Here’s a dish that’s not a new idea; sometimes, you don’t need to reinvent wheels. Tried and true flavours simply work, and they work for a reason. PB and J. Pineapple and ham. Chocolate and mint. Lemon and fish. Maple syrup and bacon. They go together. That’s it. No need to overthink it. Beetroot and barley are another timeless combo…

Allegedly there are people who don’t consider soup a meal, but we are not those people. We love soup. And here’s a particularly hearty, meal-in-a-bowl soup, chockers with veggies, salmon and big, boofy flavour. We’ve used smoked and fresh salmon for the fish part, but you could use fresh, white fish fillets (tarakihi, snapper, ling, for example) if you’d prefer…

If our soup this week is virtuous and ‘everything good for you’, Berliners are virtually everything not good for you. White flour. Refined sugar. Jam. The cholesterol-y parts of an egg. Deep-fry oil. But we say ‘what EV-er’ to the nutrition police…

Rise and shine, breakfast freaks. We love our carbs and caffeine in the morning, and when it’s time to flip the script on the usual toast and jam, fluffy pancakes are pretty hard to beat. We like to kid ourselves these ones are a bit healthier than regular pancakes…

What if you could make a cake without the hassle of finding the exact right cake tin?? 'Spring form’ this… ‘bundt tin’ that… ‘square pan’ the other… pfftt. Sometimes it’s all too hard. At least it is in SOMEONE’S house, where the corner kitchen cupboard is the dark…

We bought you double-crumbed chicken, now we’re bringing you double-trouble pumpkin pasta! There’s nothing tricksy about this recipe; a smooth pumpkin sauce coats the pasta, with golden roasty bits of pumpkin for scattering over the top before you serve…

Oh. Don’t like lentils? You’re missing out. They’re seriously delicious and are an easy, healthy and cheap way to get filled up. Until you start pairing them with eggs of course, and then everything goes to heck in the budgeting department…

There’s a certain kind of tyranny baked into a recipe. “Cut that this big. Weigh those precisely. Use this sized pot. Cook for exactly this amount of time. No, DON’T stir yet. OK, stir NOW. And put a lid on that, would you?” …

We don’t much go for those multi-layered, super-rich, cake extravaganzas. They have their place but we prefer more wholesome, humble cakes; the sort that may not look like much, but have that delicious, straightforward, home-baked flavour that knocks you off your perch…

Ovens can be dodgy bastards. See that thermometer dial on yours? If your oven’s calibration slips, which it inevitably will, the dial is not necessarily the most reliable indicator of the exact temperature your oven is at. Bummer. But there’s a simple workaround…

If you had to bake for a Zombie apocalypse, this would be the thing to make. It keeps f-o-r-e-v-e-r.. This classic, hefty, long-keeping loaf is based on a traditional Welsh bread called bara brith (which means ‘speckled bread’); some versions use yeast for the rising…

Yay! Middle Finger Buns! Complete with pink icing and a smattering of desiccated coconut. How cute are these? We hear that many of you are scared witless of yeast; if that’s the case can we implore you not to be such a bunch of sooks and, like Lennon with peace, give yeast a chance?…

We have no idea of the genesis of this pie-type arrangement, with its buttery crushed Weet-Bix base, blubbery custard filling, jam, whipped cream and coconut topping, but we thought it was the height of yumness when we were kids…

This is the pudding to end all puddings; a version of bread and butter pudding that even avowed haters will love. Baked with banana and slathered in a buttery, rich, toffee-flavoured sauce, it’s easy to make and totally delish to eat…

We dig the name ‘roly poly’ because it sounds as much a weight-gain alert as it does the description of a lovely rolled-up baked pudding. This old fashioned fave really is bloody delicious, straight-forward to conjure and is something everyone totally loves…

It’s a mystery to us how this favourite pudding even works; you make a batter, scatter the top with sugar and cocoa, pour boiling water over, bake, then the oozy stuff somehow ends up on the bottom, creating a gooey, thick sauce for the springy, cakey top…

As digestive systems everywhere brace for the annual chocolate onslaught, I thought I’d throw a cake your way so you’re match fit for Easter. Not literally, natch. I mean ‘throw’ more in a ‘here’s my chocolate cake recipe, come and geddit’ kind of way. And not that it’s ‘my’ cake, either…

This is an oldie but a goodie recipe – it’s not fancy, but we don't really do fancy anything. Certainly not cake. It’s easy and tastes great and isn’t that enough? Use pear wedges, banana slices or even canned pineapple rings (retro!) if you’ve missed the plums already…