The Dill Tickle celebrates our fifth birthday this week! I am equal parts blown away and exhausted by this milestone! But it inspired me to write a few thoughts on the colourful chaos that is five years of creating pickles and jams.

This month’s Tablecloths and Talking chat is with the very clever Camilla Thompson from Good Plate Nutrition. I met Mill back in my Orange days and have enjoyed watching from afar as Mill has followed her passion. I’m constantly impressed with the quality of her food, her insta reels (!!) and her commitment to helping people improve their health and wellbeing without compromising on the deliciousness of food. We are definitely on the same wavelength when it comes to flavour!

We are big fans of rhubarb in our house and this cake is so quick to pull together and a great one to take to a friend’s house. It’s gluten free and can also be made with raspberries or blueberries. It is a moist cake so just be careful when transporting.

This month my Tablecloths & Talking chat is with one of TDT’s earliest supporters - Daniel Hewitt from Millthorpe Providore. Dan and I worked together back in my Byng Street days and he is still making me laugh, still one of the the hardest working people I know, still as loyal to his home country as the day I met him! A devoted dad to his three kids, a cheeky Englishman who wears his heart on his England footy jersey sleeve, Dan is one of the most generous and friendly people you could ever have the joy of meeting. I highly recommend you visit Millthorpe Providore for a coffee and a chat with Dan!

This recipe for a lamb, cous cous and veg salad with harissa dressing is hand written in a notebook of recipes given to me by my mum when I was living in a share house aged 20. It’s great for a crowd! The harissa is not traditional, but it takes only a few minutes to make and is punchy in flavour. It’s the star of this salad, but do as my husband does and add the leftovers to any salad or sandwich and you’ll live with no regrets!

Who better to have a little chat with this Mother’s Day month, than with my Mum! I loved reading Mum’s answers to the Tablecloths and Talking chat, because it all felt so familiar. She is definitely the foundation for my love of cooking. She is a brilliant cook and can whip up anything from a random selection of pantry and fridge finds and is still the person I call in a panic when I’m facing a kitchen disaster. We love to talk about food, share recipes and cook for each other.

I’ve had this recipe for so long I can’t remember where it came from. I do remember the first time I made it though – I was sceptical, as I have never been a huge fan of soups, so I am always just a little bit more in love with the Italians for creating this fake soup! Minestrone, in it’s chunkiness, is the exception to my household’s ‘no soup for you’ rule. Filled with veg and mucho flavour, it’s taken on somewhat of a cult status! And I personally take it as a challenge to find the cutest soup pasta shapes to keep in the cupboard especially for Minestrone!

THIS MONTH’S TABLECLOTHS & TALKING IS WITH LUCY TWEED! If you know who Lucy is, you’ll understand why I’m shouting about it! If you don’t know Lucy, I envy the great discovery you have in front of you! Lucy’s “Every Night of the Week” Instagram account is one of social media’s great joys. Lucy is generous - the recipes she shares, the producers she loves, her styling, her humour. She is genuine and fun and I’m still tickled by the fact she has The Dill Tickle in her fridge! Enjoy this Tablecloths & Talking chat with a real life proper foodie!

Have you ever ‘accidentally’ left an ingredient out of a recipe, just so that nobody ever made it as well as you?! My friend Ace was reluctant to part with her terrine recipe (and even tried to leave out a secret ingredient!), but I wore her down! Now, using hers for inspo, I’ve created my own. Terrines are easier than they look and a real show stopper when served up to a crowd. But I absolutely insist you serve it with Apple Jelly – it is a match made in heaven!

The first time I met Emily Fleming, I fan-girled big time! Luckily it didn’t frighten her off! Em is brave, kind and generous with her knowledge and ideas. She gave me the push I needed to start The Dill Tickle! She also has a fantastic laugh (the kind where you want so badly to make her laugh, just to hear it!) and she loves food as much as me, so we talk about it a lot! It was natural to ask her for a Tablecloths and Talking chat!

We might have just kicked off Autumn, but the tomatoes are still coming out of the veggie patch in great hoards. We were given some enormous and juicy beasts from our friend with an epic patch, so I used them to make this tart. Tomatoes really are the epitome of summer and there’s something so comforting about tomatoes warm from the sun. This sweet and salty tart is a simple celebration of the humble tommy!

Clare Lee is a woman of many talents. She and her husband Dave manage Windy Station on the Liverpool Plains. She also runs her own business “Fare”, making and selling granola. She’s also a mum of three, an excellent gardener and cook and makes a mean G&T. She is also a Coldplay fan. So really, if there was nothing else, I would like her simply for that!

This is a recipe splattered with love! Originally from Masterchef Season 2 (waaaaay back in 2010!), now slightly adjusted after a chat with my mate Gaz, it’s now a firm favourite.

Nothing beats a classic and jam drops are just that. Classic and unbeatable. Grab a jar of jam and whip these up for a tasty afternoon tea treat.

This cake conjures images of sweet smelling scratch-and-sniff stickers from my childhood. I was obsessed with the cartoon character Strawberry Shortcake (anyone else remember her cute face!) and always loved asking mum to make me Strawberry Shortcake, while I imagined myself as a freckly little girl who smelt like strawberries.

I googled the meaning of ‘primavera’ last night. It translates as “early spring”. Using my limited Italian skills, I always thought it meant ‘first green’ because green is the colour that bursts in Spring! Meh, it works either way, because this Risotto Primavera is spring in a bowl! Bright and fresh and full of my favourite spring vegetable – asparagus!

These Big Mac Tacos took the interwebs by storm a few months ago. I gave in to the viral sensation. Any chance to use a pickle and I’m there! Also, my husband is a die-hard Big Mac fan. Not only do our Bread & Butter Cucumbers feature on top, but I also managed to squeeze them in to the sauce! I posted a reel of my efforts. A few days later my friend sent me a photo of their dinner, using TDT Cukes! Can you call yourself an influencer if you influenced one person to try something…?! Seriously though, you should try these!

I have an abundant rainbow chard plant in my garden. It lives on neglect. And thrives! Every few weeks, I hack at it and make something for dinner - gozleme, spanakopita, these spinach & feta parcels! Best served with a BIG DOLLOP of Tomato Relish!

… or Mum’s Fried Chicken as it’s now known in our house! This is a surprisingly quick and easy dinner that the whole fam will love. Trust me!

So here’s the story…

Back in the day, a cucumber farmer in the US fell on tough times. His resourceful wife, Mrs Fanning, decided to use the small cucumbers - which had previously been considered waste – to create an innovative side hustle…