Chef Shane Delia partners his grilled prawn kofte with funky bastourma (air-dried beef) and purslane but you can just as easily use prosciutto and baby spinach - I love the flexibility of this Middle Eastern salad!

In its most simple form, this is a yoghurt soup that’s thickened with rice. In the traditional version, chickpeas are incorporated into the soup - I’ve turned them into a golden topping instead, brightened with kale and chilli. I get really excited about reworking simple ingredients for new pleasures. The components of this dish are humble and modest but each finds new potential in this recipe, and thus new opportunity for diner pleasure.

This apple, pear and mandarin mulled wine also includes Australian pepperberries. You can also make it with regular peppercorns and it's just as delicious!

I am always looking for ways to incorporate seasonal fruit and veg into my daily delights. At the moment, I am loving adding mandarins to my morning green smoothies for extra winter zing. Mandarins bring sweetness and their special floral fragrance as well as their lovely citrus flavour.

This beautiful grain and nut cake is a true favourite of mine and I hereby give you permission to eat cake whenever you want. So simple to make yet so unusual in flavour, this two-fruit cake is based on buckwheat and almonds, while bay leaf adds a subtle herbaceous fragrance. The cake is gluten-free, so long as the baking powder used is gluten-free too. Served with tea, it’s a nourishing, sustaining feel-good cake.

I first made this soup for a friend who wasn’t well and needed a chicken soup cure! I can’t promise this soup will cure all ills but it is simple and nourishing with comforting tones and a cheery promise of sunshine. These flavours and textures remind me of suburban Chinese restaurants, though I don’t at all pretend my version is traditional. I make my own creamed corn but you can also use tinned. As with all homemade dishes, the quality of the ingredients shines through. Great chicken and stock will make a big difference to the end result.

When I think ‘vegetables’ and ‘comfort’ it’s not long before I think of creamed corn. Once heated, the starches in corn kernels thicken, turning the mixture into a creamy yellow custard. It’s delicious by itself with butter, as a side dish for sausages or grilled meats, and as a comfy bed for roasted or steamed vegetables.

I recently had the pleasure of joining Miznon chef Afik Gal for a hummus workshop / worship at the Mount Zero factory in Melbourne. We were joined by 20 or so hummus acolytes with a passion for perfect puree. Afik made a batch of hummus in a mortar and pestle and another big batch in the Thermomix. One of his main messages was to make hummus that you think is delicious, adjusting lemon, salt and consistency as you go.  This is Afik's recipe but this is your hummus!

This magical lemony tahini saucy magnificence is brilliant with roast veg salads but it’s also incredible over grilled meats, dolloped into pides or sandwiches, or over other salads.