The Confident Cook
Fresh Strawberry Trifle
When I proposed this trifle for a Christmas feature in Cuisine I had no idea just how popular it would prove to be. Despite the completely home-made components, many readers tell me it is now the annual fixture for their Christmas feast. A real ‘down under’ answer to traditional fare, it involves baking a classic genoise sponge, stewing strawberries for the strawberry jelly, making a rich silky crème anglaise, whipping the cream and selecting the perfect...
Fresh Tomato Salad with Lemon and Basil
This fresh salad is a summer tomato celebration. Find as many varieties and sizes of tomatoes as you can. It’s a salad dressed with lemon zest, basil and olive oil, but not with vinegar or lemon juice as tomatoes have plenty of natural acidity. Adding more will only make the juices run and give a sharp taste to the finished dish.
Fresh Tomato Salad with Lemon and Basil
This fresh salad is a summer tomato celebration. Find as many varieties and sizes of tomatoes as you can. It’s a salad dressed with lemon zest, basil and olive oil, but not with vinegar or lemon juice as tomatoes have plenty natural acidity. Adding some more will only make the juices run and give a sharp taste to the finished dish.
Garden-fresh Layered Salad
Use whatever fresh vegetables are on hand for this great salad, which harks back to salads of my youth that my dad would make for our lunch on weekends. He always topped our salads with quartered hard boiled eggs and serves the salad with sweet mayonnaise. You can make this salad for a festive occasion like Christmas, keeping to the red and green colours. However, you can use your imagination and add anything you wish. I like to dress vegetables that won’t wilt as the salad is layered, but ensure you offer extra...
Glazed Pork Ribs with Southern-style Barbecue Sauce
On my visits to the southern United States, I have tasted a range of smoky barbecued dishes. The secret of many of the ‘barbecues’ is the rich spicy sauce that is an essential accompaniment, and is often the cook’s personal recipe. This particular sauce is made, like many southern-style sauces, with thick tomato purée and a good shot of strong dark coffee. It can be made ahead and will keep for a couple of weeks if it is refrigerated. I’ve never had wine with a...
