Lots of vineyards means lots of cellar doors, and the vast majority of them don’t charge you to sample their wines Needless to say, I took full advantage of the free drinks – no matter how small the serving. However I do like to stock up on wines that you can’t buy in the shops in town so this was the perfect opportunity.

And I haven’t even mentioned how beautiful that part of the country is, especially now autumn has set in.

Have you ever had one of those days when the food you wanted for dinner is still sitting in the freezer when it should be ready for cooking? This recipe is an ideal stand-by for that situation as most of the ingredients can be kept in the pantry. They are also cheap to buy and that is never a bad thing these days. Plus, it is so simple to make.

This meal is suitable for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. That is what I love about canned brown lentils – you really can’t tell that there is no meat because when they are combined with a tomato sauce the texture looks just like bolognaise.

The recipe serves 4 people, but if you added garlic bread and a green salad then I’m sure you could stretch it to feed 6.

Ingredients – serves 4:

• 800g/28 oz can brown lentils, drained and rinsed
• 580g/21 oz jar of your favourite tomato pasta sauce (I used Dolmio Extra Tomato, Onion & Garlic)
• approx 125g/4.5 oz dried cannelloni tubes (I used about half a pack of Barilla Cannelloni which don’t need pre-cooking)
• 5 teaspoons ready-made basil pesto from a jar
• 1 cup grated cheese (any kind)

Method:

• Put the lentils and pasta sauce in a large saucepan. Add 1 cup of water and stir.
• Bring to the boil over a medium-high heat, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile heat your oven to 190C/170C fan forced/370F.
• Spray an ovenproof dish with some cooking spray, then carefully pour the lentil sauce mixture into the dish. Mind it doesn’t splatter.
• Place each cannelloni tube into the sauce – if you jiggle each one slightly, (i.e. push it gently with a spoon), then they will fill with the lentil sauce.
• Once all the cannelloni tubes are neatly in the dish, scatter over half the grated cheese.
• Dollop over the basil pesto and then sprinkle over the rest of the grated cheese.
• Cook for 30 minutes or until the cannelloni are tender (follow the packet directions for your brand). The sauce should be bubbling and the cheese golden.
• Remove from the oven and leave to sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the sauce to cool slightly.
• Serve and enjoy!

Rice pudding is such a comfort food but because you don’t serve it hot, (as it will burn your mouth), it can be eaten whatever the weather is doing outside. Some people even like to eat it cold – I’m not one of them though

This recipe is ultra creamy with a hint of coconut flavour. The addition of two good dollops of raspberry jam adds extra sweetness, and the sprinkling of shredded coconut on top adds a crunchy texture. If you don’t fancy the coconut on top then simply leave it off.

My husband announced that it is the best rice pudding that he has ever tasted. (I know I have mentioned before that he doesn’t eat rice but this is the only way he will eat it.)

Ingredients – serves 6:

• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup long grain white rice
• pinch of salt
• 400g/14 oz can coconut cream
• 2 and 1/4 cups milk (whatever milk you have – I used HiLo)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 12 teaspoons good raspberry jam (jelly)
• approx 1/4 cup shredded coconut

Method:

• Put the water, rice and salt into a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the water is absorbed (about 10 minutes depending on your stove top).
• Stir in the coconut cream, milk, sugar, lemon juice and ground cinnamon.
• Simmer, uncovered, stirring often for 45-50 minutes or until the rice is tender and the milk has thickened slightly. (The pudding will thicken more upon cooling, so don’t worry if it still looks a little runny at this stage.)
• Turn off the heat then stir in the vanilla essence.
• Cover the entire surface of the pudding with some baking paper that has been coated with butter. (This stops a skin from forming.)
• Cool the pudding in the pan until only just warm – if you serve it hot then you will burn your mouth.
• Divide the pudding between your serving bowls. Dollop 1 teaspoon of raspberry jam into the centre of each bowl and then use a skewer to swirl it through the pudding.
• Top each bowl with a sprinkling of the shredded coconut (if using), then dollop on another teaspoon of jam.
• Serve and enjoy!

If you love a big breakfast or brunch then this is the recipe for you. It has tasty sausages and bacon cooked with flavoursome beans, topped off with cheesy french toast .  And all that cooked in just one pan which means less to clean up!

Plus, another great thing is that you can cook the sausages and beans in advance then just add the french toast and bake when you want to eat. Not that any part of this recipe takes very long to prepare, but sometimes it is nice to think that you are ahead of the game when you have guests.

I based this recipe on one that I found on the BBC Good Food website.

Ingredients – serves 4:

• 500g/1 lb your favourite sausages (I used turkey sausages)
• 150g/5 oz bacon, diced
• 800g/28 oz can of mixed beans (I used a five bean mix for added variety), drained and rinsed
• 400g/14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• freshly ground black pepper, to season
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup milk
• 8 slices french stick/baguette style bread
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used Tasty, which is like cheddar)

Method:

• Put a large non-stick ovenproof sauté pan for which you have a lid over a medium-high heat. Add the sausages and cook, turning often, until they have browned on all sides. Remove to a plate and cut into bite-sized pieces.
• Add the bacon to the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until just starting to brown.
• Add the sausage pieces, beans, tomatoes, water, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and paprika to the pan and then stir to mix. Season with a little freshly ground black pepper.
• Bring the bean mixture to the boil then reduce the heat to low, cover with the lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat your oven to 200C/180C fan forced/390F.
• Place the beaten egg and milk in a large shallow dish and stir.
• Dip the french stick pieces into the egg, coating each side well. You can leave the bread in the dish to soak whilst you wait for the beans to simmer.
• Remove the beans from the heat and then arrange the eggy french stick pieces around the pan.
• Scatter a little grated cheese onto each piece of eggy french stick. Season with a little more freshly ground black pepper if desired.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the bread is puffed slightly and the cheese is melted and golden.
• Remove from the oven and leave to sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the beans to cool slightly. (If you serve immediately then the beans will be red hot).
• Serve and enjoy!

This simple chicken is amazingly juicy as a result of the combination of slow roasting and the thai-flavoured butter which infuses through the meat as it cooks. I didn’t even put any stuffing inside, which is unheard of for me because that is usually my favourite part. However, there is so much taste to the meat that you really don’t need the stuffing.

If you don’t want to team this up with traditional side dishes, such as roast potatoes, then perhaps try my Chilli Coriander Rice.

Not only does this chicken taste great for Sunday lunch but the left-overs make fantastic sandwiches!

Ingredients – serves 4-6:

• 2.3kg/5 lb chicken
• 1/2 onion, cut in half
• 1 lime, halved
• 1 long red chilli, halved

Thai butter:

• 125g/4.5 oz butter, softened
• 2 long red chillis, de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Method:

• Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan forced/320F.
• Blitz the butter, chillis and lemongrass in a food processor until well combined.
• Add the juice of 1 lime (don’t discard the lime itself), the fish sauce and the fresh coriander to the food processor and blitz. Turn off the food processor and carefully remove the blade from the bowl.
• Rinse the chicken under cold water, pat dry with a paper towel, then place in a roasting dish ensuring that the breast is facing upwards.
• Using your fingers, carefully separate the skin from the chicken’s breast at the neck end, without tearing the skin. Push about half of the thai butter under the skin, ensuring that you spread it out over the breast inside the skin.
• Rub the rest of the butter over the skin of the chicken.
• Place the onion, halved lime and also the juiced lime, plus the other red chilli inside the cavity of the chicken.
• Cover the roasting dish in foil and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Then cook without the foil for 1 hour, basting with the pan juices halfway through and at the end of that time. You may need to cover just the breast area with a piece of foil to prevent over-browning.
• Turn up the oven to 220C/200C fan forced/430F, and cook for another 20-30 minutes. Test that the juices run clear when the thickest part of the leg is pierced with a skewer.
• Remove the chicken from the roasting dish, put on a plate and cover loosely with foil. Leave to rest for 20 minutes before carving.
• Enjoy!

If you aren’t keen on the normal way of boiling the heck out of your corned beef, or the traditional vinegar flavouring, then this is for you. In fact, if it wasn’t for the colour of the meat, you probably wouldn’t even know that this was corned beef.

Cooking the beef in the slow cooker results in amazingly tender slices. The onions pick up all the zing of the sweet chilli sauce plus some of the sweetness from the brown sugar. And the gravy…. well, what can I say? The mashed potato that I served to accompany the beef was perfect with the gravy drizzled over it.

This recipe does require a bit of time – overnight refrigeration of the marinaded beef and then a good 8-9 hours in the slow cooker – but it is worth the wait. If you don’t want to use corned beef silverside then substitute another joint of beef suitable for slow cooking. But, as I only paid $6 a kilo, I think corned beef makes this meal a bargain.

I adapted this recipe from one that I found in the food supplement of ‘The West Australian’ newspaper on Thursday (2nd May).

By the way, you need a big slow cooker to make this – mine is about 6 litres/quarts.

Ingredients – serves 8:

• 2.3kg/5 lb piece of corned beef silverside
• 1 cup (loosely packed) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried garlic granules
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 cup salt-reduced beef stock
• 1 cup Guinness (or other dark beer/stout)
• 400g/14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato puree/paste
• 1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
• 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• mashed potatoes and peas, to serve

Method:

• Rinse the beef and pat dry with kitchen paper. Place on a large plate.
• Mix together the sugar, paprika, garlic granules, pepper, oregano, thyme and red chilli flakes. Rub this mixture all over the beef. Cover the beef with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are just softened. Place the onions in the bottom of your slow cooker.
• Remove the beef from the fridge and place it in the frying pan (without it’s juices). However, do not discard any juices on the plate as you can add these to your sauce.
• Turn up the heat under the frying pan to high and then brown the beef well on all sides. Place the browned beef in the slow cooker on top of the onions.
• In a large jug, mix the beef stock, Guinness, diced tomatoes, tomato puree/paste, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce plus any beef juices left over from the overnight marinading.  (Tip: if there is any excess sugar left on the plate, don’t put this in the sauce as it may make it a little too sweet.)
• Put the sauce into the frying pan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat. Carefully pour the sauce over the beef in the slow cooker.
• Cook on low for 8-9 hours.
• Use a large pair of tongs to carefully remove the cooked beef from the slow cooker. Place on a plate and remove any excess fat from the top of the beef before slicing.
• Serve the beef with mashed potatoes and peas plus some of the gravy from the slow cooker.
• Enjoy!

I love garlic bread in any form but I think that this one has become my favourite. The garlic is both inside and on top of the focaccia so it certainly imparts plenty of its flavour. It also makes your house smell great as it bakes. And I must mention how the scattered sea salt flakes give a burst of taste and crunch when you eat them.

This focaccia makes an ideal side dish for any Italian food, especially pasta. It also makes a perfect appetiser when teamed with dips. My husband loves it with this Silverbeet and Artichoke Dip.

Please don’t be scared of the time it takes to make it. As with most bread recipes, the dough is sitting in a bowl minding its own business for most of the time as it rises.

Ingredients – serves 6 as a side:

• 1 packet (7g/0.2 oz) dried yeast
• 200ml/7 oz water
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• small pinch table salt
• 200g/7 oz plain (all purpose) flour
• 200g/7 oz plain wholemeal flour
• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus a little extra for drizzling
• sea salt flakes, to sprinkle

Method:

• Mix the yeast, water and sugar in a small bowl and stir. Cover with cling wrap and leave for 10-15 minutes or until the mixture is frothy.
• Crush two of the garlic cloves. Put the crushed garlic into a large bowl with a pinch of table salt and both the flours. Stir to mix.
• Add the olive oil and also the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients.
• Stir to bring the dough together. If there is still some dry flour in the bowl then add a few more drops of oil.
• Knead the dough until smooth, (this will take a minute or so if you are using your electric mixer or about 5 minutes by hand).
• Pick the dough ball up and then grease the bowl with either a little more oil or some cooking spray. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with cling wrap.
• Leave the bowl in a warm place for 90 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.
• Once risen, knock back the dough and knead for a few seconds until smooth.
• Spray a large baking tray with a little cooking spray.
• Spread the dough into a rectangular shape on the tray. It should be about 30cm/12 inches across.
• Cover the tray in cling wrap and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat your oven to 200C/180C fan forced/390F.
• Finely slice the remaining 2 garlic cloves.
• Drizzle the dough with a little olive oil then scatter over the garlic and a couple of pinches of sea salt flakes. (If you like you can make the traditional thumb prints in the top of the bread but I didn’t bother.)
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and leave to sit for a few minutes before serving.
• Enjoy!

This is an ideal meal for feeding a crowd without spending too much as the bulk comes from vegetables rather than meat. However, you certainly don’t miss the traditional meat ragu because of the flavour imparted by the bacon into the tomato sauce. I also used a ready-made carbonara sauce (from a jar) which contained extra bacon, instead of making my own white sauce.

One thing I would note with regards to the vegetables in this is that the thinner you can slice them the better they will cook. Also, I just put the carrots straight into the lasagne without pre-cooking. This left the carrots with quite a bit of bite, which I personally prefer as I like the extra texture that they give the dish. If you prefer carrots to be soft then either microwave or steam them for a few minutes before using in the layering.

If you want to make this suitable for vegetarians then substitute mushrooms for the bacon and make sure that the white sauce you use is meat-free.

Another note – don’t add any salt as the bacon will take care of that seasoning.

Ingredients – serves 6:

• 1 tbsp oil, olive or vegetable
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 300g/10.5 oz bacon, diced
• 700g/25 oz jar tomato passata
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 medium carrots, peeled, quartered and finely sliced lengthways
• 1 zucchini (courgette), quartered and finely sliced lengthways
• 2 lebanese eggplants or 1 small standard eggplant (aubergine), quartered and finely sliced lengthways
• approx 150g/5 oz instant lasagne sheets (I used Barilla, about 8 sheets)
• 570g/21 oz jar your favourite carbonara sauce (or any other creamy sauce)
• 1 cup grated cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• few fresh parsley leaves, optional, to serve

Method:

• Heat your oven to 190C/170F fan forced/370F.
• Put the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat then add the onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes or until the onion just starts to turn translucent.
• Add the bacon to the pan, stir and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the bacon gets a little colour.
• Add the tomato passata into the pan along with the dried oregano, water and a good seasoning of black pepper. Stir to mix.
• Bring to the boil then turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Lightly grease a large ovenproof dish with oil or spray with cooking spray.
• Spread approximately half of the bacon and tomato sauce over the bottom of the ovenproof dish.
• Layer half of each of your vegetables over the top of the tomato sauce. Tip: lay the vegetables in the same direction to make cutting the lasagne easier.
• Spread half the carbonara sauce over the vegetables, sprinkle over half the cheese then top with half your lasagne sheets.
• The next layer should be the remaining tomato sauce, followed by the rest of the vegetables, then the lasagne sheets, carbonara sauce and finally the grated cheese. Sprinkle over some freshly ground black pepper.
• Put the ovenproof dish on a baking tray (to catch any sauce that bubbles out).
• Cook for 35-40 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is golden.
• Remove from the oven and leave to sit for 10 minutes before serving. This will make the lasagne easier to slice.
• Serve each slice topped with a couple of fresh parsley leaves, if you have them.
• Enjoy!

If you have an allergy to dairy or egg then these are perfect for you because the extra virgin olive oil is the primary liquid ingredient that holds the mixture together. I always think of olive oil as being a healthier alternative to a slab of butter too. So let’s forget about the sugar and golden syrup that is in these…..

In case you aren’t sure what Anzac biscuits are for, tomorrow (25th April) is Anzac Day. It is the anniversary of the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. These biscuits are the traditional snack for the day.

They are deliciously chewy with great flavours from the oats and coconut, not to mention the olive oil. It is important not to use an olive oil with too strong a flavour or it may over-power the biscuits. In the supermarket here the good olive oils are often marked with some kind of a flavour intensity scale, so pick one at the lighter end of the range. I find that they are pretty versatile in the kitchen so you’ll get plenty of use out of the bottle.

This recipe actually came from an olive oil advert on the back of one of my recipe magazines!

Ingredients – makes about 18 large biscuits:

• 1 cup plain (all purpose) flour
• 3/4 cup (firmly packed) brown sugar
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup dessicated coconut
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (light flavoured works best)
• 3 tbsp golden syrup (or honey if you can’t get golden syrup)
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method:

• Heat your oven to 180C/160C fan forced/360F.
• Line two baking trays with baking paper.
• Put the flour, sugar, oats and coconut into a large bowl. Stir to mix and break up any lumps of sugar.
• In a small jug whisk together the oil, golden syrup, water and bicarb of soda.
• Pour the liquid into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to combine. The mixture should be quite sticky.
• Form the mixture into small balls and place on the prepared baking trays. Leave a decent amount of space between each because they will spread quite a bit.
• Bake the biscuits for 8 minutes. Then remove from the oven and use a fork to lightly press down on each biscuit to make them the desired thickness. You can also use the fork to tidy up their shapes if they aren’t quite round.
• Bake for another 5-7 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (Tip: you can transfer the biscuits whilst they are still on the baking paper to make it easier.)
• Serve and enjoy!

You won’t believe how much flavour this black rice has compared with white rice. It really adds an amazing nutty taste to the otherwise relatively standard paella. And, those of you out there who know my husband will be amazed when I say that he ate this. He usually won’t touch rice of any form, (it is one of the two foods he flatly refuses), so for him to eat any of this is a massive testament to how good it tastes. Believe me.

The other great thing about this recipe is just how easy it is to make. It only requires one pan and you let it bubble away on its own for most of the time. That is the kind of cooking that I like the best

Black rice is a relatively new addition to the supermarket shelves here, so you may have to look for it a little more than you would any other type of rice. Saying that, I bet it has been out for years in the USA and UK!

Ingredients – serves 4:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 chorizo sausage (approx 125g/4.5 oz), halved and then sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 cup black rice, rinsed
• 2 cups hot chicken stock (I used 1 chicken Oxo cube dissolved in boiling water)
• 1 long red chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced
• 1 medium red capsicum, finely chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
• approx 500g/1 lb mixed seafood (I used my supermarket’s marinara mix from the seafood counter)
• 1 small handful fresh parsley, chopped, to serve
• lemon wedges, to serve

Method:

• Heat the oil in a large sauté pan for which you have a lid. Cook the onion and garlic over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until just translucent.
• Add the chorizo to the pan and cook for a few minutes or until just starting to brown.
• Sprinkle in the turmeric, then add the black rice. Stir to coat the rice in the oil.
• Pour in the hot chicken stock and stir to combine. Bring to the boil then lower the heat, cover the pan with the lid and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the chilli, capsicum, peas and seafood to the pan and toss to combine.
• Replace the lid and bring the temperature back up so the little bit of remaining liquid is bubbling. Lower the temperature and simmer for 5 minutes. 
• Turn off the heat but leave the pan to sit for 5 minutes with the lid still on. This will allow the rice to absorb the remaining liquid and will finish cooking the seafood.
• Just before serving, stir through the chopped parsley.
• Serve with lemon wedges on the side.
• Enjoy!