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…

The idea for this dish came from the recipe for Pollo Spago in The River Cafe Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers – a book I hadn’t looked through for ages. Their dish was inspired by one served in Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant in Los Angeles. My version is a little different to suit…

I enjoy making quiches but, shame on me, it has been pointed out that there isn’t a single recipe for a quiche in The Allotment Kitchen. All sorts of things can go into a quiche and, to be fair, I do give the recipe for the best ever quiche pastry. A Very Good Pastry for…

We have never had such a good crop of tomatoes. Many thanks to Di Cray and Penny Dalrymple-Smith for giving us plants. We have not had the blight that has plagued us for the last few years. The greatest pleasure, beyond eating tomatoes warm from the sun, has been to watch the hints of redness…

Finally our tomatoes are turning red. Hurrah! Time to use them and this is a great relish to serve with chicken pieces flavoured with Aleppo chillies and garlic. 225g tomatoes 1 medium sized onion Handful chopped coriander Large pinch salt 2 tbsp lemon juice ½ tsp toasted and coarsely grounded cumin seeds Cut the tomatoes…

Autumn is a good time to make minestrone soup as it uses so many vegetables that are in season. This year we are blessed with our best ever tomato crop, as well as onions, beans and carrots. My new herb bed is also doing well. There are many versions of minestrone soup. All contain tomatoes,…

Another bumper crop of crab apples and, as this was such a popular jelly when I made it last year, there is every reason to make it again. Crab apple jelly is not labour intensive to make, the jelly does not need long to set and even the scum is easy to control. Win, win!…