• 250g plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 200ml buttermilk (or 75ml yoghurt mixed with 125ml milk)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or flavouring of your choice)
• 125g soft unsalted butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 eggs

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Line and grease your tin/s.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt together in a bowl.

Pour the buttermilk into a measuring jug and stir in the vanilla.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Lower the speed of your mixer (if you are using one, otherwise take a short break and come back with a slightly refreshed arm). Now add the eggs one at a time, making sure you beat them in for at least 30 seconds before adding the next.

Now add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture little bit by little bit in alternating increments. Blend well between additions. This will take about 5 minutes to do.

Pour the mixture into the tin/s and bake for approximately 40 minutes. (This will vary according to the tin you use, a dolly varden or similar large tin could take an hour or more.) When the cake is cooked it should pull away from the sides of the tin slightly, and a skewer will come out clean when plunged into the centre of the cake.

Let the cake cool for 10 to 20 minutes in the tin, then decant it and let it cool completely on a rack. It is easier to cut up into bits to make fancy pants kids’ birthday cakes if you make it the day before you decorate it.

I have successfully turned this into chocolate cake by replacing some of the flour with cocoa, and into orange cake by adding some cointreau instead of vanilla. It is a very forgiving cake and can be dressed up very easily by layering with yummy creams or ganaches depending on your needs or whim. And children will actually eat it, which is satisfying after you have spend two days and gone grey trying to turn it into a convincing replica of a powder puff girl.

Serves 4

• 1 quantity Hararat *(see instructions below)
• 300g lamb mince (can substitute beef to good effect)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• Good slurp olive oil
• 1 teaspoon paprika (I like sweet smoked)
• 1 400g tin crushed tomatoes
• 1 litre beef stock
• 1 cup risoni or other small pasta
• 2 teaspoons dried or 2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint
• Chopped herbs to serve (parsley and/or coriander is good)
• Plain yoghurt to serve (optional, not part of the original recipe but I think it adds a certain something)

Saute the onion and garlic together in the oil until soft. Kate taught me a neat trick of adding salt to the onion at this point, which stops it from sticking. Add the meat to the pan and cook, stirring, until browned.

Add the spices at this point, cook for a minute more, then add the tomatoes. I let this cook for 5-10 minutes before adding the stock. Let the soup cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. You might want to add more water at this point, depending on the level of the liquid.

Skim any fat or scum off the top of the soup, and taste for seasoning. Add the risoni and the mint. Cook until the pasta is soft, about 10 minutes.

Ladle into bowls, top with a good spoonful of yoghurt and the chopped fresh herbs. Enjoy in front of the tely, preferably watching something daft.

*Hararat is a Libyan 5 spice blend. You might be able to find it in the right sort of deli, but it is easy enough to make up yourself. For this you need:

• 1 stick cinnamon, broken into a few peices
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1 tsp dried chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Dry fry all ingredients over a med-high heat until fragrant. Blend in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle until rendered into a fine powder.

Preheat the oven to 200C, clean and pat dry your chook and put it into a deep roasting pan.

You will need the zest from all 3 oranges, and the juice of 2 of them.

Chop the tarragon, reserving a couple of sprigs. Mix the chopped tarragon with 50g of the butter and the orange zest. Stuff this mixture into the cavity of the chicken.

In another bowl mix the honey in with the orange juice. Season the chicken and rub a little extra butter into the skin, then pour the honey and juice over. Put the wine and remaining butter into the roasting pan (but not over the chicken!) with the remaining tarragon sprigs.

Bake for 20 min at 200C, then reduce the heat to 160C. Cook for another 30 minutes or so, the chicken is done with the juices run clear when the flesh is pierced with a skewer.

Take the chicken out of the pan, cover and set aside. Strain the pan juice into a saucepan and heat until reduced to your liking, and serve with the chicken. I didn’t have the patience to reduce by half as the original recipe required, so I had a fair bit of sauce left over to be used in the future. A plus!

Place whole, unpeeled mandarins in a saucepan with water to cover. (To keep them underwater you may need to weigh them down with an inverted saucer or bowl.) Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes, or until the mandarins are very soft.

Drain the mandarins and allow to cool until you can handle them without burning the tips off your fingers. Now, halve them and remove the seeds. Then blitz them to a pulp in a food processor.

Pre-heat the oven to 170C.

Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale (use an electric mixer for this). Fold in the flour, baking powder and almond meal until just combined. Then finally fold in the mandarin puree.

Spoon the mixture into a greased and paper-lined cake tin. I find it works well in both a 25cm diameter round tin, or a 24cm square tin.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin.

Serve dusted with icing sugar with cream, or for complete decadence chocolate icecream or mousse.

Heat 2 tbsp of the butter and a good slurp of olive oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the sliced onion or leek, and saute until softened. Add the pearl barley and stir until nicely coated with oil, then add the white wine. Slowly pour in the stock and bring to a simmer. At this point you can cover the pan and walk away for 20 minutes, maybe returning to give it a stir once in a while (told you it was easier than regular risotto).

When the barley is close to done, heat the remaining butter and a little more oil in a second saucepan, and saute the garlic for a minute. Then add the mushrooms, and continue to cook until they start to reduce. At this point, chuck in the ham and add a squeeze of lemon juice if so inclined.

Chuck the mushrooms mix and the cheese in with the barley, and stir to combine. Add the spinach and continue stirring until just wilted. Season well, and you’re done. Enjoy!

• 2 medium zucchinis
• olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 70g feta
• big pinch of allspice (pimento)
• juice of half a lemon

Grate the zucchini on the largest hole on your grater.

Heat a non-stick pan with a little olive oil, and add half the zucchini. Cook gently without allowing the zucchini to colour, for about two to three minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Remove the cooked zucchini and repeat with the other half.

(The zucchini can be cooked ahead to this stage and put aside until you are ready to serve.)

Return all the zucchini to the pan and heat through, gently! Crumble in the feta, add the allspice. Toss in the pan until the feta is almost melting.

Drizzle with lemon juice. Serve immediately!

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F)

Mix the milk, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes in a warm place or until the top gets all bubbly.

Place the flour, salt and oil into another bowl. When the yeast and milk mixture is ready, mix in with the flour until a dough forms. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Put the dough into a greased loaf tin, cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until the dough has roughly doubled in size. I personally like on top of the radiator, or on top of the oven as it is warming up. Australia in summer i don’t think you’d have to worry about it.

When the dough is ready, pop it in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes. When ready the loaf will sound hollow when tapped.

Extra good when served with lashings of butter, along with the Kids’ Tomato Soup

• 1 largeish onion, finely diced
• 1 largeish carrot, finely grated
• some slices of pancetta, bacon or ham, finely chopped (leave this out if you want to go truly vegetarian, obviously)
• 1 large tin and one small tin of tomatoes, chopped with their juices
• 2-3 cups of stock, either chicken or vegetable
• olive oil

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a moderate heat. Add the onion and stir to coat with the oil. Sprinkle over some salt and let the onion sauté while you chop the pancetta (or whatever) and grate the carrot.

Add the pancetta and the carrot to the onion and stir for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and the stock and bring the soup to the boil. Reduce the heat until the soup has reached a nice steady simmer. (At this point you could also throw in some sprigs of herbs, such as parsley or basil, and a good grinding of pepper.)

After about twenty minutes, or when the kids have finished their bath, purée the soup in a blender. Put it back over the heat to bring back to a simmer and taste for seasonings.

Serve with a dollop of yoghurt, and some cheesy toast on the side.

• 3 bunches English spinach, stalks removed
• 1 bunch dill, washed and flicked dry
• 1 bunch mint, washed and flicked dry
• 1 bunch continental parsley, washed and flicked dry
• 200g fetta, diced or crumbled
• 1/2 bunch green onions, finely sliced
• nutmeg, pepper, salt
• 7 eggs
• 1 packet filo pastry, thawed to room temperature
• 100-150g butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter a 30 x 20 x 5cm deep baking dish or tray.

Wash the spinach well, and then force it into a very large saucepan. Pop the lid on and, over a gentle heat, let the spinach wilt in the water left from the washing. Let it cool and then squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze the water out of it. (Is that really all you have left of all that spinach? My goodness.)

Chop the spinach and put it into a big bowl. Coarsely chop the mint and parsley leaves and the dill, and throw them in too. Add the fetta, the green onion, a good grating of nutmeg, salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix that all together and then, finally, add the eggs and stir.

Now take your baking dish and lay a sheet of filo over the bottom. Let it come up the sides a little if it shows a tendency to do so, but fold it over to make it more or less fit. Lightly butter this sheet and repeat the process until you have about 8 layers.

Spread the spinach mixture over the pastry layers and press it down evenly. Then add another 8 layers of filo, buttering as you go.

Butter the top layer more generously. Then cut a pattern of large squares or diamonds through the top layers of pastry only, and sprinkle with a little water.

Bake for 35 minutes or until it is beautifully golden and a little puffy (like a starlet who has just renewed her acquaintance with carbohydrates).

Serve warm with lemon wedges for squeezing. This still will taste yummy the next day.

• 8 sausages, the best Italian style plain pork ones you can find
• 2 cloves of garlic, thumped with the back of a knife
• smallish glass of red wine
• half a smallish glass of water
• 1 onion, diced
• olive oil
• salt
• 500g puy lentils (don’t try with any other variety)
• baby spinach (optional extra)
• chopped parsley (optional extra)

Heat a slurp of olive oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Sprinkle with salt, and let them saute till soft and transparent

Add the lentils, stir to coat with the oil and onion then add water to cover. Bring this to a simmer, cover and let it cook for half an hour or until the lentils are cooked to your liking.

Meanwhile, heat a little, tiny bit of oil in a high-sided fry pan and add the sausages and the garlic. Brown the sausages for a few minutes on each side.

Add the wine and the water and let them boil up, then turn down the heat, cover and simmer away for about 15 minutes.

When the sausages and the lentils are cooked, remove the sausages temporarily to another container. Mash the garlic into the winey sauce (you may have to add a little water if it is to thick).

Then tip the lentils (which should have absorbed all their water) into the winey sauce and stir. (At this point, or indeed whenever you like, you could stir some spinach into the lentils too-you know, for colour and nutritional brownie points.)

Pop the sausages, either whole or sliced into generous chunks, over the top and serve.

You could also sprinkle on some parsley-see note about spinach for rationalisation.