Next time you are cooking up a storm for six and want food you can make in advance, remember meatballs. I make them with all kinds of mince from beef and lamb to duck and sausages, here though I’ve used minced pork. The pale, flavour-receptive meat is mixed with creamy breadcrumbs, lemon zest, flat leaf…

Intensely sweet little Chantenay carrots turn up like hidden treasure in this variation on shepherd’s pie. It’s a very herby version, with rosemary, thyme and bay, then masses of parsley added right at the end before the mince is hidden under super-thin slices of quickly blanched potato rather than the usual mashed potato. I usually…

Here’s an attempt to make sausages a healthy option. It doesn’t really work, of course, but the lion’s share of cooking is poaching but a final fry with onion, garlic then passata and red wine enriches the dish. I love butter beans but any tinned beans or lentils would work in a dish finished with…

Many of my soups have an element of fridge tidy to them, often laced with over shopping. That was the case here; a lone leek, couple of huge courgettes, remains of a bunch of thyme and single chicken thigh fillet. With a scrounged potato, peas from the freezer and chicken stock (made with a cube),…

Adding a few lamb’s kidneys to a hearty steak and mushroom stew has an incredible affect. The smell as it cooks is rich and intense and so is the flavour and almost fluffy texture of the gravy when you tuck in. Mushrooms, particularly big flat field or Portobello mushrooms, darken the gravy and add a…

Distantly related to Margaret Costa’s equally sublime lemon surprise pudding, this is a light souffled chocolate sponge that generates its own sauce. The recipe is foolproof, fills the house with wonderful aromas and is particularly good with lemony fromage frais or crème fraiche. Serves 4-6Prep: 20 minCook: 45 min 100g soft butter plus extra knob100g…

I read months ago of a halloumi shortage looming, so promptly stocked up because I love this weirdly rubbery, salty cheese. Last night most of the last packet went into an omelette, a lazy omelette that firms over the hob and gets a soufflé finish under the grill. I served it in big wedges like…

Good old chicken to the rescue again for a quick, vaguely healthy but filling after work supper. The dish begins by softening diced onion with bay, adding bacon lardons then browning strips of floured chicken, bubbling up with a splash of white wine and chicken stock. Back goes the bacon and onion, sliced carrot and…

This is a lovely plate of food, a good mix of textures as well as interesting yet subtle flavours. Pork mince is flavoured with oregano, lemon zest and leeks, held firm with egg yolk and softened by breadcrumbs in milk. These slim little burgers are dipped in the leftover egg white beaten into a fluff…

A dear friend wrote recently saying she was craving chicken soup, a thick, creamy version would be preferable. Should she fill it out with floury potatoes and should she add watercress, she wondered. She is also cooking for the freezer and wants to make it with cheap cuts of chicken specially bought to make sturdy…