This is possibly my favourite way of using wild garlic. The long, floppy leaves, pale stalks and a few flowers went into this pesto along with equal weights of toasted pine kernels and finely grated Parmesan. I like it thick and spreadable but add more olive oil for a slacker version. I also added a…

Crusty, wonky chunks of sausage meat in a marmalade-flavoured tomato sauce might sound a tad strange but do try it. A mere spoonful of Seville orange marmalade brings a haunting depth of flavour to a simple tomato sauce, giving a rich back drop to faux meatballs and pasta. As the pasta is stirred in at…

This was a huge success when I made it, creamy, plump scallops with their sweet tenderness against very crisp scraps of salty back bacon eaten with a bright green pea puree with a hint of mint. Oven frites – M&S in a green box, ready in 11 minutes is still the favourite – are the…

When I saw tinned pears at knock down prices the other day, I remembered a recipe using them from Alastair Little’s seminal Keep It Simple. Why not, he says, when needing poached pears, use tinned ones. And I did, copying his idea of teaming them with frangipane paste to make stunning little puff pastry tarts….

When I’d been checking out ways to cook meatballs recently, I dipped into Trina Hahnemann’s glossily glamorous but very useable Scandinavian Cookbook. It inspired Pork Meatballs in Lemon Gravy with Carrots and Leeks which I highly recommend but made me want to have a go at making a version of her Swedish Curried Meatballs. They…