I’m always looking for something interesting to have with drinks when guests are coming for lunch or dinner. These are quick and easy. They can be made before guests arrive and then reheated and if you use GF plain flour, they work for everyone.

I think the lemon and yoghurt flavours in this cake work really well together and while the recipe uses a baba pan there’s really no need to do so. An ordinary cake tin will work just as well and if you’re like me you’ll be able to get the cake out of the tin a lot more easily. Despite greasing the baba pan mine always seem to get stuck.

I recently went to a paella cooking class at Pizzini Wines in the King Valley, so when I came across this Jambalaya recipe my first thought was how similar it was to paella. Apparently the main difference is in the spices. Paella uses saffron and Jambalaya, cayenne pepper. With the cost of saffron, making Jambalaya looks like a great idea.

This is a great lamb dish for a party as it uses 2 1.5kg boned legs of lamb and makes a fairly large casserole. Of course if you halve the recipe, it’s a fine for a family meal or a smaller number of guests. It recommends asking your butcher to bone out two legs of lamb for you to use, which is shows it’s age. Now it’s all done for you at the supermarket without you having to ask – much easier!!

With the cost of beef and lamb having risen so much in the last few years pork has appeared a lot more on the menu. This recipe is a great way to make it interesting. You need to buy thin pork steaks so you can fold the meat over the filling or a larger piece that you can cut a pocket into though. With a bigger piece you’d probably be best using string to keep it together.
