Serves 6

These flavour filled little tarts make a great shared platter for a cocktail party, or a starter for a special meal.

Spice up a dull evening with this nourishing and tasty lentil and garlic soup with yogurt.

Get your iron Popeye-style with this cream of spinach soup with lemon fetta toasts.

Garlic and rosemary smoked lamb is delicious served cold the next day, as well as while still hot.

A true classic of British cooking, steak and kidney pie is a rich and sumptuous dish. If you haven't cooked with kidneys before you could ask your butcher to prepare them for you.

This classic dish is comforting, dependable and delicious. No wonder it is so popular in so many cultures around the world.

Spiced with cinnamon, star anise and red chilli, this homemade plum sauce is a revelation in terms of complexity and depth of flavours. Use as a dipping sauce to spice up braised Asian greens or serve alongside beautifully roasted meats.

A little different from your usual soup with crunchy toast, this curried parsnip soup is the perfect hearty dish to go with deliciously dense soda bread.

It's one of those classic pairings, like cookies and cream or peanut butter and chocolate. These lemon meringues will suit everyone, from sweet-tooth lovers to those of us who appreciate something with a little more zest.

Check the seasoning of your chutney before serving. It should be hot from the chilli; sweet from the nuts and yoghurt and salty and sour from the lime juice. Note

This recipe is designed to work in a camp oven, but you can use a conventional oven instead, if desired. Place the roasting/baking dish with oven juices on a stove to make sauce.

This light and tasty Spanish pan tortilla is wonderfully fluffy and packed full of tender potato pieces. Serve it with a fresh side salad for a no-fuss family dinner.

This Italian tart with sour cream pastry and a sweet quince jam filling is wonderfully simple to make and delicious to eat.

A delicious and easy recipe for spiced lamb and a spinach and couscous salad. Perfect for lunch, and make plenty because you'll definitely want to fill a lunchbox with it the next day!

A traditional North African dish, this vegetable tagine is spiced with cumin, coriander, caraway seeds and more, and is divine served with a fragrant lemon couscous.

Cooking fish on the bone adds bags of flavour to the flaky white flesh. Make this spiced version the star of your next special meal.

These tasty little spinach and corn pasties are sure to be a firm favourite with young and old. Great for lunches, after-school snacks and lunchboxes.

Piquant tomato vinaigrette makes a wonderful dressing for tender steamed asparagus spears. Serve as a starter, or as a side dish for a meat, chicken or fish main.

The secrets of making perfect tempura are: use the freshest vegetables you can find; make sure both the vegetables and the batter are really cold (this prevents the batter from soaking up too much oil); maintain a constant temperature by only frying a few pieces at a time; make the batter just before required; finally, don't over mix the batter - lumpy is good.

Crisp, aniseedy fennel and earthy brown lentils are fabulous combined with sweet beetroot and peppery rocket.

A fragrant and bright Moroccan salad with crisp carrots and an orange flower water dressing.

A filling salad perfect for a healthy lunch or dinner.

A delicious meal of capsicum and pancetta stirred through cellentani, a spiralled macaroni pasta. Quick and nutritious.

Sweet and tart, fruity and creamy, this dessert is a taste sensation that will impress any guest.

Nutty parmesan is the perfect accompaniment to fresh, crisp sliced fennel.

Lighter than custard, lemon chiffon cream adds a citrus kick to this fruity mango trifle. Revel in some old-fashioned indulgence with layers of jelly, fruit, sponge fingers and cream.

Keep everyone happy with hearty veal and tasty vegies that the whole family will love. There's no need to tell them it only took 30 minutes to make.

A quick and easy garlic chilli pasta, perfect for those nights when you need to throw something together really quickly.

Three fabulous greens in one dish, this buttery, herby dish of leeks, zucchini and asparagus is an ideal side dish for almost any meat-based main.

This classic French dessert is much easier than you'd expect, and always a crowd-pleaser. Doused in its own caramel sauce, it's fabulous with a dollop of double cream.

We used red sensation pears for this delicious pear and fennel salad with honey mustard dressing, but any firm-fleshed pear will do. The combination of astringent fennel, tartly sweet pear and mustardy dressing is sensational.

You can use fresh pears for this delectable roasted pear tart, just make sure that they're on the slightly firm side of ripe and peel them carefully first.

This oven-baked risotto with spicy Italian sausages is one of those fabulous one-pot, no fuss recipes that make mid-week dinners a pleasure rather than an ordeal.

This fresh, protein-packed pasta with zucchini, tomato and ricotta is an easy, tasty mid-week dinner that makes it easy to stick to your meat-free quotient.

Spaghettini is just spaghetti cut finer, and it makes a wonderful base for this vibrant freshly made pesto sauce. The more strands of pesto-coated pasta there are in every mouthful, the better.

Garganelli are little pasta squares rolled into a tube, which can be ridged or smooth. We chose ridged garganelli for this tomato, olive and anchovy pasta as the little ridges help the sauce cling to each piece.

The perfect Mediterranean salad for light dinners or lunches.

Quick and easy as it is, this pappardelle with chicken and creamy mushroom sauce makes a surprisingly luxurious dinner for a dish that's verging on a store-cupboard classic.

No time to make lasagne? Try this fantastic and easy asparagus, bacon and parmesan tortiglioni.

This is one of those throw-it-together-in-a-flash recipes that come in super handy mid-week, when you're flat-out but still want to eat well. Linguine with tuna, lemon and rocket is a classic pantry special.

To serve these delectable prawn skewers at a party, wrap the end of each skewer with a mini-napkin after they come off the barbecue, it'll prevent burnt fingers when your guests snap them up.

Fish fillets with a couscous crust are light and super-crispy. Delicious served with a tangy caper mayonnaise.

Cheese and spinach tortellini baked in tomato pasta sauce with mushroom, zucchini and tomato.

Savour this flavoursome winter warmer brimming with capsicum, onion and tomatoes. This smooth, thick soup contrasts nicely with crunchy parmesan wafers.

Add some gourmet elements to the beloved Aussie pie with chunks of steak, succulent vegetables and crisp pastry crusts.

A quick, simple and delectable rocket salad that's the perfect accompaniment to any meal. Peppery rocket needs very little added excitement, just a little red onion and a classic vinaigrette.

Serve these divine little blueberry hotcakes with walnuts and lashings of maple syrup for a decadent breakfast or brunch treat.

Heavier on the pasta than a classic minestrone, this soup is an excellent choice on a cold winter's day.

The delicate flavour of tarragon is beautiful paired with the bitter leaves of a mixed mesclun salad.

With red wine, French bread, onions and gruyere cheese you're already on to a winner, but it's the homemade beef stock that makes this French onion soup one of the best.

A favourite Aussie starter dish, salt and pepper squid is beautiful enjoyed on it's own as an entree or accompanied with this fresh cucumber salad for a more substantial main meal.

An Italian version of egg drop soup that literally means "little shred", stracciatella is warming, comforting and totally yummy. Best served with crusty bread and a simple salad.

Passionfruit is the perfect flavour for these little hot souffles, sweet but tart and with the added bit of crunch from the seeds for texture.

A simple pasta salad with bright Mediterranean flavours; a great light lunch or dinner option.

A beautiful side dish for a Mediterranean dinner spread, these garlic and herb roasted tomatoes are wonderfully sweet and juicy.

Hot, creamy and packed full of spice, this hearty Kenyan chicken curry makes the ultimate comfort food for a cooler evening.

It's the toffee sauce that makes these little sticky date puddings super delicious, and extra indulgent, rich with the dark flavours of caramelised sugar.

Piled high with fluffy frosting, cloud cakes are as light and dreamy as their name suggests. Add a dash of colour by sprinkling them with coloured sugar.

Three of the finest fish on the market served up as carpaccio, tuna, kingfish and salmon each come with their own dressing to maximise the taste sensations of this dish.

This is the easiest way to make rice without a rice cooker. And, it's one of the basic recipes all households should know!

A true American classic, pumpkin pie is traditionally served at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sweet and spiced with cloves, cinnamon, ginger and all-spice, this pie is at it's best served with a dollop of cream or a scoop of ice-cream.

Fresh, fruity and sweet, this gorgeous passionfruit panna cotta and mango dessert is perfect for entertaining guests or an indulgent weekend treat.

These delicious Chinese-style chicken stir-fry cups are perfect for sharing on platters.

This potato bake is brought to life with a shake or three of piri-piri, a hot Portuguese sauce made of chilli, garlic, ginger, oil and herbs that is available from supermarkets. You can also use pontiac potatoes for this recipe.

If there's a single dish that sums up childhood for many of us, it's spaghetti and meatballs. It's so ingrained in our culture there are even songs written about this dish. Reconnect with an earlier you, sit down with a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.

This curry is a good introduction to the taste of Thailand; not too hot and full of flavour.

An Italian filled and baked bread - perfect for children's snacks, lunches or any time!

This surprisingly simple, inexpensive recipe has subtle seductive flavours which are far more memorable than the list of ingredients might suggest. You can use fresh lasagne sheets cut into wide ribbons if you don't have any pappardelle.

Giant shells stuffed with ricotta, spinach and parmesan then drenched in tomato passata and baked, this baked stuffed conchiglioni recipe is perfect winter comfort food.

Freshly grated zest and fresh thyme perfume this light and tasty turkey and lemon risotto. If you prefer, you can use chicken breasts in place of the turkey.

This lamb, eggplant and prune tagine is rich, unctuous and utterly delicious. Best served on a pile of fluffy couscous with preserved lemon.

Ricotta cheese takes the place of bechamel sauce to make this a truly quick and easy lasagne without sacrificing flavour or texture.

An enduring classic, these little French-style strawberry tarts are given a boozy lift with the addition of Grand Marnier.

You don't need to skip dessert on busy weeknights with this quick and easy self-saucing pudding. And there's no compromising on taste either!

Chicken liver pate can be served on toast or biscuits, with drinks or, set in small individual containers, it is a perfect first course for a dinner party.

Corn or vegetable oil can be used instead of the peanut oil. Note

Recipe can be made a day ahead and refrigerated, covered. Note

Dressing can be made 1 day ahead; chill, covered. Recipe can be 3 days ahead up to step 3; store in airtight container. Note

Keeping time: 3 days. Note

You need to buy 2 packets of lattice biscuits for this recipe. The slice will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. Note