There’s been a small red cabbage mouldering in the fridge veg drawer for weeks and last night as I popped a Vacherin Mont d’Or in the oven (to join crusty oven chips to swipe through the cheese), it occurred to me that I could turn it into coleslaw with an extra high proportion of gherkin…

When I think back to the palaver my mother went through with the annual ritual of making the Christmas puddings, not to mention mincemeat for mince pies and Christmas cake, it is shockingly easy to make them today. All you do is stir all the ingredients together and steam the mixture in pudding basins. The…

I can’t stress enough how simple and simply delicious this gratin is. The starting point for the recipe was the need to make a hot meal from leftover roast chicken. Again. In my fridge I happened to have eight roast tomato halves and a small bag of young spinach. The former were skinned and cut…

When I was growing up in the late fifties and sixties, family weekday suppers followed a pattern. Monday night was always something made out of the remains of the Sunday roast and we always had fish (usually fried, with home made chips) on Friday. There was always pudding, usually a fruit pie, rice pudding or…

I love big chunky soups like this, thick with whatever vegetables are plentiful or need eating up. This one begins, as many soups do, with onion, adding carrot, leeks and a few long, skinny but small ratte potatoes sprouting as if they’re growing white beards. I also happened to have a packet of smoked bacon…

I was reminded of this lovely tart by twitter with a very tempting photo. It was originally published four years ago in my Dinner Tonight column in the Times. There have been several requests for the recipe, so here it is again and thanks to @wendyburn for the heads up. The tart is made with…

It’s not always easy to find tarragon but one of my local shops in Turnham Green Terrace (www.lemonandlimes.co.uk) is very good on herbs and that’s where I found this generous bunch. I love it’s gentle but fresh and vital aniseedy flavour. A tablespoon of chopped leaves went into this creamy chicken dish, the colour darkened…

This is very lazy fish pie. No sauce, just grated Emmental, a fillet of fish per person, spinach, mashed potato and more cheese. The mash is enriched with beaten egg so it holds its shape and crisps as it bakes. For more or less servings adjust the ingredients in proportion. If you want to snazz…

Carrot’s sweet intensity can stand up to powerful herbs and spices. In this beguiling Thai-inspired soup, it also gets chilli and ginger, kaffir lime leaves (available, incidentally, dried in jars) and orange zest, with a final squeeze of lime. Delicious with coriander garlic bread. Serves 4Prep: 20 minCook: 30 min 750g carrots1 large onion, 150g3…

I have two little cast iron frying pans (approx 20cm) and they tend to be used more in the oven than as a frying pan, although both are handy for dry-frying – often called roasting – nuts and seeds and spices for grinding. I always use one when I make Tarte Tatin for four, although…