Fruit

Christmas Mince Tart or Mini Tarts

My mother makes tiny Christmas tarts each year with home-made mincemeat. Here, I offer a large tart that, cut into thin slices, is perfect with after-dinner coffee. This makes enough filling for 2 tarts or about 6 dozen small mince pies. You can store what's left over in a jar in the fridge for several months.

Christmas Salad

This super summer salad will make sure you enjoy a sociable, foodie and very berry Christmas!

For a fresh and tasty festive salad to share with friends and family, just follow this simple recipe, which will leave you plenty of time for having fun over the silly season.

For more recipes by Trudi Nelson, go to www.freshinthekitchen.co.nz

Classic Tart Tatin

This classic dessert never fails to impress. With meltingly tender apples cooked in rich caramel, crisp puff pastry and served with some softly whipped cream, it is my idea of heaven. It was invented by the Tatin sisters in their rustic restaurant in the Loire Valley, and requires careful cooking of the caramel and lots of confidence to flip it out of the pan. You need a 22cm ovenproof frying pan with a heavy base, or a 22cm round Le Creuset-style gratin dish, as the tart is cooked on the stove top before finishing in the...

COCONUT & MANGO TOFU WHIP

These are cooling and refreshing desserts, a perfect way to finish a spicy Sichuan meal.

Makes 6 x 100 ml cups

China - Chengdu

Crab Meat with Mint and Orange Salad

This is a terrific zingy-tasting starter if you can get fresh crab meat. I love the fresh crabs we often gather in traps not far from our beach house, but it’s terrifically hard work and always seems to take ages to shell the crabs and extract enough meat. Luckily you can buy Waikanae crab meat from a good fish supplier, and fresh crayfish meat can always be substituted for a similar taste. There are great textures in this dish, as the celery adds crunch to the crab and the orange supplements the...