What you’ll need:

1 bunch baby asparagus (any coarse ends removed)
300g fresh baby peas, shelled
A handful of fresh English spinach leaves
A small handful of freshly picked mint leaves
Juice of half a lemon
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
80g soft feta or goat’s cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a small pot of water to the boil on the stove. Once boiling, add the asparagus and shelled peas and blanch for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Drain and immediately place vegetables in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process (you want them to still be firm, not soggy).

Place the spinach and mint leaves in a bowl. Remove the asparagus and peas from the ice water and drain. Add to the spinach and mint. Season with salt and pepper, squeeze the lemon juice over the top, drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat the vegetables.

Arrange the vegetables on a serving platter and crumble the feta or goat’s cheese over the top. Serve immediately.

I love this zucchini, potato and feta soup but I have to admit the first recipe I tried wasn’t that inspiring—basically throw everything in the pot and simmer. Instead, here I’ve taken the basic ingredients and changed the cooking process to get as much flavour out of them as possible.

This is just brilliant for lunch and freezes really well. It’s got a really fresh, leafy flavour from all the herbs, with tangy flavour from the yoghurt and feta.

Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbs thyme, roughly chopped
1L chicken stock (I use Massel because it’s meat, gluten and lactose free), plus ½ cup water
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes, and rinsed
4 large zucchini, cut into 1cm slices
½ cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
½ cup basil, roughly chopped
¼ cup natural yoghurt
100g feta, crumbled
Freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. With the lid slightly ajar, sweat the onions on low heat for five minutes. Add the garlic and thyme, stir and cook for one minute.

Turn the heat up to medium and add the potato cubes. Cover and allow to cook for around eight minutes, stirring frequently so they don’t burn or stick. You want to get the potatoes a little golden and flaky on the outside.

Add the zucchini and cook for two minutes. Add the stock and water, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer with the lid off till the potato is cooked through and soft.

Stir in the parsley, basil and yoghurt. With a stick blender (or you could use a food processor), blend the soup mixture until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Add the crumbled feta and stir through.

Serve immediately. Alternatively, allow the soup to cool in the saucepan and dish into freezer containers.

Makes approximately six serves.

So I decided to combine the essential ingredients of two traditional recipes—Greek spanakopita and Middle Eastern fatayer bi sabanekh (both are types of spinach pie)—and put my own twist on it to create something a bit different and very, very delicious. The resulting frittata was superb. My husband, Jim, starved of vegetables on the boys’ weekend fishing trip just about inhaled the whole thing!

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 tbs olive oil
1 bunch silverbeet, washed and chopped
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200g Greek feta, crumbled
125g cottage cheese
½ tsp ground nutmeg
3 tbs pine nuts
zest of 1 lemon
8 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper

Gently sauté the onion and garlic on low heat until soft and translucent. Add the silverbeet, pine nuts, lemon zest and nutmeg, and toss for a couple of minutes until the silverbeet has reduced by one-third. Set aside.

Combine the cottage cheese and crumbled feta in a bowl and combine. Mix it through the silverbeet and spoon into a non-stick 3cm-deep baking tray. Cover with the beaten eggs and bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes until cooked.