This is adapted from “Super Soups” - a tiny National Trust recipe book I picked up years ago in Northumberland.

- 1 head of celery.
- 1 large carrot.
- 1 large onion.
- 1 and a half pints (900ml) vegetable stock
- 75g grated cheddar cheese
- 100g grated stilton cheese

Trim the celery (optionally leave one or two stalks aside for later). Peel and chop the carrot and onion and place in a saucepan with the stock (I just use a veggie Oxo cube) and season.

Let it come to the boil and then simmer for about an hour.

Give the soup a whirr with a blender. Reheat in the pan and add the grated cheese.

If you decided to save some celery stalks now is the time to chop them into slices. Add them to the bowls when you serve to give the soup a bit of crunch.

This recipe comes from my Mum.

Lancashire Hotpot is traditionally made with lamb, but this hotpot variation calls for beef.

- Some diced stewing steak. About 500g.
- Potatoes - loads.
- One onion.
- Half a pint of red wine.
- Veggie stock cube (optional).

Preheat the oven to 170c.

Peel the spuds and cut them into chunks about the same size as the pieces of your meat.

Coarsely chop the onion.

Throw the meat, potatoes and onion into a large pot.

Pour in the wine and top up with boiling water. Add the stock cube if you want.

Put the lid on the pot and leave in the oven for three hours. I usually take it out and give it a stir once an hour, but there’s really no need to!

Serve while piping hot. You can garnish with beetroot, and it’s also really good with some biscuits of shortcrust pastry to help mop up the juice.

I think it’s a great dish for this time of year. It’s lovely to put on before going to see a fireworks display. When you come back home the delicious smell will meet you at the front door, and the meal will warm you all up again. If there are any left-overs it’s just as good reheated in a saucepan the next day!

This has evolved from a recipe on the side of a packet of Marmite stock cubes. I don’t think you can get Marmite stock cubes any more - it probably dawned on people that you could just use ordinary Marmite in cooking instead. It’s a basic vegetable stew, made with whatever we have to hand.

• Lots of root vegetables - potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots etc
• celery
• garlic
• olive oil
• large onion
• tin of tomatoes
• tin of mixed beans - kidney beans, borlotti beans etc
• mushrooms, if you have them
• tomato puree
• slug of red wine
• teaspoon of Marmite
• dried mixed herbs
• bay leaf
• 2 handfulls of small pasta (such as ditali lisci no. 58)
• teaspoon of vegetable stock powder such as Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon.

Fry the onion and garlic in some olive oil. When well-cooked add the roughly chopped celery and root vegetables. Fry for a few minutes and add all the other ingredients, topping up with water as needed to cover the veg. Simmer on the stove or in the oven for an hour or so.

Adapted from ‘Stones Spells for Magic Feasts’, a veggie cookbook from a cafe in Avebury, Wiltshire - near the stone circle.

• Fresh tomatoes
• fresh basil and/or dried herbs
• garlic
• onion
• cream
• red wine (optional)
• vegetable stock
• tomato puree

Halve and roast the tomatoes with garlic and onion, scattered with oregano and basil (we used dried mixed herbs and fresh basil). When skins start to blaken, pulp in the Magimix. Put the puree in a pan with some red wine (we skipped that with no ill-effects), stock and tomato puree. Whisk to combine, reheat gently on the stove and then stir in some cream or fromage frais (we used double cream) when it simmers. Just delicious.

I like make a chicken go as far as possible - typically we get a Sunday lunch, sandwiches the next day and a chicken pie out of one bird. Occasionally I make chicken stock but that can tend to get left unused in the freezer, so I tried making soup instead. Worked rather well.

• leftover roast chicken
• onions
• carrots
• celery
• garlic
• drop of white wine or vermouth
• small pasta (such as ditali lisci 58)
• spoon or two of double cream

Get all the meat off your chicken carcass and set aside - make a pie or sandwiches with most of it, but hold some back for your soup.

Make stock out of the carcass - put it in a saucepan, cover with water. Add a chopped onion, carrots, celery etc and a couple of crushed garlic cloves. Simmer for a couple of hours, skimming any scum or excess fat off the top.

When the stock tastes good, strain off the chicken bones and vegetables and discard.

Fry an onion and some garlic in another pan. When they are nice and soft chuck in some white wine or vermouth - I used a capful of Noilly Prat, but will be using rather more next time!

Add the stock and a couple of handfuls of small pasta and simmer to cook the pasta. Skim off any excess fat, but not all of it - I think you want this soup to be a little bit schmaltzy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For a basic soup you could stop here, but I wanted to give this to one of my children in his packed lunch, so I added some chopped chicken breast and a spoon of double cream at this point, and whizzed it up in the blender. The little pasta pieces were pleasingly untouched by the Magimix blade, but the chicken meat was shredded.

I thought it was delicious and Henry drank every drop for school lunch the next day.

Jerk chicken but with the emphasis on flavour rather than just being hot.

• 1 Large dried red chilli
• 1 Tablespoon dried Oregano
• 2 Teaspoons Cumin seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Coriander seeds
• 5 cloves of Garlic
• 1 Teaspoon ground Turmeric
• A couple of pinches of mustard
• A good dose of Olive Oil
• Packet of Sainsbury’s Free-Range Chicken (about 8 thighs and drumsticks)

Break the chilli open and chuck all the seeds away. You could leave them in but don’t expect the kids to eat their tea if you do! Put the chilli, oregano, cumin and coriander seeds in a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar and grind them finely.
Put the garlic, turmeric, mustard and olive oil in the blender. Add the ground up herbs and spices. Blend ’till sludgy. Is there enough sludge to cover all the chicken? If not add more olive oil. Now add some salt and ground pepper.
Get a shallow-ish roasting tray and pour the sludge into it. It should be big enough for there to be a single layer of chicken but not so big that there are big spaces in between the pieces. You’re pouring the sludge in first so that you don’t have to keep washing your hands after you handle the chicken.
Open the chicken packet, add the pieces to the sludge and then marvel at how much packaging you’re about to throw away. Work the sludge into the chicken pieces, getting it under the skin as much as possible. Arrange the pieces so that each one has a bit of space around it - you want the skins to be crisp.
Cook in the oven at 180 degrees if it’s a fan assisted oven, more if it’s not. They’ll need 30 to 45 minutes but it’s hard to over-cook them so be generous with the time.

Great at breakfast - or suppertime!

- Smoked haddock (preferably undyed)
- milk
- Onions
- Turmeric
- Curry powder (such as Garam Masala)
- lemon juice
- Basmati rice
- eggs

Put the basmati rice on to cook, and chuck an egg in the pan, one for each person. Poach the haddock in some milk (or milky water).

Fry the onion with the turmeric and curry powder, adding the juice of at least one lemon when it’s really sizzling. This should smell great. When the rice and the haddock are cooked, add them to the frying pan, stirring as you go. Check seasoning, chop the eggs and add them, serve. Tastes great with George Watkins’ Mushroom Ketchup.

I’ll always remember a colleague of mine throwing a colour supplement across the newsroom in disgust.
“Anyone can make fine food with expensive ingredients. I want ALCHEMY!”
Well, this recipe is alchemy - it tastes better than the sum of its parts. And it’s for you, Frank. (Adapted from Jamie Oliver).

- Farfalle
- Anchovies
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Chili flakes
- Broccoli - chopped finely, stalks and all
- Pine nuts

Fry the garlic, a few anchovies, chili flakes and broccoli in some olive oil in a pan with the lid on. Add water from the farfalle pan as needed to stop it burning. Cook until the broccoli is soft and the farfalle cooked. Drain farfalle and combine with the sauce. Throw some toasted pine nuts on top. Delicious.

Simplified from Delia and Jamie - pasta puttanesca - a regular fave.
- spaghetti
- tin of tomatoes or roast tomato sauce
- fresh basil
- olive oil
- garlic
- tinned or jarred anchovies
- capers
- small tin of sliced black olives
Fry the garlic, basil and anchovies in a little olive oil. Add tin of tomatoes, small tin of sliced pitted black olives and some capers. Simmer on low heat until nice and thick. Dollop over freshly cooked spaghetti and add black pepper and parmesan to taste.