The best marinated lamb kebabs recipes

Ingredients:
* 500 g quality lamb , trimmed and cut into 2.5cm cubes
* 6-8 skewers or sticks fresh rosemary , lower leaves removed, tips kept on
* 2 red onions , peeled and quartered
* 2 red peppers , deseeded and cut into 2.5cm pieces
* For the marinade
* 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
* 2 cloves
* ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
* 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* olive oil
*

Ingredients:
If you’re cooking for a load of friends, or for a party, these kebabs will do the trick. They are so easy to make and damn tasty. Marinated in a blend of spices, they can be grilled, chargrilled or cooked on the barbie. Make sure you check out my recipes for fish and chicken kebabs as well!

First bash up all the spices in a pestle and mortar until fine, then mix with the oil to make a thick marinade paste. Put the lamb pieces into a bowl and cover with the marinade. Let them sit there for half an hour to an hour. Then, using the rosemary sticks or skewers, spike each piece of meat alternately with red onion and peppers. Grill for around 5 minutes, turning regularly, to give you nicely charred meat on the outside with juicy pink on the inside. Allow to rest for a few minutes – that is, if you can stop yourself eating them straight away!

Baked cranberry cheesecake recipes

Ingredients:
* 150 g unsalted butter
* 75 g caster sugar
* 1 vanilla pod , split, seeds scraped
* 225 g flour
* Cheesecake filling:
* 225 g caster sugar
* 1 vanilla pod , split seeds scraped
* 750 g cream cheese
* 3 tbsp cornflour
* 2 large free-range eggs
* 300 ml double cream
* Cranberry topping
* 400 g fresh cranberries
* 1 lemon , juice of
* 150 g caster sugar
*

Ingredients:
Recipe by Dean McClumpha

A mousse ring is like a springform tin without a base; you can buy them at good kitchen shops, or just use a greased and lined springform cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3. Make a shortbread base by beating the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds together in a large bowl until smooth. Add the flour to the mix and beat until it comes together in a ball. Press into the bottom of a 25cm mousse ring, then place on a lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes, until golden. Leave the oven on.

To make the filling, combine the sugar, vanilla seeds, cream cheese and cornflour in a bowl and mix until smooth. Stir in the eggs, then the cream, until combined. Pour the filling over the shortbread base and bake in the oven for 45–55 minutes, until the filling has just the slightest wobble.

For the topping, put 300g cranberries in a saucepan with the lemon juice, sugar and 50ml water and simmer for 5–10 minutes over a medium heat, or until the cranberries break down and the mixture thickens. Stir in the rest of the berries, then leave to cool slightly, before pouring over the cheesecake. Chill it in the fridge. When ready to serve, carefully remove from the tin and slice.

Southend-stylee pappardelle recipes

Ingredients:
* 400 g higher-welfare sausages
* olive oil
* 1 bulb of fennel , trimmed and finely chopped
* ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
* 1 small dried red chilli
* 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary , leaves picked
* 250 ml white wine
* 1 x 700 ml jar of passata
* Parmesan cheese , for grating
* sea salt
* freshly ground pepper
* extra virgin olive oil
* For the pasta
* 4 large free-range eggs
* 400 g ‘00’ Tipo flour , plus extra for dusting
* sea salt
*

Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Cut a slit into each sausage and squeeze the meat out into a large ovenproof pan with a little olive oil. Cook on a medium heat for around 10 minutes, or until golden and crispy, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon as you go. Add the chopped fennel, and fennel seeds, then crumble in the dried chilli. Finely chop and add the rosemary leaves, then cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the fennel has softened. Pour in the wine and passata and top up with 400ml water, give it a stir, then pop the lid on. Transfer to the oven and leave to blip away for 2 hours – check on it every 40 minutes, stirring and adding a splash of water if it starts to dry out.

Meanwhile, if you’re making fresh pasta, get on with making your dough. Add the eggs and flour to a food processor with a pinch of salt and whiz until combined. Roll the dough through a pasta machine, starting on the widest setting and working your way down to the second to last. If you don’t have a pasta machine simply divide the pasta into 6 pieces and roll each piece into nice thin sheets using a rolling pin. Once at the right thickness (you’re aiming for slightly thicker than a playing card) roll through the pappardelle cutter or lightly roll in half and over once more, then slice into 2.5cm pieces and toss to separate, dusting with flour to stop it from sticking.

Cook the pasta for 2 to 3 minutes in boiling salted water (or if you’re using dried pasta, cook according to packet instructions), then drain, reserving a cupful of the cooking water. Taste and check the ragu seasoning, then mix through the pasta, loosening with a splash of cooking water if needed. Divide between your plates or bowls, and finish with a grating of Parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Must-try red cabbage braised with apple, bacon and balsamic vinegar recipes

Ingredients:
* olive oil
* 2 rashers higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon , finely sliced
* 1 tablespoon fennel seeds , bashed
* 1 onion , peeled and sliced
* 2 good eating apples , peeled and chopped into 2.5cm pieces
* 1 red cabbage , outer leaves and core removed, chopped into irregular chunks
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 150 ml balsamic vinegar
* 1 small knob butter
* 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves , chopped
*

Ingredients:
The classic combo of braised red cabbage and smoky bacon with juicy apple is an absolute winner.

Pour a good lug of olive oil into a saucepan, get it hot and add the bacon and fennel seeds. Cook until golden then add the onion and continue to cook, with the lid on, for a few more minutes until golden and sticky. Add the apple, followed by the cabbage chunks, salt and pepper and the vinegar, and stir everything together well.

Put the lid back on and continue to cook on a low heat for an hour, checking and stirring every so often. You will end up with a gorgeously sticky-sweet cabbage dish that you’ll want to eat immediately, straight out of the pan! Or, if you can wait long enough, scoop it into a serving dish, pop the butter on top and sprinkle over the parsley.

Beer butt chicken recipes

Ingredients:
* 1 large whole chicken (approx. 1.5kg) , preferably free-range or organic
* 1 x 473 ml can of Budweiser or other lager
* For the rub:
* 1 heaped teaspoon fennel seeds
* 1 level teaspoon cumin seeds
* 1 level teaspoon smoked paprika
* 1 heaped teaspoon brown sugar
* 1 level teaspoon mild chilli powder
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* olive oil
*

Ingredients:
I’ve never seen this done in Britain, but it’s a really fun and effective way to cook chicken. I'm giving you two methods, one in the barbecue and one in the oven – both will give you tasty moist chicken. You need a standard kettle-style barbecue with a lid and a thermometer. Make sure it’s tall enough to hold the upright chicken. The steam from the beer cooks the inside of the bird, so the meat ends up lovely and juicy.

Preheat your barbecue or oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Take your chicken out of the fridge while you make your rub. In a pestle and mortar, bash up your fennel and cumin seeds and mix with the paprika, brown sugar, chilli powder, salt and pepper. Stir in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil until you get a nice paste. Drizzle this rub all over the chicken, inside and out, using your hands to make sure you get it into all the nooks and crannies.

Crack your beer open, have a couple of good swigs so your can is just about half full, then lower your chicken’s cavity on to the top of the can so it looks as though the chicken is sitting on the can. A bit undignified, I know, but trust me – it’s going to be delicious.

If you’re using the barbecue, try to strategically move a small amount of coals to the sides rather than directly underneath the chicken, so the heat radiates around it and cooks it from all angles rather than grills it. The same principle applies to roasting.

Carefully sit the chicken on the bars of your barbecue or in a tray on the very bottom of your oven. Cook for around 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until it’s golden and delicious and the meat pulls away from the bone and the juices run clear. If this isn’t the case (all barbecues and ovens are slightly different) just cook for a bit longer.

Once done, remove the can and loosely cover your chicken with foil and a tea towel while you get some grilled veg, salad or warm breads together – but trust me, it tastes so good you won’t need much else.

The world-famous tarte Tatin recipes

Ingredients:
* plain flour , for dusting
* 500 g puff pastry
* 5 small eating apples , approximately 800g, a mixture of sweet and acidic varieties
* 100 g golden caster sugar
* 100 ml Calvados
* 1 vanilla pod , halved lengthways, seeds scraped out
* 50 g butter , cubed
*

Ingredients:
Preheat your oven to 190˚C/375˚F/gas 5. Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour and roll out your puff pastry until it’s just over 0.5cm thick. This will be enough to cover the ovenproof frying pan you’ll be cooking the tarte Tatin in, leaving about 5cm extra around the edge. Put the pastry to one side for now. Peel your apples, then halve them horizontally and use a teaspoon to get rid of the seeds and core.

Put the ovenproof pan on a medium heat and add the sugar, Calvados, vanilla seeds and pod. Let the sugar dissolve and cook until the mixture forms a light caramel. Just please remember never ever to touch or taste hot caramel, as it can burn really badly.

Once the caramel looks and smells delicious – it should be a lovely chestnut brown – add your halved apples. Carefully stir everything in the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until the apples start to soften and you get a toffee apple vibe happening. Add the cubed butter, then lay the pastry over the top. Quickly and carefully tuck the pastry down right into the edges – it’s best to use a wooden spoon so you don’t touch the caramel.

Bake the tarte Tatin for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden, with crispy caramelly pieces bubbling up from under the edges. Take it out of the oven. To make it look like a tarte Tatin you need to turn it out, which isn't hard – but you do need to be careful with that hot caramel. So get a serving plate or board larger than your pan and put an oven glove on to protect the arm holding the board. Put the board or plate on top of the pan, then quickly, carefully and confidently turn it out. Put it to one side for a few minutes, so the caramel can cool down, then divide it up and serve with a spoonful of crème fraîche or ice cream.

Neck fillet steak recipes

Ingredients:
* 4 higher-welfare pork neck fillet steaks
* olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic , peeled and crushed
* 1 handful fresh sage leaves , chopped
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 1 lemon
*

Ingredients:
Get your griddle pan on a high heat and let it get screaming hot. Lay the steaks out on a chopping board and drizzle a little olive oil over each one. Sprinkle over the garlic, sage, a good sprinkling of salt and lots of ground black pepper. Grate the zest of the lemon onto the steaks, then cut the lemon in two and squeeze one of the halves over them as well. Rub this marinade into both sides of each steak with your fingers so they are evenly oiled and seasoned.

Place the steaks on your griddle or in a hot frying-pan (they make a bit of smoke, so get your fan on!). Make sure you don’t have too many in the pan at one time – there should be a gap between the steaks and they shouldn’t be touching each other at all, so if your pan isn’t big enough, cook in batches.

Turn the steaks over after two minutes, then turn every minute until they’ve had 8 minutes cooking time in total. Squeeze the other half of the lemon over the cooked steaks and let them sizzle for a moment, then lift them out of the pan with tongs to a plate to rest for a minute before serving. Absolutely delicious served with some oven-baked jacket potato wedges, a lovely green salad and some hot chilli sauce.

Falafel wraps with grilled veg & salsa recipes

Ingredients:
* For the falafel
* 1 x 400 g tin of mixed beans
* 1 x 400 g tin of chickpeas
* 1 lemon
* 1 tablespoon harissa
* 1 heaped teaspoon allspice
* 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
* 1 bunch fresh coriander
* olive oil
* For the sides
* 2 mixed-colour peppers
* 4 spring onions
* 8 small wholewheat tortillas
* 1 tablespoon Lingham's chilli sauce
* 250g low-fat cottage cheese
* optional: pickled red cabbage
* For the salsa
* 1 big handful mixed-colour ripe tomatoes
* ½ –1 fresh red chilli
* ½ clove of garlic
* 1 lime
*

Ingredients:
Ingredients out • Food processor (bowl blade) • Large frying pan, medium heat • Griddle pan, high heat

START COOKING
Drain the beans and chickpeas and put them into the processor • Finely grate in the lemon zest, then add a pinch of salt and pepper, the harissa, allspice, flour and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves) • Blitz until smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor if needed • Scrape out the mixture and use clean, wet hands to quickly divide and shape it into 8 patties about 1.5cm thick • Put 1 tablespoon of oil into the frying pan and add the falafels, turning when golden and crisp

Rip the seeds and stalks out of the peppers, tear each one into bite-sized chunks and put on the griddle pan with the trimmed and halved spring onions and a pinch of salt and pepper, turning when charred • Put the tomatoes, chilli and half the coriander leaves into the processor • Squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher, squeeze in the lime juice, whiz until fine, then season to taste and pour into a serving dish

Pop the tortillas into the microwave (800W) for 45 seconds while you marble the chilli sauce into the cottage cheese • Squeeze the juice of half the zested lemon over the charred veggies, then take with the falafels to the table, scattering everything with the rest of the coriander • Let everyone assemble their own wraps, and serve with pickled red cabbage, if you like

Insanely good oxtail stew recipes

Ingredients:
* 2.5 kg oxtail , chopped into 4cm chunks (ask your butcher to do this)
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* olive oil
* 2 medium leeks
* 2 stalks of celery
* 4 medium carrots
* a few sprigs of fresh thyme
* a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
* 4 fresh bay leaves
* 4 cloves
* 2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
* 2 x 400 g tins of plum tomatoes
* 275 ml porter or red wine
* optional:
* 1 litre organic beef stock
* Worcestershire sauce
*

Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7. Place a large roasting tray in the oven to preheat.

Carefully remove the hot tray from the oven, then add the oxtail. Season and drizzle over a lug of olive oil, then toss to coat and place in the hot oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden and caramelized.

Meanwhile, trim and halve the leeks and celery lengthways, then chop into rough 2cm chunks. Peel and chop the carrots into 2cm pieces, then place into a large ovenproof casserole pan over a medium-low heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Pick, roughly chop and add the thyme and rosemary leaves, then add the bay and cook for around 20 minutes, or until soft and sweet, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, remove the oxtail from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3.

Add the cloves and flour to the veg, stirring well to combine, then pour in the tomatoes and porter (or wine, if using). Add the oxtail and any roasting juices, cover with the beef stock or 1 litre of cold water and stir well. Turn the heat up to high and bring to the boil, then pop the lid on and place in the hot oven for around 5 hours, or until the meat falls away from the bone, stirring every hour or so and adding a splash of water to loosen, if needed.

Remove the pan from the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes. Using rubber gloves, strip the meat from the bones and return to the pan, discarding the bones. Add a good splash of Worcestershire sauce, season to taste and enjoy with creamy mash and seasonal steamed greens.

Tip: Turn this stew into soup by adding a good splash of boiling water and simmering to your desired consistency. I also love this stirred through pappardelle and served with a grating of Parmesan on top – incredible!

Causa croquettes recipes

Ingredients:
* 750 g potatoes , peeled
* A large knob of unsalted butter
* 1 red onion , finely chopped
* 1 lime , Juice and zest of
* 200 g small cooked prawns , from sustainable sources
* 100 g white crabmeat , from sustainable sources
* 1–2 tsp aji amarillo paste , or piri piri sauce
* 100 g flour
* 2 eggs , beaten
* 100 g breadcrumbs
* 1 litre vegetable oil
* A cube of bread , to test the oil
* Avocado dressing
* 2 avocadoes , ripe
* 2 limes
* 1 red onion
* 1 tomato , ripe
* 1 bunch of coriander
* extra virgin olive oil
*

Ingredients:
Start by cutting the potatoes into even-sized chunks, then placing them in a large pan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil, then cook over a medium heat for 15–20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Drain and steam dry, then mash the potatoes until really smooth (use a potato ricer if you have one). Season well and mash in a knob of butter.

Now make the guacamole-style dressing. Scrape the avocado flesh into a medium-sized bowl, discarding the stones and skins, season with salt and pepper and squeeze over the juice of the 2 limes. Grate in the onion and tomato, then mash together to a chunky guacamole. Chop the coriander and add it to the guacamole with plenty of extra virgin olive oil, then leave to one side.

Place the finely chopped red onion in a small bowl, add the juice and zest of the 1 lime, toss together and leave to one side for 5–10 minutes. Finely chop the prawns and mix together with the crabmeat and aji amarillo paste, seasoning well. Mix the onions into the bowl with the prawns, leaving behind the excess juice.

Line up 3 bowls – one with the flour, one with the beaten eggs and one with the breadcrumbs. Place a scoop of mashed potato in your hand and roll into a ball (roughly 4cm in diameter). Press a hole in the middle with your thumb about 2cm deep and spoon in some prawn and crab mixture. Close the hole as gently as you can to conceal the filling, then repeat until you’ve used up all the mash and filling – you should end up with around 15 croquettes.

Roll each croquette in the flour, dip it into the egg (letting the excess drip off), then coat in breadcrumbs. Next, pour the vegetable oil into a large pan and gently heat to 180°C (a cube of bread dropped into the oil will turn brown within 1 minute). Gently lower the croquettes into the oil with a slotted spoon and fry for around 4 minutes, or until golden and crisp – you’ll need to do this in batches. Drain the cooked croquettes on kitchen paper, then serve hot on a plate smeared with the guacamole.

Pear sorbet (Sorbetto di pere) recipes

Ingredients:
* 200 g caster sugar
* 200 ml water
* 1 kg soft pears , peeled, quartered and cores removed
* 1 lemon , juice and zest of
* 55 ml grappa , or to taste
*

Ingredients:
Sorbets are always a nice way to finish a meal if you don’t want anything too heavy. They can also be used as palate cleansers between courses. Either way, a sorbet is pretty much always made the same way – a fruit purée is mixed with a little stock syrup in the right quantity to make it freeze. It will become really shiny and soft to scoop.

This particular recipe for pear and grappa sorbet is a wicked combo and one of my favourites, so give it a bash. It’s great served in a bowl with lovely soft fruits scattered over the top. A good-quality vodka instead of grappa would be quite interesting and, without wanting to sound like a nutcase, absinthe would be nice too, but to be honest most good supermarkets and off-licences sell grappa these days. Nardini is a particularly good brand.

This recipe will make enough for 6 people to have a couple of scoops each, but for 4 you can make this amount and keep the rest in the freezer for another day. I suggest you use a fairly shallow earthenware or thick porcelain dish that you can put in the freezer beforehand – this speeds up the freezing process for the sorbet.

Try to get really ripe pears – even the ones they sell cheaply in the market. If they’re really really ripe and soft to the touch, simply remove the skin and put the flesh into a bowl – you won’t need to cook them at all. This is how I did it in Italy when the fruit guy called Pippo at the weekly Terranuova Bracciolini market near Montevarchi gave me a whole tray of pears for free. Go and say hello and he might do the same for you!

First of all put the sugar and water into a pan on the hob. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Add your quartered pears and, unless they’re super soft, continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, leave to one side for 5 minutes, then add the lemon juice (minus the pips) and zest. Pour everything into a food processor and whiz to a purée, then push the mixture through a coarse sieve into the dish in which you want to serve it.

Add the grappa, give it a good stir, and taste. The grappa shouldn’t be overbearing or too powerful – it should be subtle and should work well with the pears. However, different brands do vary in strength and flavour, so add to taste. (This isn’t an excuse to add the whole bottle, though, because if you use too much alcohol the sorbet won’t freeze.) Put the dish into the freezer and whisk it up with a fork every half-hour – you’ll see it becoming pale in colour. After a couple of hours it will be ready. The texture should be nice and scoopable. Delicious served with ventagli or other delicate crunchy biscuits.

PS This sorbet will last in the freezer for a couple of days – after that it will crystallize.

Tasty Tuscan tart recipes

Ingredients:
* 375 g sweet pastry
* 2-3 Williams pears , peeled and quartered
* 4 tablespoons caster sugar
* 300 ml single cream
* 200 g good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
* 30 g unsalted butter
*

Ingredients:
Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Roll out the shortcrust pastry to form a rectangular shape just under 1cm thick, using flour to dust. Place on a clean, flat baking tray and pinch the pastry around the edge with your thumb and forefinger to create a sort of lip.

Remove the core, and slice each pear quarter into 3. Sprinkle with half the caster sugar and rest for 1 minute before scattering the pears on top of the pastry. Bake for around 18 minutes, or until golden. Meanwhile, in a small pan, heat the cream until nearly boiling, remove from the heat and rest for a minute before snapping in your chocolate. Stir until melted and smooth, then add the remaining sugar and the butter. Pour carefully from the middle, covering the pears, and try not to let the chocolate go over the edge. Allow to cool briefly before popping into the fridge for 20 minutes.

Cut into squares or fingers... and get stuck in!

Nan's peach clafoutis recipes

Ingredients:
* 3 tablespoons plain flour
* 1 pinch salt
* 5 tablespoons golden caster sugar
* 3 large free-range eggs , beaten
* 450 ml milk
* 1 whole nutmeg , for grating
* 50 g butter
* 400 g tinned peach halves in juice , drained
* good-quality vanilla ice cream , to serve
*

Ingredients:
Preheat your oven to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7. In a bowl, add the flour, salt and 3 tablespoons of caster sugar to the beaten eggs. Mix well, then put aside. Warm the milk in a saucepan until lukewarm, then stir this into the egg mixture. Grate in about ¼ of the nutmeg.

Grease a shallow ovenproof dish with butter, put the drained peaches on the bottom then pour the egg batter over them. Dot the remaining butter on top in little knobs.

Pop in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the egg has set but still has a slight wobble to it. Sprinkle over the remaining caster sugar and serve with a good spoonful of ice cream on the top. Absolutely delicious!

Beef tagine recipes

Ingredients:
* 600 g quality stewing beef
* olive oil
* 1 onion , peeled and finely chopped
* 1 small bunch of fresh coriander
* 400 g tinned chickpeas , drained
* 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
* 800 ml organic vegetable stock
* 1 small squash , approximately 800g, deseeded and cut into 5cm chunks
* 100 g prunes , stoned and roughly torn
* 2 tablespoons flaked almonds , toasted
* For the spice rub
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 1 level tablespoon ras el hanout spice mix
* 1 level tablespoon ground cumin
* 1 level tablespoon ground cinnamon
* 1 level tablespoon ground ginger
* 1 level tablespoon sweet paprika
*

Ingredients:
Mix all the spice rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Put the beef into a large bowl, massage it with the spice rub, then cover with cling film and put into the fridge for a couple of hours – ideally overnight - that way the spices really penetrate and flavour the meat.

When you’re ready to cook, heat a generous lug of olive oil in a tagine or casserole– type pan and fry the meat over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add your chopped onion and coriander stalks and fry for another 5 minutes. Tip in the chickpeas and tomatoes, then pour in 400ml of stock and stir. Bring to the boil, then put the lid on the pan or cover with foil and reduce to a simmer for 1½ hours.

At this point, add your squash, the prunes and the rest of the stock. Give everything a gentle stir, then pop the lid back on the pan and continue cooking for another 1½ hours. Keep an eye on it and add a splash of water if it looks too dry.

Once the time is up, take the lid off and check the consistency. If it seems a bit too runny, simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, more with the lid off. The beef should be really tender and flaking apart now, so have a taste and season with a pinch or two of salt. Scatter the coriander leaves over the tagine along with the toasted almonds, then take it straight to the table with a big bowl of lightly seasoned couscous and dive in.

*Ras el hanout (Arabic for "top of the shop") is a blend of the best spices a vendor has in his shop. The mixture varies depending on who is selling it, but can be a combination of anywhere from 10 to 100 spices. It usually includes nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, aniseed, turmeric, cayenne, peppercorns, dried galangal, ginger, cloves, cardamom, chilli, allspice and orris root.

Roasted fennel & pine nut polpette recipes

Ingredients:
* 1 large fennel bulb , or 2 small (400g), trimmed, fronds reserved
* extra virgin olive oil
* 20 g pine nuts
* 20 g pumpkin seeds
* 3 cloves of garlic , peeled
* 1/2 red chilli , deseeded and roughly chopped
* 50 g parmesan
* 100 g breadcrumbs
* 1 large egg yolk
* 1/2 bunch of parsley , leaves picked and stalks finely chopped
* 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
* a splash of balsamic vinegar
*

Ingredients:
Recipe by Georgina Hayden

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Cut the fennel into 2–3cm wedges and lay out in a roasting tray. Add a splash of oil, season, then roast in the oven for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle over the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds and pop back in the oven for 8 minutes, until the fennel is cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Place 2 garlic cloves and the chilli in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Add the fennel, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds, then pulse again until chopped but still quite chunky.

Grate in the parmesan, then add the breadcrumbs, egg yolk and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse until everything just comes together.

Drizzle a roasting tray with olive oil. With wet hands, roll the mixture into about 20 walnut-sized balls, then place on the tray and leave in the fridge for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven again to 200C/gas 6.

Drizzle the polpette with oil and bake for 20–25 minutes, until the balls are golden and crisp.

While they are cooking, make a tomato sauce. Place a medium-sized, non-stick pan over a medium heat and pour in a glug of oil. Finely slice the remaining garlic clove and add to the pan, along with the parsley stalks. Fry for 1 minute before pouring in the tinned tomatoes.

Fill the tin halfway with water and add, along with the balsamic, then gently bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook over a low heat for 8–10 minutes, until thickened. Pour the sauce into a food processor and blitz until smooth, then return to the pan and keep warm until needed.

Divide the sauce between plates, arrange the polpette on top, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve.

Old-fashioned sweet shortcrust pastry recipes

Ingredients:
* 500 g organic plain flour , plus extra for dusting
* 100 g icing sugar , sifted
* 250 g good-quality butter , cut into small cubes
* 1 lemon , zest of
* 2 large free-range eggs , beaten
* 1 splash milk
*

Ingredients:
This pastry is perfect for making apple and other sweet pies. Even if you’ve never made pastry before, as long as you stick to the correct measurements for the ingredients and you follow the method exactly, you’ll be laughing. The one place where you can experiment is with flavouring. If you don’t fancy using lemon zest, try another dry ingredient like orange zest instead. Or a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg or cocoa powder. Vanilla seeds are great too. Just remember to be subtle and don’t go overboard with any of these flavours!

Try to be confident and bring the pastry together as quickly as you can – don’t knead it too much or the heat from your hands will melt the butter. A good tip is to hold your hands under cold running water beforehand to make them as cold as possible. That way you’ll end up with a delicate, flaky pastry every time.

Sieve the flour from a height on to a clean work surface and sieve the icing sugar over the top. Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture. This is the point where you can spike the mixture with interesting flavours, so mix in your lemon zest.

Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together till you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don’t work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in clingfilm and put it into the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.

Pancakes USA stylie recipes

Ingredients:
* 3 large free-range eggs
* 115 g plain flour
* 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
* 140 ml milk
* 1 pinch salt
*

Ingredients:
These American pancakes are great! Instead of being thin and silky like French crêpes, they are wonderfully fluffy and thick and can be made to perfection straight away. Simple, simple, simple – my Jools goes mad for them.

First separate the eggs, putting the whites into one bowl and the yolks into another. Add the flour, baking powder and milk to the yolks and mix to a smooth thick batter. Whisk the whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the batter – it is now ready to use.

Heat a good non-stick pan on a medium heat. Pour some of your batter into the pan and fry for a couple of minutes until it starts to look golden and firm. At this point sprinkle your chosen flavouring (see below) on to the uncooked side before loosening with a spatula and flipping the pancake over. Continue frying until both sides are golden.

You can make these pancakes large or small, to your liking. You can serve them simply doused in maple syrup and even with some butter or crème fraîche. Or if you choose to sprinkle with a flavouring, try one of these...

fresh corn from the cob
crispy bacon or pancetta
blueberries
banana
stewed apple
grated chocolate
anything else you can imagine...

PS Blueberry pancakes (above) are great but you must try the corn pancakes. On one condition – you must use fresh corn. To do this, remove the outer leaves and carefully run a knife down the cob – this will loosen all the lovely pieces of corn – and sprinkle these raw over your pancake, before flipping it in the pan. I like to have some grilled bacon over my corn pancakes, drizzled with a little maple syrup. This sounds bloody horrid but it honestly tastes great!

Gluten-free parsnip, pork & apple stuffing recipes

Ingredients:
* olive oil
* 2 onions , finely chopped
* a few sprigs of fresh sage , leaves picked
* a splash of cider
* 4 parsnips , cut into 1cm chunks
* 2 apples , peeled, cut into 1cm chunks
* 8 gluten-free sausages
* 200 g gluten-free bread , torn into chunks
* 1 large free-range egg
* 1 lemon , finely grated zest of
*

Ingredients:
Recipe by Georgina Hayden

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5 and oil a 20cm baking dish. Place a large nonstick pan over a medium heat and add a good glug of olive oil. Add the onion and sauté for 5–10 minutes until softened but not coloured.

Meanwhile shred the sage and add to the pan along with the parsnips, a good splash of cider and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan and leave for 10 minutes to soften the parsnips. Remove the lid, add the apple and cook for another couple of minutes. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and let cool completely.

Once cool, snip the ends off the sausages and squeeze the meat out of the skins into the bowl. Put the bread in a food processor and blitz to breadcrumbs. Add to the bowl with the egg and lemon zest. Using your hands, scrunch it all together until well combined then press into the prepared baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Remove the foil, cook for a further 15 minutes then serve.

Manhattan recipes

Ingredients:
* 2 parts Rye Whiskey
* 1/2 part Martini Rosso
* 1 dash of Angostura Bitters
* 1 whole lemon , cut into a slice and twist
* 1 jar of maraschino cherries
* ice , cubed
*

Ingredients:
1. Chill your glass (the easiest way is to fill it with ice)

2. Add all of the ingredients to a shaker/stirring glass containing plenty of ice and stir gently for around 30 seconds to a minute

3. Strain the mixture into the glass and garnish with a lemon twist or cherry

Crostini - prosciutto, figs and mint recipes

Ingredients:
* 6 large ripe figs
* 12 slices quality prosciutto
* 1 small bunch fresh mint
* Crostini
* extra virgin olive oil
* balsamic vinegar
* freshly ground black pepper
*

Ingredients:
Get yourself 6 large ripe figs, 12 slices of prosciutto and a small bunch of fresh mint. Tear the figs in half, then drape a piece of prosciutto over each of your hot crostini and squash a piece of fig on top. Finish with mint leaves, and serve drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil, a drop of balsamic vinegar and some freshly ground black pepper.

See my crostini recipe.

Toffee apple tart recipes

Ingredients:
* 1 vanilla pod , optional
* 125 g butter
* 100 g icing sugar
* sea salt
* 255 g flour
* ½ lemon
* 2 free-range egg yolks
* 2 tablespoons milk or water , cold
* For the filling
* 2 tins condensed milk , or 2 jars Merchant Gourmet Dulce de Leche toffee
* 4 medium-sized cooking apples
* 2 heaped tablespoons icing sugar
*

Ingredients:
Put your unopened tins of condensed milk in a high-sided pan, covered with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer constantly for about 3 hours with a lid on top. It’s very important to remember to keep checking the pan, as you don’t want it to boil dry – otherwise the tins will explode. It will give you the most amazing toffee. Put the tins to one side and allow to cool.

First of all you need to make your pastry. Score down the length of the vanilla pod, if using, and remove the seeds by scraping a knife down the inside of each half (keep the pod for making vanilla sugar). Cream together the butter, icing sugar and a small pinch of salt and then rub in the flour, vanilla seeds, zest of the lemon and egg yolks – you can do all this by hand or in a food processor. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold milk or water. Pat and gently work the mixture together until you have a ball of dough, then flour it lightly and roll it into a large sausage shape – don’t work the pastry too much otherwise it will become too elastic and chewy, not flaky and short as you want it to be. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour. Remove it from the fridge, slice it up and line a 28cm/11 inch tart mould with the slivers. Push them together, then tidy up the sides by trimming off any excess. Place the tart mould into the freezer for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Take the pastry case out of the freezer and bake blind in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Peel and quarter the apples and remove the cores, then slice finely and toss in the icing sugar. Remove the pastry base from the oven and smear the caramel from both tins of condensed milk over it. Place the apples on top and pour any remaining juices over. Cook at the bottom of the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, to give you a crispy base and bubbling toffee over the apples. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Beautiful!

Smoky mixed-potato wedges recipes

Ingredients:
* 2 large sweet potatoes
* 2 medium potatoes
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
* olive oil
* Equipment list
* scrubber
* chopping board
* knife
* large mixing bowl
* measuring spoons
* 2 large baking trays
* oven gloves
* fish slice
* serving dish
*

Ingredients:
With just a splash of oil and a pinch of seasoning and spice, you can turn the humble potato into delicious homemade wedges.

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6.

2. Wash the potatoes under cold running water, scrubbing well with a scrubber to get rid of any dirt (there’s no need to peel them).

3. On a chopping board, cut each potato in half lengthways, then cut each half in half lengthways, and then each piece in half again so
you end up with 8 wedges, then add to a large mixing bowl.

4. Sprinkle over a tiny pinch of salt and pepper, and the paprika.

5. Drizzle over 2 tablespoons olive oil, then toss everything together to coat.

6. Spread out into a single layer over 2 large baking trays, then bake in the hot oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

7. Use oven gloves to remove the trays from the oven, then leave to sit for a couple of minutes (this will make it easier to remove them from the tray), then use a fish slice to transfer them to a serving dish.

Summer fruit fool with homemade shortbread recipes

Ingredients:
* For the shortbread
* 125 g organic unsalted butter , at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
* 60 g organic or Fairtrade caster sugar
* 3 boiled butter sweets
* 125 g plain organic flour , siffted
* 60 g cornflour
* For the fool
* 2 apricots
* 1 small handful British raspberries
* 1 small handful British strawberries
* 300 ml organic double cream
* 3 tablespoons icing sugar
*

Ingredients:
Great for parties, you can easily put this indulgent little dessert recipe together in advance.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale, light and fluffy. Bash the sweets in a pestle and mortar until you have fine bits. Add the bits, flour and cornflour to the bowl. Mix very lightly, first with a wooden spoon, then with your hands, to make a smooth dough. Place on a floured surface and roll into a long sausage, then warp in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/gas 2. Slice the chilled dough into 1cm discs. Lay them on a greased baking sheet with a little space between them, then bake for 25 minutes until lightly golden. Remove and leave to cool.

Halve and stone the apricots, then whiz them with the raspberries and strawberries in a food processor. Whip up the cream with the icing sugar until you have soft peaks.

Place a tablespoon of cream into each of 4 glasses, smooth over some fruit and repeat until the glass is full. Sprinkle over some crumbled shortbread and serve with a couple more shortbread biscuits on the side.

Tip: Use shop-bought organic shortbread for a super-speedy dessert
 

Crostini - pea and broad bean purée with pecorino recipes

Ingredients:
* 1 small handful mint leaves , plus extra to serve
* 1 handful podded peas
* 1 handful broad beans
* 1 large handful freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan , plus extra to serve
* extra virgin olive oil
* lemon juice
* salt
* pepper
* Crostini
*

Ingredients:
In a pestle and mortar or a food processor, smash up a small handful of mint leaves with 2 good handfuls of freshly podded peas and broad beans until they look like mushy peas. Add a large handful of freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan, then loosen with a couple of good lugs of extra virgin olive oil and balance the flavours with a little lemon juice, salt< and pepper. Smear this over each of your hot Crostini and finish with some grated pecorino or Parmesan and a little mint – genius!

See my crostini recipe.

Mushroom and squash vegetarian Wellington recipes

Ingredients:
* 1 small butternut squash , halved lengthways and seeds scraped out
* olive oil
* 1 small dried red chilli , crumbled
* ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
* 1 sprig fresh rosemary , leaves picked and chopped
* 2 red onions , peeled and sliced
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 1 small bunch fresh sage , leaves picked
* 100 g vac-packed chestnuts , crumbled
* 2 slices sourdough bread
* 3 cloves garlic , peeled
* 1 lemon
* 20 g butter
* 250 g chestnut mushrooms , finely sliced
* 200 g Swiss chard or spinach , washed
* 50 g pine nuts
* 25 g sultanas
* 500 g all butter puff pastry
* 1 free-range egg
* 1 splash milk
*

Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Slice the squash lengthways into wedges and add to a large roasting tray with a good splash of olive oil, the chilli and cinnamon. Bash the coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar until fine, then add the rosemary leaves and bash again for 1 to 2 minutes to release its flavour. Scatter over the squash and toss together so that each piece of squash is well coated with the seasoning. Make sure all the squash is skin-side down, then cover with tin foil and bake in the hot oven for around 45 minutes or until soft. Allow to cool, then tear into bite-sized chunks.

Meanwhile, heat a saucepan over a medium heat, then add a splash of olive oil and the onions. Season well with salt and pepper and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned. Add the sage and crumbled chestnuts to the pan for the last few minutes of cooking.

While that’s happening, toast the bread on a hot griddle pan or in a toaster and rub well with one of the cloves of garlic. Tear into small chunks, and once the onions are done, add the toast to the pan. Turn the heat off, stir everything together, taste, then season and grate in the zest of the lemon.

Add the butter to a frying pan on a medium heat and when melted, add the mushrooms and a chopped clove of garlic. Fry until soft and quite dry. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, tip into a food processor and whiz until smooth.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the spinach and cook until soft. Drain in a colander, pressing lightly to get rid of excess moisture, then place to one side.

Slice the remaining garlic clove and add to a frying pan with a splash of olive oil. Fry until golden. Add the pine nuts, sultanas and spinach and fry everything together until warmed through. Season well with salt and pepper and turn off the heat.

Now assemble your Wellington. Roll out the puff pastry on a sheet of baking parchment until it’s about 30cm x 40cm, then spread the mushroom mixture all over it. In a large bowl, lightly toss together the spinach, squash and onion-bread mixture, then spoon it in a thick line down the middle of the pastry. Leave a space free at either side so you can roll the pastry around the filling.

To do this, hold one side of the baking parchment and lift it, with the pastry, towards the centre of the Wellington so it starts to cover the filling. Peel the baking parchment back, leaving the pastry in place, then do the same with the other side. The pastry should overlap in the middle. Beat the egg with the milk and brush it over the pastry join to seal the join. Fold up the ends so the filling doesn’t leak out, then carefully roll the Wellington onto a baking sheet, with the seal underneath. Brush all over with the egg mix.

Bake for 45 minutes until puffed up, golden brown and hot through. Serve carved into thick chunks – it’s fantastic served with veggie gravy!

Street salad (Insalata di strada) recipes

Ingredients:
* 500 g new potatoes , scrubbed
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 3 handfuls mixed crunchy salad leaves, such as, radicchio, rocket, romaine
* 1 small handful fresh mint , leaves picked and torn
* 1 bulb fennel , halved and finely sliced, herby tops reserved
* ½ Cedro lemon , sliced wafer thin, optional
* For the Sicilian blood orange dressing
* 1 blood orange , juice of
* 3 tablespoons good-quality white wine vinegar or herb vinegar
* extra virgin olive oil
* 1 good pinch dried oregano
* 2 tablespoons capers , washed if using salted, chopped if large
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
*

Ingredients:
In Palermo there's a night market called Il Borgo, where all the locals gather to eat at little stalls selling things like chickpea fritters, boiled baby octopus and some stuff that you wouldn't want to eat, like gizzards, spleen and other dirty wobbly things! A lot of the veg stalls have massive cauldrons of boiled potatoes and artichokes to serve to their customers – I guess you could say this is the original fast food – and they tasted absolutely brilliant.

Some of the stalls also make a version of this salad, which is absolutely delicious. They tend to dress it and have it hanging around for quite some time so it becomes a bit sloppy and past its best, but the principle of the salad is fantastic and all the locals absolutely adore it. In Sicily you can get these terrific Cedro lemons which are mainly pith and they are amazing in salads – but you may not be able to get hold of them. In this case I wouldn't recommend you use normal lemons as the flavour is quite different.

The way potatoes are cooked in Sicily is very long and very slow, on a low simmer with plenty of salt in the water. This is a fantastic method of making normal potatoes soft and floury, but in the case of new potatoes it would be a crime. So add them to fast-boiling salted water, as this will help retain a lot of their flavour, and cook them till nice and tender. The softer you can get them while still holding their shape, the better. While the potatoes are cooking, wash all your salad leaves and put them into a nice big bowl with the mint and fennel. If using a Cedro lemon, add the slices to the salad at this point.

For the dressing, mix the orange juice and vinegar in a glass jar or bowl with about twice as much extra virgin olive oil. Add the oregano and capers and season to taste with salt and pepper. Give it a good mix and have a taste. Don't forget that you want the flavour to be a little over the top, so that by the time you've dressed the salad with it and it has mixed with all the other flavours it's perfect because it's become more subtle. Drain the potatoes when cooked, then allow them to steam in a colander for 5 minutes. Throw them into the salad while still warm and toss together well. Absolutely fantastic – great with a plate of grilled fish or as a lunchie salad on its own.

Briam recipes

Ingredients:
* 150 ml extra-virgin olive oil , plus extra if required
* 1 large aubergine , halved lengthways, then thickly sliced
* 1 large onion , thinly sliced
* 3 garlic cloves , sliced
* 800 g large potatoes , chopped into 1cm cubes
* 6 medium tomatoes , thinly sliced
* 12 cherry tomatoes
* 5 courgettes , sliced
* 300 g tomato passata
* 1 tbsp dried oregano
* 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley , finely chopped
*

Ingredients:
Recipe by Andy Harris

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook the aubergine in batches, adding more oil if necessary, for 5–7 minutes, until softened and golden. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a large bowl.

Add the onion and garlic to the pan, with a little more oil if necessary, and sauté for 5 minutes, until softened. Transfer to the bowl with the aubergine. Add the potato, tomatoes, courgette, passata and 200ml water to the bowl. Sprinkle with oregano and parsley and season generously with sea salt and ground black pepper. Combine well with your hands and transfer to a large ovenproof dish. Drizzle with any remaining oil.

Bake for 30 minutes then turn oven down to 200C/gas 6. Bake for another 20–30 minutes, or until the top has browned and vegetables are tender. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

A taster of fresh oysters served the old-fashioned way recipes

Ingredients:
* 6 oysters , 3 oysters each
* sea salt , optional
* freshly ground black pepper , optional
* lemon juice , optional
* tabasco , optional
*

Ingredients:
Oysters are probably the best-known aphrodisiac and, although they aren’t everybody’s cup of tea, I love them! They’re available year-round, but the best time to eat them is in the depths of winter when the ocean is icy cold and they are plump and juicy. British oysters are fantastic and great value. There are two main types available – rock oysters and native oysters. Both of these would make a great starter to a romantic dinner.

When you buy them, make sure that they are tightly closed and heavy in the hand. Ideally, oysters should be straight out of the sea when you eat them. Give them a rinse in cold water before you start preparing them – this can be tricky so please be very careful!

To open them, you’ll need an oyster knife which is short, thick and quite blunt. Do not use a normal kitchen knife! It’s dangerous and you’ll probably snap the tip of the knife off. A screwdriver is probably a better bet if you don’t have an oyster knife.

Hold the oyster curved-side down on a chopping board with a folded kitchen cloth between the shell and your hand. This is to help you get a good grip and protect your hand.

Look for the hinge between the top shell and the bottom shell, and poke the knife tip into the crack. You need to push quite hard and work it in there but eventually you should be able to prise the top shell off. It’s not always that easy so it might be a good idea to try a few before dinner to get the hang of it. Wear an apron too in case you get a bit dirty.

When you get the oyster open, throw away the top shell. If there is any seawater in the bottom shell with the oyster, try and keep it in there. Pick out any fragments of shell and place the oyster on a plate with a mound of rock salt or crushed ice in the middle.

Season it however you like, then tip that lovely fresh oyster into your mouth!

Roasted marmalade ham recipes

Ingredients:
* 3-4 kg middle cut higher-welfare gammon with the knuckle left on
* 2 carrots , roughly chopped
* 2 sticks celery , roughly chopped
* 2 bay leaves
* 16 black peppercorns
* 1 piece leek , for the bouquet garni
* 1 piece celery , for the bouquet garni
* 1 bay leaf , for the bouquet garni
* 1 sprig fresh thyme
* 2 oranges
* 2 tablespoons sea salt
* 3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
* 1 jar thin-rind marmalade
* 1 handful fresh rosemary , leaves picked
*

Ingredients:
If you’ve got a family dinner or a party coming up, or you want to reinvent the Sunday roast, there’s nothing outrageous about buying a ham and cooking it this way. You can feed loads of people and still have some left over for sarnies.


First of all you want to place the gammon in a large but snug-fitting pot. Cover it with water, then throw in your veg, bay leaves, peppercorns and bouquet garni. Peel the zest from the oranges and add to the water, then squeeze the juice in and add the salt. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for an hour and a quarter with a lid on, skimming when need be. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for half an hour in the broth. This will allow the flavours to really penetrate the meat. Discard the vegetables from the broth, but keep the broth for making minestrone-type soups – it will freeze well for use another day.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3. Carefully remove the meat to a board and, using a knife, take off the skin. Depending on the breed and quality of the pig, you should have a nice layer of fat. Remove some of the fat as well, to leave you with about 1cm/½ inch. The extra fat can be kept in the freezer for roasting with potatoes another time. Score the fat left on the meat in a criss-cross fashion, and while it’s moist, season it generously with the ground black pepper. Place the meat in a roasting tray and roast for 20 minutes until the fat renders and becomes slightly crispy. Remove from the oven, stir up the marmalade to loosen, then smear and rub it all over the meat with the rosemary. Place back in the oven for about 1 hour and baste frequently until beautifully golden and crisp. Serve as you would a roast dinner or as part of a picnic.

Mexican-style barbecued corn recipes

Ingredients:
* 4 corn on the cob , peeled
* 50 g butter , melted
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* sweet smoked paprika , for sprinkling
* 80 g Pecorino Romano cheese , finely grated
* 1 lime , quartered
*

Ingredients:
Put the corn cobs in a large pan of salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes until the corn is cooked. Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry.

Brush the corn with a little of the melted butter and season with salt and pepper. Place on a barbeque or in a preheated griddle pan and cook, turning the cobs, until lightly toasted.

Meanwhile, spread out the grated cheese on a shallow tray or plate. Pour the remaining melted butter into another shallow tray. Roll the grilled corn in the melted butter, sprinkle with paprika, then roll in the Pecorino. Serve with a wedge of lime.

Mai tai recipes

Ingredients:
* 2 limes
* 50 ml Cointreau
* 50 ml Bacardi 8 rum
* 50 ml Bacardi Oro
* 1 tablespoon orgeat syrup , (15ml)
* To garnish:
* orange zest
* 1 sprig of fresh mint
* ice , cubed
*

Ingredients:
1. Squeeze the lime juice into a cocktail shaker

2. Pour in the Cointreau, the Bacardi 8 rum and the Bacardi Gold rum

3. Add the orgeat syrup and stir

4. Fill up the cocktail shaker and shake hard for 20 seconds

5. Pour into a short rock glass and fill up with ice

6. Garnish with orange zest, a sprig of mint and a straw

Turkey salad & warm clementine dressing recipes

Ingredients:
* 2 banana shallots
* olive oil
* 2 clementines
* 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 250 g leftover free-range turkey
* 100 g mixed nuts and seeds, such as hazelnuts, pistachios or pumpkin seeds
* 50 g dried cranberries
* 1 teaspoon runny honey
* 2 red chicory
* 75 g watercress
* 75 g rocket
* 2 tablespoons low-fat natural yoghurt
* 1 pomegranate
*

Ingredients:
For this recipe, you will need 250 g leftover free-range turkey.

Peel and finely dice the shallots, then add to a small frying pan with a splash of olive oil and cook over a medium-low heat for around 5 minutes, or until golden and sticky. Finely grate in the zest from the clementines, then squeeze in the juice and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until reduced to a nice, syrupy consistency. Pour in the vinegar and 4 tablespoons of olive oil, season to taste, then reduce the heat to low and leave the to simmer until needed.

Heat a lug of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Shred and add the turkey (I use both the brown and white meat) and fry for around 5 minutes, or until crispy. Roughly bash the nuts and seeds in a pestle and mortar, then add to the pan with the cranberries and honey. Season with salt and pepper and cook for a further couple of minutes, or until sticky and caramelised.

Meanwhile, trim the nice tops off the chicory, leaving them whole, then trim and finely slice the base. Place the chicory leaves onto a serving platter with the watercress and rocket. Drizzle over the warm clementine dressing, pile the sticky, caramelised turkey on top and spoon over the yoghurt. Halve a pomegranate, then hold one half cut-side down in your hand and bash the back with a spoon so the seeds fall over the salad. Serve and enjoy!

Winter daiquiri recipes

Ingredients:
* 50 ml Bacardi 8 Year Old Rum
* 25 ml clementine juice
* 1 tsp maple syrup
* To garnish:
* cinnamon stick
*

Ingredients:
Recipe by Andy Harris

Shake all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice cubes, then strain into a cocktail glass. Crumble over the cinnamon stick to garnish.

Homemade granola with berry compote recipes

Ingredients:
* 200 g mixed nuts
* 400 g rolled or jumbo oats
* 100 g pumpkin or sunflower seeds
* 400 g runny honey
* 200 g strawberries , hulled and halved
* 200 g raspberries
* 200 g mixed dried fruit (raisins, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, chopped apricots)
* 500 ml plain yoghurt
*

Ingredients:
This pud is quick, easy – and tastes delicious!

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Place the nuts into a plastic bag, squeeze the air out and seal the bag. Gently bash with a rolling pin until they are lightly crushed, then tip them into a mixing bowl and add the oats and seeds. Warm up the honey to make it extra runny and stir it into the oaty mixture with a wooden spoon until everything’s lightly coated.

Tip the mixture onto a baking tray and spread out roughly with the wooden spoon. Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is crunchy and a dark golden brown. Meanwhile, place the strawberries and raspberries in a pan on a medium heat for 10 minutes until nicely stewed.

Remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool, then break up the toasted seeds, oats and nuts into clumps and mix in the dried fruit. There you have it: granola! Serve the granola in small bowls or glasses. Top with the plain yoghurt and the hot fruit compote. Any leftover granola will keep in an airtight container for about a month.

Tip: Use any leftover granola as a nutritious breakfast. Serve with natural yoghurt or a splash of milk.
 

Winter sidecar recipes

Ingredients:
* 15 ml (plus a little extra) clementine juice
* ground cinnamon , to rim the glass
* 50 ml cognac
* 30 ml Martini Bianco
*

Ingredients:
Recipe by Giuseppe Gallo

Moisten the rim of a cocktail glass with the extra juice. Sprinkle cinnamon on a plate, invert the glass, dip the rim in the spice, then set aside. Shake all the remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into the glass.

Tacu tacu recipes

Ingredients:
* 300 g long-grain white rice
* 1 plantain, peeled
* olive oil
* 2 cloves of garlic , chopped
* 1 onion , finely chopped
* 1 red chilli , finely sliced
* hot chilli sauce
* 1 x 400 g tin of haricot beans , drained
* 4 large free-range eggs
*

Ingredients:
This dish (which can easily be meal in itself) is often served with steak or seafood. It’s awesome straight up, too, with crisp plantain and extra hot chilli sauce for a kickin’ hangover breakfast.

Cook the rice according to packet instructions; drain and cool.

Slice the plantain about 1.5cm thick. Add a couple of good glugs of oil to a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and fry the plantain for a few minutes on each side, until crisp and golden. Set aside and keep warm.

Return the pan to the heat, keeping any leftover oil; fry the garlic, onion and chilli over a medium-low heat for 5–10 minutes, or until soft and lightly golden. Stir in 1 tablespoon of hot chilli sauce; add the beans and cooled rice.

Turn the heat up to high and fry the mixture until the rice is piping hot and beginning to crisp, stirring regularly. Stop stirring for the last couple of minutes to let it get golden and crisp on the bottom – this is your tacu tacu! Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the same pan and place over a medium heat. Fry the eggs, adding the plantain for the last minute to warm through.

Divide the tacu tacu among your plates, making sure everyone gets some of that lovely crispy bottom, and top each portion with a fried egg, some crispy plantain and an extra dash of chilli sauce, if you like.

Quick crispy chicken with tomatoes & asparagus recipes

Ingredients:
* 2 x 120 g free-range, skinless chicken breasts
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 1 bunch of asparagus
* olive oil
* 4 rashers of higher-welfare pancetta
* 250 g cherry tomatoes , halved
* 5 black olives , destoned
* a couple of sprigs of fresh basil , leaves picked
* a small knob of butter
* a splash of white wine
*

Ingredients:
This is a really quick and simple meal that’s perfect for a midweek supper. I’ve used olives to add a bit of saltiness and extra flavour, but feel free to throw in whatever you’ve got in the cupboard that’ll do the same job – anchovies or sun-dried tomatoes would work well.

Place a large pan on a high heat. Lay your chicken breasts on a board and cut three incisions into each one like fingers, going all the way through the breast but leaving about 1cm joined at the top. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Snap the woody ends off of the asparagus spears. Add a splash of olive oil to the pan, followed by the chicken, pancetta and asparagus. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the chicken and asparagus are cooked through, turning halfway. Lift the pancetta on top of the chicken once golden and crispy.

Move the chicken, bacon or pancetta and asparagus to one side of the pan then throw in the tomatoes, olives, basil leaves and butter. Reduce to a low heat and add a splash of wine to help make a sauce. Leave to bubble away and thicken for a couple of minutes.

Use tongs to divide the chicken, bacon or pancetta, asparagus and most of the tomatoes between your plates. Squash the remaining tomatoes, mixing them with the lovely juices in the pan, then drizzle over the chicken before serving.

Zingy fat-free dressing recipes

Ingredients:
* 500 g fat-free natural yoghurt
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
* 2 teaspoons English mustard
* a small bunch of green and purple basil or coriander
* 1 clove of garlic , peeled
* ½ a fresh red chilli
* 2 tablespoons white wine or cider vinegar
* juice of ½ lemon
*

Ingredients:
Place all the ingredients into a food processor, including the basil or coriander stalks, and blitz for around 30 seconds, or until smooth. Taste and add a bit more vinegar, lemon juice or seasoning if needed. Use a few tablespoons to dress a beautiful garden salad and keep the rest in a clean jar in the fridge – it’ll keep happily for a couple of days.

Crunchy Keralan salad recipes

Ingredients:
* 1 coconut
* 2 red peppers
* 4 punnets cress
* 1 bunch spring onions
* 2 ripe mangoes , peeled
* For the dressing
* 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger , peeled
* 3-4 limes , zest and juice of
* 7-8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* sea salt
* freshly ground black pepper
*

Ingredients:
This is a fantastic and really unusual salad that was inspired by a friend of mine called Das who runs the most terrific Indian restaurants in London, called Rasa. Although I have called it ‘Keralan’, it isn't really a true salad from there as you'd never find cress in Kerala!

In Rasa, Das uses a lot of fresh coconut – which really is one of the most incredible flavours for making dishes like curries, or mixed into rice, breads, desserts and salads. You can now buy coconuts from most supermarkets, but if you can't find one, feel free to make this salad without it – it will still be pretty good but it won't have that special edge to it. Only make this when the mangoes are silky smooth and not at all stringy. You should be able to cut through them like butter.


First of all you need to crack open the shell of the coconut. I normally do this by placing it on a tea towel on a hard surface and then giving it a wallop with a rolling-pin or a hammer. Once you've cracked it open you can pull it apart (being careful not to spill the milk everywhere!), discarding the hard outer shell. The dark skin on the outside of the coconut's flesh doesn't bother me, especially if I'm grating it. But if you want to remove it, a speed peeler works quite well.

Once you've got into your coconut, cut the peppers into quarters, remove the stalks and seeds, then finely slice. Trim your cress directly from its punnet (the easiest way to do this is to take the cress out of the punnet, wash the leafy end and stalks under a tap, then slice the stalk end off and discard it). Trim your spring onions and finely slice them. Cut the mango flesh off the stones and finely slice it (there is a knack to doing this properly – if you look at the shape of the mango, the flat stone always lies the same way, parallel with the flattest sides, so you should be able to slice the flesh off with not too much wastage). Get your pieces of coconut and grate them finely. Put all these ingredients into a large salad bowl.

Lime and ginger work together really well in the dressing. Finely grate the ginger and lime zest into a small bowl, then add the lime juice and olive oil. Season to taste, and add more oil as necessary to balance the flavours of your dressing. Limes can be different strengths depending on their juiciness and size.

Dress the salad just before serving, saving any extra dressing for another day, and eat straight away. Great just as it is, or with some grilled prawns or satay chicken. Also lovely as a snack inside a wrap or flatbread. So even though the coconut may be a pain to prepare it's well worth it...


• from Jamie's Dinners

Radish and coriander pickle recipes

Ingredients:
* 2 handfuls mixed radishes
* 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
* 1 small dried chilli
* ½ thumb-sized piece ginger , grated
* 1-2 limes , juice of
* 6 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 handful coriander leaves
*

Ingredients:
This crunchy radish pickle makes a lovely, fresh friend for your favourite curry

Finely slice the large radishes – a speed peeler is ideal for this. For the smaller radishes, you can just top and tail them and then slice into quarters.

To make your dressing, lightly toast your cumin and then bash up in a pestle and mortar with the small dried chilli and your grated ginger. Add in the lime juice and oil, season with salt and pepper, and then give it all a good stir. Put your radishes into a bowl with the coriander leaves, and lightly toss together with the dressing (you can make this up to 2 hours in advance).

Apple crumble recipes

Ingredients:
* For the crumble
* 35 g rolled oats
* 35 g wholemeal flour
* 20 g caster sugar
* 35 g butter
* For the filling
* 400 g cooking apples , peeled, cored and quartered
* 50 g sugar , to sweeten
* 1 tablespoon water
*

Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Peel and core the apples, quarter and cut in to chunks.

Put the apples into a pan with the sugar and water. Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes and place in a small ovenproof dish.

Place the flour and oats in a bowl and mix well. Cut the butter into small cubes and add this to the oats and flour. Mix with your fingertips until it resembles an even crumb texture. Add the sugar and mix through.

Cover the fruit with the crumble mixture. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the crumble is golden and the apple hot.

Keralan veggie curry with poppadoms, rice & minty yoghurt recipes

Ingredients:
* For the curry
* ½ cauliflower
* 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
* 1 heaped teaspoon black mustard seeds
* 1 heaped teaspoon fenugreek seeds
* 1 heaped teaspoon turmeric
* 1 small handful dried curry leaves
* 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 6 spring onions
* 1 fresh red chilli
* 1 large bunch fresh coriander
* 2 ripe tomatoes
* 1 x 400 g tin of light coconut milk
* 1 x 400 g tin of chickpeas
* 1 x 227 g tin of pineapple chunks in juice
* 1 lemon
* For the rice
* 1 mug (300g) 10-minute wholegrain or basmati rice
* 10 cloves
* ½ lemon
* To serve
* 4 uncooked poppadoms
* ½ a bunch fresh mint
* 3 tablespoons fat-free natural yoghurt
* ½ lemon
*

Ingredients:
Ingredients out • Kettle boiled • Griddle pan, high heat • Medium lidded pan, medium heat • Large casserole pan, low heat • Food processor (bowl blade)

START COOKING

Remove the outer leaves from the cauliflower, then slice it 1cm thick and put it on the griddle pan, turning when lightly charred • Put 1 mug of rice and 2 mugs of boiling water into the medium pan with the cloves, lemon half and a pinch of salt, and put the lid on • Pour the oil into the casserole pan, then quickly stir in the mustard and fenugreek seeds, turmeric and curry leaves

Pulse the peeled ginger and garlic, trimmed spring onions, chilli and coriander stalks in the processor until fine, then stir into the casserole pan • Roughly chop and add the tomatoes • Pour in the coconut milk, add the drained chickpeas, then tip in the pineapple chunks and their juices • Add the griddled cauliflower, cover, turn the heat up to high and bring to the boil

Put the uncooked poppadoms into the microwave (800W) for a minute or two to puff up • Tear off the top leafy half of the mint and bash to a paste in a pestle and mortar • Stir in the yoghurt, add a good squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper • Squeeze the juice of the remaining lemon into the curry and season to taste • Tear over the coriander leaves and serve with the rice and poppadoms

To make this recipe vegan, simply leave out the yoghurt dip for the poppadoms. You could replace it with a quality mango chutney if you want.

Mexican filled omelette recipes

Ingredients:
* 1 ripe avocado
* 3 limes
* 15 g fresh coriander
* 3 tablespoons fat-free natural yoghurt
* olive oil
* 1 small onion
* 1 carrot
* ½ white or green cabbage
* 1 fresh red chilli
* 8 large free-range eggs
* 60 g Cheddar cheese
*

Ingredients:
I can’t tell you how much I love these silky little omelettes filled with Mexican-inspired deliciousness. Making and eating them is brilliant fun, and they’re unusually fulfilling for a humble omelette. I’ve been making smooth avocado dressings for years, but never thought to use one to dress a slaw before – it’s insanely good. Make these one by one, as your hungry guests sit by, watching and waiting for that little mouthful of heaven – they’ll love you for it.

Squeeze the avocado flesh into a blender, discarding the stone and skin. Squeeze in all the juice from 2 limes, rip in the coriander stalks, add the yoghurt and a splash of oil and whiz until smooth, then season to perfection.

Peel the onion and carrot. Ideally in a food processor, or using a box grater and good knife skills, grate the onion and carrot, then finely slice the cabbage. Very finely slice the chilli by hand, then tip everything into a large bowl. Add most of the coriander leaves, then pour over the avocado dressing and toss together well. Taste and season to perfection again, if needed. Whisk all the eggs together in a bowl, with a splash of water to loosen and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Put a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-low heat. Once fairly hot, put in a tiny drizzle of oil followed by a quarter of the egg mixture. Swirl it all around the pan, grate over a quarter of the cheese and let it melt, then cook the omelette gently without colouring it, so it’s soft, silky and smooth, for just under 2 minutes, only cooking on one side. Slide it on to a plate, spoon over a quarter of the avocado slaw, then gently fold up the sides and roll over. Serve with a wedge of lime and a few extra coriander leaves. Repeat with the remaining ingredients, serving them up as you go.

Jerk fish recipes

Ingredients:
* 4 whole sustainably sourced sea bream , or red mullet, gutted and scaled
* 2 limes , cut into wedges, to serve
* For the jerk marinade
* 1 tbsp allspice berries
* 1 tbsp black peppercorns
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 large pinch of ground cloves
* ½ tbsp muscovado sugar
* 2 tbsp thyme , picked and chopped
* a few sprigs of fresh coriander , chopped
* 2 Scotch bonnet chillies , finely chopped
* 2 cloves of garlic , finely chopped
* 3cm piece of fresh ginger , peeled and finely chopped
* 2 spring onions , finely sliced
* 1 lime , zest of
* olive oil
* 2 tbsp golden rum , optional
* For the corn salsa
* 3 corn on the cob , fresh
* 1 mango , ripe, peeled and chopped
* 4 spring onions , finely sliced
* ½ bunch fresh coriander , chopped
* 2 tomatoes , chopped
* 2 limes , zest and juice of
*

Ingredients:
This jerk sauce is amazing with all kinds of meat, but teamed with some lovely fish and a zingy salsa it’s a real showstopper

Lay the fishes in a shallow oven dish, make three slashes in the flesh of each one with a sharp knife and set aside. For the marinade, pound the allspice berries, peppercorns and bay leaves in a pestle and mortar until fine. Mix in the cloves, sugar and honey, add the herbs, chillies, garlic and ginger and bash it all together. Tip into a jug, add the chopped green tops of the spring onions, the lime zest, a drizzle of oil, a pinch of salt and the rum, if using. Mix well.

Pour the marinade over the fish and massage it in. (It’s a good idea to wear rubber gloves for this!) Leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare the salsa. Heat a griddle pan until searing hot, and cook the corn cobs for 5–10 minutes, turning every minute or two until the corn is evenly charred. Set them aside until they’re cool enough to handle, then carefully remove the kernels from the husk with a sharp knife. Add the kernels to a serving bowl with the mango, spring onions, coriander and tomatoes. Season to taste, add the lime juice and zest, a little olive oil, and toss to combine.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas 7. Place the fish in the pre-heated oven and bake for 15–20 minutes, until slightly charred and cooked. Serve each fish whole with the salsa on the side, and the lime wedges for squeezing over.