Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and add the onion. Cook over a gentle heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until softened.
Add the celery (or celeriac) and carrots. Stir and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the garlic and apple and cook until softened.
Add the white wine and bubble off.
Add the stock and bring to the boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add the bay leaf and thyme if using - I didn't have any. Cover with a lid and simmer for 25 minutes. Leave to cool, remove the bay leaf and if using a sprig of thyme; the woody stem, and blend. Pass through a sieve for extra smoothness.
Return the soup to a clean saucepan and bring back to a simmer. Add some cream and milk and warm through. Add the blue cheese and stir continuously until the cheese has melted into the soup. Do not let the soup boil as it may curdle.
Check the seasoning. It is unlikely you will need any salt as the cheese will be quite salty.
Serve with a little of the blue cheese crumbled over each bowl if it's the kind that crumbles 😉 or a sprinkling of snipped chives or sliced spring onion.

Fry the mince to brown lightly, then add the grated ginger and the celery and cook them out.
Add the courgette and then deglaze the pan with the white wine. Add the mincemeat and moisten with as much stock as required.

Line a pie dish with the puff pastry, fill with the, er, filling, and roll puff pastry across the top. Cut slits on the crust. Brush with milk, cream or beaten egg if you like.
Trim and crimp the edges and bake for about 45 minutes at Gas Mark 4-5/350-375°F/175-190°C.

Place all the ingredients in a Thermomix set at 60°C and blitz until smooth.
Alternatively, place all the ingredients in a blender, but with boiling instead of cold water.
Pass through a fine sieve and set aside to cool

Sweat the celeriac parsnip down in a pan with the salt and oil until soft and tender. Add the milk and horseradish sauce and bring the whole lot to the boil. Take off the heat once boiled, squeeze in the lemon juice and blend into a smooth purée using a stick blender. Pass through a fine sieve

Sweat the beef trimmings until golden brown, add half of the mushrooms and sweat for 10 more minutes.
Add the stock, red wine, the rest of the mushrooms and milk. Bring to the boil and cook for 45-50 minutes, skimming all the time.
Sieve the sauce and add the xanthan gum and the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Now add the tarragon and simmer for 2-3 minutes before passing again through a sieve.

Place a large pan over a medium heat and add the butter. Once melted, add the onions with a pinch of salt and the thyme and cook until soft and golden – this will take at least 10 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a 20x15cm terrine mould with baking paper.
Peel and very finely slice the potatoes (use a mandoline if you have one). And you should have one! Place the potatoes neatly into the terrine mould in layers. After the first two layers, alternate with a layer of the cooked onion. Season between each layer and ensure the final top layer is potatoes. Cover with a sheet of baking paper followed by a layer of tin foil and cook for 40 minutes, or until completely cooked through when a knife is inserted. Once the terrine is cooked through, remove the tin foil and place something heavy on top of the potatoes. Place in the fridge to chill and set overnight.
Turn out the set potato terrine and carefully carve into thick slices. Ensure the oven remains on at 180°C/gas mark 4.
Place the slices of potato terrine in the oven to warm through as well.
Serve arranged with the potato slices vertically for best effect on the plate.

Peel the onions and shallots and slice them fairly thickly lengthways. Heat a very generous quantity of olive oil in a large pot and start sweating the onions over medium/high heat. Peel a lot of garlic cloves, lightly crush them with the side of a knife and throw them in.
Strip the leaves away from the thyme stalks and throw the leaves in.
Peel and slice the chorizo fairly thickly, and throw it in.
Wash and chop the potato into fairly decent chunks and throw them in.
Mix in a tablespoon of smoked paprika to help out the chorizo.
Roughly chop any sturdy spare vegetables you have lying around and throw them in. Cover with a strongly flavoured stock. Cook until the vegetables soften up, then add any other less sturdy extras you have lying around like a couple of red chillies, seeded and sliced fatly, those aging sprouts, trimmed and halved, an apple or two, peeled, cored and roughly chopped, a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, even those spare orange segments.
Add a glug or two of passata or some tinned chopped tomatoes. And you might as well throw in some of the liquor from that empty jar of pickled chillies, because why not?

Finally slice up all the greens you have In my case a head of savoy cabbage and a shed-load of beetroot tops as thinly as you like and throw those in. Adjust the seasoning, cover and simmer until the greens are done.
Serve with some rustic bread and possibly dressed with olive oil mixed with smoked paprika, as the Barey Hikers suggest.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

To begin, take your salmon fillets and lay them on some foil, approximately 25cm square. Drizzle with some of the olive oil and season liberally with the salt and pepper then place a few lemon slices on top. Wrap the foil around the fish to create a bag that is sealed at the edges and place in the oven for 12–15 minutes, or until the salmon is just cooked through. Take out the salmon and leave it to cool, then flake into a bowl using a fork. Mix in 100g of the crème fraîche and stir in the dill.
Finely chop half of the pickled cucumber and add to the bowl, along with a dash of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the watercress purée, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the watercress.
Cover and bring to the boil again (this should take about 1 minute maximum) then drain and plunge the leaves into a bowl of iced water.
Drain the watercress again, reserving just a couple of tablespoons of the water, then place in a blender and blitz to a purée. Use the leftover water to thin the purée if necessary and season with salt and pepper.

To serve, divide the salmon between glasses then top with a layer of the watercress purée. Finish by dotting some of the remaining crème fraîche in the centre and add half a slice of pickled cucumber to each glass.

Put the Maltesers into an empty bottle that has been sterilised. Pour in the vodka.
Place the lid on and shake vigorously.
Shake regularly over a couple of days until the Maltesers have dissolved - this procedure can be sped up by placing the bottle in a bowl of warm water. Or on a radiator.

Put the mincemeat ingredients in a small pan, add some water as needed and stew on a low heat making sure it doesn't dry out.
Put in big sterilised jar for making any extras - to use before New Year.

Grease a cupcake tray. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Using a dinosaur-shaped cookie cutter cut out puff pastry shapes and press into each cupcake dimple.
Add the mince meat (in the cupcake depression).
Cut small circles for the dino bellies, or invent shapes like stars or crosses, and place them over the mincemeat piles.
Put an egg in a ramekin for glazing before putting in the oven for 5 minutes or until fluffy and golden brown.

Chop or break the cheese into chunks, discarding the rind. Heat the cream in a small saucepan, drop in the cheese, and stir until it dissolves.
Set it aside.

Dissolve the sugar in an equal quantity of water then bring rapidly to the boil over high heat and allow it to reach caramel temperature untouched. It will brown rapidly at this point - so watch it carefully.
Remove from the heat sticking the pan briefly into cold water might not be a bad idea to halt the caramelisation process, then whisk in the cold butter a little at a time, then beat in the creamed cheese.

So. After some experimentation, here is what you do:
Clean de-bone and descale the salmon. Cut and trim neat pieces. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small pot, and bring to the boil.
Stir to dissolve the maple syrup, then simmer until reduced by ½ or ⅔.
Whisk in a couple of pinches of xanthan gum to thicken it if you want - it probably won't coat the fish well without it.

Sift potato or tapioca starch over the fish fillets.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the fillets skin-side down over medium heat until the fillets colour about a third of the way up.
Flip the fillets and again colour them about a third of the way up.
Transfer the salmon to a plate and clean the pan with kitchen towels. Pour some of the salmoniakki sauce into the frying pan, return the salmon pieces, and flip them in the sauce to coat and glaze. Serve the glazed salmon with extra sauce drizzled over it.

Throw the samphire into boiling water, return to the boil then drain the samphire and dump into iced water to refresh.
Fry the chanterelles until lightly browned you can slice them into shreds to more match the samphire stalks if you like in a little butter and olive oil.
Deglaze the pan with calvados, bubble it off, then add double cream to coat the mushrooms and stir until the sauce thickens.

When ready to serve, bring another pot of water to the boil, drop the samphire in and bring to the boil again. Drain, mix with the creamed mushroom, and serve.

In a saucepan combine the rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and salt. Heat over medium heat and whisk it well together. When the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool. If the vinegar flavour seems too strong then dilute it with a small amount of dashi or water.
Soak the dried wakame seaweed in water and let it rehydrate for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel the skin of 2 Japanese cucumbers, leaving some skin on to create stripes. Then, slice them very thinly into rounds, best done using a mandoline.
Sprinkle fine sea salt on the slices as you go, then gently massage it all in. Set aside for 5-15 minutes.
The salt helps draw out the moisture from the cucumbers (so it does not dilute the salad dressing after mixing).
Squeeze out the liquid from the rehydrated wakame seaweed and add it to a medium bowl. Squeeze out the liquid from the cucumbers. No need to be gentle - they can take it! Add them to the bowl, mix them with the dressing and toss it all together. Lightly toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan and add them to the cucumber, mixing everything together.

Heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil in a wok while you toss the butternut squash cubes into the soy sauce.
Put the soy-coated butternut squash in the wok and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes or until softened and browned, stirring frequently. For the green curry base, heat the remaining sunflower oil in a separate large frying pan.
Add the lemongrass and Thai green curry paste and peanut butter - although you might want to reconsider that!, and fry over a high heat for 1 minute.
Stir in the coconut milk, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 8 minutes. Remove and discard the lemongrass stalk.
Throw the sugar snap peas, asparagus, green beans and edamame beans into the curry sauce or green beans - if that's all you have to hand and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked but still have some bite.

Ladle the curry into bowls and spoon in the softened soy-glazed butternut squash.
Top each bowl with a squeeze of lime juice, sprinkle with the coriander, add a few slices of chilli and a scattering of spring onion.
Serve with bowls of jasmine rice.

Pour the marinades into a freezer bag with the steak. Lower the open bag carefully into a large bowl of water and use the pressure of the water to squeeze all the air out before sealing the top shut. Put the bag into a sous-vide device, weighing its contents down with a plate or something, and cook for 2-3 hours at 53.9°C, or between 50°c and 55°C depending on your device's capabilities.
Looking at you slow-vide!
When ready to eat, lift the bag out of the sous-vide and the steak out of the bag. Dry the steak thoroughly with kitchen paper. Lubricate it lightly with a neutral high smoke point oil. Just smear it on with your hands!
Heat a cast-iron skillet until scorching hot, then quickly sear the outside of the steak. It is now ready to slice and serve.

Chop the celeriac into fat chunks and simmer them for about 15 minutes until they soften. Warm the softened pieces with cream and goat's cheese, then blend with whole grain mustard.
Season and blend in some pieces of butter to enrich the mixture.

Cut the artichoke stems short above any wooden section, then peel their rough skin if using. Cut away the tough outer leaves, then quarter them vertically and remove the hairy choke with a paring knife. Keep them in water acidulated with lemon juice until needed.
Remove the tough end of the asparagus stalks if using and boil them for a minute, before plunging them into iced water to cool.
Grind the saffron lightly in a pestle and mortar. You can toast it first in a foil wrap in the hot pan for 2-3 minutes if you like, to help release the flavour.
Heat the pan of stock and keep it simmering.
Slice the flat green beans on a bias either lengthways or across, as you like.
Mince the garlic if using.
Grate the tomato on the coarser side of a box grater or similar you can blend them if you prefer.
Joint the rabbit and the chicken. Separate the leg sections and the chicken wings discarding the tips of both.
I have no idea what you'd do with the snails - you're on your own there!

Pour a small puddle of olive oil into your paella pan or closest approximation and sprinkle in salt. Over high heat fry the pieces, turning them only occasionally, until they colour a deep rich golden brown and you're getting a nice build-up of fond in the bottom of the pan. Push the meat to the edges, or remove them to a bowl and add the beans. Continue frying and stirring occasionally. After a couple of minutes clear a space in the middle and add the garlic if using, and for a minute or two without burning. Next add the paprika and almost immediately after the crushed or grated tomatoes. Stir-fry until the water is cooked out of the tomatoes and they darken in colour a little, return any meat you removed, then add the hot stock. Bubble for 10-20 minutes or so then add any pre-cooked vegetables I added a can of drained lima beans and the saffron wash all the saffron from the mortar with some of the stock, check for seasoning, then distribute the rice and stir. From now on there will be no more unnecessary stirring to avoid breaking up the rice. We are not making risotto!

Continue to cook over high heat for 5-10 minutes until the rice begins to appear through the stock. Lower the heat slightly until the surface of the paella dries off, then lay on any decorative vegetables you might have prepared, decorate with several fresh rosemary sprigs, lower the heat right down and cover the pan with foil. Cook on low for another 5-10 minutes remove the rosemary earlier if the aroma seems overpowering until the rice is al dente. Remove the foil, and the rosemary and turn the heat up for a minute or two just to try and develop a layer of that precious caramelised socarrat on the bottom. Keep sniffing it and testing with a fork or spoon to make sure you aren't burning it though.
Let the paella sit for 5 minutes now before serving with slices of lemon on the side. Assuming your Valencian village considers this acceptable. Personally I like it with some lemon garlic aïoli, but I've been banished from my village.

Slice the courgettes fairly thinly lengthways. You can discard the ends, and the first and last crusts which are just skin. And avoid the seedy centres if you like, which are very watery.
Fry both sides in a single layer in olive oil and butter until they begin to colour.
Add chopped or minced garlic and sweat until the garlic softens without burning.
Season with salt and pepper and dress with roughly chopped dill fronds.

Heat a generous knob of butter in a small pan and sweat the minced shallots until they collapse. Add the garlic and sweat until it softens.
Add more butter as required. Peel, core and chop the Bramley or other cooking apple into 1cm pieces.
Add it to the pan and stir until it is nicely coated in the butter. Add the cider and cook off until you have a thick, chunky apple sauce.
Season the stuffing, sweeten it if necessary, and add any herbs you fancy. Perhaps tarragon or thyme. Maybe lime or lemon zest?

Hollow out the hearts by cutting out the fat blood vessels in a cone shape from the top. Avoid removing too much pure, smooth muscle.
Season inside the heart with salt and pepper.

Fill the hearts with the apple mixture and pile it up out the top. Roll the back of a knife along each bacon slice to stretch it, then use them to wrap the heart from the bottom to the top. This will secure any cuts or breaks in the heart wall. You can extend the sides upwards to help contain the stuffing, but don't go over the top 🙂 Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 3.
Stand the hearts upright in an oven-proof dish using ramekins, or crumpled foil or baking paper. Bake them for 1½-2 hours until the bacon is crisped, the heart cooked through, and the stuffing caramelised at the top.

Simmer for about 8 hours, or leave it in the oven overnight at its lowest setting as I did.
Strain the stock through a colander and carefully lift out the oxtails with their meat attached and set aside to cool.
Wash the vegetable pulp in more water to extract all of its flavour and strain again into the stock.
Strain the stock once more through muslin or a sterile hairnet as I did.
Separate the meat from the oxtails, being sure to remove any bone or cartilage, and blend with enough hot water to cover to make a foamy, meaty paste.
Strain through a sieve into the stock. Reduce the stock until it becomes a thick, rich, sticky, sauce.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7.
Mix together the thyme, vinegar, olive oil and honey in a bowl until well combined.

If the beetroot are raw, boil them whole and un-skinned, until easily penetrated with a knife, then cool and peel them.
The skin should slip off easily scraping with a spoon or the back of a knife.
Trim away the rough ends.

Using a small melon baller or small spoon, scoop out balls of the beetroot or cut them into wedges and place into the bowl with the honey mixture and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Transfer into a deep roasting tray and roast in the oven, stirring occasionally, for 30-45 minutes or until the beetroot is sticky and glazed.

Sift the flour into a bowl with a little salt.
Add any flavour options you fancy. Chop the chilled lard into small pieces and cut into the flour to make breadcrumbs without over-working it.
Add the suet, then cut in just enough ice cold water to bring the dough together into a ball.

To Make a Pie:
Separate about a third, make a flattened ball of each part, cover them in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour or so.
Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 5.
Mix an egg yolk with a little milk to loosen.
Roll out the larger ball on a floured surface and line a baking dish.
Spoon in your chosen, cooled, filling.
Brush the pastry edges with the egg wash.
Roll out the smaller ball to cover, crimp the wetted edges and trim tidily with a knife.
Decorate with shapes cut from the spare pastry if you like, and make a couple of slits to let out the steam, then brush the top with egg wash and bake for about 45 minutes or until the pie is nicely browned and cooked through.

Cut the beef into ½" chunks.
Shake in a bag or a bowl with the flour, mustard powder, ground pepper and a little salt.
Fry in batches over high heat in a little sunflower or rapeseed oil to brown nicely.
Transfer to a large pot.
Fry the bacon lardons until beginning to brown and add them to the pot.
Add more oil and fry the carrots and the onions until they begin to caramelise nicely.
Mince, purée, or crush a head of garlic or push it through a garlic press and add to the frying pan for a few minutes.
Decant everything to the pot.
Deglaze the frying pan with red wine and bubble until reduced by half, then add the reduced wine and the stock to the pot.
Cook for two hours until the meat is tender.

Meanwhile heat a little oil over high heat and char the baby onions a little. Set aside.
to add to the pot about 15 minutes before finishing.
Add a knob of butter and fry the button mushrooms to give them colour, then add them to the pot. Simmer for another 15 minutes so there is very little sauce remaining, then stir in the parsley and the gorgonzola to melt it through.
Allow to cool.
Sift the flour into a bowl with the mustard powder and a little salt.
Cut the chilled lard into small pieces and cut into the flour to make breadcrumbs without over-working. Add the suet, then cut in just enough ice cold water to bring the dough together into a ball.
Separate about a third, make a flattened ball of each part, cover in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour or so.

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 5.
Mix an egg yolk with a little milk to loosen.
Roll out the larger ball on a floured surface and line a baking dish.
Fill with the cooled stew. Brush the edges with the egg wash.
Roll out the smaller ball to cover, crimp the wetted edges and trim tidily with a knife.
Decorate with shapes cut from the spare pastry if you like, make a couple of slits to let out the steam, then brush the top with egg wash and bake for about 45 minutes or until it is nicely browned and cooked through.
Adjust the oven temperature as required to prevent burning or speed up the cooking.
Give the top another couple of egg washes after the first 30 minutes.

Peel the celeriac and potato and cut into fairly large, even chunks.
Add the celeriac to boiling water, return to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the potatoes, return to the boil and simmer for another 10 minutes or until the vegetables are quite soft.
You may need to remove one or other of the vegetables early if they cook more quickly.
Drain them, then mash with butter and cream. Season and mix in the wholegrain mustard.

Dissolve the honey in a little water to get rid of any crystals then cook it in a small pan until the water is boiled off and the honey begins to bubble and caramelize.
Once it has darkened to your liking add the vinegar and reduce until it becomes sticky.

Take off the heat and throw a knob of butter into the gastrique. stir to make a smooth sauce.
Shell the peas and boil them in salted water for a minute, then drain and dress them with the sauce.
Stir through finely minced mint leaves to serve.

Cut the cucumbers in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon.
Discard the seeds.
Roughly chop into chunks and place in a blender.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the garnish, if using) to the blender and season with salt and pepper.
Start initially with 12 lovage leaves. Blend until completely smooth — the soup should have a pleasing, pale green colour.
Taste.
Is there a good balance of acidity and mellowness from the yoghurt? Add more lemon if it seems too creamy-tasting.
Can you taste the lovage enough? It should be defined but not overpowering.
Add the lovage leaves cautiously, a little at a time so as not to overpower the delicate cucumber flavour

Once you’re happy you’ve achieved a balanced flavour, place the soup in the fridge for at least 2 hours so that it is well-chilled before serving.
Sprinkle with chopped hard-boiled egg, minced chives, and lemon zest to garnish, if desired.

First make the pastry:
Toss the butter in the flour with the salt until coated, then add just enough water (you may not need it all) to bring it together into a fairly firm dough.
Form this into a rectangular shape with your hands and, on a well-floured surface, roll it out in one direction, away from you, into a 1cm-thick rectangle.
Fold the two short ends into the middle so they overlap, like folding a letter. Give the pastry a quarter turn, repeat the rolling out five more times, then wrap in cling-film.
Rest in the fridge for an hour.
Heat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
Put the oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat, add the onion and bay, and sauté gently until soft, about 10 minutes.
Add the lovage stems, fry for a couple of minutes, then tip into a bowl with the potato, flaked fish, lovage leaves, dill and crème fraîche.
Remove the bay, season and cool.

Roll the pastry into a rectangle about 35cm x 45cm. Cut into six smaller rectangles. Cut a 1cm strip from the edge of each and reserve.
Place the rectangles on a large baking sheet lined with parchment, and lightly brush the edges with egg wash.
Place the strips around the edges to make a border, and brush lightly with egg wash.
Prick the bases of the tarts with a fork.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until they're starting to turn golden, remove from the oven and divide the filling between the tarts, piling it up quite high.
Reduce the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Bake for five to 10 minutes until warmed through.
Scatter over dill and lovage, and serve hot or warm.

Pick the individual seeds from the seedheads.
This requires a bit of patience, but you can speed things up with a small pair of scissors or by using a fork to strip a whole head of seeds from the main stem in one movement.
It's best to do this in a large bowl or a plastic bag - the seeds will shoot all over the place.
Don’t worry too much about any fine stems that remain attached to the seeds.

Wash the seeds thoroughly in several changes of water. Pick out any spiders or grass stalks that survive the process, then strain them into a sieve and leave to drain well.

Put a heaped tablespoon of the dry seeds into the sterilised pickling jar, and sprinkle over some of the salt.
Continue layering seeds and salt until the jar is full and all of the salt is used up. (Don’t worry too much about the salt being evenly distributed.)
Fasten the lid onto the jar, and put the jar into the fridge. Leave it there for three weeks, shaking the jar every day or so.

Once the three weeks is up, tip the salted seeds into a sieve and rinse them well. Spread them out on a clean tea towel and leave them to dry again. Meanwhile, wash and sterilise the jar again.

Put the dry wild garlic seeds back into the jar. Pour over enough vinegar to cover, fasten the lid and leave to mature for at least one month, but preferably three.
Stored in the fridge, the pickled seeds should keep for around twelve months.

First buy the rolled lamb breasts. Or, you know, buy lamb breast and roll it up yourself.
In which case you can salt the inside and cover it with the anchovies, lemon zest and herbs first. I guess.

Roughly chop the onions. Halve the head of garlic. We're going to strain the sauce before using it, so you can leave the peel on these.

Sear the rolled lamb breast(s) all over in olive oil in a large frying pan. Put them into the slow cooker.
Add thickly sliced onions, halved garlic cloves, anchovies, rosemary and thyme to the pan with more oil if required and fry until they soften and begin to colour up.
Stir through the tomato puée and cook down for a few minutes, then add the red wine and bubble the alcohol off.
Pour the contents of the pan into the slow cooker and add the bay leaves, lemon zest and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Maybe a tiny pinch of chilli flakes for some gentle warmth?
Rinse the frying pan with water or stock, using enough to cover ⅔ of the rolled breasts.

Cook in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours.
Decant the rolls and set them to rest for 10 minutes while you strain the liquid into a pan and boil hard to reduce to a nice jus.
Or you could thicken the liquid with cornflour slurry if you prefer.

Mix the Marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Rub thoroughly all over the lamb surface. You can do this in the roasting tin.
Leave the lamb to marinate for a couple of hours, or 24 hours in the fridge. Preheat oven to 210°C fan/230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8.
Peel and halve the shallots (or onions) lengthways. Peel a few large garlic cloves.
Make a bed for the meat using these and lay the lamb shoulder on top. You can throw in a few extra rosemary sprigs too if you like.
Pour the water into the pan. Roast uncovered for 45 minutes until nicely browned.
Turn down the oven to 100°C/210°F/Gas Mark ¼ or as low as your oven will go.
Cover lamb with baking paper, then a double layer of foil and seal very tightly to avoid water evaporation.
Braise for 12 hours. Check the meat - test the side of lamb with two forks. The meat should be fall-apart tender. If not, cover and return to oven.
Remove lamb to a large dish. There will (should!) be a lot of liquid pooled under the lamb in the roasting pan.
Cover loosely with foil to keep warm. It will stay warm for 2 to 3 hours.

Strain the liquid into a small pan. Retain the vegetables.
There will tons of rendered fat which you will want to remove somehow. Let the juices settle or cool to scoop it off, or suck the juice from underneath with a turkey baster.
Now you can either reduce the liquid to a decent syrupy jus by hard boiling, or you can thicken it to gravy by heating with a teaspoon of cornflour added in a slurry.
Season to taste.

Tear the meat apart with tongs or forks. Dress with the jus and serve with the well-braised shallots and garlic cloves, if you like.

Thinly slice your potatoes into a bowl of cold water using a mandolin. Fill a casserole dish with alternate layers of potato and a filling of sliced dates ssprinkled with finely minced rosemary and dots of butter.
Pour in stock until it almost comes to the top.
Cook uncovered in the oven at Gas Mark 3-4 for a couple of hours until the stock has mostly bubbled off. It will take a while.

Pop the broad beans out of their long outer sleeves.
Drop them into salted boiling water, bring back to the boil and simmer for a bare 30 seconds. Strain them immediately into iced water to cool.
With a paring knife, slit one end of each bean's thick outer skin or rind I cut the end opposite where the sprout attached and pop out the bright green, tender kernels.
Keep these in the iced water until required, then blanche them briefly in salted boiling water to reheat before using.

Drain the double-podded beans and roughly mash with chopped mint, grated lemon zest, lemon juice, puréed garlic, grated parmesan and olive oil to taste.
Season if necessary.

Mix together the dry mix in a plastic bag without holes!.
Mix the tempura batter flours, season, then stir briefly with a splash of vodka and iced water (or iced soda water) to make a usable slurry.
Don't overmix - it's fine for the batter to have floury lumps.

Halve the mushrooms lengthways and make a pattern of shallow slashes in the cut surfaces. Shake the mushrooms in the dry mix bag, then roll them in the wet batter mix to coat thickly. Deep-fry the battered mushrooms in 350°F/175°C oil for 3-5 minutes until they are nicely crisped and coloured.
Drain on kitchen paper and serve with smoked salmon dip In which case you could decorate them with crispy-fried salmon skin!, or aïoli, or maybe Sriracha or wasabi mayonnaise.

Remove the salmon skin.
Blend the salmon, garlic, chilli just enough to give a little warmth, anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes if using, cream and orange juice to a smooth paste.
Blend in as much cream cheese as needed to enrich the mixture, season, then drizzle in olive oil whilst beating or running the food processor until you have a consistency like mayonnaise.

Simmer the corn cobs in a large pot of salted water for 10 minutes or so until it softens.
Drain, allow to cool enough to handle, and slice the kernels off the cobs. Reserve some for decoration.
Meanwhile sweat the shallots, garlic and fennel or celery slices in olive oil and butter in a small pan until they soften.
De-glaze with white wine and bubble off.
Add the corn kernels to the pan with enough water or light stock to cover.
Add a pinch of saffron strands with the water/stock. Cook until the corn is well-softened, then blend until smooth and pass through a seive back into the pan.
Reheat, season with ground white pepper and salt, and stir in cream, and perhaps a knob of butter until the sauce is thick and glossy.

Globe Artichoke Hearts
Add lemon juice to the pot of boiling salted water.
Pull off the artichoke's larger outer leaves and trim the stalk.
Use a Y-shaped vegetable peeler to peel off the fibrous outer layer of the stop of the stalk and the bottom of the artichoke bulb. Cut the stalk away leaving an inch or two attached to the bulb.
Cut the top of the globe off somewhere below the mid-point. Using a paring knife remove leaves and coarse skin from the bottom of the artichoke and right in to the hairy choke. Now quarter the artichoke base vertically and cut away the choke with the paring knife, which you can now easily access.
Add to the boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes until softened. Strain and keep in acidulated water until required.
Core and quarter a red pepper and char the skin over a flame or under the grill. Let them rest in a plastic bag to soften the charred skin, then peel it off and slice them thinly.
Toast a handful of corn kernels in a hot, lightly oiled frying pan.
Boil up some spinach and mascarpone tortellinis, if you like, and serve them with the artichoke hearts dressed with the corn velouté and the red pepper slices and toasted corn kernels.

Blanch the peas then shock them in iced water.
Drain and blend them with the other ingredients, adding enough crème fraîche to lubricate the blender without diluting the purée too much.
Heat gently when required.

Add all the pickling ingredients to a heavy pot and bring to the boil.
Peel the artichokes under running water or using a large bowl of iced water.
Slice them straight into the pickle using a mandolin.
Return the pot to the boil, then immediately set aside to cool.
Press the artichokes to keep them submerged.

Peel and core the apples, slice into rings and fry in 55g/2 oz of the butter. Add the sugar and cook until golden brown and slightly caramelised. Reserve.

Melt the rest of the butter in a flameproof casserole large enough to take the birds. Brown the creatures on all sides, turning and coating with the butter. Cover with the lid and place in a preheated oven at 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 to cook for 40 minutes; or you can cook them on top of the stove, turning at half time.

Carve the birds into good-size pieces and lay them in a shallow gratin dish. Make sure to pick every little piece of meat from the bones. Place the legs at either end. Keep warm. Scrape any morsels from the carving into the casserole juices and heat until bubbling then pour in the warmed Calvados. Set fire to the mixture, but take care not to singe your eyelashes. Roll the juices round and round until the flames subside. Add the cream and continue cooking, stirring the while with a wooden spoon, until the sauce thickens. Season to taste.

Place the apple rings over the pheasant pieces, then pour the sauce over the whole dish and bring to the table. If you prefer, you can serve the apple rings separately. Wild rice with fried celery would be excellent with this dish, and a watercress salad should suffice.

Mix well and marinate for a minimum of half an hour, the longer you leave it the better the taste! (Marinate overnight for best results.)
Put on skewers and cook in oven under grill or barbecue.

Cut the stem off the chillies and take the skin off the garlic and ginger. Throw into a food processor and mix until it becomes a finely minced paste (not liquified!).
You can chop by hand if you do not have a food processor.

The above is how much a curry should contain.
If you are making a small batch then times the above by 5 or more and consume with a week.
The key thing my parents told me is that it should be greener than it is white, so if your paste isn't that green, then add more green chillies.

If you wish to make a larger batch that will cover you for a longer period of time then add a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoon of salt into your Green Masala to extend its life.

Keep your Green Masala in a pot in the fridge, or keep half of it in the fridge and freeze the other half for another time.
You can even put your Green Masala into an ice cube tray (one teaspoon per ice cube hole) and use one cube per curry, which will extend the life of your Green Masala hugely!

Heat oil.
Throw in cordyceps.
Swirl.
Remove.
Drain.
Serve.

To prepare the choy sum, you want to separate the quick-to-cook leaves and the slower-to-cook stems.
You can either make one horizontal cut to separate the leaves and clump of stems of each plant all at once, or you can separate the joined stems (at an angle for extra style points) and then cut away the leaves and set aside.

Slice the garlic: For maximum visual appeal, slice a couple of cloves and mince the rest.

Cut the (small amount of) ginger into roughly 1/8 slices. He (Daddy Lau) uses about 4 slices of ginger for 1 lb of choy sum.

Heat your wok over high heat for a bare minute. Add a dash of oil (about 1 tbsp), then turn the heat to medium low.
Lowering the heat here is important to avoid burning the aromatics.
Add the ginger and garlic.
Stir-fry for 15 seconds so that you can smell the ginger and garlic releasing their aromas.

Add the choy sum; stems first since they'll take longer to cook through. Stir-fry the stems for about 30 seconds.
Then, add the leaves. Raise the heat to high and add the mirin and sugar to balance the texture of the leaves; these ingredients help make the dish silky smooth.
Mix these in and stir-fry for another 30 seconds.

DON'T ADD THE SALT YET!
If you add salt now, all the water in the vegetables will release (thank you, osmosis) and you'll end up with less tender vegetables in a puddle of juice.

Lower the heat to medium or low heat. Cover with the lid and let it steam for about 1½-2 minutes, or until the choy sum is tender and just cooked through.

Uncover the wok and bring the heat up to the highest setting. Stir-fry on high heat for a minute, then add the salt. Drizzle a table of oil over the leaves to finish for a smooth texture, a glossy look, and to help preserve their vibrant green color.
Toss with the finishing oil for another 20 seconds, and then plate.
Enjoy!

Place ghee or butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Once hot, add the sliced mushrooms and cook until browned on both sides. Don't touch the mushrooms as they cook to let them deeply caramelize on each side.
Add the tamari and garlic to the pan and cook for an additional minute until the liquid is absorbed by the mushrooms, tossing them in the mixture.
Garnish with parsley and serve as desired.

Heat oil over high heat in a cast iron skillet large enough to fit the peppers in a single layer. Heat until lightly smoking, then add peppers.
Cook without moving until blistered on first side, about 30 seconds.
Flip and shake the peppers and continue to cook, turning occasionally, until well blistered all over and tender-crisp, about 1½ minutes total. Season with salt.
Transfer peppers to a serving plate. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with more flaked salt. The need to be well-salted!
Serve immediately.

Make the sauce:
Add palm sugar, tamarind, water and fish sauce. Let simmer, stirring and crushing, for a few minutes until the sugar is all dissolved and the sauce is thickened slightly.
After simmering for 3-5 minutes, the sauce should have a darker colour, becomes shiny, and has the consistency of maple syrup (it will thicken slightly as it cools).
Taste and adjust seasoning, keeping in mind that the sauce will be mellowed out by the eggs.

Make fried shallots:
Thinly slice the shallots and lay them on a plate lined with paper towel. Sprinkle salt over them and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
Once it has had time to sit, press a piece of paper towel onto the shallots to absorb all the liquid that has been drawn out by the salt.

Heat just enough oil in a wok or a shallow saucepan to cover the shallots. Turn the heat on medium high and add all the shallots to the oil without waiting for the oil to become hot.
Once the shallots are bubbling, turn the heat down to low and keep them bubbling gently until they are golden browned and crispy. Keep an eye on them as they burn quickly!
Remove the shallots with a slotted or mesh skimmer and drain on paper towel. Turn off the heat.
Make garlic chips:
To the same oil you used the fry shallots, add the garlic slices THEN turn the heat back on low.
Keep frying the garlic on low heat (gentle bubbling) until the garlic has turned a light golden colour and the bubbling has stopped.
Remove the garlic chips and drain on paper towel.
Turn off the heat.

Make fried chilies:
To the same oil, add the dried chilies and fry them on low heat until they turn a maroon colour and smell smoky.
This will take less than a minute so do not walk away!
Remove and drain on paper towel.
Fry the eggs:
Add more oil to the pot so that it comes halfway up the eggs. Heat the oil on medium high heat until the oil reaches 375-400°F.
While you wait for the oil, dry the eggs really well with paper towel to prevent oil from splattering too much. Then add the eggs to the oil, one at a time and fry them until they become golden brown (it should take just less than 1 minute).
Flip the eggs and brown the other side.
Remove from heat and drain on paper towel.

To assemble:
Cut the eggs in half with a sharp knife and arrange on a plate, cut side up.
Reheat the sauce (add a little more water if it has become too thick) then drizzle the sauce over the eggs.
Top with fried shallots, garlic, chilies and cilantro. Serve immediately with jasmine rice. Enjoy!

Put the water and liquorice pellets in your smallest pan and bring to the boil, stirring or whisking frequently to help the liquorice melt. Once it starts bubbling, turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes, stirring or whisking every now and again.
Turn the heat back on and whisk in the sugar, then the cream, and bring to a bubble.
Remove from the heat.

Spoon the cornflour into a little bowl, cup or ramekin and slake it with the milk: which is to say, whisk in the milk until you have a smooth paste.
Pour this, whisking as you go, into the mixture in the saucepan. Still whisking, put the pan back on the heat and bring back to a bubble, whisking all the while, for 20-30 seconds, or until thickened.

Divide between 2 heatproof glasses or cups and - unless you want to eat this hot - cover, touching the surface of the puddings, with clingfilm or baking parchment that you've wet with cold water then wrung out (this is to prevent a skin forming, a thing she Ed: That's Nigella cannot tolerate), and put them in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Let the puddings come to room temperature before serving, and remove the clingfilm or baking parchment and smooth the tops with the back of a teaspoon.
Put the soft sea salt on the table to sprinkle over as you eat, if wished. For those of us Ed: Like Nigella! who love liquorice, this pudding is a sheer, spine-tingling joy.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan.
Add the leeks and garlic, stir well, cover and cook for 10 mins until the leeks are soft, stirring a few times to check that they don’t catch.
Tip into a large bowl.
Put the spinach in the pan and allow it to wilt. Leave to cool and, when cold, squeeze out as much liquid from it as you possibly can.

Tip the chestnut purée into the bowl with the leeks and add the 3 eggs, the nutmeg, chestnuts, spinach, breadcrumbs, cheese and seasoning, and stir until well mixed.
Chill for at least 1 hr until the mixture firms up.

Heat oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 6.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a rectangle large enough to completely enclose the filling.
Carefully lift onto a large, long baking tray that has been lined with baking parchment, then brush round all the edges of the pastry with the remaining egg.
Spoon the filling down the centre of the length of the pastry, leaving the ends clear.
Tuck the ends over the filling, then firmly lift up the sides to wrap them round, trimming away any excess pastry as you go.
Brush with more egg to glaze, then make a few holes in the top so steam can escape as it cooks.
Bake for 40 mins until golden and the filling is firm. Remove from the oven, brush with more glaze and then bake for 10 mins more.


To make the sauce, heat the stock in a medium pan, add the leeks, boil for 5 mins, then take off the heat and scoop out 2 tbsp of the leeks. Blitz the rest in the pan with the cornflour using a hand blender, then cook, stirring, until thickened.
Pour in the cream and reserved leeks and warm through.
Can be made 2 days ahead and chilled. Serve the pastry in thick slices with the sauce.

Peel the celeriac and chop into chunks.
Simmer in salted water until soft and drain.
Blend together with a knob of butter and as many sun-dried tomato pieces as you need to get the colour or taste you require.
Lubricate and thin with cream or stock as needed.
Season and serve.

After you've fried your steak, add a large knob of butter and some garlic and herbs to the pan, if you didn't already.
Add shallots too, if you like.
Fry until the garlic becomes to colour, then de-glaze with red wine.
Add stock and redcurrant or rowan jelly if you like and bubble to reduce and thicken.
Grind liquorice pellets to a powder in a mortar and mix through the sauce to taste.
Season, strain, and serve with the steak.

Cut away the stalks from the kale, wash and drain them and roughly tear or chop.
Mix the lemon juice with about an equal quantity of the cream.

Heat a large knob of butter or a splash of olive oil in a saucepan or skillet and sweat the kale until it begins to collapse, but still retains its vibrant green colour. Add sliced garlic and sweat until fragrant. Add some cream, bubble and then add grated cheese and stir until it thickens and all melts together. Off the heat stir in the cream and lemon juice mixture.
Season if required and serve.

Mash up a garlic clove with some butter if you fancy some extra flavour.
Drag the blade of a knife along the length of the bacon slices to stretch them out a little.

Slice the fat mushrooms in half lengthwise, and cut or scoop out a groove the length of the insides.
Fill the grooves with Boursin.
Smear the cut surfaces with garlic butter if you're using it.
Press the mushroom halves back together and wind bacon slices around each mushroom starting from the bottom of the stalk, until it's completely wrapped, possibly excepting the head. Pin the bacon in place with a cocktail stick right through the mushroom.
Place in a small oven dish and drizzle with olive oil and a dab of garlic butter, if using. Throw in any of the mushroom cuttings too - waste not want not!

Roast at Gas Mark 4-5 for about 20-30 minutes until the bacon is starting to crisp at the edges and the mushrooms are cooked through.
Remove the cocktail sticks and serve the mushrooms dressed with all their lovely juices.
Perhaps with a few green vegetables. Maybe some broccoli.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).

Prepare the celery by discarding any outer stalks if they are coarse and damaged.
Separate the rest of the stalks, leaving the inner ones attached to the root. Clean any dirt off under cold running water. Cut the inner stalks and their roots vertically, then cut all the stalks in half horizontally.
Blanch the celery by putting it in boiling, salted water or use stock for about 5 minutes. Drain well, reserving the cooking water.
Now, in the flameproof casserole, heat 1 oz (25 g) butter and the oil, add the prepared carrot and onion and cook for about 5 minutes. I also fried up a few slices of bacon, cut into fat lardons.
Add the drained celery and 5 fl oz (150 ml) of the cooking water or stock. Sprinkle with the celery (or fennel) seeds and season with a little salt and black pepper.
Place the casserole in the oven and bake, covered, for 30 minutes or until the celery is tender.
When ready, transfer the vegetables to a shallow ovenproof dish, using a slotted spoon.
Empty the cooking liquid from the casserole into a measuring jug and make it up to 10 fl oz (275 ml) with the milk.

To make the sauce, heat the butter in a saucepan and fry the finely chopped onion until golden (I didn't bother with extra onion), then blend in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the milk mixture a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.
Bring to simmering point, still stirring, and simmer gently for a minute or two, then remove from the heat and beat in the Cheddar cheese and egg yolk.
I didn't bother with the egg either, but I wanted to re-use the mixture in smaller re-cooked servings later and didn't want the sauce setting.
Pour the sauce over the vegetables, sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese, and bake uncovered in the oven for a further 25-30 minutes or until it's heated through and the top is starting to colour.

Trim the sprouts, then slice them very thinly on a mandoline.
Break the slices up with your hands or a fork.
Grate over lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Dress with olive oil until glistening.
Mix through some grated pecorino.
Add chopped herbs, if using.
Heat a small frying pan and dry-fry a handful of flaked almonds and toss over the salad before serving.

Roughly chop the onion, fennel and garlic and sweat in butter over a medium heat until softened.
Peel the beetroot, finely slice and add to onion and fennel.
Add bay leaves and cider and enough stock or water to cover the vegetables.
Simmer over a medium heat until the beetroot is softened.
Peel, core and slice the apples and add to pan.
Remove the bay leaves then blend the soup, in batches if necessary.
Season with salt & pepper.
Pour into bowls and garnish with a dollop of crème fraîche.

Cut the beef into chunks about 1-1½ large. Be sure to remove any silverskin or connective tissue. Especially if you're using shin.
Quarter the kidneys and remove their core along with any additional stringy bits.
Put the meat and the kidneys in plastic bags and shake up with well-seasoned flour.

Heat the dripping, or oil, in a large frying pan. Adding more along the way as required:
Fry the floured beef in batches to brown, then scoop into a pot.
Fry the floured kidney in batches until browned, then scoop into a pot.
Chop or slice the onion or leek and fry until they begin to caramelise, then scoop into the pot. De-glaze the frying pan with the stout and bubble until reduced by half. Add to the pot along with enough stock to cover everything.
Add a dash of soy and Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and a couple of bay leaves and simmer gently for 1¾ hours until the meat is tender. Adjust the position of the lid, so as to finish with a thick gravy. You may need to boil more vigorously at the end.
Taste and adjust the flavourings and seasoning. Remove the bay leaves and allow to cool.

Two hours before you want to eat, sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt. Add mustard powder if using.
Rub in the suet briefly to mix together with herbs/cheese/nuts if using. Add just enough cold water to bring together into a firm dough using a knife.
Pinch off a quarter of the dough and set aside, then roll out the rest to about ½ cm thick. Butter a 1 litre pudding basin generously, and use the pastry to line it, being careful not to stretch it.

Fill the pastry with meat and gravy, stopping about 2cm from the top, and then roll out the lid and stick it on with a little cold water. Cover the basin with foil, with a pleat to allow the pastry to rise, and fashion a handle out of string to lift the basin out of the water. Put the pudding in a large pan half-filled with boiling water, cover and simmer for 1½ hours. Check the water level regularly and top up with more boiling water as necessary. Turn out and serve immediately.

Either halve the tamarillo and scoop out the flesh and seeds with a spoon, or quarter it and remove the skin with a horizontal cut with a knife by holding the tamarillo piece flat on a chopping board. Chop the flesh. Mince the other solid ingredients.
Mix everything together.
Season with salt and sugar if required to take some of the edge off the bitterness.

Break up the black pudding with a fork - avoid turning it to mush.
Fry small cubes of apple in butter to brown, then mix with the black pudding and some chopped herbs.

Stuff the poussin with the mixture, lard the breast and top of the legs with bacon and roast at Gas Mark 5-6 for about an hour until the stuffing is hot in the centre.
Insert a cake tester, then touch it to your lower lip to check the temperature.
If the bacon starts to burn, cover the bird loosely with tin foil. Leave the bird loosely covered to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Peel the remains of your apple and cut ¼" slices across the near-middle. Remove the cores if necessary.
Roll in soft brown sugar, then fry both sides over high heat in clarified butter until nicely caramelised.

To serve, carve away the birds legs and breasts.
Scoop some stuffing from inside, pile onto fried apple disks and decorate with chicken pieces.

Cut a beetroot into cubes, or use the small end of a melon-baller to carve out spheres of beetroot.
Juice the leftover parts, and two more beets until you have enough juice to cover the balls.
Throw in a half dozen pieces of liquorice and simmer gently until the beetroot is cooked.
Drain to serve.

Peel and trim the celeriac and simmer in salted water until softened, but not collapsing.
Cut into chips and deep-fry twice: First at 140°C until cooked but not coloured, then 190°C until brown.

Slice garlic and shallots or red onion.
Fry until coloured in a little butter along with any spare parts of herbs you have.
De-glaze with red wine, and throw in a large handful of raspberries while you bubble off the alcohol.
Add the liqourice-y juice from cooking liquorice beetroots and continue cooking until the raspberries completely collapse.
Strain the sauce, return to the pan, and bubble until reduced to a sufficiently thick syrup.