the heat to 350 and

continue baking 25 minutes longer or until custard is set.

Serve with whipped cream or icecream.

Now back to Zucchini: Jackie wrote in to share this zucchini cake/Loaf with us which I passed onto the test kitchen in the gate house (AKA Dad in the front cottage) to make the cake so that I could do a photo shoot. My grandson grew them a couple of years ago and was very pleased they grew so well, BUT was not so keen when mum said he had to eat them as he'd grown them. After searching the net this recipe was found, its great if you add walnut pieces. Keep up the good work, I just LOVE the newsletters.

Beat eggs, sugar and oil until fluffy.

Add Zucchini.

Sift dry ingredients in and mix well.

Add vanilla and nuts.

Pour into two loaf tins.

Bake at 180 for 1 hour or until done.

We made this and it stayed fresh for days. It also keeps well in the freezer.

Process in a food processor one at a time adding the next to the previous until the mixture is fine and well combined. Remove to a bowl

Base

1 ½ cups fresh scooped Feijoas (or frozen berries)

2 cups grated apple

1/3rd cup Raisins

1 tspn cinnamon

Small pinch ground cloves

Pinch sea salt

Take ¾ cup of the grated apple with raisins, cinnamon, ground cloves and salt and whizz in the food processor until sauce like.

Chop the Feijoas into chunks and not too small

Combine the sauce, Feijoa and remaining grated apple in a bowl and mix togather

Spread evenly into a shallow ceramic dish and spread the crumble mix on top

Before serving warm in a very low oven 100c for about one hour.

If using frozen berries just mix them in frozen, They will thaw and warm in the oven.

Serve with your favourite topping of whippedcream, thickened cream or Greek style yoghurt.

Anthony made this slice from his new cook book Ripe recipes and what a winner! Easy to make and delicious to eat, you cant go wrong. If you have frozen berries in the freezer then this slice is not far away. You could substitute with Blueberries, boysenberries or any other that appeals.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C

Grease and line with baking paper a 20 x 30 cm slice tin

In a large bowl mix togather the egg whites, icing sugar, coconut, flour until well combined. Fold in the melted butter until just combined

Pour the mixture into the lined tin and sprinkle with the berries

Bake in the oven for 35 mins or until firm to touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean

Once cool cut into slices. Store in an airtight container.

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.

While we were in Ausssie for the Melbourne flower show, Harry found these cute individual serve oven proof dishes (in the brief time that we had for shopping) and Tony has been using them to make Feijoa crumbles. Tony’s mum provided the recipe and together they made these individual crumbles which were delicious. I guess that you could use the recipe as a topping for any kind of stewed fruit that took your fancy

Mix all the dry ingredients together and then chop through the butter and then rub into the dry ingredients to form a crumble

Place stewed fruit into an oven proof dish leaving excessive juice or liquid behind. Sprinkle a layer of crumble on the top and bake in moderate oven for approx. 20 to 30 minuste or until the top is brown

A really delicious version is to roll out short pastry and layer into a flan dish. Add stewed fruit and crumble as above

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.

I promised last week that I was going to make this Orange and almond cake using some Cipo oranges I have, out of this beautiful cookbook called� Ripe Recipes� that was given to Anthony. We have some friends coming for dinner tonight so it was another good excuse to make it as we going to have it for dessert. On top of all that it was damn easy to make. Now it’s also got no wheat or dairy product in it and I just love almonds.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Grease and line with baking paper a 26cm spring form tin with baking paper

In a medium sized saucepan arrange the oranges and lemons so that they fit snugly. Fill with water to a level two thirds of the way up the sides of the fruit. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil.

Keep an eye on it and after approximately 10 minutes of cooking, turn the lemons and oranges over. Continue cooking until the fruit has softened and the water has nearly evaporated.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and cut all the fruit into chunky pieces, removing any visible pips. Place the fruit into a food processor and puree whilst still hot

Add the eggs, sugar, almonds, baking powder, and vanilla to the pureed fruit and process for a minute until thick and smooth.

Pour into the lined tin, sprinkle with the sliced almonds and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Test by pushing a skewer into the centre of the cake. When removed a wet crumbly mixture should remain on the skewer

To prepare the citrus syrup

In a saucepan over a medium to high heat combine the caster sugar and lemon juice, bring to the boil and simmer dissolving the sugar. Continue boiling to let the mixture reduce until syrupy in consistency.

With a skewer, pierce holes in the cake to allow the syrup to sink in. Pour half the syrup over the cake whilst still hot. Remove from the tin and serve with the remaining syrup and whipped cream.

Citrus syrup

1 cup lemon juice

1 cup caster sugar

To prepare the citrus syrup

In a saucepan over a medium to high heat combine the caster sugar and lemon juice, bring to the boil and simmer dissolving the sugar. Continue boiling to let the mixture reduce until syrupy in consistency.

With a skewer, pierce holes in the cake to allow the syrup to sink in. Pour half the syrup over the cake whilst still hot. Remove from the tin and serve with the remaining syrup and whipped cream.

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

Every time that we have a family dinner my Mum makes this cheesecake which is a bit of a winner. It does pay to try and make it a bit earlier so that it sets nice and firm. I asked her for a copy of the recipe but obviously mum just makes it from memory now as she says � I lost my copy of the cheesecake recipe. "So its my kind of version from what I remember.� Well she made one for us the other night and it was delicious as always. Mum makes it with different tinned fruit using the recipe as a kind of base for other flavours. I remember when she adjusted it to have Persimmon and raisin and rum flavours.

Crush the biscuits in a bowls until they resemble fine bread crumbs or there abouts. Add the melted butter and then press into a shallow dish which has been lined to allow the cheesecake to be removed for serving easily

Filling

397g condensed milk

250g cream cheese

410g pineapple chunks or fruit of choice

1 level tbsp gelatine

juice of 1 lemon

Beat together the condensed milk and cream cheese until smooth. Drain the fruit keeping the juice. Put the juice in a small pot and add the gelatine to juice and stir over low heat until dissolved then add the lemon juice.

when the juice and gelatine mixture cools, fold into the cream cheese mixture along with the chopped fruit. when all mixed togather, pour into the biscuit base, put in the fridge and leave to set.

An awesome cheesecake and easily modified for other flavours and fruits.

This recipe came from that awesome cookbook Ripe Recipes by Angela Redfern. Now because I made it out of the fig season I did modify the recipe to use some bottled figs that I had from our trees in the garden. Also used fresh cipo oranges that were beautifully ripe. I have to confess that I also used bought short sweet pastry.

Prepare oven to 180 degrees C

line a 26cm fluted tart tin with short pastry and chill while you make the filling.

To prepare the filling.

In a medium saucepan over a medium heat, melt the brown sugar and butter togather. Cook until the sugar has dissolved. Add the star anise, ornage juice and zest, then add the sliced orange and cook until soft, add the halved drained figs and just warm through. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Frangipane

200g Ground Almonds

200g Caster sugar

200g Butter softened

4 eggs

To prepare the Frangipane

In a bowl of an electric beater, beat the almonds, caster sugar, and butter on high until they are pale and creamy and light in texture. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition. Pile into the tart shell and spread evenly with a spatula and top with fig and orange mixture. (The original recipe left a quarter of the fig mix out and served the tart with it on the top) Bake for 40 minutes until the frangipane is golden in colour and firm to touch. Remove from the oven and cool.

To serve

Top with remaining fig and orange mix and serve with cinnamon cream

Anthony received this recipe of "Annabel Langbeins" from his sister the other day as as she had just made it and said it was really good. Tony was keen to make it so he got it all togather as I cracked a bag of walnuts that we has sitting around and I have to say, it's really, really easy and very good. It's the sort of cake that you could also chop and change around to suit what you have in the cupboard and we thought what would it be like if we subbed the orange for a lemon. Annabel Langbein - Orange lightening Cake - so called as it is quick as lightening to make.

Cut Orange into quarters, put into the food processor and whizz to paste.

add water and soda and all the other ingredients except fruit and nuts.

Whizz together.

Then add the Cup dried fruit, 1/2 cup walnuts and just pulse to mix in. Do not get it chopped up.Into lined tin. Bake 1 hour 160oC

We used dried cranberries and sultanas but I guess you could make your own favourite selection and maybe even add a bit more fruit. Try making it with a lemon instead ???

I just love growing what we can use and eat and I found this recipe for a lemon and passion fruit pulp slice the other day in one of Tonys cookbooks. It used fresh lemon juice and I grabbed a a jar of passionfruit pulp that I had preserved from last year. Its totally decadent as it has two cans of condensed milk and 8 egg yokes in the filling so if you have a sweet tooth like me then you'll love it. It did put me out of my comfort zone to make but hey, it wasn't that hard and it worked out and even looked just like the pic in the recipe book. I did start with a slice tin and half way through the cooking decided that I wasn't going to get all the filling in and ended up throwing it all into a deeper tin, part way through cooking the base. I decided if it still turned out alright through all that it's not to difficult.

Preheat oven to 150 c. Grease a tin and line with baking paper ( my tin was 30x25x5cm )

To prepare the base, cream the butter and icing sugar and vanilla with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until well combined.

Using a wooden spoon, fold through coconut and flour until combined. Press mixture firmly into prepared tin and bake for ten minutes in centre of oven.

While the base is cooking, prepare the filling. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour over cooked base and return to oven for a further 15 minutes until set.

MERINGUE

8 egg whites

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 cups coconut thread

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 tspn vanilla essence

Prepare the meringue by whisking egg whites with an electric beater until soft peaks form. whisk in sugar, coconut, salt and vanilla.

Spread meringue evenly over cooked filling. Bake for a further 10 mins or so until meringue is light brown. Place in fridge to set.

Some of my cooking times were longer than what the recipe suggested.

The old boy made these the other day and they are damn good. He got the recipe from a friend and we all know how recipes get handed around and this particular one originated from the renowned Wayne Good of Clanfield Interiors in Cambridge. We had some of our clients call in the other day who were off to one of his famous Christmas cuisine demos. There is still time to get in a batch of baking to fill those tins for all those guests that call in over the holiday season.

Place the flour and Icing sugar into a food processor and add the butter. Process until it resembles fine bread crumbs

Tip into a large bowl adding the orange rind and finally the juice of the oranges mixing with a knife to form a nice dough

Wrap in gladwrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

The Pies

250 gm cream cheese

50gm Castor sugar

500 gm good fruit mince

Spray oil

Milk to glaze

Sugar and cinnamon sprinkle

Mix the cream cheese with the sugar and set aside

Roll out the pastry. Slightly thicker than the usual and uses pastry cutter to cut into the size that you require

Line well greased tins with pastry and half fill with the fruit mince. Place a blob of cream cheese on each pie and cover with a lid of pastry

Brush with milk and sprinkle liberally with sugar and cinnamon sprinkle

Bake in a hot oven (approx. 220c) until golden brown

Dad made this for us the other night so I conned him into making it again so that I could photo it and add it in here. We provided the roast pork dinner and he brought this for dessert plus a lemon sauce topping which was delicious, Serves six

1. heat the oven to 200Degrees (or 180 f0r fanbake)

2. sift flour,baking powderand salt into the food processor,

add the sugar and butter. Process just enough to mix to

coarse breadcrumbs

3.add egg and milkprocess just enough to mix. The dough should be softer than scone dough but firmer than cake batter

4. spread the mixture into a baking paper lined square20cm or

23cm round ovenware dish. It will only be about1-11/2 cm thick

5. Peel and core the apples, cut into quarters then each quarter into four. Poke

these pieces into the dough rounded side up as close together as possible.

6. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and spread thickly over the surface of the

pudding.

7. Bake 25-30 minutes or until the dough is firm in the centre.

Serve warm. Goes well with a lemon sauce ,cream or icecream.

Lemon Sauce

Combine the finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon,

1 tablespoon golden syrup,2 tablespoons of sugar

and 3/4cup of hot water in a jug or bowl. In another

small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons custard powder with

1/4 cup of cold water, then stir this into the lemon mixture.

Microwave for about 2 minutes stirring once or twice, until

the sauce thickens and boils, then stir in 1 teaspoon of butter.

*HC**PL**END*

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!

Tony makes this to perfection and is a stunning way to present silverbeet as it looks and tastes delicious

Blanch the whole silverbeet leaves and then drain really well.

Prepare a pan with baking paper and then layer the silverbeet leaves on top of the paper.

Beat the eggs with the dash of milk add salt and pepper to taste and pesto and pour over the layered silverbeet leaves. Crumble the feta on top and then bake in moderate oven approx 150 degrees for approx 20 mins or till there is no movement in the egg. Lift the baking paper out and roll the egg silverbeet mix into a log. serve hot or cold,

A great main that can be made ahead of time and heated through and served!