Serves 2 – 4

• 2-3 tbsp. ghee/clarified butter/ vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• salt, to season
• pinch of turmeric powder
• 2 cloves garlic, finely crushed
• 2cm piece ginger, finely grated
• ¼ tsp. cumin powder
• ¼ tsp. coriander powder
• ¼ tsp. red chilli powder
• 500g boneless chicken breasts or thighs or a combination of both
• pinch garam masala

Coriander paste

• 200g coriander with stalks, chopped
• 3 finger green chillies
• 1 tbsp. white cashew nuts soaked in 50ml hot water for 15 minutes then drained
• 125 coconut milk

Blend together the coriander, chillies, cashew nuts and the coconut milk in a food processor or blender until it becomes a smooth paste, decant into a bowl and set aside.

Heat the clarified butter/ghee/vegetable oil over a medium heat in a wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan until hot. Add the onion along with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. Cook until they become soft and not browned.

This will affect the colour of the dish if the onions are browned.

Add the garlic and ginger, continue to cook for a minute to allow them to mellow out. Now add the cumin, coriander and the chilli powder. Stir fry for up to 3 minutes, and then add the coriander paste. Cook for a few minutes then add the chicken. Bring to the boil; simmer until the chicken becomes tender (approximately 12 – 15 minutes). Finally sprinkle some garam masala and adjust seasoning. Serve with basmati rice.

Serves 6

Wings

• 6 chicken wings
• 3 tbsp. potato flour or corn flour for dusting
• oil for deep frying

Spiracha wing sauce

• 75g unsalted butter
• 4 tbsp. spitacha chilli sauce (or any other hot sauce)
• 3 tbsp. tomato ketchup
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ tsp. mustard powder
• ¼ tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. caster sugar

Avocado mayonnaise

• ½ a ripe avocado
• 3 tbsp. Japanese mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. sour cream
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• a pinch of salt

Cut the wings into drumettes, winglettes and wing tips. Reserve the wing tips for stock or some other use. Toss the drumettes and winglettes in flour.

In a large saucepan or wok, heat the oil to a very hot (around 180°C). Perform the next step in 2 or 3 batches if you have a small saucepan, so that you don’t reduce the temperature of the oil too much.

Dust off any excess flour from the chicken, and place the chicken into the oil. Deep fry for 1 minute. Remove the chicken to a rack rest for 30 seconds. Add the chicken back to the oil and fry for 30 seconds, and then rest on a rack for 30 seconds. Transfer the chicken back into the oil for one last blast of 30 seconds and then rest again for another 30 seconds.

For the wing sauce, mix all ingredients together in a small saucepan until well combined. This recipe makes more wing sauce than is necessary, but this can easily be kept in the fridge or freezer and reheated in the future.

For the avocado mayonnaise, blend all the ingredients together until smooth.
To serve, toss the wings in enough sauce to coat completely and serve with the avocado mayonnaise on the side.

Serves 6

For the meat stock

• ½kg shoulder of lamb, cut into approximately 5cm cubes
• salt
• 2 black cardamom pods, crushed
• 1tsp black peppercorns, coarsely ground
• 1tsp cinnamon, ground
• ½tsp aniseeds, roughly crushed
• 4-6 cloves, coarsely ground
• ½tsp mace, ground
• 1tsp roasted coriander seeds, coarsely ground

v½tsp roasted cumin, roughly crushed

• 2 bay leaves
• 1 onion, ground into a paste
• 2tsp garlic/ginger paste
• salt, to taste

For the rice

• ½kg basmati rice
• 2-3tbsp ghee/clarified butter
• salt

For the cooked meat

• 3-4 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
• salt
• 1tbsp ginger, grated
• 2tsp chilli powder
• 120g plain yoghurt
• 2tsp coriander, ground
• 1tsp garam masala

For layering and garnishing the rice

• 4tbsp ghee/clarified butter
• 180g castor sugar
• juice of 4 limes
• ½tsp chilli powder
• 3tbsp flaked toasted almonds
• 3tbsp blanched slivered pistachio
• 3tbsp raisins
• 3tbsp toasted coconut
• 2tbsp kewra water (screwpine)
• 1 cup meat stock
• 240ml milk
• ½tsp saffron threads steeped in 2tbsp of hot milk for 10 minutes, or just hot water
• 4 medium onions thinly sliced, fried until golden brown and set aside

First prepare the meat stock. Put the meat into a saucepan, cover with cold water, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Remove any scum that rises to the surface and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Keep removing as much scum as possible. Drain the meat and rinse.

Put the meat back into the saucepan and cover again with fresh water adding all the ingredients for the meat stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until the meat is tender.

Remove the cooked meat with a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve and then pour back into a clean pan. Bring the strained liquid to the boil and reduce until you have approximately 1cup/250ml of stock. Set aside.

In the meantime, wash the rice in warm water then rinse in several changes of cold water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes in salted water.

Now back to the cooked meat. Using a non-stick heavy bottomed pan, heat the ghee until hot, then add the cooked meat along with some salt, ginger, chilli powder and the yoghurt. Stir fry for a few minutes until lightly browned. Now add the rest of the ingredients and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes. If by chance the mixture tends to dry too quickly and begins to stick to the pan, just add a dash of water to help combine thoroughly. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a separate large pan, bring 1.5 litres of water to the boil then add the salt and ghee. Rinse and drain the rice and add to the boiling water. Boil briskly for 4-6 minutes until the rice pops up to the surface.

Drain into a colander and pour some cool water to prevent further cooking.
Pre-heat the oven to 220⁰C. For layering and assembling, mix together the sugar, lime juice and the chilli powder. Set aside. Combine all the nuts and raisins together and set aside. Combine the stock, milk and the screwpine and set aside.

At this point you would have 5 components for layering the rice-sugar and lime solution, fruit and nuts, fried onions, stock and the milk and saffron.

Grease either a heavy-bottomed pan or a deep baking tray with some of the ghee. Spread a quarter of the rice onto the tray and sprinkle some saffron, a small handful of nuts, a small handful of fried onions and some of the sugar lime solution. Spread some more rice on top then add all the meat over the rice. To the rest of the rice, mix in the nuts reserving a handful for garnishing, the fried onions reserving some for the garnish and mix in the rest of the sugar-lime solution. Spread the rice mixture over the meat, drizzle the saffron solution and the rest of the ghee on top. Now pour over the stock-milk mixture. Cover the pot with a fitted lid, if using a baking tray, cover with foil. Bake on high for 20 minutes to allow the steam to build up then reduce the heat to 180⁰C and continue to bake for a further 40 minutes or so.

Remove from the oven and serve on a platter, garnish with the rest of the nuts and onions.

You can make each of these components ahead of time and assemble it for your guests at the last minute.

Serves 4

Meringue shells

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• ½tsp pure vanilla extract
• ¼tsp cream of tartar
• ½ cup superfine sugar*

Panna Cotta

• 1 cup half-and-half (half whole milk, half light cream)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1½tsp grated lemon zest
• 1½tsp unflavoured gelatin powder
• ¼cup superfine sugar*

Tuile Cookies

• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• ½cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• ½cup cake flour, sifted
• 3tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• ¼tsp pure vanilla extract

Lemon Curd

• ¼ cup plus 2tbsp granulated sugar
• ¼tsp grated lemon zest
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1tsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

Sweetened blackberries

• ¾ cup blackberries
• 2tbp demerara sugar

*If you do not have superfine sugar, pulse granulated sugar two times in a food processor.

Preheat the oven to 110⁰C. To make the meringues: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a pencil, trace four 10cm circles on the paper using a glass or cookie cutter as a guide. Turn the paper drawing-side down.

In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. Reduce to low speed and gradually beat in the superfine sugar. Once all the sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form.

Spoon the meringue onto each parchment paper circle, smoothing the meringue to make a solid round. To make the shells, use the back of a spoon to push the meringue toward the edge of the round to form 2.5cm high wall. Swirl meringue up into short peaks on the sides.

Bake until firm, about 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the turned-off oven for 1 hour.

To make the panna cotta: Heat ¾ cup of the half-and-half and the milk in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the zest and cook for 8 minutes to infuse the mixture with lemon zest flavour.

Meanwhile, pour the remaining ¼ cup half-and-half into a shallow bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the half-and-half and let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the superfine sugar into the milk mixture in the saucepan, whisking to dissolve. Remove from the heat and stir in the softened gelatin, whisking until it dissolves. If any gelatin particles remain, return to low heat and stir until it’s all dissolved.

Grease four 8cm ramekins or 4 cups of a muffin tin. Strain the milk mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring bowl or container for easy pouring. Fill the ramekins or cups. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, 2 to 4 hours.

To make the tuile cookies: Whisk the egg whites in a bowl. Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Whisk in the flour to combine. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180⁰C. Line a baking sheet with a non-stick liner or parchment paper.

Working quickly, spoon no more than ½ teaspoon batter onto the prepared online pokies baking sheet to form thin cookies. Using the back of a spoon or offset spatula, thinly spread the batter into rounds. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Quickly use a spatula to remove the cookies from the baking sheet. While hot and soft, mold the cookies over a wooden spoon handle or rolling pin to form curved shapes.

To make the lemon curd: Heat the granulated sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and quickly whisk in the egg yolk. Return to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture slightly thickens, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl. Stir in the butter until it melts. Cover the surface of the curd with plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming. Refrigerate until firmed up, about 10 minutes.

To prepare the sweetened blackberries: Combine the blackberries, demerara sugar, and ½ cup water in a small heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

To assemble, place a meringue shell on a dessert plate. Unmold a panna cotta into the shell. Spoon about 1 tablespoon lemon curd in a line down the side of the plate. Using the back of a spoon, widen the line to a pretty smear. Top the panna cotta with a tuile cookie. Lastly, spoon a few blackberries around the meringue shell. Drop a few dots of blackberry juice onto the lemon curd for decoration.

Chocolate and lime go so well together. You can also make a lemon icing if you prefer, replacing the lime with 1 large lemon.

Serves 8

• 175g butter
• 175g soft dark brown sugar
• 3 free-range eggs
• 135g self raising flour
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder

For the candied lime rind

• grated rind of 3 limes
• 50g castor sugar
• 4 tbsp water

For the buttercream

• 100g unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 200g icing sugar
• grated rind of 3 limes, plus extra to decorate, and the juice of 2–3, enough juice to make a soft, spreadable icing)
• dark chocolate, roughly chopped, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/fan 180ºC/gas mark 6. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.

Fold in the flour and cocoa powder. If the mixture is very stiff, stir in a tablespoon of milk (or rum!). Pour into a greased and lined 20cm (8in) diameter, 2cm (¾in) deep cake tin and bake for 35–40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the cake is puffed up and golden. Turn the cake out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, make the candied lime rind. Place the caster sugar and water into a small saucepan and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Add the lime rind and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes or until the sugar syrup has reduced and the lime rind is soft and looks a little like marmalade. Sprinkle the lime rind over a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking paper and leave to cool and harden.

To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar together, using an electric mixer or by hand (start off gently or the icing sugar will fly everywhere), until pale and light, but don’t let it get too fluffy – you want a fairly solid buttercream for this cake. Add the lime juice and rind and beat again. Chill in the refrigerator until the buttercream is firm but still spreadable.

Spread the buttercream over the top of the cake using a palette knife. Decorate with the candied lime rind and dark chocolate.

By using Southern and Cajun ingredients, I transformed this Italian soup into a soulful Southern dish.

I like to cook a whole chicken when I make this soup, even though you won’t need to use all of the meat for this recipe.It’s always handy to have leftover chicken on hand for a quick meal.

Try using yours in my Lemon-Pepper Chicken Salad.

Serves 2-3

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.2kg)
• ½ carrot, coarsely chopped
• salt
• large handful kale leaves, cut into strips
• 1 cup red potatoes, cubed
• ½ cup sliced (1.3cm) cooked fresh andouille sausage
• ½ can (455g) large butter beans or lima beans, rinsed and drained
• ¼ cup yellow onion, diced
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• ground black pepper
• 1tbsp double cream
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Combine the chicken and water to cover (about 8 cups) in a large pot. Add the carrot and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover tightly, and cook until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a thigh registers 75⁰C, about 1 hour, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface.

Remove the cooked chicken from the broth and let cool. When cool enough to handle, pull the chicken meat from the bones. Shred into pieces with two forks. Measure out 1 cup of mixed light and dark meat for the soup (reserve the remainder for another use).

Strain the broth into a bowl and discard the fat. Return the strained broth to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add the potatoes, sausage, beans, kale, onion, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt. Gently simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Add the chicken meat and cream to the soup. Simmer until the chicken is heated through, 5 to 7 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if desired.

Ladle into bowls and top with Parmesan.

Banana splits are all very well but I like my fruit layered up with the sauce. It’s a great sauce – use it for drizzling over other ice creams, warm crepes and chocolate cake.

Serves 8

• 3–4 ripe bananas
• juice of 1 lemon
• 500ml tub vanilla or almond ice cream
• 175ml whipping cream
• icing sugar, to taste
• 2 tbsp dark rum, plus extra for the sauce

For the Chocolate Sauce

• 200g dark Chocolate
• 100ml milk
• 50ml double cream
• 40g castor sugar

To serve

• chopped pecans
• wafer biscuits

Thickly slice the bananas, place in a bowl and immediately pour over the lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring.

To make the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

Meanwhile heat the milk, cream and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the milk mixture to the warm chocolate, a little at a time, whisking between each addition (at first it will look as if the chocolate and milk mixture won’t combine, but keep beating and it all comes together). Add the butter and allow it to melt into the sauce. Leave the sauce to cool to lukewarm then stir in the rum to taste.

Whip the cream to soft peaks and add icing sugar to taste. Stir in the 2 tbsp rum.

To assemble, layer scoops of ice cream with the bananas and chocolate sauce in tall glasses and add a dollop of cream to each.

Sprinkle over the chopped pecans and serve immediately with wafer biscuits.

My daughter Shar makes the best coleslaw ever and this is her fantastic recipe. It is full of colour, flavour and crunch and doesn’t have too much sauce – just how I like it.

Serves 4-6

• 1⁄4 firm white cabbage (about 300g/101⁄2oz), very finely sliced
• 1⁄8 red cabbage (about 160g/53⁄4oz), very finely sliced
• 125g (41⁄2oz) carrots, grated
• 1⁄2 green pepper, deseeded and finely diced
• 2 spring onions, green part only, finely diced
• 175g (6oz) canned sweetcorn, drained
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh
• coriander leaves
• salt and pepper
• juice of 1⁄2 lime
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise

1. Mix all the prepared vegetables with the sweetcorn and coriander in a serving bowl. Season, then squeeze on the lime and dollop on the mayo. Stir everything together carefully. That’s it: fresh and fantastic.

2. Keep the coleslaw, covered, in the fridge if you’re preparing it in advance of the meal. This is great at a barbecue or any summer meal, or even to make you feel
like being healthy in winter.

In a large bowl, dissolve the powdered gelatine with 250ml of the pomegranate juice. If using gelatine leaves, place them one by one (not all at once or they will stick together) in a large bowl filled with cold water and leave for about 10 minutes. Once they are soft, gently pick them up and squeeze out any water with your hands.

On a low heat, warm up the rest of the juice in a saucepan then add the gelatine mixture or gelatine leaves and stir constantly until thickened. Taste the mixture and if en ligne casino it’s too sour, add the sugar until you achieve the desired taste. Pour the jelly into a large glass bowl or small glasses, then sprinkle in the seeds, reserving a few to decorate.

Leave to cool before transferring to the fridge to set. Before serving, decorate the jelly with the rest of the pomegranate seeds, crumble over the gold leaf and scatter with fresh rose petals, if using.

Tajarin is the Piedmontese dialect name for tagliolini or tagliarini (thin ribbons of pasta). They are particularly connected with the town of Alba – where this dish, with its sauce of chicken livers, is also known as tajarin all’albese where a topping of the famous local white truffle is added. Tajarin are served with many sauces, and one famed for its simplicity is sugo di arrosto, the drippings left over in the pan from a Sunday roast.

Pasta

• Fresh pasta recipe, or 300g dried tagliatelle
• 250g Italian ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 egg, plus 3 egg yolks
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 2tsp truffle oil
• 50–100g Parmesan
• freshly grated slices of white truffle (optional)
• salt and slots freshly ground black pepper, to season

Sauce

• 50g unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, cubed
• 400g chicken livers, cleaned and cut into small cubes
• 30g dried porcini (ceps), soaked for 20 minutes, then drained (reserving the water)
• 1tbsp tomato purée
• 50ml Marsala or dry white wine

To make the pasta, place the flour in a bowl or on a wok surface, and make a well in the centre. Add the egg, yolks, half olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Firstly with a fork and then with your hands, gradually mix the flour with the eggs and oil until you obtain a rough paste.

If necessary, add a splash of water. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until smooth, not sticky. Cover with a cloth and leave to rest for 15-30 minutes.

Roll your fresh pasta into a very thin flat sheet and then into a loose sausage shape. Cut across the sausage with a sharp knife to make thin strands, about 3–4mm wide, and leave to rest on a bit of a clean cloth.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan, add the onion and cook for about 5–7 minutes, until it starts to turn golden. Add the chicken livers, stir them around in the hot butter and fry for 3–4 minutes.