Lamb Shank Soup

This is a hearty and delicious lamb and chickpea soup, that makes a perfect winter meal.

The recipe is adapted from The Big Book of Soups by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Banana Cake

This is a delicious moist banana cake, very easy to make. Perfect for using up overripe bananas.

The recipe is adapted from Cakes and Cupcakes by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Redcurrant and Hazelnut Tart

This is a fantastic combination of crumbly shortcrust pastry, rich and gooey honey and hazelnut filling, and tart jellied redcurrants. Whipped topping adds a perfect final touch.

The recipe is adapted from Sweet Temptations by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Potato Salad

This potato salad is very delicious, best served with Viennese Schnitzel or battered fish. The recipe is adapted from Salads by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Ingredients:

2 kg baby potatoes, halved

Dressing:

250 ml bottled mayonnaise
125 ml bottled Italian dressing (or less, if you prefer less tangy)
125 ml sour cream
6 green shallots, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
2 tsp French mustard
2 tsp sugar

Method:

Cook potatoes (boil, steam or microwave) until tender, drain, rinse under cold water, drain. Place potatoes in a bowl, add dressing, mix well.

For the dressing, place all ingredients in a bowl, whisk until combined.

Serve and enjoy! Bon Appetit!

Coconut, Coriander Chicken and Vegetable Curry

This is a rich spicy curry, with added mint leaves, toasted nuts and sesame seeds, and with intense coconut flavour, you can vary the intensity of chillies according to your heat tolerance level.

The recipe is adapted form Eating Well by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Coconut Lamb Casserole

This is a hearty stew with tender lamb meat, succulent and mildly spicy. Great with the coriander rice. Note: the meat should take at least 3 hours to marinate (or preferably overnight).

The recipe is adapted from Rice cookbook by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Coriander Rice

This is a very easy and quick recipe of the coriander rice, that can be enjoyed with raita or any sort of curry to go along with it.

The recipe is adapted from Rice cookbook by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Cuban Lamb and Black Bean Soup

Black beans, also known as turtle beans, are a common ingredient in Latin American soups, salads and salsa. They have a black skin, creamy texture and sweet flavour.

This is a fantastic fragrant and thick soup, full of spicy flavour. You can substitute gravy beef (or better yet, a ham bone and chicken stock) for the lamb.

The recipe is adapted from The Big Book of Soups by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Quince and Pistachio Cake

This upside-down cake is delicious for afternoon tea or dessert. It has perfect texture, not too moist, with distinct flavour of pistachios and chewy quince slices on the top.

The recipe is adapted from Cafe Cakes by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Moist Coconut Cake

This is one of the richest and most moist coconut cakes, quite simple and easy to make.

The recipe is adapted from Cakes & Slices by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Beef and Vegetables with Herb Pesto

This is a delicious combination of crispy veggies, beef and homemade herb pesto sauce. This dish is very quick and extremely easy to make.

The recipe is taken from The Complete Book of Everyday Classics by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Chicken, Corn and Noodle Soup

A very simple and delicious soup, the recipe is adapted from "The Big Book of Soups" by The Australian Women's Weekly. I just slightly changed the proportions.

Rhubarb and Apple Custard Cake

It is originally Rhubarb and Pear cake recipe, adapted by me from The Australian Women's Weekly Retro Baking. 

This cake has perfect soft sponge, is extremely delicious and moist, with a mouthwatering layer of custard cream and succulent chunks of fruit in the middle and on the top. If desired, large firm strawberries can be sliced lengthwise and substituted for the rhubarb, nashi can be substituted for the apple or pear,  or a combination of any of these fruits (including the rhubarb) can be used.

Apricot Choc Chip Cake

This delicious cake is somewhat similar to the Plum and Hazelnut cake from one of my previous posts. It too has fruit puree added to the batter for the perfectly moist cake and a generous portion of nut (desiccated coconut in this case) that makes it crumbly and flavourful.

The recipe comes from Retro Baking by The Australian Women's Weekly. I slightly changed the recipe and used fresh apricots instead of the dried ones.

Beef&Pork Burgers with Broccoli Mash

This recipe is taken from The Australian Women's Weekly The Complete Book of Everyday Classics.

Initially the recipe sounded as beef burgers with cabbage mash, but according to my own experience the burgers come much more delicious and succulent when made of two equal portions of mince - pork and beef (rather than adding some bacon to the beef, as it states in the original recipe). Same with mash, cooked broccoli gives better texture and taste than uncooked savoy cabbage. Well, if anyone feels different, he can always hold on to the original recipe.

Frangipane Cherry Slices

This is a rich fragrant almond cake, moist and a bit buttery, and also very easy to make. The recipe is taken from The Australian Women's Weekly "Little Squares and Slices"  issue.

Rhubarb, Orange and Semolina Cake

This is a wonderfully moist and tender summertime cake, with a delicious thick layer of tangy syrup on the top. It's really worth making!

The recipe is taken from The Australian Women's Weekly Cake Baking.

Thai Style Chicken and Basil Fried Rice

This is a fragrant delicious dish, very quick and easy to make. All you need is to cook 2 cups of jasmine rice the day before you want to make this recipe. And if you use the ready to eat microwave rice, the cooking time will take you just 15 minutes.

Note: rice must be cold and quite dry, in order to prevent it sticking together in clumps when added to the wok. Frozen rice is particularly good for frying, it just needs to be partially thawed.

The recipe is taken from The Complete Book of Modern Classics by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Beef and Vermicelli Soup

This recipe is basically taken from "Cook it Slow" by Women's Weekly, but I changed it considerably according to my taste. So here is my variant of this delicious and comforting soup, which I use to make quite often, since it's one of my favourite.

Cream of Chicken Soup

This delicious creamy soup is one of my absolute favourites. It tastes fantastic (especially with Parmesan croutons) and is really easy to make.

This recipe is taken from "The Big Book of Soups" by Australian Women's Weekly.