Steam

Here is a classic Asian dish that works every time; steaming will give you a soft, moist and tender flesh that slides right off the bone. Go heavy or light on the chilli, depending on your personal heat threshold.

Prepare the couscous and cook the beans and peas the day before the picnic. Plunging the barely cooked beans and peas into a bowl of iced water will instantly stop the cooking and will hold the colour better than rinsing them under cold water. Drain them well then wrap in paper towel and store in the fridge. Assemble the salad on the morning of the picnic.

Perfect for a picnic or casual lunch, these freeform spinach and ricotta pies are easy to make and delicious either hot or cold.

This fragrant, nutritious meal is a beautiful way to enjoy fresh fish.

Plump prawn dumplings are delicious served with either soy, sesame or chilli dipping sauce.

Warmly spiced and studded with ginger and macadamia nuts, these coconut and lime puddings are lovely served warm with a dollop of cream or ice-cream.

This delicious yet simple pasta dish is packed with veggies and can be whipped up quickly and easily. In fact, you'll have most of the ingredients in your pantry and fridge already.

The tagine's conical shape makes a uniquely moist, hot cooking environment for the dish being cooked. Fish is well suited to this cooking method as it keeps the flesh tender and succulent. You could substitute any firm white fish for the snapper.

A healthy warm bean and lentil salad drizzled with vinaigrette from Australian Women's Weekly.

This gorgeous five star starter will impress even the most fussy guests.

if you can’t find orecchiette pasta, replace it with penne. Note

Chocolate stout is available from bottle shops or online. You can swap it for a dark stout if you like. Make sure all fruit is chopped to the same size as the sultanas. Note

Basil and feta stuffed capsicums, capsicum recipe, brought to you by Australian Women's Weekly

Lemon, garlic and chilli potato salad, potato recipe, brought to you by Australian Women's Weekly

Crispy snow pea, prawn & avocado salad is perfect for a summer entertaining lunch.

Cavolo nero can be substituted with cabbage or silver beet. Note

Similar to ravioli, agnolotti are tiny pillows of pasta stuffed with one of any manner of different fillings. You can buy these already made, sold in cryovac packages, in the refrigerated section of your supermarket or fresh from specialty pasta makers. Note

A healthy and delicious Japanese starter or side dish of teriyaki snow peas and snap peas.

Also known as ‘bow-tie’ pasta, farfalle is good for this dish. The crinkles of each piece enfold the ricotta and peas for maximum deliciousness. However, you can replace the farfalle with penne or small shells if you want. Note

This cheat's ravioli is easy, light and brimming with summery flavours.

You can use a barbecued chicken for this recipe; however, you will have to cook the rice in a mixture of water and prepared chicken stock instead of the cooking liquid. Like most Thai sauces and dressings, nam jim is extremely hot. Seed the chillies to lessen the heat, if you prefer. Note

This is our twist on a caesar salad ­ the addition of potato makes this recipe suitable for a quick dinner or an easy option for lunch at work. For a low-fat version, replace the mayonnaise with skim-milk natural yogurt. The breadcrumbs can be toasted in the oven instead of frying them. Note

You will need about four large stems of rhubarb for this recipe. Note

Soy and chilli permeate the flesh of this tender, steamed fish served with a pile of greens and sweet chilli sauce.

Buy basil pesto, instead of making your own, if liked. Note

Save on cost but not taste with this delectable char-grilled chicken dinner.

The pudding is best made on the day of serving. Rum sauce can be made a day ahead, store, covered, in the fridge. Reheat the sauce before serving either in a microwave oven or over low heat in a small saucepan until hot. Note

An easy way to tenderise octopus the night before cooking is to tightly wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze. If time is short, bash it with a meat mallet until it is no longer bouncy. Note

This simple broad bean and feta salad makes a great bed for these lemon pepper pork cutlets.

Sago, also known as seed or pearl tapioca, comes from the sago palm and is used in soups and desserts, and as a thickening agent. You can use Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Curaçao or any other orange- flavoured liqueur in this recipe.

When this classic French dessert is done well, nothing can beat its silky, cream texture. Don't forget to sieve your custard and remember to insulate with a tea towel so the outside doesn't cook too quickly.

These succulent salmon parcels with orange and soy are gently steamed as they cook.

The whole orange at the heart of this jaffa steamed pudding perfumes the entire dish as it cooks.

To make our dipping sauce, in a bowl, combine 1/4 cup each rice wine vinegar and soy sauce, juice lime. 2 tablespoons water, 1 finely sliced long red chilli and 1 teaspoon caster sugar. Note

Flaky white fish spiced with fiery green chilli is delicious served with green vegetables on steamed rice with lemon on the side.

Healthy, nutritious and more likely to be eaten than chucked in the bin - the holy grail of lunchbox packing. This mediterranean tuna baguette ticks all the right boxes and is easily adjusted to suit individual likes and dislikes.

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!

Tamari and ginger make a puddle of delicious sauce for this steamed Asian bream. We used whole bream for this recipe, but any fairly small white-fleshed fish can be used.

Dashi is the basic stock used in nearly every Japanese dish, from a spoonful or two in dipping sauces to greater amounts in the broths of one-pan dishes, such as the udon noodle soup we've made here.

Pot-ready mussels come in 1kg (2-pound) bags. They have been scrubbed and bearded and are ready to cook. Some mussels may not open up during cooking; in fact, some will not open after excessive cooking. Don't discard these, just open with a knife or cook a little longer, if you like.

To add real zing to a pile of fluffy mashed potatoes, there's nothing like adding a handful of freshly-grated parmesan cheese. The better the cheese, the better the mash will be. In a pinch, you can use ready flaked parmesan from a packet, but the ready-grated stuff doesn't really cut the mustard here.

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.

There's nothing like the flavour of home-made jams and preserves. This strawberry conserve recipe uses lemon pips to help with setting, and lemon juice to add piquancy. Delicious.

A true pea lover, and yes they do exist, might assert that peas straight from the pod cannot be bettered, but this fresh and herby mixed pea salad with mint dressing certainly does its best.

The pine nuts are chopped so they will cling to the beans rather than fall to the base of the dish. Note

A light and flavoursome Middle Eastern couscous dish with olives and herbs that can be served as a side or as a light meal.

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.

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.

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.

Asparagus and baby beans just dripping with garlic butter make a fabulous green side for just about any meal.

These tasty little Greek-style cheese and spinach filo triangles are delicious served with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Great as finger food or for an after-school snack.

Deliciously creamy and packed full of the goodness of yellow split peas, this tasty dip is perfect enjoyed with veggie sticks or cracker as a afternoon snack or starter.

Wasabi mayonnaise is a cinch to make and is also great in cooked tuna sushi and California rolls.

Olives, artichokes, red onion and basil make sure this warm gnocchi salad is just bursting with colour and flavour. It makes a great lunch, starter or light dinner.

This Middle Eastern-style salad is a spicy and fragrant delight.

A super fast, easy and healthy pasta salad with garlic vinaigrette. The herbs add a lot of flavour to this recipe; purple basil, also known as opal basil, has an intense aroma and longer shelf-life than sweet basil.

Can be made two weeks ahead; keep refrigerated. Note

Steaming this fabulous Thai-style steamed fish is best done in a bamboo steamer, but if you have a metal one just loosely wrap the whole parcel in baking paper.

It's actually quite easy to skin whole hazelnuts. Just roast in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes, then wrap in a tea-towel for one minute for the steam to loosen the skins, rub inside the towel to remove skins and then cool.

Simple, smooth and creamy, buttery mashed celeriac is a fabulous side dish, either in place of or as well as mashed potato.

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.

Conchiglioni is the ideal pasta for these ricotta and spinach stuffed pasta shells, but you can use cannelloni in its place.

These classic red dyed eggs are traditionally enjoyed at Greek Orthodox Easter.

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

Fluffy, fragrant and full of spices, this beautiful yellow coconut rice goes beautifully alongside traditional Indian curries.

Toasted lemon and garlic breadcrumbs add a topping of crunchy deliciousness to this fresh, minted spring greens and goat's cheese pasta.

A versatile and delicious creamy pasta sauce that makes a perfect easy mid-week dinner. You can use any pasta you like for this recipe, we chose penne because so much delicious sauce sticks to every piece.

A creamy pasta sauce that can turn a busy weeknight dinner into something special. You can add ham, mushroom and spinach to the pasta to give it more bulk.

Packed full of flavour and protein, this tasty chicken and mushroom rice dish is beautiful drizzled with an Asian soy dressing and served straight out of the pot.

A simple and versatile Italian tomato pasta sauce; including delicious traditional variations.

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

Totally falling under the category of comfort food, this gnocchi with creamy sauce is a rib-sticker.

Sweet, dense and oozing with sticky golden syrup, this gorgeous steamed pudding is perfect served warm with a dollop of cream or ice-cream for an indulgent weekend treat.

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.

Steaming this Thai-style chicken draws the flavour of the seasoning right into the flesh of the fillet. If the silver beet leaves are small, use two per chicken breast. If kaffir lime leaves are unavailable, use 2 teaspoons of finely grated lime rind.

Delicious Asian-style dumplings, gow gees, that are perfect for sharing with friends and family.

This Asian style duck and rice noodle salad is served warm to keep the duck meat at its succulent best. The spicy and astringent flavours of the dressing cut through the richness of the meat.

You can dip just about any fruit that takes your fancy into chocolate fondue, bananas would be a good addition, as would marshmallows.

A cross between mandarins and grapefruit, tangelos make a jam that's sweeter than marmalade yet still tart, thanks to the fruit's natural acidity. This jam is particularly good spooned generously over rice pudding or served with tangelo cake.

Start your day on a zingy note with this marmalade that uses ginger to liven up your breakfast table.

You can deep-fry wontons in vegetable oil, in batches, until browned all over. Uncooked wontons are suitable to freeze, use a sheet of baking paper between each layer of wontons. There’s no need to defrost them before cooking. Serve steamed wontons either using the bamboo steamer as a tray or sit each wonton on a […]

You can use other fish of your choice. Mirin is found in the Asian section of your supermarket. You can use sweet sherry as a substitute. Note

Spicy date pudding with butterscotch sauce

Wrap the steamer lid in a clean tea towel to avoid condensation drops falling onto the custards. Cook custards in two batches if they don’t all fit in your steamer. Note