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

Everyone seems to have a pet vine in their garden or on their balcony these days, but, if you haven’t, it’s almost worth nipping down to the garden centre to get one especially for making these. You might even end up with a grape crop too. If you use the brine-preserved vine leaves sold in delis, they won’t have quite the same aromatic freshness, but you will produce better dolmades than anything ready-made – and once you’ve stuffed and wrapped the first few few you’ll find y

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

This needs a couple of hours to chill, but apart from that it’s a doddle to prepare and is not cooked. It works equally well with hazelnuts and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use pecans, macadamias, whole blanched almonds or brazil nuts – and no reason why you shouldn’t vary the spices. What about some ground ginger or cloves? Serve it in 1cm slices or slim wedges brought back to just below room temperature Serves 8 340g walnuts, shelled and halved 400g dark chocolate, 7

These light, moist almond cakes, also known as financiers, are French in origin, but they’ve been taken up by the Australians and you’re now more likely to find them being drunk with a macchiato in fashionable cafés in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. I prefer to make small friands in mini muffin tins, but you can make larger ones – and I hardly need tell ice cream and mayonnaise-makers that these are a brilliant way of using up all those leftover egg whites in the freezer. Makes