Polpette is the Italian name for meatballs but I tend to use when the meatballs are smaller than usual, about the size of a cherry tomato. These polpette are flavoured with lemon zest and parsley and simmered in chicken. Some of the cooking liquid is simmered with roast tomatoes to make sauce for the polpette….

I have a small but devoted number of followers who were distraught when the Times dispensed with my Dinner Tonight column and tracked my website down. I am not very good at promoting myself but I always respond when I get e mails and the other day one of those followers, let’s call him Jim,…

The shepherd who makes this pie has leftover roast duck to finish up and he loves duck with peas. With a hint of lemon added to the mash, this is a rich and very special shepherd’s pie. There’s another duck shepherd’s pie amongst my recipes, here’s the link Roast Duck and Orange Shepherd’s Pie. Serves…

This is a very pretty and tasty dish of roasted hake wrapped in prosciutto or Serrano ham served over minted pea puree with tomato vinaigrette and garnish. An optional flavour boost, is to add chopped sage over the fish and under the ham. Salting the hake first and leaving it for a few minutes, firms…

It’s extraordinary the effect a spoonful of Seville marmalade has on a stew of lentils and sausages. It fills the kitchen with its powerful orangey aroma and brings sweet sour marmalade flavours to the onion and tomato stew that laps the sausages before the lentils are added. Lurking at the back of my food cupboard…

Look away now if you like a super-smooth fool. This one isn’t made with the usual pureed fruit, instead soft and sloppy, orange-flavoured roast rhubarb unfurls as it’s stirred through thick, creamy sheep milk yoghurt. It’s a pud to make when you have the oven on anyway, and want something healthy and easy, fruity and…

Hanger steak is the American name for onglet in France, the bistro steak that is always cooked rare and served with frites. We call it skirt, although butchers refer to it as the ‘hanging tender’ because it hangs below the ribs, an extension of the tenderloin, in the diaphragm of the animal. It used to…

This is heavy on red vegetables; red onion, Romano red pepper, tomatoes, carrot and a couple of red bird’s eye chillies cooked into a juicy slop moistened by chicken stock. The stew is finished with spinach and leftover roast chicken to make a deliciously vibrant mess. I served it with jacket potatoes but there is…