Kylie Kwong’s prawn wontons with ginger dressing

Prawn wontons are something to be mastered. Follow Kylie Kwong’s lead for how to make them perfectly, from Two Good Cookbook Two: Recipes for Resilience.

Salt-baked mud crab

A whole mud crab served in its shell – big, bold and red – is an absolute showstopper, and the salt-baking technique enhances the drama even further. If you want to start your Christmas meal with a bang, this is how to do it.

Tuna tartare with marigolds and ginger

If you don’t want the food to dominate the conversation, don’t serve this starter. Striking to look at, with its scattering of petals and daikon curls, it’s also a sensual pleasure to eat – slippery, crunchy, creamy.

Pipis with XO noodles

Noodles and pipis are as fun to eat as they are delicious – there’s no getting around it, you’ll need to slurp, suck and pick your way through this dish from Louis Tikaram of Brisbane restaurant Stanley.

Lobster with pink grapefruit and fennel fronds

Lobster is essentially culinary perfection in a very hard shell, so the secret to highlighting its excellence is to intervene as little as possible. Four other ingredients are all you need for this summer-by-the-ocean recipe.

Linguini alle vongole

The key to a very simple pasta like linguini alle vongole is in the ingredients – good pasta is a must, plus fresh garlic, clams and olive oil, too. The rest is history.

Oysters with yuzu kosho vinaigrette

Some consider it madness to meddle with oysters au naturale – but they haven’t tried this yuzu mix, which amps the wow factor off the charts. Make it your go-to dressing this summer.

Kabuli chickpeas, prawns and ‘nduja

Think of ’nduja as a kind of spicy pork condiment with a superpower: it can transform a few staple ingredients into something outrageously delicious. You’ll want to eat this chickpea dish by the bowlful.

Mussels with tomato risoni and ‘nduja

Mussels make for a great midweek meal as the come pot-ready. With the addition of a risoni pasta cooked in a tomato sauce, your night in with Netflix never tasted so good.

Prawn skewers with togarashi

It might sound like a paradox, but precise Japanese-inspired shellfish recipes are perfectly suited to easygoing entertaining. These prawns are a breeze to prepare – the secret is in the seasoning.

Barramundi en papillote with fennel and green peppercorns

Cooking in paper seals in all the flavours and juices, and when it comes to cooking fish, en papillote is a term with which you need to get familiar.

Chiswick’s roasted snapper with capers and shishito peppers

Matt Moran has the right formula when it comes to cooking fish over Easter. Fry in a hot pan, add brown butter, lemon and caper sauce, shishito peppers for good measure, then let the produce shine.

XO sauce

Once you’ve made your own XO sauce from scratch, you might never buy another condiment in a jar. Louis Tikaram’s version is the real deal: umami-rich, salty, spicy, complex, a gorgeous colour, and incredibly more-ish.

Yellow curry of mud crab

We could cook a South East Asian-style seafood curry a thousand times and never tire of its complex flavours. With hot, sour, sweet and salty notes in perfect balance, this luxurious mud crab version is a winner.

Cured ocean trout

The vibrant colour and prep-ahead features of home-cured ocean trout make for easy festive entertaining. Garnish it with something bright and beautiful to set the scene for Christmas lunch – redcurrants perhaps, or a jumble of edible flowers. This recipe is from Eatable's food and drinks director, Lisa Featherby.

Swordfish salmoriglio

Four ingredients are all it takes to transform swordfish into a simple main that will virtually transport you to a clifftop restaurant on the Italian coast.

Pasta cooked in saffron stock with prawns and pipis

This saffron-hued seafood pasta from Nicola Dusi is easy enough for week nights but glamorous enough for guests. You can make the stock ahead of time to keep things really simple.

Kingfish with citrus dressing and daikon

Fresh Japanese flavours and the tang of the sea come together in this exquisitely simple sashimi-style dish.

Chui Lee Luk’s mee Siam

Popular in Malaysia and Singapore, this shared dish is a festive tradition in chef Chui Lee Luk’s family.

Stir-fried crab with fried garlic, fish sauce and lime

Crab is a messy business – and that’s half the fun here. You’ll want finger bowls and napkins at hand.