This is a lovely winter vegetable dish,  that goes well with roast meats and hams and is the perfect side-dish to counterbalance any heaviness. This is a tangier twist on the classic French recipe.

Ingredients

1 Celeriac

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

4 Tablespoons natural yoghurt

Salt and black pepper

Grainy mustard or horseradish 2-3 teaspoons

Juice of half a lemon

A glug of olive oil

Method (Ideally prepare this a few hours before serving)

Peel and remove the knobbly bits and rough skin of the celeriac and then roughly grate. This can be done in a food processor.

In a large bowl mix some of the mayonnaise and yoghurt (save some back as you do not the mixture to become too wet) and add the grated celeriac.

Then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix again. Taste and correct the seasoning. I find this dish takes a lot of seasoning but taste as you go. If you have added too much salt, then put some more lemon juice in.

Let it stand for 10 mins so it absorbs the flavours. If you feel it is too dry than add more yoghurt or oil. Serve cool.

As the temperature has broken double figures for at least two days now, we can assume Spring is round the corner, if not quite sprung. With that in mind, I offer you this lovely recipe, which offers flavours of the months to come and revives our palates from all the rich winter dishes we have been comforting our chilly selves with.

Purple-sprouting broccoli with Orecchiette

This is a great Spring dish, which uses some of the first vegetables of the season. Purple-sprouting broccoli is thinner and more delicate than normal broccoli and has a great flavour and a real freshness, as well as being packed with goodness. This dish is great as a starter or as a quick mid-week supper. Leave out the pancetta for a vegetarian option.

Ingredients:
300g Orecchiette
500g purple-sprouting broccoli (or any other sprouting, but not normal broccoli)
2-3 anchovy fillets
3-4 slices of pancetta or thinly sliced streaky bacon (optional), roughly sliced
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
A handful of cherry tomatoes cut in halves or quarters
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
1tsp Capers roughly chopped

Method

In a large pot, set your water to boil for the pasta, the water you boil pasta in should be plentiful and as salty as the Mediterranean; this allows the pasta to move freely and stops it from sticking. Cook until al-dente, so there is still some texture when you bite it, make sure not to over-cook your pasta, otherwise it will be sloppy, fall apart and you will be sneered at by all Italians.

Whilst the pasta is cooking set a large frying pan on a medium heat. Put in a good glug of olive oil, add the onions and sweat for a few minutes. Add the anchovy fillets, pancetta and garlic and turn the heat down.
Once the pancetta has started to crisp, add the capers and broccoli (which should be chopped slightly, so they can be easily forked in to the mouth). Stir everything and then throw in the cherry tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper, turn the heat to the lowest setting and cover until the pasta is ready. The above process should take between 5 and 10 mins.

Once the pasta is ready, drain it and add to the pan with the other ingredients. Do not shake off too much water from the Orecchiette and retain half a mug of the pasta water.
Pour over 2 more glugs of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar to taste (I cannot give quantities for these as everyone has different tastes. Adding the balsamic will add some sweetness and a touch of acidity). Taste and then season if you feel it needs extra. Toss everything and serve straight away.

This can also work as a warm or cold pasta dish for picnics.

As autumn trundles along and winter’s icy fingers pull us further in, the kitchen is the best place to be. The heat of the hob and oven mingled with the warmth of loved ones and friends mean now is the time to get in there and cook.

This time of year we see some of the UK’s best produce on show. With game in season and seafood in its prime, now is the time to try out something a little different, particularly as they go so well with all the lovely root vegetables that are out now.

Scallops with a celeriac mash or pheasant with root veg crisps are great combos. Also now is the time to start thinking about what to eat at Christmas will it be goose or turkey, maybe roast beef? Which, until Charles Dickens Christmas Carol, was they thing to eat at the Yule table. Smaller birds like duck and pheasant make great alternatives if there are less of you.

Be it sausage and mash with a cracking onion gravy, beef in Guinness stew or a spicy, warming vegetable curry with a Dhal, the choice is yours. With the nights getting dark and cold, now is when we want comfort food the most.

Party season is nearly here and we must think of that. Will it be a sit down meal, or lots of buffet style bits to enjoy? Something more interesting than “chips n dips” like homemade sausage rolls and filo pastry parcels.

The recipe below is a great brunch idea that will set you up for a hard days Christmas shopping or warm you up for a winter walk. It uses two of Britain’s best products, bacon and apples, which are still abundant at farmers markets. Remember to buy British apples, as these have less air miles and, more importantly, much more flavour.

Enjoy and get cooking!

Seasonal Recipe

For the Scotch Pancakes

This recipe makes about 14 pancakes, so a good amount for brunch with a few left over for tea later that day.

These can be kept warm in the oven before serving.

120g self-raising flour
small pinch salt
30g caster sugar
1 egg
1/4 pint milk

1. First grease your griddle/frying pan, use an oil as butter will burn, and then put on the hob to heat.

2. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the pinch of salt, and then tip in the sugar.

3. Crack the egg into the milk (best not to try doing this into the bottle), and whisk.

4. Pour the egg and milk liquid into the dry ingredients, and mix to form a smooth batter.

5. Test that the girdle is hot enough by putting a teaspoon of batter onto it. You should have a small pancake cooked in less than a minute.

6. For the main-event pancakes, use a tablespoon to drop the batter onto the girdle. I used the back of the spoon to form the dollops into more aesthetic rounds. (If the batter gets too thick, give it a mix with the spoon to loosen it up a bit)

7. Keep a beady eye on the batter. When the surface has become covered in bubbles, 2 – 3 minutes, get ready to flip it over using a palette knife or plastic flipper.

Don’t worry if the underside isn’t as coloured as you would like it to be, you can always turn the pancake over for an extra griddling.

For the bacon and apples

6 rashers back bacon (smoked or unsmoked is fine, but the thicker the better)
1 English apple (I like an apple with a bit of bite, like a Russet) cored and sliced 2-3 cm thick
Butter for frying

In a heavy bottom frying pan melt the butter until it starts to foam slightly.

Place the bacon in the frying pan and allow to colour slightly. Push the sides of the bacon down, to allow the fat to render out. Add the apple slices and then turn the bacon. Turn the apples and check the bacon is brown on both sides. The apple should be soft and almost falling apart.

Serve hot on top of the Scotch pancakes. My wife likes this drizzled with maple syrup, however, I like it a little more savoury, so a dollop of fruity brown sauce on the side is my style.

As we come in to September, we see summer pass us by and welcome in autumn.

This is a very exciting time in the kitchen as we have all the ripe fruits and game is in season. These things go hand in hand and I particularly like duck with berry sauces.

We also start to see many members of the squash family come into season. These are wonderfully versatile fruits, from the very small round orange squashes to big and odder shaped ones! They can be roasted, used in stew, risottos, stuffed in ravioli or turned into pies. What ever you do with them, make sure you do not buy the flavourless ones that we turn in to jack-o-lanterns at Halloween or you will be very disappointed.