My work colleague, Manuel gave me this recipe verbally after Lexi raved about it’s goodness. I got one instruction wrong. Manuel says he uses crushed chilli so I’ll give that a go next time, but I do think it tastes good with fresh.

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
Spaghetti pasta
1 large red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
A few good lugs of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Rocket to serve (optional)

Directions:
1. Cook pasta al dente
2. In the meantime, get chopping until the chilli and garlic are finely chopped
3. Heat a pan and add the olive oil, then chilli and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the flavours are infused in the olive oil. Do not burn the garlic.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain.
5. Combine pasta and the oil sauce while still warm.
6. Eat immediately, or serve cool with rocket for lunch.

I took the aioli spread for this dish out of a book called Veganomicon. A book I’d brought for Ann’s birthday. I like the idea that an element of the picnic food I had prepared for her celebration would reference her gift. But I truly fell in love with this vegan aioli because it is versatility and because it is totally not substitutive. I know the name suggests so, but at the end of the day, it is all food and not boxed or labelled not “not” stuffs.

So, I’d already decided to make falafel with a pumpkin cameo. The aioli made sense as an afterthought. It worked superbly well to provide extra moisture, garlic and that tad a tad of tang.

Serves: A picnic
Prep: 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Construction: 25 min

Falafel:
1 can of chickpeas
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of coriander
½ Spanish onion finely chopped
1 handful of parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Plain flour for dusting

1. Crush or blitz the chickpeas so they become like a thick paste
2. In a bowl, add remaining ingredients and combine well.
3. While you are heating a pan with some olive oil begin to form the balls by rolling and flattening in the palm of your hand. Coat in flour and place in the pan.
4. Fry for approximately 3 minutes on each side.
5. Remove and place on a plate to cool.

Vegan Aioli:
1 can of white beans
2 garlic cloves finely chopped (or more to taste)
½ lemon juice
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place all ingredients in a in a bowl and blitz until smooth

Constructing the sandwich:
Mountain bread
Roast pumpkin
Baby Spinach

1. On a single piece of mountain bread construct the sandwich by spreading the soft roast pumpkin first. Then drissle a little of the aioli on top, lay down baby spinach and then three of the falafel balls as shown.
2. Roll each into a pocket with the ends tucked in so that when you cut them in half through the middle a nice base to each sandwich stops the guts falling out of it.

I could rave about time saving at Christmas. I really learned that this Christmas, so much more relaxed and awesome. Frozen berries, yep, frozen… but if you stew them a bit well what is the point in buying four punnets for four times the price the day before in a rush?

Serves:4
Prep: 7 min
Cook time: 10 min

Berry Sauce Ingredients:
300g of frozen mixed berries
¼ cup of sugar
1/5 cup of water

Crepe Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cup milk

Filling:
½ cup of ricotta

Berry sauce
1. Light the stove and put the sugar and water into you saucepan and heat until dissolved. Then add the berries until they are defrosted. Take your time with this, on a low heat- and by doing so you will have plenty of the juices dissolving into the sugar water. Yum!

Crepes
1. Place a cup of flour in a bowl and create a well in the centre. Add the eggs, salt and milk to the well. Wisk until smooth and all lumps are gone.
2. In a pan, melt a small dob of butter. When dissolved, ladle one crape at a time into the pan. Turn when the base of the crape begins to brown and lifts off the pan. It won’t need as long on the other side. Continue until all of the crapes are made.

Assembly
1. Place one crape flat on a plate and line down the centre with ricotta. Fold over both sides and top with berries. Done. Munch.

These are the cocktails of left over party slops. My friend Mike (or @mjog as we sometimes like to call him) passed on his party slops to me when he decided to pack it all up and live loose… so I set about finding cocktail solutions to all the orange flavoured liquore I inherited. This send off treat is one of the loveliest summer cocktails I’ve had and one of the most fun nights.

Makes: About a liter (or 16ish drinks)
Prep: 5 min plus an hour chill

Ingredients:
3 cups of blood orange juice ( you can squeeze this fresh if you like, but it will take about 10 oranges)
1/3 cup of Grand Marnier (or Cointreau or Triple sec)
4 teaspoons of sugar (adjust to taste or choice of orange based liquore)
1 750ml bottle of Prosecco chilled

Prosecco is an Italian sparkeling white. It’s not like other sparkling whites (like brut) but more sweet and subtle – if you can, I think a cheap alternative would be the blonde lambrusco although this might also be hard to find. The point is find something light and a bit on the sweet side.

You don’t need to prepare this ahead of time, but it is really easy if you do the first step and the rest as you serve. Just make sure your ingredients are chilled and that you have plenty of ice.

1. In a pitcher add the Grand Marnier, sugar and blood orange juice and give a good stir until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Crack open the Prosecco and stir while adding to the pitcher, add ice and serve.

If your like me and want to love sake but find it a tad too full on, this cocktail is a great way of using a few drops of sake leftovers. Its also a light cocktail, not to heavy on the alcohol content and full of anti-oxidents so a really good one to incorporate into a cocktail party, because it is just too easy for these things to get out of control

Makes: 2 and a bit liters
Prep:5 min, cool for one hour

Ingredients:
1 liter of soda / mineral water
1 liter of pomegranate juice
8 shots of sake
2 green tea bags
1 lemon

1. Boil up the soda or mineral water and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes depending on the weather.
2. Throw green tea bags into the warm soda and make tea to your liking
3. Place in a pitcher and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes
4. Add the pomegranate juice and sake to the picture and refrigerate until ready
5. Serve with ice and wedges of lemon which you should instruct your guests to just add a little squeeze
6. Enjoy with sushi or not…

No recipe title shows your not sure what you’ve done than naming it after an entire region of the world. Eh.

Serves: 4 as a side
Prep: 10 min
Cook time: 0 min

Ingredients:
1 tin of lentils (organic ones are worth it)
¼ cup of kalamata olives with pips removed and halved
¼ red capsicum diced
¼ yellow capsicum diced
6 sundried tomatoes sliced
1 shallot finely diced
1 small red chili, seeds removed and sliced
Small handful of flat leaf parsley
½ lemon juiced
Lug of good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to serve

1. Prep ingredients
2. Combine and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes so the flavours can combine

Serves: 4 (with lots of other food… )
Prep: 20min
Cook time: 20min

Ingredients:
2 large onions
1 tablespoon of raw sugar
1 lug of red wine vinegar
1 big scoop of kalamata olives
100g of Bulgarian Feta Cheese
Filo Pastry (1/3 pack??)

1. Slice and sauté the onions by frying them up in some olive oil for about 10 minutes. This will vary depending on the breadth of your pan. The more surface area on the base the faster they will soften up.
2. Once a little soft and a bit transparent add a tablespoon of sugar and a lug of red wine vinegar. Sweat for a few more minutes and stir through the flavours.
3. Turn the heat off and allow to cool a little.
4. On a baking tray lay down some filo pastry. I used about 1/3 thickness of a standard pack. I’m not sure that a little hear or there matters much. You should decide how much pastry you would like. Certainly a 1/3 was quite light. I could imagine some cooks doubling that.
5. Bush the bottom of the pan lightly with olive oil (I could also imagine a few cooks doubling that too!)
6. Poke the filo down into a pan with each edge rolling over by a few centermeters – it’s great for crisping it up around the edges.
7. Brush a little more oil over the top of the filo.
8. Layout the onions on top leaving the edges exposed to brown up. Crumble feta on top and halve the kalamata olives and lay ‘em out too.
9. Bake for 25 or so minutes on 180 degrees celcius. If it looks like its browning too quickly – just turn it down a tad.
10. Serve when its got golden bits emerging on top.
Delish.

This is really simple. I won’t write up a full recipe. I just chopped onion, mushrooms and cherry tomato’s into smaller than bite sized pieces then heated in a pan. When they were ¾ cooked I threw the egg on top and slowly moved around so that the lightly scrambled eggs weren’t too well mixed. Then serve on toast with rocket.

Serves: One
Cook time: 15 min

Ingredients:
1 and a bit handfuls of watercress
1 orange sectioned
100g of pork scotch fillet
Extra olive oil & balsamic

Marinade
1 teaspoon of honey
½ teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
2 teaspoons of olive oil
Salt & Pepper
(note: this is a small amount for 100g of pork)

1. Create the marinade and cover the meat and sit for 20 minutes or longer if you have time.
2. Meanwhile separate the watercress leaves and wash thoroughly
3. Section the orange by removing the skin, pith and membranes.
4. Heat oil in a hot pan over high heat. Once hot add the pork and sauté for 3-4 or so minutes on each side (if ½ inch thick – less if thinner) until it is browned but still slightly pink in the center.
5. Remove the pork form the pan and place on a separate plate allowing it to sit for 5 minutes
6. Place the watercress on a plate and evenly distribute the orange sections over and around the leaves.
7. In a separate bowl place a small amount of olive oil and balsamic and mix slightly before dotting around the outside of the salad. Avoiding the orange segments so they do not colour.
8. Lay the pork on top and serve.

This is a lovely and incredibly simple side dish inspired by Mission, Chippendale. Simply steam or briefly blanch the vegetable of your choice. Meanwhile mix a little nutmeg through butter to taste. Serve with a dob of butter on top of the vegetables.