This is our traditional meal to serve at the pre-Christmas get-together with my four stepsons and their families. It takes a long time to cook and could be started overnight. It has all the advantages of not needing much attention, being easy to serve and pleasing everyone. There should be enough for 8-10 servings. Oven…

This recipe, based on Yotam Ottolenghi’s from Saturday’s Guardian, gives a new twist to roast potatoes. As he writes, ‘they are especially good with spiced roast meat’ and a firm favourite in this household. 8 cloves garlic, peeled 120g goose or duck fat (or rapeseed oil) 4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary 4 sprigs fresh thyme 2kg…

I spent Thanksgiving with Imogen and Pierre at their house on the North Fork of Long Island. We had two pecan pies, one made in Brooklyn and the other in Orient. Both were excellent. This is my take, based on recipes I could find and what was to hand. It was a bonus to have…

‘Nibbles’ is a horrible word and ‘canapés’ precocious but these pastry biscuits are so easy to make and perfect with a glass of wine. I have to thank my friend Penny for the inspiration. A sheet of ready made all butter puff pastry either 75g of finely grated hard cheese. A mixture of Cheddar and…

Cauliflower purée makes a great dish served with pan fried cod loin flavoured with pieces of chorizo. 1 cauliflower 50g butter 1 tbsp double cream Salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 pieces cod loin 150g chorizo cut into 2 cm slices and halved or quartered Olive oil Juice of ½ lemon A little parsley,…

I’m going out to New York for Thanksgiving and taking these biscuits with me. Coals to Newcastle? I know that Yotam Ottolenghi’s Sweet book, from where this recipe originates, is a best seller in the US and cranberries are really their thing but these biscuits are delicious and very festive. They would make a good…

In the late summer of 2018, the Waitrose recipe for cod and prawns with fennel and white wine was everywhere it seemed; full page adverts in The Times and Guardian, special displays in the larger Waitrose stores. And so it had to be tried! In fairness, it did make a deliciously tasty and quick dish…

Elizabeth David is not the food writer you would immediately turn to for the perfect recipe for roasted, salted almonds but hers is a classic, made for her by Suliman, a Sudanese cook in Egypt and which appears in Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen. ‘Nothing yet invented so sets the gastric juices…

We have had mixed fortunes with our apples this year. At least the Bramley is reliable and we are collecting buckets of apples every day. Apple crumble, apple pie, baked apples, apple snow, apple cake and many more apples have been prepared and frozen. A few perfect apples were also stored in the vaults but…

This is such a brilliant way to serve courgettes; it makes a great first course by itself or as part of a meze and it is quick and easy to prepare. Cut medium sized courgettes into 5-6cm lengths and then cut each length into four batons. Griddle these in a teaspoon of olive oil, turning…