There are few smells more evocative than the waft of roasting chestnuts and few more perfect ways of spending a Sunday afternoon than sitting by a blazing fire roasting and eating chestnuts you’ve gathered yourself. But when time is at a premium, standing in a hot kitchen cutting the shells to stop them bursting, then burning your hands trying to peel them, is about as therapeutic as being in the slowest supermarket checkout queue. This is where ready peeled vacuum-packed che

I have been calling this sauce salmorejo for as long as I’ve been making it, but as I no longer remember where I saw the recipe or how far I’ve strayed from it I’ve decided to drop the fancy moniker. But it’s definitely Spanish-inspired and slightly piquant and it’s for serving cold with tuna, fishcakes, aubergines, pork, spicy sausages and any number of other things. It’s also useful in cooking – with rabbit, for example. 500g large, flavoursome tomatoes 2 red peppers or tw

This was one of the recipes I wrote for The Sunday Times. The others were published in August 2009, but this one had to be dropped at the last minute because there wasn't space. As it's always been one of my favourites, I've included it here. Gelée de Tomates Tomato jelly sounds like something you might have with peanut butter, so I’ve stuck with the French name. Sorry if it seems pretentious. The recipe isn’t. It’s tomato heaven: an essence-like concentration of flavour, sof

Fresh tomatoes are with us all year, but there’s still something about eating them in summer – even late summer – that’s so much better. Flavour, probably. And choice. Shops, markets and allotments are awash with different types – not just plum versus round or beef versus cherry, but named varieties, on and off the vine. I could have specified varieties for all the recipes below, but it’s not necessary and it would be frustrating: Sainsbury’s doesn’t sell the same ones as Wai

Some other ways with herbs: • Herb butters for meat, fish, vegetables, pasta, risotto, sandwiches et al. Use any herb you like, including strong ones such as sage and delicate ones such as chervil and parsley. Quantities depend on the variety and personal taste, but think in terms of 1 tbsp chopped sage or rosemary per 100g of butter or 2-3 tbsp of other herbs. Work the herbs into softened butter with 1-3 tsp of lemon juice. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Roll into a

Ending off this blackcurrant series with, as always, some tips and extra ideas of what to do with all the blackcurrants I know you've bought to try out these recipes - or, more ways to use up trade volumes of frozen blackcurrants bought in order to write recipes for blackcurrants not in July. Blackcurrant Jelly Less sweet and even easier to make than jam. Try it stirred into Greek yoghurt for breakfast or pudding (or both) and use it as a glaze for open fruit tarts. Makes 2 j

See Part 1 of my Salades Composées two-part series here. Salad dressings The soy and ginger dressing (from my Smoked Salmon Salad recipe) goes well with other fish, too, such as salmon, tuna and prawns and with pan-fried duck breasts. Basic vinaigrette The common mistake with vinaigrette (apart from using poor quality oil and vinegar) is to use far too much vinegar and then to add sugar. Please don’t. If you want a sweeter, sharper result, try the honey version below. If you

This is part one of two - today's post on salad components will be followed by part two tomorrow on dressings. Top tips Don’t have too many components - dressed salad leaves plus three other items is often enough. Think of the classic goats’ cheese salad of southwest France: rounds of grilled goats cheese put straight on salad leaves and walnuts with a walnut oil dressing. Aim for some contrast in flavours and textures – salt, sweet, sharp, creamy, bitter; protein, vegetable

Fortify yourself with… A bottle of madeira and a bottle of Australian liqueur muscat or PX (pedro ximenez) sherry. •Use the madeira for deglazing pans when you’ve fried, grilled or roast some meat. Madeira is good because of its unique tang, but sherry , port and marsala also work. Sherry has the advanatage of being widely available and any style can be used as long as you take into account the sweetness/dryness. •Douse ice cream (choc, coffee, ginger, rum and raisin, vanilla

Look up the recipe for Coq au Vin in Larousse and it advises using a Chambertin or a Mercurey. Helpful or what? A Chambertin will set you back £50 or more and even a Mercurey will be £10-£15 a bottle. So what do you do? Simple. Drink burgundy; don’t cook with it. Thus began my tips on which wines to use in cooking in The Sunday Times in late 2004; hence the prices. Although later editions of Larousse Gastronomique (mine was a trusty 1989 edition) became less prescriptive abou