Begone are the hot summer days of slaving away in the kitchen making the perfect turkey or ham and hello to the option of a simple summer feast to celebrate Christmas and to welcome the New Year. We have put together five (tried and tested!) recipes that celebrate the festive season in a relaxed and elegant fashion. 

Tomato & Mozzarella Salad

Summer brings an array of colourful tomatoes. Pick colour— the sunshine yellow, the glowing orange, the blood red cherries and the midnight purples.

Chop tomatoes into small pieces. Season with sea salt, pepper, balsamic & and olive oil. Plate in a heap and place an orb of fresh mozzarella on top. Dress with more olive oil and basil leafs to serve.

Asparagus with burnt garlic

Tip— Hold each asparagus shoot at the base and body, bend and let it snap naturally. Discard of the ends.

In a hot pan, melt butter and chopped garlic. When sizzling add asparagus, let it sit for a minute then toss it over. Season with sea salt. Give it one more minute in the pan. You want your greens to be bright green and still have a snap when you bite into them!

Roasted Tomatoes on the vine

In a small oven dish place the tomatoes still on the vine. Splash with oil olive and balsamic, sea salt and pepper. Place in the oven at 180 for ten minutes or until they start to spilt. When serving, spoon the liquid the tomatoes have created from the oven dish onto the serving plate (this is perfect for mopping up later with fresh bread!)

Skin on Fish on a bed of Fennel and Orange

Remove skin from one orange and one lemon, cut into rounds. Place on a platter. Cut fennel bulb thinly and add around the citrus. Drizzle with olive oil. In a hot pan with a knob of butter place the fish skin down (we used Tarakehi). Watch it— see how the flesh begins to turn white near the skin. After a few minutes flip it until the fish momentarily until it is just cooked through. Season the skin. Place on top of the citrus and serve.

Chocolate, berries & more champagne, please! 

On a long summers day this is all that desert needs to be. There is nothing more simple and delicious than fresh strawberries, blue berries, raspberries and chocolate broken into a bowl and we are here to remind you of that.

Video by Greta van der Star, Art Direction by Yasmine Ganley and recipes and food by Ophelia Mikkelson. 

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