Place them in the freezer, whole and un-peeled, and use them up in your cooking. Despite their alarming blackened skins, frozen bananas are perfect for breakfast smoothies, cakes, bread, frozen yoghurt, baby food, even cooked at the last minute in the odd Caribbean-style curry in place of plantains.

And that’s all before you’ve even made your next batch of muffins for lunch boxes this week.

Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups plain flour; 1 ½ cups wholemeal flour; 1 tsp baking powder; pinch nutmeg; ½ tsp cinnamon;¾ cup firmly packed soft brown sugar; ½ cup sour cream; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; ½ cup vegetable or canola oil; 2 large and very ripe bananas

METHOD

Preheat oven to 160 ° C (fan-forced) and line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper cases or lightly grease the cups with a little oil or spray.

Sift the flours, baking powder and spices into a large bowl and set aside.

Place the sugar and sour cream in a smaller bowl and whisk together with electric beaters until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and oil and blend for a minute until smooth. Mash the bananas and add to the cream mixture and beat in until well combined.

Pour the cream mixture into the flour and use a wooden spoon to gently fold all the mixture together. Do not beat the mixture as it will result in a tough texture.

Spoon the mixture into the paper-lined cups and place the muffin tray into the centre of the oven. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and risen. An inserted skewer in the centre of a muffin should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze them for up to three months.

COST

$4.50 for 12 muffins

But then, without warning, you can stumble across a mother-lode of great ideas.

I came across this idea when I headed into a small shopping centre on the shores of Port Stephens in NSW for some lunch. Outside the one-supermarket, one-newsagent, one-butcher display was a set of food outlets. At first it seemed they offered the usual chips with everything but then there was a sandwich bar offering organic, gluten-free, lactose-free choices and the cake display alone was so perfectly drool-worthy I felt like doing a little dance. This being a small shopping centre, I nixed that idea fast, but the memory of that perfect raspberry cake with a nicely made cuppa has left me thinking about it for most of the last year, working out the many permutations for replicating it.

Now I have.

Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs; ¾ cup caster sugar; 75 g almond meal (¾ cup); 40 g cornflour (¼ cup); ¼ tsp salt; 2 punnets fresh raspberries OR 200g frozen raspberries; 1 cup icing mixture (optional)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 150 °C. Line a 12 cup muffin tray with paper (not foil) liners.

Place the eggs and sugar in a medium sized bowl and beat with electric beaters for at least 15 minutes. Keep beating until the mixture is trebled in size. You should be able to lift the beaters and write your name with the mixture as it trickles back into the bowl, with the word clearly suspended across the surface of the mixture.

Sift the almond meal, cornflour and salt into the bowl then use a large metal spoon to very gently fold in the flours into the egg mixture..

Place one punnet of raspberries in a small bowl and mash them roughly with a fork. Add the raspberry mixture to the cake mixture and fold in briefly to swirl through rather than completely combine.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cups to fill them just two-thirds full. The mixture will rise as the cakes cook, so don’t be tempted to spoon in extra.

Bake for 20 minutes, then test by inserting with a skewer. Cook for a further 5 minutes if required.

Turn out the cakes immediately onto a cooling rack and leave them to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make you icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Mash the remaining punnet of raspberries into the icing mixture and add a scant teaspoon of boiling water if you want to make it runnier.

You can either spoon the icing mixture directly on top of the cakes or, as I have shown in the picture above, gently peel the paper cases off the cakes and spoon icing over the tops and sides for a gloriously pink-jewelled centrepiece for afternoon tea.

COST

$7.20 for 12 cakes

We want something that refreshes on a hot day, not weigh us down. In a country where many think of a sunny 22°C day as wintry conditions – hello, Queenslanders – we understand exactly what a hot summer day is. We don’t so much cook on days like this as assemble something on a plate. We don’t want to be in a kitchen for any other reason than to pull something – a beer for example – out of the fridge.

Which is why there are chilled soups and, in a league of its own, there’s gazpacho.

No wonder this is called a salad in a glass. It really can’t be enjoyed at any other time of year than in the dog days of high summer. There are two reasons for this: first, it relies on the full flavours of ripe-to-bursting ingredients and secondly, it refreshes, revives, adds much-needed natural salts and minerals back into our sweaty bodies and satisfies beyond all expectations. Make it now, throw open the doors and windows and relish the heat.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

½ kg extremely ripe tomatoes; 1 red onion, peeled and quartered; 2 red capsicum; 1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped; 2 lebanese cucumbers; 6 large basil leaves or mint leaves; 2 slices day-old bread, toasted and soaked for 15 minutes in a little red wine vinegar, then squeezed out; juice of 1 lemon;  up to 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, extra; sea salt and black pepper;  up to half a cup of olive oil

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 190°C. Place tomatoes and capsicum in a small roasting dish and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil. Roast tomatoes and capsicum for 45 minutes. Place the blistered capsicums in a paper or plastic bag and seal well to let them steam. Scoop out the seeds from the tomatoes.

When they are cool enough to handle, rub the blistered skin off the capsicums, then de-seed. Slice one cucumber in half, lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Chop up the cucumber roughly (set the other one aside for the time being).

Place the capsicums and tomatoes, as much of the capsicum juice as you can capture, the peeled and quartered onion, garlic clove, the de-seeded cucumber, basil or mint leaves and one slice of roughly torn bread into the bowl of a blender or food processor. Blitz until the vegetables are creamy, then add lemon juice and one cup of cold water to make it creamy and smooth. Press through a sieve to remove any lumps.

Season to taste with a dash of extra vinegar, a pinch of salt and pepper and a generous slug of olive oil. It’s important to be generous with the olive oil as it adds greatly to the mellowness of the flavour. I added half a cup, but it’s entirely up to your taste.

Chill well. Add pieces of remaining torn bread at the bottom of each bowl to sop up soup. Top with cubed remaining cucumber and a final drizzle of olive oil.

COST

$6.00 for four people

According to the author of The New Spanish Table, Anya von Bremzen, the story goes that Catalans would melt a small piece of dark chocolate – then prohibitively rationed – spread it on some toast, then sprinkle olive oil and a pinch of salt for a delicious treat.

A natural extension of this unusual food pairing, this mousse is as pragmatic as it is utterly delicious. Less reliant on dairy, it’s perfect for those who may be lactose-intolerant. The result is an intense eyelid-fluttering flavour, cut perfectly by a judicious sprinkling of sea salt over the top of the silken mousse. Just as in those times of restriction, a little goes a long way and now, presented in pretty glass bowls, makes for a memorable finish to a great meal.

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

150g dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa, roughly chopped; 3 eggs, separated; 2/3 cup icing sugar, sifted; ¼ cup espresso coffee, cooled to room temperature; ¾ cup (180ml) olive oil; 1 tbsp sea salt flakes, to serve

METHOD

Place the chocolate in a small bowl and heat over a small saucepan of barely simmering water or in a microwave and melt it until it is smooth. Let it cool for 5 minutes.

Place the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and beat with electric beaters until you have a smooth paste. Add the coffee mix just to combine, then stir in the melted chocolate. Add the olive oil and mix well. The mixture will be glossy and smooth.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff but still a little wet, leaving soft peaks. Using a balloon whisk, gently fold one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and whisk until patches of white disappear. You don’t have to be too careful at this stage, it’s simply to loosen the mixture.

Add the remaining egg whites into the chocolate mixture, but this time, muse a large metal spoon to carefully and gently fold in the mixture until all the patches of egg white disappears.

Gently spoon the mousse into a pretty bowl or individual dessert dishes and refrigerate until set, for at least two hours.

To serve, sprinkle the mousse with a small pinch of sea salt and serve at once before the salt melts into the chocolate.

COST

$8.50 for six people

Is it because we’ve forgotten the classics? Is it because we’re spoilt for choice and meal options? Is it because, with the prevailing trends for Peruvian food, dude food, meal trucks, pop-up restaurants and our continuing love affair with asian ingredients that we have simply over-looked it?

Of course we have over-looked it. So, allow me to reacquaint you with a family favourite. It’s such a great recipe that there’s really no point in faffing around and making just enough for one meal. This has perfect do-ahead qualities that will save your sanity and earn you much-needed brownie points with fussy eaters so make double or triple the quantities and freeze it, sauce and all, ready for your next mid-week cooking slump.

After all, do-ahead meals never go out of style.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Meatballs: 2 slices day-old bread, soaked in ½ cup milk for one hour (or overnight); 500g beef mince OR a combination of beef and pork mince; 2 rashers bacon, rinds removed and roughly chopped; 1 large onion, grated; 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped; ¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sauce: 3 tbsp vegetable or olive oil; 1 onion, finely diced; 2 cloves garlic, finely diced or crushed; 1 x 400g tin diced roma tomatoes; 700g bottle tomato passatta; 1 cup (250 ml) beef stock; 350g – 400g  rigatoni or other dried pasta of your choice; ¼ cup grated parmesan, to serve; 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, to serve

METHOD

Meatballs: Remove the bread slices from the milk and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Roughly tear up the bread, crusts included and place in the bowl of a food processor. Place mince, bacon pieces, grated onion, garlic, parsley and a pinch of salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor with the bread. Process until the mixture is smooth and comes together in one large ball.

Wet your hands a little with cold water, then roll one tablespoon of the meat mixture between your hands to make a smooth ball the size of a walnut. Set aside and continue until all the mixture is used up.

Heat half the oil in a large heavy-based fry-pan over medium heat. Cook the meatballs, in about two or three batches, in the oil, rolling them around the pan from time to time to make sure they cook evenly. Remove after about five minutes when the meatballs are brown and firm (although they will continue cooking in the sauce). Drain on kitchen paper.

Sauce: In a large saucepan, heat the remaining oil over a medium heat. Add the finely diced onion and remaining garlic cloves and sauté for three minutes until the onion has softened and is translucent.

Add the passata, tomatoes and stock and stir well to combine. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to a slow simmer. Add the meatballs and cover, then simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until the sauce is full-bodied and thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

At this stage, you can place the meatballs in air-tight containers and, once cooled to room temperature, you can freeze them for up to three months. To re-heat, simply de-frost either in the bottom of the fridge for the day while you are at work, or in the microwave. Tip the contents into a large saucepan and gently re-heat, stirring occasionally, over low to medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes while the pasta is cooking.

To Serve: Bring a large pasta pot of water to the boil and add the rigatoni. Cook according to the directions on the packet for up to 10 minutes until the pasta is al dente. Drain well.

Place rigatoni in a pile in the centre of some wide bowls and top with a generous serve of meatballs and sauce. Add parmesan and parsley at the table.

COST

$12.50 for four people

Photo courtesy of Another Pint Please (www.anotherpintplease.com)

A while ago a girl friend and I went out to dinner at a bistro in the pub of my former home town. It was a Tuesday night and I was surprised to see people were lined up out the door. We soon found out why: It was the weekly $10 steak night.

On offer were some very good cuts of aged steak -  generous cuts of meat that we simply couldn’t afford as part of our grocery bill – but it placed my friend and I in a conundrum. To enjoy the steak, we would have to make a foray into that most blokey of all places – the pub barbecue grill.

I took one for the team and offered my services, terrified I would make a fool of myself.

I needn’t have worried.

Men – they were all men – all appeared to be massacring the meat a second time. One poured so much oil over his steak, the flames flared up into the extractor fans above. Others endlessly turned their steaks over, and over, and over. Every single person cut into their steaks at the end of the cooking time to check for done-ness.

Until then, steeped in the mystique of Aussie blokedom at barbecues, I had never ventured to cook a steak of my own on a barbecue. First it had been dad who cooked, then my husband, then – well, anyone who was not female. My son started cooking at a barbecue, alongside his grandfather and father and uncles, from a tender age of ten or so. Over the years I would cook steaks for my family using a cast-iron griddle on the stove, but never at a barbecue. Until now.

I selected two eye fillet steaks, well marbled and cooked them in the manner described below. I didn’t trick it up or use pyrotechnics and the resulting steaks were like butter when we finally ate them.

So here, based on a little common sense and a natural inclination to keep it simple, is a fool-proof guide to cooking a great steak. Try it at your Australia Day barbecue later this week.

Choose your steak

Look for a well-aged piece of meat that is marbled with white lines and veins of fat. This may horrify those who are looking after their waistline, but while cooking a steak, fat is your friend.  A well-aged steak is steak that has been hung, in one piece, in a cool room for anything from 4 days to two weeks. The drying out matures the flavour and tenderises the cut at the same time. When combined with the striations of white – not yellow – fat, you know that the meat is going to be more tender and juicy than the steak with the fat removed from it lying next to it. Also, I try to limit the size of the steak I eat to one about the size of my fist or about 180 – 200g per steak. Again, this may horrify steak lovers but as with all of life’s enjoyments a little moderation is a wonderful thing.

Bring it to room temperature

So many people take their steaks out of the fridge and place them straight on a hotplate then wonder why the meat – particularly the fat encasing it – shrivels and curls up at the ends. Once it starts curling up, cooks attack it with barbecue tongs, start turning it over in a vain attempt to flatten it out and it’s all down hill from there. Don’t. Do. That. Even on a blazing hot day, try to bring the meat out of the fridge a good 15 to 20 minutes before taking it to the hotplate. Even better, bring it out of the fridge an hour before cooking. Taking the chill out of the meat helps keep the meat more relaxed as it is cooked. In a manner of speaking.

Heat your barbecue or hotplate

Perhaps I am a bit afeared of flames but cooking a steak over the hottest part of the barbecue is not your best approach. What you want is heat that sears the meat initially to lock in juices, but is cool enough that you can actually control the cooking. If your barbecue is too hot – for example all burners blazing – you are likely to get a very well cooked exterior, most likely charred, and an under cooked interior. UNLESS you want a steak cooked to blue, don’t use a searing heat. Have one burner blazing and one turned down so you can place your steaks over a spot that is medium hot.

If you are using a hotplate or a frypan over a stove top, the same principle applies. Heat over a medium to hot heat and then keep an eye on the heat and be prepared to turn  it down a little if your steaks cook too quickly.

Season your steak and add your oil now

Just before you place your steak on the hotplate or grill, rub in a teaspoon of vegetable or olive oil, then add a sprinkling of sea salt and black pepper over both sides of the steak.  That’s. It.

Your steak will not stick to the barbecue plate with such a small amount of oil, nor will the extra flames around a steak create any more flavour. All it does is waste your cooking oil and char your meat.

A word about marinades

There is a place for marinades and it is very useful if you are cooking a cheaper cut of steak or one that has not been aged, such as a rump or oyster blade steak. However, at the pub bistro grill, adding some marinade moments before whacking the meat on the grill is really not going to help things along. It looks pretty and makes you feel worthy, but it doesn’t really add any flavour at such short notice. If you want additional flavour, add a sauce such as a classic Diane, béarnaise, mushroom or pepper sauce once the steak is cooked.

It’s hard to go past a basic red wine marinade which is as follows: into a large flat glass or ceramic dish place 3 large roughly chopped garlic cloves, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 cup red wine OR ¾ cup red wine and ¼ red wine vinegar, 1 heaped tablespoon of mustard (seeded or Dijon works best) ¼ cup tomato sauce, a good dash of Worcestershire sauce, and some sea salt and black pepper to taste. Mix it up well.

Marinate your steaks throughout the day or for at least 4 to 6 hours. The oil in the marinade helps stop the steaks sticking to the hot plate.

Now for the warning: DO NOT use the marinade you have stored raw meat in to then baste the cooked meat. That way lies food poisoning hell. If you want to baste with the marinade, mix up the marinade and then remove a cup of the stuff and store it in the fridge away from the meat and apply it separately at the hot plate. Once the meat is on the hot plate, throw out the marinade the steaks have soaked in and place the container in the sink or dishwasher. Likewise DO NOT use the same unwashed container you have stored raw meat in to collect the cooked meat off the hot plate. Food poisoning hell, remember?

Turn your steaks over ONCE

So, you’ve done all your preparation, placed the steaks on the hot plate and they are sizzling beautifully and you want to turn them over to see if they’re browning nicely?

Don’t even think about it.

Here’s a bit of science for you. When the steaks hit the hot plate, the blood in the meat rises towards the upper surface of the steak. You will sometimes see it pooling there. This is a good thing.

Meanwhile, the steak is cooking from the hot surface up through towards the centre of the steak. If you look at the sides of your steak you will see it slowly changing colour from red to pink to grey. Wait until the colour changes to the way you want it at the half way point up the sides of your steak then turn your steak over just the once and cook the steak for about the same length of time as the first side.

At this point, the blood that has headed towards the surface now changes direction and moves back into the centre of the steak. This means brilliantly tender and juicy steak, provided you don’t use a knife to cut into your steak to check for done-ness.

Which brings me to …

Use the Rule of Thumb

Cooking the steaks to order – it’s the personal Everest of cooking your steak at barbecues everywhere. In desperation people attack their carefully cooked steaks with sharp knives to check for done-ness and ruin everything the moment they do. Instead, use some tongs and The Rule of Thumb.

RARE – press the tip of your index finger onto the tip of the thumb next to it to make an ‘OK’ sign, then press the meatiest part of the pad of your thumb next to the palm of your hand. The pressure you feel there will replicate a steak cooked to rare. Use the back of your tongs to press down in the centre of the steak to gauge the ‘feel’ of the steak.

MEDIUM – press the tip of your middle finger to the tip of the thumb and press the pad of your thumb to replicate the feeling of a steak when it is cooked to medium. Use the back of the tongs on your steak as described above.

WELL DONE – Press the tip of your ring finger to the tip of your thumb and press the pad of your thumb to replicate the feeling of a steak when it is cooked to well done. Use your tongs, as described.

Rest your cooked steak

When you have finished cooking your steaks according to the ‘feel’ of them under the Rule of Thumb, fear not – they will continue cooking for a few more minutes. Place your steaks in a warmed clean dish and then cover them loosely with foil and leave them the hell alone for five to ten minutes. The juices that you have managed to avoid releasing by not cutting into your steaks will settle back into the meat, ensuring that every mouthful you take is exquisite, tender and pleasurable rather than jaw-achingly tedious and tough.

If you are cooking your own steaks in the pub, use this time to have an entrée or to finish your drink. Then and only then, bring the steaks to the table, serve with sauces or some mustard and add some salads or vegies of your choice. I guarantee that the time you have taken to rest your steak will actually help the meat relax and tenderise to utter perfection. The night of our girls-own BBQ adventure, we could have cut our steaks with a butter knife and yes, the meat was still perfectly warm.

The zucchini in this meal makes about two cups when grated, so substitute for two cups of anything else; roasted vegies (finely chop them first), carrots, eggplant, even mushrooms.

You can of course forgo the haloumi, but I look for any excuse to enjoy the punchy salt of this cheese. You could grate some parmesan (about ¼ cup should do it ) into the fritter mixture instead to save the cost.

Makes 12 8cm fritters, enough for four people

INGREDIENTS

1 x 180g block haloumi cheese, sliced thinly; 4 tbsp vegetable oil; 180g self-raising flour; ½ tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp ground cumin; good pinch sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 6 eggs; 500g (about four large) zucchini; 4 spring onions; 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley; 1 tbsp finely chopped mint OR basil; green salad to serve; lime and garlic mayonnaise, to serve; 1 large lemon, to serve

METHOD

Sift flour, cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper into a large bowl and add the eggs one at a time while you whisk them in to make a thick batter.

Grate the zucchini coarsely and add to the batter, together with the finely chopped spring onions (white and green parts), parsley and mint or basil.

Heat a large heavy-based frypan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp oil. Place the haloumi slices across the base of the frypan and gently cook them for about two minutes on each side until they are golden brown. Place the cheese slices on paper towel on a warmed plate and keep warm while you cook the fritters.

Wipe out the pan and return to the heat. Add another tablespoon of oil and heat it up, the spoon about ¼ cup of the mixture into the oil. Smooth down with the back of the spoon to make a circle about 8cm min diameter and about 3cm in depth. You should be able to cook about three fritters at a time.

After four minutes, flip the fritters over and cook for a further three to four minutes until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Place on paper towel on a warmed plate and keep warm while you finish the rest of the fritters.

Serve the fritters with pieces of haloumi scattered over the top, some garden salad on the side, a wedge of lemon and a dollop of lime and garlic mayo.

COST

$12.00 for four people

A scant spoonful of cocoa is all you need to give your basic crêpe batter a sexy new look. The addition of berries, either fresh or frozen, gives them a make-over worthy of a dinner for two. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this could even be deciphered as foreplay. Not that I’d know anything about that. At all.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups plain flour; pinch salt; 1 tbsp cocoa; 2 tbsp espresso coffee or, pre-made instant coffee (optional), at room temperature; pinch salt; 3 eggs; 1 ½ cups milk; 30g butter, melted; extra butter for frying crêpes

Two Minute Berry Sauce: 150g (two cups) mixed frozen berries OR 2 punnets berries of your choice such as strawberries, raspberries or blueberries, washed and hulled; 2 tbsp caster sugar; 2 tbsp (50g) butter

METHOD

Sift the flour, salt and cocoa into a medium-sized bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the coffee, if using, and the eggs and whisk with a balloon whisk until well combined, then add the milk.

Continue whisking until all the flour has pulled away from the sides of the bowl and the batter is smooth. It should be the consistency of runny cream. Pour in the melted butter and whisk briefly to combine, then allow the mixture to stand for at least 15 minutes. This helps the gluten in the flour relax and makes softer fluffier pancakes.

Heat a non-stick fry pan over medium heat. place a small knob of chilled butter in a square of kitchen paper and tightly twist the paper around it so it’s easy to hold. Rub the buttered paper over the hot surface of the pan – enough butter will melt into it and you can easily regulate how much butter coats the pan.

Pour ¼ cup batter into the centre of the pan and tilt the pan so the batter coats the pan over a 15cm diameter. Cook the crêpe for two minutes until the underside is a light brown. Flip the crêpe over and cook for a further minute, then fold the crêpe into quarters and place in a warmed dish while you finish cooking the rest of the batter. You should get 12 crepes out of this mixture.

At this stage, you can cook the crêpes and cover them in an airtight container and store for up to two days in advance before re-heating, or you can stack them, unfolded and with a sheet of freezer wrap between each crêpe, place them in a large freezer bag or airtight container and freeze them for up to three months.

Two Minute Berry Sauce: Place the sugar and butter in a large heavy-based frypan over medium heat and stir gently until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add the berries (frozen straight from the packet is fine) and stir to briefly combine, then turn the heat down to a simmer.

Allow the berries to heat through in the sugar syrup. As they do so, they will give off juice. Mash about half the berries roughly with the back of a spoon to thicken the sauce a little.

To Serve: Once the sauce is simmering and has thickened after a couple of minutes, place the crêpes, still quartered, back into the pan and spoon the sauce over to gently re-heat. Re-heat for about 30 to 40 seconds, then spoon directly into a small dessert dish, with some berries and juice spooned over.

COST

$7.00 for four people

This recipe was first produced for Olives and Olive Oils from Spain. You can find their website, which features fabulous recipe ideas for anything olive-related, here

To eat an olive is to taste the very essence of Spain. As the world’s largest producer of olives and olive oil, Spain’s culinary contribution to the world is unrivalled, a fact borne out over again whenever the leading chefs of the world are mentioned. There’s no denying it: Spanish cuisine is on trend.

But here in Australia, I’m thinking of how we can adapt Spanish recipes and produce to our table and to our lifestyle. We love great produce but we want ease of preparation. With the summer entertaining season fast approaching, we want to stay out of a hot kitchen and celebrate with brilliant produce, simply served.

It would be impossible to ignore small dishes of marinated and baked olives, served with cool drinks on a warm afternoon. Unless of course, you want to amp up the flavours and provide it all on a bed of crunchy toasts. Tapanade, a piquant blend of olives, olive oil, garlic and herbs, does the job brilliantly.

Makes 2 cups of tapenade

INGREDIENTS

One loaf everyday home-style bread such as sourdough, pane di casa, or ciabatta, un-sliced; ½ cup extra virgin olive oil; 4 large cloves garlic, peeled.

Olive Tapenade: 2 cups (350g) pitted Spanish olives (I used marinated and baked olives); 6-8 anchovy fillets, drained on some kitchen towel, coarsely chopped; 2 tbsp drained capers; 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped; ½ cup (125 ml) extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra to serve; 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, to serve

METHOD

Toasts:

Pre-heat oven to 200ºC.

Slice bread loaf into 2cm thick slices, giving about 16 slices of bread. Lay the bread on a clean bench top and brush olive oil over the bread with a pastry brush. Lay the bread slices in a single layer on a large baking sheet.

Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes and remove them when the tops are golden. Flip the breads over, brush with remaining olive oil and toast in the hot oven for another 5 minutes.

Remove the hot toasts from the oven. Slice the garlic cloves in half, lengthways. Rub one side of the toasts with the cut surface of the garlic and place on a platter. Continue as fast as you can while the toasts are still warm, using up the garlic clove halves as you need them. Discard garlic.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C

Tapanade: Place olives, anchovies and capers in the bowl of a small food processor and pulse briefly with an additional 1-2 tbsp of olive oil until blended. With the motor running, gradually pour the remaining olive oil in a thin stream until the paste is smooth and spreadable, about the thickness of a herb pesto.

Spread the tapenade over the hot toasts and place briefly in the oven, until the paste is sizzling. Top with a sprinkling of chopped flat-leaf parsley before serving.

Store the tapenade in a sterilised jar, covered with a spoonful of olive oil to prevent oxidisation, in the fridge for up to two weeks.

COST

$8.00 for 2 cups of tapanade (about 16 toasts)

By making it yourself you can add any flavour combination you want. I’ve been adding lime and garlic for what seems like all summer. It’s my favourite mayo of the moment and I use it on everything  from chicken sandwiches to hot chips, vegetable fritters to barbecued meat to potato salad. A jar of the stuff will last in the fridge for a good two weeks. It goes without saying it will knock the stripes off anything you can buy.

Makes 1 cup

INGREDIENTS

3 egg yolks; 1 tsp dijon mustard; juice and finely grated zest of 1 lime; 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped; pinch sea salt to taste; 150ml canola or olive oil (NOT extra virgin olive oil, it’s too strong)

METHOD

Place egg yolks, mustard, lime zest and juice, chopped garlic and a pinch of salt into the bowl of a food processor and blitz until it’s combined. With the motor running on low, pour in the oil in a very thin stream. It’s important to take your time – let the oil drip in as slowly as you can.

From time to time you will have to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Slowly, the egg mixture will thicken and lighten in colour and change to a thick cream. It could well take ten minutes or so of running the food processor so take your time.

When the oil has been added and completely incorporated, check for seasoning. You may need a little extra lemon juice or a bit more salt. When you are happy with the flavour, add 1 tablespoon of hot tap water and blitz the mayonnaise briefly to emulsify the sauce.

Scrape the mayonnaise into a clean screwtop jar or an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to two weeks. It will thicken slightly when it’s cooled.

COST

$3.00 for 1 cup of mayonnaise.