I really recommend having a supply of roast tomato halves boxed up in the fridge, invaluable for so many quick and easy snacks and meals. Sliding a few off their skins into hot pasta is delicious on its own but here complements white crab meat mixed with a chilli, lemon vinaigrette and lots of coriander….

Inspired by leftover boiled basmati rice but good enough to cook from scratch, this salad has a mayo-base vinaigrette, the first broad beans of the season, petits pois from the freezer, diced tomato sweetened first with a hint of sugar and plenty of herbs including basil and flat leaf parsley. The saving grace, though, is…

This is a good way to make one steak feed two. I used a piece of skirt and cooked it briefly on the griddle – oiled, salt-seasoned as each side hit the pan – but let it rest covered with a stretch of clingfilm – while I prepared everything else for this salad. I also…

Leeks that are on the bendy side of fresh are worth roasting. I cook them in pieces in a foil lined Swiss roll tin with sufficient foil to flop over to make a loose cover. I smear them with oil but always find the top sheet/furl ends up stiff and needs to be removed. You…

Towards the end of my pregnancy with Zach I gave up work and immersed myself in Michel Guerard`s seminal gourmet dieting book Cuisine Minceur. To use the book successfully it is essential to surrender to the regime. One dish that really appealed to me was ratatouille with eggs poached in red wine. Intrigued by his…

In my early days as a restaurant critic I fell in love with Lebanese food. I learnt to cook it at home thanks to Claudia Roden’s A Book of Middle Eastern Food and later through regular visits to (sadly, long-gone) The Phoenicia in Kensington. This was where I’d take sons Zach and Henry for a…

Here’s a simple way of making a colourful, interesting stew with meaty chipolata sausages and creamy butter beans, the flavours given a hint of Greece with tomato and oregano and snap of chilli. It’s the sort of meal-in-a-bowl that tempts greediness, so be warned. Serve it alone or with green beans. Serves 3-4Prep: 30 minCook:…

This is a very quick simplified version of an authentic Thai green curry. The preparations are all done first, in much the same way as you would if you were making a stir-fry. Hence, chicken is diced or prawns shelled, an onion chopped, beans topped and tailed, a can and sachet or two opened, and…

The other night when I was feeling extremely lazy and not in the mood for cooking, I used a huge aubergine to make a gratinee-style version of this favourite recipe. As in the original, which I’m giving the recipe for here, I used ragu from the freezer (actually pork, I think) and folded crushed feta…