Stir-fried duck with sugar snap peas and asparagus

First of all, score the skin of the duck with a sharp knife. Then dust the breasts all over with the five-spice and a good pinch of salt. Put the duck breasts skin side down in a cold wok, then bring it slowly up to a medium low temperature so the white fat turns into wonderful thin, crispy, golden crackling. Cook for around 12 minutes, then turn the breasts over and cook for a further 5 minutes.

By which time they will be cooked medium, so remove them to a plate and pour away the duck fat. Get all your veggies and flavourings ready to go and wipe your wok. Now you want to get it really hot – if you want to open the window (and cover the fire alarm – joke!), then do. You may need to cook it all in smallish batches depending on the size of your wok.

Add a couple of tablespoons of sunflower or groundnut oil to your hot wok. Carefully swill the oil around so that it covers the whole pan. Add your asparagus and sugar snap peas or mangetouts and toss around, then add the garlic, chilli and ginger. Continue stir-frying on the highest heat for a couple of minutes, until the asparagus has softened a little but still has a nice crunch. By all means have a taste. Remove the veg to a plate. Slice up your duck breasts into little slivers and put these back into the wok with any resting juices and maybe an extra pinch of five-spice. Cook until nice and crispy.

Put all your vegetables back into the wok, and turn down the heat. Add the oranges, honey, half the mint and the soy sauce, and serve straight away on a large plate, sprinkled with the rest of the mint. Serve with rice or noodles, as a starter or main course.

Apple tart with lavender cream

1 Peel, core and roughly chop 2 apples. Place in a saucepan with butter and cook over moderate heat for 20 minutes or until soft and of a puréed consistency. Allow to cool.
2 Peel, core and quarter remaining apples, then cut into thin slices.
3 Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Roll pastry out to 3mm thick then, using a large dinner plate as a guide, cut out a 30cm-diameter circle. Place on lightly greased baking tray and score an inner circle 1½cm from the pastry edge to prevent rising. Spread the purée over the inner circle of the base and place the remaining apple slices in a tight concentric circle. Beat the egg with 1 tbsp water and brush the pastry edge with the egg wash. Sprinkle the tart with 1 tbsp sugar, then bake for 20 minutes.
4 While tart is cooking, heat 3 tbsp sugar and 3 tbsp water over a medium heat in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves and mixture reduces a little and becomes syrupy.
5 For lavender cream, combine honey and crème fraîche in a bowl. Just before serving, sprinkle with lavender flowers.
6 Remove tart from oven, brush with sugar syrup, then turn up oven to 220C/gas 7 and cook for a further 10 minutes or until top begins to caramelise. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Dust with icing sugar and serve with lavender cream.

Chargrilled tuna with oregano oil and beautifully dressed peas and broad beans

To make your oregano oil, pound the oregano with a good pinch of sea salt in a pestle and mortar until you have a paste. Add the lemon juice and 8 tablespoons of olive oil and stir until you have a good drizzling consistency.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add your peas and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon or sieve. Add the broad beans to the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, depending on their size. Drain and leave to cool, then pinch the skins off any big beans (you can leave the skin on any small or medium ones).

To dress the peas and beans you want the same balance of acid and oil as you would have in a salad dressing. So, put the olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper into a large bowl. Chop up most of the mint and throw it in, add the peas and beans and mix everything around. Add lemon juice to taste. You can serve the dressed peas and beans hot or at room temperature.

Heat a griddle pan or barbecue until hot, season your tuna steaks with salt and pepper and pat with some of the oregano oil. Place in the pan and sear for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Personally I like to keep my tuna a little pink in the middle as this tastes much nicer, but if you’re going to cook it through please don’t nuke it.

Tear the tuna into 2 or 3 pieces and toss in a large bowl with the rest of the oregano oil. This will give you a lovely combination of flavours. Serve the fish immediately, with the peas and broad beans, scattered with the rest of the mint leaves.

PS Sometimes I love to throw random delicate greens like baby spinach, watercress, even rocket, in with the broad beans for 30 seconds before you drain them. The combination of peppery irony greens, creamy broad beans and sweet little peas makes the veg taste even better.

Delicious winter salad

1 Put the sliced cabbages, carrot and spring onion in a large bowl and if you’re lucky enough to have any other interesting winter cabbages leaves, you can add those into the mix too.
2 Put your milk in a pan on a medium heat with the garlic and anchovies and bring to simmer. Let it cook for 10 minutes until the garlic cloves are soft, then pour everything into a liquidiser. Add the vinegar, olive oil and mustard and blend for a few minutes then stop and have a taste. You want it to be quite acidic but if it’s too acidic add a bit of oil for balance. Add good pinches of sea salt and freshly ground pepper then pour over the sliced veg.
3 Use your hands to toss and dress everything and get everyone around the table. Heat the seeds in a dry pan for a few minutes until warm then scatter them over the salad. Sprinkle over your mint leaves, then eat it immediately.

Blackened barbecued pork fillets

Skewers are useful for this recipe. They hold the four fillets together, making it easier to turn over when on the barbecue or under the grill. It also makes serving slightly easier because when you come to slice the fillets up, you can do it between the skewers, giving you pork 'lollipops' of blackened meat, which is quite fun. But if you don't have them, you can just use your tongs.

When you've made this once, I guarantee you'll make it at least once a year as it's so damn good. Great with salad, spiced beans, corn on the cob or rice.

To make your marinade, crush up the cumin, fennel seeds and cloves in a pestle and mortar and mix with the paprika, orange zest and juice, thyme, garlic, ketchup and balsamic vinegar. Season the pork fillets with salt and pepper, then toss them in most of the marinade until completely coated. Feel free to marinate for half a day, but at least an hour. If you have metal or wooden skewers, lay the fillets side by side and skewer them together about 2.5cm/1 inch apart.

When you're ready to cook, simply put the meat on to a barbecue or under a hot grill for 15 to 20 minutes or until nicely charred. Every time you turn the meat, brush it generously with the leftover marinade so you build up a sticky, blackened glaze. When they're done, put the fillets on a big platter and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice the meat between the skewers, or just slice each fillet in half, and sprinkle over some chopped coriander or squeeze over some lemon juice if you fancy.

English onion soup with sage and cheddar

If you have the opportunity, get hold of as many different types of onion for this soup as you can – you need about 1kg in total. Sweat them gently and you’ll be amazed at all the flavours going on.

Put the butter, 2 glugs of olive oil, the sage and garlic into a thick-bottomed, non-stick pan. Stir everything round and add the onions, shallots and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan, leaving it slightly ajar, and cook slowly for 50 minutes, without colouring the vegetables too much. Remove the lid for the last 20 minutes – your onions will become soft and golden. Stir occasionally so that nothing catches on the bottom. Having the patience to cook the onions slowly, slowly, gives you an incredible sweetness and an awesome flavour, so don’t be tempted to speed this bit up.

When your onions and leeks are lovely and silky, add the stock. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. You can skim any fat off the surface if you like, but I prefer to leave it because it adds good flavour.

Preheat the oven or grill to maximum. Toast your bread on both sides. Correct the seasoning of the soup. When it’s perfect, ladle it into individual heatproof serving bowls and place them on a baking tray. Tear toasted bread over each bowl to fit it like a lid. Feel free to push and dunk the bread into the soup a bit. Sprinkle with some grated Cheddar and drizzle over a little Worcestershire sauce.

Dress your reserved sage leaves with some olive oil and place one on top of each slice of bread. Put the baking tray into the preheated oven or under the grill to melt the cheese until bubbling and golden. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn’t burn! When the cheese is bubbling, very carefully lift out the tray and carry it to the table. Enjoy.

Early autumn minestrone (minestrone d'inizio autunno)

Add your fresh or dried and soaked beans to a pan of water with the bay leaf, squashed tomato and potato – this will help to flavour the beans and soften their skins. Cook until tender – check by tasting. They must be soft. Dried beans can take up to an hour, but check fresh ones after 25 minutes. Drain (reserving about half a glass of the cooking water), and discard the bay leaf, tomato and potato. Now season with salt, pepper and a splash of oil.

While the beans are cooking, make your soffrito. Heat a good splash of olive oil in a saucepan and add the chopped pancetta or bacon, onions, carrots, celery, fennel, garlic and the finely sliced basil stalks. Sweat very slowly on a low heat, with the lid just ajar, for around 15 to 20 minutes until soft, but not brown. Add the tomatoes, courgettes and red wine and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Now add the chard or spinach, stock and beans. Put the dried pasta into a polythene bag, squeeze all the air out and tie the end up. Bash gently with a rolling pin to break the pasta into pieces. Snip the end off the bag and empty the contents into the soup. Stir and continue to simmer until the pasta is cooked.

If you think the soup is looking too thick, add a little more stock or some of the reserved cooking water to thin it down a bit. Then taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with the torn-up basil leaves and with some extra virgin olive oil drizzled over the top. Put a block of Parmesan and a grater on the table for everyone to help themselves. Heaven!

Kedgeree

Boil the eggs for 10 minutes, then hold under cold running water. Put the fish and bay leaves in a shallow pan with enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes, until cooked through. Remove from pan and leave to cool. Remove the skin from fish, flake into chunks and set aside.

Cook the rice in salted water for about 10 minutes and drain. Refresh in cold water, drain again, and leave in the fridge until needed. Melt the butterghee in a pan over a low heat. Add the ginger, onion and garlic. Soften for about 5 minutes, then add the curry powder and mustard seeds. Cook for a further few minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes and lemon juice.

Quarter the eggs. Add the fish and rice to a pan and gently heat through. Add the eggs, most of the coriander and the chilli and stir gently. Place in a warm serving dish. Mix the rest of the coriander into the yoghurt and serve with the kedgeree.

Grilled mushroom risotto

Heat your stock in a saucepan and keep it on a low simmer. Place the porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour in just enough hot stock to cover. Leave for a couple of minutes until they’ve softened. Fish them out of the stock and chop them, reserving the soaking liquid.

In a large pan, heat a glug of olive oil and add the onion and celery. Slowly fry without colouring them for at least 10 minutes, then turn the heat up and add the rice. Give it a stir. Stir in the vermouth or wine – it’ll smell fantastic! Keep stirring until the liquid has cooked into the rice. Now pour the porcini soaking liquid through a sieve into the pan and add the chopped porcini, a good pinch of salt and your first ladle of hot stock. Turn the heat down to a simmer and keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next.

Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. This will take about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, get a dry griddle pan hot and grill the wild mushrooms until soft. If your pan isn’t big enough, do this in batches. Put them into a bowl and add the chopped herbs, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice. Using your hands, get stuck in and toss everything together – this is going to be incredible!

Take the risotto off the heat and check the seasoning carefully. Stir in the butter and the Parmesan. You want it to be creamy and oozy in texture, so add a bit more stock if you think it needs it. Put a lid on and leave the risotto to relax for about 3 minutes.

Take your risotto and add a little more seasoning or Parmesan if you like. Serve a good dollop of risotto topped with some grilled dressed mushrooms, a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Carrot and coriander treat for all

I always think it's brilliant if you can turn the humble carrot into anything remotely cool or credible, especially in the salad world. You deserve to have a medal if you can come up with something amazing. If you're lucky enough to have vegetables in your garden you'll know what I mean when I say freshness is everything. But those of you who haven't got a garden should buy the freshest-looking organic ones that you can find.

I use a mandolin to slice the carrots for the salad - it will give you long ribbony slices - but you can use a speed peeler or do it by hand with a knife instead. As long as your results are nice and crunchy, that's all that matters.

This is really good as a starter, or try eating it with some little kebabs if you're having a barbecue, or stuffed into some pitta bread with sliced grilled chicken.

First of all, slice the carrots or cut them up into fine ribbons, matchsticks or batons. Put them into a salad bowl with the coriander leaves and the sesame or poppy seeds. To make the dressing, finely grate the zest of the orange into a bowl. Add the orange juice, the juice of 1½ lemons and about 4 times that amount of extra virgin olive oil. Pound your toasted sesame seeds to a pulp in a pestle and mortar, then add to the dressing. Mix well, then season to taste with salt, pepper and possibly more lemon juice to make it nice and zingy so that you can taste it once you've dressed the salad. Once the salad is dressed, the flavour of the lemon will lessen, so get eating straight away.

Baked new potatoes with sea salt and rosemary

Wash your potatoes and parboil until almost tender. When done, drain them, drizzle with just a little touch of olive oil and roll in a tablespoon of sea salt, a little freshly ground black pepper and the rosemary.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7. Put the potatoes in a roasting tray and cook in the oven for 25 minutes until golden. Or wrap them in tin-foil and throw them on the barbie for the same amount of time.

The quickest tomato sauce

Place a large non-stick frying pan on the heat and pour in 4 generous glugs of olive oil. Add the garlic, shake the pan around a bit and, once the garlic begins to colour lightly, add the basil and the tomatoes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, mush and squash the tomatoes as much as you can.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper. As soon as it comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat. Strain the sauce through a coarse sieve into a bowl, using your wooden spoon to push any larger bits of tomato through. Discard the basil and garlic that will be left in the sieve, but make sure you scrape any of the tomatoey goodness off the back of the sieve into the bowl.

Pour the sauce back into the pan, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes to concentrate the flavours. It will be ready when it’s the perfect consistency for spreading on your pizza.

Store the sauce in a clean jar in the fridge – it’ll keep for a week or so. Also great to freeze in batches or even in an ice cube tray, so you can defrost exactly the amount you need. But to be honest, it’s so quick to make, you might as well make it on the day you need it.