Fennel Seed Olive Oil Crackers

These crisp crackers make a gorgeous accompaniment to a cheese or antipasto platter.  While delicious with a creamy soft cheese like a brie, I am also known to just munch on them as is. 1½ cups flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp salt ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil ⅓ […]

Blackbeards Mussel Bites with Cathedral Cove Macadamia Nut Cheese

2 cups Cathedral Cove Natural Macadamia Nuts (approx. 250g) 1 tsp salt 4 tsp nutritional yeast 4 tsp apple cider vinegar boiling water 210g packet of Blackbeards Smoked Mussels 10cm chunk of cucumber Cover the macadamia nuts in boiling water and allow to soak for 3+ hours. The longer they soak for, the smoother your […]

Mushroom Korma

A little secret to making more authentic homemade curries is to blitz your onion, garlic and ginger first, then cook slowly to form the base of your sauce before doing anything else. Don’t be put off by the long list of spices this recipe calls for – my hot tip is to measure them out […]

Marinated Mushroom Tart

This tart is a little bit special and a really lovely way to enjoy antipasto ingredients as a meal. A flaky pastry base is topped with caramelised onion and mustard cashew cream, then baked until golden. This is the blank canvas, ready to have all the good stuff stacked on top. Marinated mushrooms are a […]

Vineyard Chicken

Here’s me being a scintillating tart again, adding spark to my two decades plus marriage by adding fruit to our roast dinners. I love apples with pork and chook dishes, but getting grapes in there is something superior, especially at this time of year when the weather is cooling and flavours become more sunburnt, robust […]

Warm Grapes & Leaves

It’s well known amongst my friends and followers that my darling consort doesn’t like fruit in his salads. I’ve had such delight testing these recipes, my wicked fruit eating ways being legitimised rather than seen as devious ploys to sway him. This salad of sorts I created on a whim, all my favourite flavours – […]

GRILLED COS WALDORF SALAD

The Waldorf salad is named for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City where it was created to feed attendees at a swanky charity ball. These days it’s more associated with dingy motel buffets inside rather rank musty dining rooms, completely edible, but demoted to a rather lack lustre sloppy side dish. I have put […]

GRAPE – ness

In 1817 novelist and poet Thomas Love Peacock wrote, “The juice of the grape is the liquid quintessence of concentrated sunbeams.” And as I nurse a fresh throbbing wasp sting on my hand, I can’t help but agree. Harvesting a few bunches from my own vines for this shoot was not without risk, such is […]

Snickers Bites

Perfect for the mid-afternoon slump, these bite-sized treats are reminiscent of the classic Snickers bar. 15x Medjool dates ¼ cup peanut butter ½ cup dark chocolate, chopped 1 tsp coconut oil flaky sea salt – optional (I used Opito Bay Sea Salt) Cut a slit in each date and remove the pit. Fill each date […]