This isn’t the most beautiful soup but the flavour is lovely and it’s quick and esy to make with easily accessible ingredients. My pic doesn’t do it justice (no change there then) but it comes highly recommended, delicious with a separately poached egg added just before serving or with crusty bread and butter for dunking….

Roast chicken for two or three always gives sufficient leftovers for another meal and I find it endlessly inspiring. I save leftover gravy too, to add to any sauce I might make. Chicken, young spinach, lemon zest, white wine and plenty of freshly grated nutmeg are a lovely combination held in a Dijon mustard flavoured…

The sweetness and delicate texture of brioche bread is the perfect foil for an egg mayo toasted sandwich. It’s buttered on both sides and griddled in the toasted sarnie tradition but the softness of the dough means it only needs  a quick burst of heat to etch the surface. The mayo is seasoned with Dijon…

This way of roasting chicken was a hit during a Blondes Week (four ex-Time Outer girlfriends) in sunny Spain a couple of summers ago, with me taking over the kitchen. By popular demand, we had what we call wet chicken in my house twice. The chicken is stuffed with rosemary or thyme and the shucks…

Chipolata is a curious word for the British to embrace for a slim, fresh sausage. It gets a mention in Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire published in 1903 but the word possibly derives from Italian cipollata, the name of a sausage but also a term for braised onions. Anyway, these chipolatas are made with my favourite…

I make soup most days at the moment and really enjoy proving how easy it is to make delicious and very different soups. This one happened when I faced an unpromising collection of vegetables, not enough to do anything much with but easy to upgrade with a squeeze of lemon and generous seasoning of garam…

My copy of the first River Café Cookbook or River Café Blue as it’s known in my house, is one of my favourite possessions. It has a letter tucked inside from Rose (Gray), saying it’s one of the first off the press and what did I think of it. It’s sent with love from Rose…

This is a blessedly simple soup to make that will fill the house with tempting aromas. Red peppers and shallots are roasted til tender, skin, seeds and roots etc removed then liquidized with fresh cherry tomatoes and a pinch of saffron. The cheery orange-red soup has the look and texture of Heinz tomato soup but…

Our Christmas ham (York bone-in from www.dukeshillham.co.uk) ordered with lots of family meals in mind is still plentiful and this gratin was inspired by chunky trimmings. Other ham could be used but chunky pieces rather than thin slices are preferable for this recipe. York ham is dry cured from large white pigs and is saltier…

I’d really wanted to make Borscht but when my local fruit and veg stall only had sachets of cooked beetroot, I change course. The result, after a whizz around my kitchen for anything that I thought might improve its flavour, was a huge hit with my family, from little Jago to his ex-River Café dad…