All the Cox’s apples have fallen off the tree. Many can be saved and are perfect for making dried apple slices. Made from these late apples, the slices have a caramel flavour. They are so moreish that I am having to establish quite a production line. Place cored rings of apples about 1 cm thick…

This recipe was sent in by Heather Grant who prefers her method of making quince cheese to mine.A chance gift of a bag of quinces gave me the opportunity to try it. The recipe worked well and I will use it again. I made small containers of cheese so that one can be kept in…

Mujaddara (or mejadra) is a staple dish of the Middle East. The word comes from the Arabic for ‘pockmarked’. It is our favourite meal of the moment; comforting and spicy. I like to serve it with chicken or lamb. It is a good dish for an informal dinner party. The onions and lentils can be…

A cooking course last Saturday at the Bertinet Kitchen with Monisha Bharadwaj has given me lots of new ideas and tips. The course was entitled Indian Street Food and complemented a course I had done with Monisha several years ago. Several of the key ingredients for the dishes she prepared are not available in normal…

This is one of my two default cakes (the other is the Cheltenham Apple Cake). If, like Nigel Slater, I couldn’t sleep without knowing there was a cake in the house, this is the one I would go downstairs to make. 125g butter, softened125g caster sugar (I use a mixture of plain and golden sugar)140g…

There is a photograph on the cover of Simon Hopkinson’s book, Week in Week out, that never fails to make me hungry. It shows a veal chop sizzling in butter with sage leaves crisp and curled on top. More than just making me hungry, it transports me to Milan and I long for a Campari…

I could have been making pilau (or pulao, palao) in a kitchen or even a tent or yurt anywhere from here in Bath to Mongolia. In Saira Shah’s haunting book,The Storyteller’s Daughter. a pilau is always prepared for any significant celebration. The ingredients for the Kabul pilau, Qabali Palau, include chicken (or lamb), onions, raisins,…

As Anna Del Conte notes in Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes, the herb of northern Italy is sage, ’the flavour of which combines so ideally with butter, the cooking fat of the northern regions, and veal, Lombardy’s most popular meat’. Cannellini Beans with Garlic, Sage and Oil This is delicious served as an accompaniment to…

An Ottolenghi recipe and a good way to add crunch to a summer meal. I have been using a lot of honey recently in salads and chicken recipes..Use more or less herbs depending on how this salad is to be served. 500g carrots. Long thin ones preferably 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp cider vinegar…

My old friend Carin from Stockholm was staying and kindly brought with her tins of Abba anchovies – perfect for making Jansson’s Temptation. Yesterday was a busy last day, starting with a session in the Thermae Baths and then lunch in town. Later we had a drink in the pub while Jansson’s Temptation was cooking.