Seasonal greetings

There's a stallholder at Marrickville Markets who says she sells Australia's best milk (and Australia's best cheese if that's what she's pushing that week) whenever anyone walks past. Seems she has given herself those awards, rather than any judging panel from what I can tell, so, in the same spirit, I declare the Upside-Down Apple Tea Cake you see above Australia's best Upside-Down Apple Tea Cake.

Feel I can do this because it's not my recipe. If you have the March issue of Australian Country Style I suggest you grab some new season apples and make Steve Cumper's cake on page 93. I have long wanted an apple cake recipe that wasn't dry - and this is certainly it. Absolutely delicious. It will become a seasonal staple in our house.

The recipe's not on their website, unfortunately, and I can't post it due to copyright reasons but libraries often carry back issues of magazines. Worth a check.

I also picked up half a cauliflower at the weekend for a lunch dish, which is nothing more than breaking the cauliflower into florets, drizzling with olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and breadcrumbs and baking in the oven for 30 mins. Crumble goat's cheese over the top as soon as it comes out of the oven for a lip-smacking take on cauliflower cheese. Well, my lips smacked.

Tip: The apples in the cake are cooked in the same way as a Tart Tatin, where you're supposed to caramelise them in a frying pan and then add the cake batter straight on top. I took advice from the Matthew Evan's Real Food Companion cook book and transferred the apples to a spring-form tin before adding the batter as I don't have a suitable frying pan. He says this is what the French do in the town where the tart originated if they have the same problem. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. And it was. Worked brilliantly.