He's cooked for royals and prime ministers - and now Kate Whiting makes herself at home in David Herbert's kitchen for scones and tea, to hear all about the food writer's latest book of delights.

In a cosy dining room filled with light, art and floor-to-ceiling shelves of beautiful crockery, Australian cook and writer David Herbert is apologising about the baked goodies on the table in front of us: "They're not the most attractive-looking scones," he says, with a smile.

This is a man who has cooked for the Queen Mother and two Australian Prime Ministers, and worked with Delia Smith and Jamie Oliver, but Herbert is as modest as they come.

His cheese scones, spread liberally with butter on a silver knife, are light, fluffy and impossibly moreish.

We're having afternoon tea (Ceylon Orange Pekoe leaves in an infuser because "teabags are banned in this house") at his West London home to discuss his cookbook, David Herbert's Best Home Cooking, which is a collection of recipes from his weekly column in The Weekend Australian Magazine.

Although the 56-year-old now calls the UK home - he's lived here on and off for decades - he's sent two recipes a week back to Oz for the last 16 years.

Herbert grew up surfing with dolphins and fishing in Nelson Bay, a seaside town on Australia's east coast - but it was cookbooks that fascinated him most.

"I used to go to the library as a kid, when I was eight, nine, 10, and borrow cookbooks from the shelves and go to bed at night thinking about them."

Herbert has now notched up six cookbooks of his own. His latest is aesthetically simple but beautiful - smaller than most, it feels lovely in your hands - with a black cover, a la vintage Delia.

Vegetable Filo Pie 

(Serves 8)

  • 2 red peppers, seeds and veins removed, cut into 2cm pieces
  • 3 red onions, cut into thin wedges
  • 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • Olive oil, for cooking and brushing
  • 500g frozen spinach, thawed and chopped
  • 200g feta, roughly crumbled
  • 2tsp crushed or ground sumac, plus extra to garnish
  • Salt
  • 8 sheets filo pastry
  • Sesame seeds, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan).

Place the peppers, onion, squash and garlic in a large roasting tin, drizzle with a little oil and roast, turning occasionally, for 30 minutes or until tender and coloured. Remove and stir through the spinach, then set aside to cool.

Stir the feta through the cooled vegetables. Slice the garlic bulb and squeeze out the delicious soft centres, then sprinkle with sumac and season to taste with salt.

Grease a 23cm springform cake tin with a little oil. Line the inside of the tin with five layers of filo pastry, overlapping and brushing each layer with a little oil, allowing the pastry to come above the rim of the tin.

Place the filling in the tin and cover with three layers of pastry, brushing each layer with oil. Any overlapping pastry can be folded over the filling.

Bake for 20 minutes, then brush with oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds and a little extra sumac. Return to the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until golden.