• 4 peaches
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup , honey or your sweetener of choice
• 1 cup labneh – store bought is fine otherwise see my homemade recipe here
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water combined with 1 tablespoon maple – for a quick glaze

For the raw base

• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 5 – 6 dried figs
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbls water * only if mixture isn’t coming together

For the raw base

• Add the hazelnuts, coconut oil, 3 figs and salt to a food processor and pulse. Add extra figs one at a time until the mixture starts getting stuck on your food processor and you can form a ball. If it is still too dry add a little of the water teaspoon at a time.
• Divide into 4 and press into 4 tart cases. Freeze until you’re ready to fill them.

For the toppings

• Combine labneh and sweetener and adjust to suit your taste. Set aside.
• Slice flesh from around the peach and then slice thinly.

Too assemble

• Take tarts from freezer and bang them on the bench (hard) to get them out. Then fill with labneh and top with peaches. Make a little glaze of maple and orange blossom water to brush over the top. Serve immediately

Makes 4 tarts using approx 9cm (4 inch) tart cases.
Use 1 peach per tart

• 2 x 200-300g Barramundi Fillets or a fish of your choosing
• 1 lemon; zest + slice lemon for serving
• 1 large tomatoes; sliced
• Chives or your choice of herb
• 2 teaspoons of butter
• Salt and pepper
• Parsley to serve

• Pre-heat oven to 200 C / 400 F. Cut off enough baking paper to completely wrap around the fish. Place fish on baking paper and pat dry. Season well and top with lemon zest and the sliced tomatoes, herbs and butter. Wrap the fish so it is sealed and bake for 20 minutes.
• Serve topped with parsley and a slice of lemon.

If using a thin piece of fish adjust cooking time accordingly
Be careful when opening the bags as the steam is very hot. My little guy likes to open the bag himself, so I cut a whole in the back for the steam to escape and cool before serving to him.

For 6 cake layers

• (halve the mixture and make 3 layers at a time. It is a lot easier to manage)
• 4 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 2 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 500 g butter , melted
• 2 cups milk
• 8 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• food colouring in red , yellow and blue (see notes)

For the vanilla icing

• 500 g butter , softened (not melted)
• 4 cups (640g) icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the fondant lego

• fondant in RED , YELLOW, GREEN and BLUE

For the cake

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). If making 3 layers at a time, grease 3 cake tins; set aside. Place flour and sugar in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Alternate adding the flour and milk and while beating ending in the flour.
• Using scales, divide the mixture into 3 bowls. If you don’t have scales use a cup to scoop out the mixture, cup at a time into the 3 bowl until it is divided evenly. Add the food colouring for the suitable layer and pour into the greased cake tins. Bake for approximately 30- 40 minutes or until cooked through. Test with a skewer or sharp knife. Cool slightly in the tin and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat steps to make the other 3 layers if necessary.

For the icing

• Place softened butter in a bowl and using an electric mixer, beat for approximately 5 minutes or until creamy. Add icing sugar and vanilla and beat for a further 10 minutes until light and fluffy

To assemble the cake

• Cut the tops of all the cakes. Place your purple layer on the plate you will serve it on and spread a good layer of the icing over the layer. (you can see from my pictures I didn’t use a huge amount of icing in-between each layer) Repeat with all the layers. Then spread a VERY thin layer over the entire cake (called the crumb layer). Fridge the cake now to set all the crumbs in this layer. Once cold the icing will set hard. This makes it a lot easier to ice and prevents you getting crumbs in your icing. Remove from the fridge and add the remaining icing and smooth using a large knife.

For the fondant Lego

• Roll out the fondant to a thickness of about 12mm (half and inch). Then using a sharp knife cut it into rectangles about 30mm x 15mm (1 1/4 inch by just over 1/2 inch). With the off cuts roll it out so it is a couple of millimetres thick and using a round 7mm plunger cutter (available from baking shops) cut the 6 circle and place on top of the rectangles as you go. Use a little water to moisten the top if they aren’t sticking. The lego will stick to the cake icing no problems.
• If making the cake a day or two ahead of time, keep in the refrigerator unit the day. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Please note an Australian cup is based on a 250ml cup.Food colouring for the cake layers: AmeriColor works really well to get the intense colours. I used colours: 106 Electric Blue, 107 Lemon Yellow, 119 Red Red. If buying small bottles I would recommend buying a larger bottle of the red as you will use the most of this colour.

Cake colour mixes: Red layer: just pure red. Orange layer: Yellow and Red. Yellow layer: pure yellow. Green layer: Yellow and Blue. Blue layer: Pure blue. Purple layer: Red and Blue – I used to much of both colours and it was too dark.

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 teaspoon cocoa powder + a little extra for dusting
• (dark chocolate for dusting – optional)

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F). Place the egg whites in a clean dry bowl. Whisk with an electric mixture until soft peaks are formed. Then gradually add the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cocoa powder while you continue whisking until stiff peaks are formed (about 10 minutes). The sugar should be incorporated and the mixture should appear nice and glossy. Fold through the remaining teaspoon of cocoa powder to create a bit of a swirl
• Line a baking tray with baking paper. Using a spoon and your finger, take a spoonful of the mixture and push it off onto the tray with you finger and shape it into a rough ball. Dust with the extra cocoa powder and grate a little of the dark chocolate on top if using
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. They should be crispy on the outside and cracks should be visible

Makes about 6 – 8 mini meringues. Double the recipe if you would like more

• 1.8 kg free-range chicken
• 2 tablespoons sage; finely chopped
• 1 lemon; halved
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 50 grams butter; softened + 10-20 grams extra to rub on flesh
• salt

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Using your fingers, separate the skin from the breast so you have a pocket to add your herb butter.
• Combine the 50 grams of butter with the chopped sage place the entire amount under the skin. Use you hands to spread it around fairly evenly. Place the chopped lemon inside the chicken and tie the legs together with string. Rub the extra softened butter on the skin and sprinkle generously with salt.
• Place into a large baking dish and add the chicken stock to the dish. Cook for an hour and a half.
• Allow to rest for 15 minutes or so and serve

I served the chicken with roasted sweet potato, carrots, parsnips and eggplants. Toss in olive oil and roast when there is about 40 minutes remaining.

• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• A bunch of asparagus (about 6 stalks)
• 3/4 cup of peas
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Crumbly feta , crumbled
• small handful of mint; finely chopped
• salt and pepper

• Add the eggs and milk to a bowl and lightly whisk; season well. Wash and snap off the woody ends of the asparagus. I kept the tips intact and using a vegetable peeler, I slice it into think strips.
• Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the olive oil peas, mint and strips of asparagus to the pan; cook for a few minutes. Slowly add the eggs and top with the asparagus tips and crumbled feta. Cook on the stove top until it is starting to firm up then place in under a hot grill (broiler) to finish cooking the top and to achieve a nice golden colour

• 6 – 10 medium sized black or red-skinned plums
• 150 g butter , melted
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150 g caster sugar , plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top of cake
• 250 g plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) milk

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Wash the plums cut them into halves or quarters – discard the seeds. Lightly grease a 24 cm (9 1/2 inch) cake tin with butter.
• Put the eggs into a bowl with the vanilla and the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the sifted flour and baking powder and mix to incorporate. Whisk in the melted butter and milk
• Put a few plums in the bottom of the tin and tip the batter over the top. Top with the remaining plums and sprinkle with the extra sugar.
• Bake for approximately 1 hour or until nice and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin before removing it.
• Serve plain, sprinkled with icing sugar or with a dollop of cream, ice-cream or mascarpone cream

Adapted from Twelve ‘A Tuscan Cook book’ by Tessa Kiros

• 1 Nectarine (or as many as you like)
• A few mint leaves

• Wash the nectarine well – I like to leave the skin on. Cut out the seed and add the flesh to the blender. Add a couple of mint leaves, or to taste, and puree to the desired consistency

• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups milk (animal or plant)
• 1/2 cup water + extra as needed
• 2 peaches; chopped
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or essence
• 1 clove
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 1 peach; sliced
• flaked almond; toasted
• maple syrup or your sweetener of choice

• Rinse the quinoa and add to a saucepan with the milk, water, cinnamon, vanilla, clove and salt. Add the peaches* (see note).
• Bring to the boil and then simmer until tender, stirring occasionally. Add extra water if the mixture is too dry. Once cooked remove the clove and add to two bowls.
• Add a little extra milk the sliced peaches, flaked almonds and sweeten with maple.

If you have very ripe peaches add them in towards the end of cooking the quinoa. If they are firm add them at the beginning.

• 3 bunches or asparagus (500g)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 french shallots or 1 onion; finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic; finely chopped
• 2 cups arborio rice (400g)
• 1 cup white wine
• Pinch of saffron
• 6-8 cups stock (veggie or whatever you like)
• 1 cup parmesan cheese + extra to serve
• 3 tablespoons butter

• Heat your stock in large saucepan and keep it warm. Break the woody ends off the asparagus and discard; then chop the asparagus into 2 or 3 (depending on the size of your asparagus). Set the asparagus tips to the side.
• Add the oil, garlic and shallot to a large frying pan and sauté until softened. Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil. Add the wine and stir until it has absorbed. Add asparagus (expect the tips), saffron and a few ladles of stock and stir until absorbed. Continue adding a ladle at a time. Toward the end of cooking add the asparagus tips. The risotto is ready when all the stock is gone or the risotto is creamy and cooked through – but not mushy. About 25 minutes or so.
• Add the butter and parmesan and stir until melted through. Serve with extra parmesan on top.