My childhood trifles always included jelly, tinned fruit and a thick, hard layer of Bird’s custard under the whipped cream. I remember the smell rather than the taste of sherry and it’s that sweet boozy smell of custard, fruit and cake that so evocative however the trifle is made. This one is made with pale…

These fish cakes could be made with any firm fish but cooked sea trout, salmon or trout, would be the best. The quantity of fish to potato is approximately one to two with egg yolk and a dusting of flour to bind, with spring onions softened in butter and masses of chopped herbs – mint…

Beetroot and spinach is a match made in heaven, the earthy flavour of freshly boiled beetroot with sweet-sour tomato works in many ways. Here, the dish begins with onion, softened and flavoured with crushed garlic, chilli and aniseedy caraway. Diced beetroot and peeled, seeded tomato are simmered with the onion then stirred with quickly blanched…

Leftover roast chicken was the inspiration for this gratin. I added it to faux sausage meatballs with a hint of shallot, lemon zest and nutmeg, all held in a Dijon mustard flavoured sauce made with chicken stock and milk. The gratinee topping ended up suitably crusty and golden, the perfect foil for the essentially soft…

I hate clearing out my deep freeze and usually end up throwing out forgotten food, the single lamb chop and burst packet of peas. The happy discovery of two half eaten bags of frozen broad beans and four forlorn rashers of streaky bacon led to this fantastic soup. By starting the recipe with smoked streaky…

This might sound like a disparate combination of ingredients but the end result is fantastic. Cooking begins with browning onions, adding diced pork belly, soy, lemonade and water, then its left to simmer filling the house with amazing smells. Do try it. One tip, if you are concerned about the vast amount of fat in…