The flexible host can cook this menu year round. Another excuse to invite your friends around.

Tweak the specific vegetables depending on the time of year, but this fresh and light menu is made for casual, chic dining with friends. Sit outside in summer, or by the fire in winter; it all works.

The Starter

Lay out this crunchy vegetable-laden feast, with a creamy anchovy studded sauce for dipping.

Drinks writer Mike Bennie says, “Bagna cauda is made for sharing and goes head on with light, fresh white wines. You could segue with the same wine into your spanner main, but try something fuller bodied. Finish with a spicy sweet wine.”

Drink match: Fresh and frisky white (try Henschke Julius Riesling)

The Main

Spoon out the fragrant chickpeas, top with grilled fish, gremolata the final flourish.

Drink match: Fuller flavoured white (try Moores Hill Chardonnay)

The Dessert

A riff on the apple crumble, served inside actual baked apples.

Drink match: Sweet spicy white (try Heggies Vineyard Botrytis Riesling)