Today is the start of National Pic-Nic Week and for once the weather looks perfect for it. I made sausage rolls for my first family (socially distancing) pic-nic with my son Zach’s family yesterday. It was agony taking them out of the oven and allowing them to cool before slicing, fearing that I wouldn’t be…

Minced chicken or pork is what you need for these light and bright pattie-cum-burgers. They’re flavoured with finely chopped kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass with ginger, chilli and fresh coriander. Fried and chunkily sliced, the crumbly pieces are served piled over steamed rice with coriander and a sharp and spicy nuoc nam-style dressing. The latter…

I had a taste of my own medicine this morning; a message from a friend saying she’d been making chunky vegetable soups with richly flavoured chicken stock immediately got me cooking. I was just on the point of freezing two cartons of jellied chicken stock made with bones and debris from Sunday’s roast chicken, so…

Datterini are the Rolls Royce of small, plum tomatoes. Like all plum tomatoes, their flesh is dense with fewer pips and their skin thicker than other varieties, so they cook well. I get them from Ocado via Natoora who import them from Sicily and am happy to pay over the odds for their sweet, intense…

I’m not sure why but I’ve got out of the habit of keeping a bag of squid or calamari in the freezer but dishes like this are a good reason to do so. Most supermarkets sell it in 500g bags, the little sacs and their tentacles individually frozen so they can be used as and…

Intensely flavoured gooey roast tomatoes, crisp flaky pastry, creamy soft goat’s cheese and pungent pounded basil are a combination made in heaven. Easy to make, these simple tarts are a gorgeous mix of textures and flavours. Serves 4 Prep: 20 min Cook: 30 min 320g puff pastry sheet flour for dusting 5 tbsp olive oil…

Ah yes, Wimbledon should be starting soon and all the talk is of strawberry gluts. I used to think I wasn’t very keen on cooked strawberries but this custard tart has changed my mind. There’s not much work involved and you’ll thank me if you take the trouble to give it a try. Think of…

     At last tiny, intensely flavoured home-grown strawberries are starting to flood the market. Their flavour is intense, the texture firm but not hard; everything we want in a strawberry. Here’s a stunning way to serve them, piled over whipped cream on a sheet of puff pastry. This lazy pie can be any size or…

This is a Desert Island dish for my family. It dates back to Elizabeth David’s Italian Food, first published in 1954 and still in print, but the dish was popularised by Delia in her TV series and book Summer Collection. It became known as Delia’s peppers but it was Franco Taruschio who put the dish…

     This is a combination I often play around with, great for sauces and soups. It’s very simple; just roast tomato halves until soft and juicy then liquidize with a generous pinch saffron threads, microplaned zest of a juicing orange, chicken or vegetable stock and adjust the seasoning with honey, salt and juice from the…