Jane Grigson writes in Good Things, ‘In the 12 days of Christmas particularly, it’s worth exploiting celery, which is then in prime condition’. How true. I love celery in stuffings, soups, salads and simply, as she suggests, with unsalted butter and sea salt. Jane Grigson offers nine different salads, ranging from Waldorf to Cromwell. Several…

A friend recommended this Simon Hopkinson recipe as I was searching for an idea for a pudding to celebrate Twelfth Night. Served with vanilla ice cream, it was a huge success. A simple solution for the last meal of the Christmas season and how good that it makes no attempt to peel or core the…

I thought flapjacks would follow a standard recipe, possibly allowing for a little more richness than when I was a child, but the opposite is true. Some recipes make very much more syrupy versions and even the cooking temperatures can vary from130℃ to 180℃ or more. I started by making a batch using a recipe…

This was an inspirational last minute stuffing for the Thanksgiving turkey. How did we forget about stuffing and what was in the fridge? All worked out brilliantly in the end. Oven at 180°C 2 heads of celery, washed and finely sliced1 large onion (or 3-4 shallots), skinned and finely chopped1-2 leeks, outer layers removed, washed…

My cooking apples have come to an end but there are still plenty of sweet, late desert apples to be picked. The best are the Tydeman’s Late Orange. I have discovered a whole rich seam of recipes using desert apples which sound delicious. They start with pancakes and end with dinner party cakes. It all…

My old school friend, Margaret Kelland needed a recipe for a Swedish cake. Looking through Signe Johansen’s Scandilicious Baking, I was reminded that ‘baking’ in Scandinavia mostly means biscuits, breads or sweet yeast cooking but not cakes. In the introduction to this cake, Signe Johansen calls it ‘one of Scandinavia’s most beloved cakes’ so it…

Drying is the oldest form of preservation and, at its simplest, this recipe needs no more than perfectly ripe unbruised apples. Wash the apples ( I use late eating apples such as Tydeman’s Late Orange), cut off the bottom and core. You may also choose to peel the fruit. Using a wide (coin thick) setting…

This sauce is brilliant, packed with flavour and rustic simplicity. As with so many Italian recipes, the ingredients are important and this recipe needs sun ripened tomatoes that are sweet and juicy. From supermarkets, the small plum tomatoes work well as a substitute but are a fiddle to prepare and you may need to use…

Apple butter is a North American treat, invented by the Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania. Basically it is a spiced apple purée made into a sweet spread with cider. Stored in jars, it will keep for a few weeks in the fridge but can also be frozen for use during the winter. Use on toast or…

2024 and it has been a great year for apples. My favourite cooking apple is the Wellington which was the most popular before the arrival of the Bramley and still thought to be the best for making mincemeat. Oven at 180°C 4 cooking apples, preferably Wellingtons or Bramleys, cored and scored with a sharp knife…