All year

Moist, dense and dripping with syrup, this chocolate orange polenta cake is a very grown-up way to recapture a childhood love for jaffa cakes.

Topped with creamy coconut ganache, this white chocolate coconut citrus cake is a ripper of a recipe. Moist, dense and utterly delicious, the combination of coconut, lemon, lime and white chocolate is a winner.

Served in the most basic of bistros to the poshest of gastro pubs, the ubiquitous sausage and mash never fails to please. We've teamed it with a hearty onion gravy here, you're going to love it.

Moussaka is a classic Greek dish, that is well known for both its vegetarian and meat based version. We've gone vegetarian here and the result is healthy and delicious. Serve with a green salad.

For this recipe, we deboned a whole chinese barbecued duck, available from Asian barbecue takeaway stores. Choy sum, also known as chinese flowering cabbage, and tat soi, chinese flat cabbage, can be found at most greengrocers as well as Asian supermarkets

Here is a classic Asian dish that works every time; steaming will give you a soft, moist and tender flesh that slides right off the bone. Go heavy or light on the chilli, depending on your personal heat threshold.

These delicious lasagne stacks use grilled eggplant slices instead of lasagne sheets, making it a lighter version of the usually heavy traditional lasagne.

The tart cases we used were bought frozen and unbaked; they come ready-to-bake in foil cases and measure 6.5cm in diameter. They are available from supermarkets. Tartlets can be made a day ahead, keep refrigerated.

LSA is a mixture of ground linseeds, sunflower seed kernels and almonds; available in health-food shops or the health-food section in supermarkets.

Prepare the couscous and cook the beans and peas the day before the picnic. Plunging the barely cooked beans and peas into a bowl of iced water will instantly stop the cooking and will hold the colour better than rinsing them under cold water. Drain them well then wrap in paper towel and store in the fridge. Assemble the salad on the morning of the picnic.

This baked ricotta is perfect for picnics, just cover with chilli and parmesan and bake it that morning.

Plump, juicy prawns are always delicious spiced with fresh green curry paste.

Cheese and poppy seed biscuits

Mozzarella and tomato salad, tomato recipe, brought to you by Australian Women's Weekly

Crispy on the outside, these chocolate lace cookies are chewy on the inside. Just what you need when it's time to sit down with a cup of tea.

What better way to treat the kids or your nearest and dearest for this weekend's brunch with this decadent stack of blueberry buttermilk pancakes with bacon. Enjoy!

The great thing about using Japanese pumpkin for this pumpkin with balsamic and pine nuts recipe is that the skin is edible, so there's no need to waste time cutting it off. This makes a great side dish for a roast leg of lamb.

Sour cream dressing adds a lemony lift to this smoked trout and avocado salad. If you can't get your hands on any smoked trout, you could substitute smoked salmon. Either way, the crisp leaves, soft avocado and fish bites make a delicious dish.

There's more yummy goodness packed into this tropical toasted muesli than one jar should be able to hold. Crunchy, nutty and sweet in all the right proportions.

Piquant and full of fresh flavours, salsa verde turns these mini-toasts topped with sliced steak into a fabulous cocktail party platter.

Crispy wonton wrappers make a great base for all kinds of toppings, here we've used smoked trout and horseradish.

This recipe demonstrates just how rich and satisfying an inexpensive soup without meat or stock can be.

This cake takes a bit more effort and time than the usual – but it is a celebration cake! It is decadent, rich and dense – and also enormous, so the leftovers will help keep the party going!

Pasta with zucchini lemon garlic sauce

Mini parmesan scones with goats cheese & tapenade make delicate, tasty little canapes.

These honeycomb cream cupcakes are a proper indulgence, a moist, spiced cupcake topped with whipped cream and shattered Violet Crumble bars.

This fresh and fragrant Thai beef salad with chilli and lime gets a powerful kick from its fish sauce based dressing. One of the classic dishes of Thai cuisine and a favourite on restaurant menus the world over.

Green curry paste is one of the hottest of the traditional Thai pastes, coconut cream soothes the fire a little in this green chicken curry.

These smoked trout tarts with peas and dill make a great lunch. If you'd like to make finger food sized versions for a party, just quarter the filo sheets at the beginning, use a mini-muffin tin and cut the cooking time to 10-12 minutes.

Best-ever cheesecake with sticky rhubarb

Beef and red wine pies, beef recipe, brought to you by Australian Women's Weekly.

Leave out the anchovies, if desired. Instead of a poached egg, add sliced cooked grilled chicken breast to create a chicken ceasar salad. Note

The Australian Women's Weekly Kids' Perfect Party Book

The Australian Women's Weekly Kids' Perfect Party Book

You'll get more howls of delight than of fear when you bring this spooky ice-cream cake out! A firm favourite from The Australian Women's Weekly Kids' Perfect Party Book.

This is the trifle to end all trifles, the recipe for the ultimate trifle. Sponge fingers, liqueur, raspberries, strawberries and a liqueur spiked mascarpone cream. Delicious.

These delectable chocolate mousses are the perfect finishing touch to a sophisticated dinner party.

This deconstructed Beef Wellington makes for a new take on a genuine classic. A fabulous dish to serve up at a special dinner party.

Caperberries are available at selected delicatessens and specialty food stores. Note

Lemon, garlic and chilli potato salad, potato recipe, brought to you by Australian Women's Weekly

Snow pea, prawn & avocado salad

Fried shallots are available from Asian food stores and some supermarkets. For non-vegetarians, you can add prawns or chopped chicken and use fish sauce in place of soy sauce, if preferred. Note

Not suitable to freeze or microwave. Note

A fresh, light and tasty dinner that's full of goodness, salmon with teriyaki chilli sauce will become a go-to dinner.

Mini meat pies, beef recipe, brought to you by Australian Women's Weekly

Kumara dampers are a marriage of old Australia and new, of bush practicality and modern, urban culinary exploration. The pumpkin scone of Modern Australian cuisine.

This delicious and filling fish dish is quick and easy to make.

Not suitable to freeze or microwave. Note

banana loaves with muesli topping

Raspberry swirl cake

Osso buco can be made a day or two ahead; keep, covered, in the refrigerator.

When too much chocolate is never enough, take one more step over the line and there you'll find these decadent little triple choc muffins. They make a great treat for the kids, or for you.

Ravioli are little pillows of pasta stuffed with a variety of delicious fillings including meat, fish, cheese and vegetables, and they don't have to be an Italian delicacy. This ravioli with greens recipe takes the basic form and fills it with the spices and flavours of Asia.

Gnocchi with caramelised pumpkin & sage sauce

Show off your MasterChef skills by making this traditional croquembouche. You will need a croquembouche stand, and if you've got a silicon liner to help slip the finished tower from the stand all the better. It'll be worth the work to see the look on your guests' faces when you present them with croquembouche.

Shoulder is a great cut for a recipe like this Italian braised pork as it stays tender and moist without being fatty. Ask your butcher to bone, roll and tie the cut for you.

Everybody loves a traditional roast. Ditch the usual carb-heavy vegetables for this wonderfully coloured and flavoured mediterranean ensemble and there'll be no complaints at dinnertime.

These delicious chewy cranberry meringues, sometimes called cranberry chewies, make a delicate, pretty afternoon tea treat.

If you need to assemble some cocktail snacks in double-quick time this recipe is perfect. You could even prepare the wontons earlier in the day and keep them in an airtight container.

Roasted pumpkin with bacon and fetta from AWW May 2008

Toasted muesli. This recipe is gluten-free, wheat-free, yeast-free and egg-free.

You will need 3 large overripe bananas (690g) for this recipe. This banana bread is good sliced and toasted. This recipe is gluten-free, wheat-free, yeast-free, dairy-free and egg-free. Note

Self-saucing jaffa pudding.

Plum and cinnamon cake