• 1 baguette or Italian-style bread loaf, sliced diagonally
• 1 roasted red capsicum, peeled and cut into strips
• 1 roasted yellow capsicum, peeled and cut into strips
• 100g roasted macadamia halves

Pesto:

• 2 cups basil leaves, tightly packed
• 160g unsalted macadamias
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 125ml macadamia oil
• 65g grated parmesan
• ½ (half)teaspoon sea salt

Make the pesto first: wash and dry the leaves thoroughly. Put them in a food processor or blender with the macadamias and garlic and process until well combined. Scrape down sides and process again. Add the cheese and salt, process again, then slowly drizzle in the oil, keeping the machine running. Process until smooth. Scrape pesto into a tightly sealed jar or plastic container until ready to use – a film of macadamia oil over the top will help to preserve it. Store in refrigerator.

Serves 24.

• 250g butter, at room temp
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 cups macadamia halves (unsalted)
• 6 tablespoons warmed apricot conserve
• 1 tablespoon extra caster sugar

Preheat oven to 180oC. Grease a 30cm x 20cm x 4cm deep pan and line base with baking paper. Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl until thick and creamy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in flour and half the macadamias to make quite a stiff mixture. Using a spatula spread half the cake mixture over pan base and spoon over warm conserve. Spread over remaining cake mixture to reach pan sides. Press in remaining macadamias and sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cover with baking paper if macadamias brown too much. Remove, stand 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool. Cut into squares.

• ½ (375g) Chinese cabbage, thinly sliced, chilled in cold water
• 1 medium red onion, cut in half, thinly sliced
• 100g (16) snow peas, trimmed, cut into strips
• 1 medium red capsicum, cut into strips
• 4 roasted duck breasts or legs
• 100g (3/4 cup) roasted macadamia halves

Garnish

2 firm ripe mangoes, flesh scooped out, cubed
1 cup torn coriander leaves

Dressing

Whisk together in a bowl:

3 tablespoons macadamia oil
1 tspn each finely grated orange rind & sugar
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon hot chilli flakes or to taste
2 teaspoons fish sauce

Pour boiling water over snow peas and capsicum in a bowl. Stand for about 1 minute, drain and rinse in cold water. Either thinly slice duck breasts or remove meat from duck legs and chop into small pieces. Drain cabbage and place in a bowl with other ingredients. Toss through dressing. Garnish with mango and coriander. Serves 4 for a Main or 6 for a Starter.

Note: Omit duck and use shelled deveined prawns or sliced cooked chicken.