I love meatballs and love introducing extra textures and flavours to whichever meat I’ve chosen. Here it’s minced lamb with cabbagey greens cooked until very tender with chilli and garlic. It’s wise to chill the meatballs so they get a chance to firm up. They are, though, cooked in the oven, which is much simpler…

Khoresh is an Iranian stew that I first came across in a tiny, very old Persian cook book that a friend picked up in Iran many years ago. Lamb, usually, is thickened with sloppy, soft onion and hauntingly flavoured with saffron. It is often made with fruit but this version has the sweetness of roasted…

A big, chunky bowlful. A soothing meal-in-a-bowl. Serves 2Prep: 20 minCook: 35 min 1 tbsp olive oil100g dry cured smoked bacon lardons1 large onion2 garlic cloves300g trimmed leeks400g potatoes2 chicken thigh fillets1 chicken stock cube1 litre boiling water1 tbsp flour½ tsp salt Heat the oil in a spacious pan over a medium-low heat and add…

Mayo with chopped shallots, cornichons, capers, parsley and lemon, is what you need here. It’s very good with fried fish, particularly breadcrumbed fillets; take a look at Megrim Fish Fingers with Garlic Butter. This is easy to scale up for more or less. Serves 2Prep: 10 min 4 tbsp mayonnaise1 shallot6 cornichon1 tbsp capersfew sprigs…

A colourful bowlful of goodness, meaty little two-bite sausages, chunks of tender chicken and carrots in a red wine sauce. Serve with peas and/or boiled potatoes to mash into the copious tomato-seasoned sauce. Serves 2-3Prep: 20 minCook: 35 min 3 tbsp olive oil12 Cumberland cocktail sausages400g diced chicken thigh filletflour1 large onion300g small carrots150ml red…

This is yet another riff on the River Café’s much-copied crab linguine with chilli. This version, inspired by one of my sons who worked at the River Cafe, adds diced tomato to the mix with plenty of flat leaf parsley to counter the chilli and creamy olive oil and lemon-laced white crab meat. It’s quick,…

Megrim, as few people can have failed to register, has been re-named Cornish sole. I learnt to love it many years ago in Cornwall, where it thrives (also in Scotland I believe) and is the cheaper alternative to lemon sole and super-luxe Dover. It’s flesh is extremely tasty, neither firm like Dover or soft like…

Roasting a few Romano (pointy) red peppers and tomato halves is always useful fridge food and if you are doing it, why not add a couple of un-skinned, quartered red onions? They are useful too, even if just as a quick start to one of the many recipes that begin with onion. The combo could…

The sweetness and intensity of carrots comes out in earnest when they’re roasted and lightly caramelized. Something similar happens with onions and here the two unite with a hint of Moroccan spice mix ras al hanout and lemon juice, resulting in a hauntingly flavoured, beguiling soup. I’m packing some in my thermos flask to take…