Spiced Oat Biscuits Rather like homemade Hobnobs, these biscuits make a nice, light change from flapjacks, good with mousses or just as a straight biscuit with a cup of tea. They’re at their very best eaten
Devonshire honey cake with plum or damson compote With its quite dense texture and fantastic taste of honey, this cake almost makes you feel like you’re eating straight from the comb. It’s delicious but sweet, so serve it as a pud
Tom Yum A classic south-east Asian soup which, served with a bowl of red or black rice, makes a meal. Whenever you’re buying prawns, look out for tiger, green or white prawns, ideally wild. If y
Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes I love the sharp tang of buckwheat flour, more interesting than plain wheat, but you can use that too. Serve for breakfast scattered with blueberries, blackcurrants (now being heralded as even
Sweet potato, ginger and coconut gratin This is a massive family favourite. We might eat it as a main course one day with a green salad, and then often have the leftovers as a side veg the next day, delicious alongside chicken or fi
Strawberry Pavlova This is our Perch Hill version of Sarah Mead’s favourite summer pudding. She uses strawberries from The Cheddar Gorge. For 8 For the meringue: 110g granulated su
Mushrooms with polenta Anything with a strong flavour and a soft texture is good with polenta. I love polenta with braised chicory and it’s wonderful with mushrooms. You can use a real mix of mushrooms for thi
Strawberry Cranachan Start preparing this the day before, so the dairy filling can set in the fridge overnight and then be assembled and the fruit add in no time when ready to serve. We serve these in clear glass&
Blood Orange Sorbet with Campari One of the best drinks on the planet is a Blood Orange and Campari Soda. Here it is in a pudding bowl. For 6 8 blood oranges 100g caster sugar Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Cauliflower couscous This so-called ‘couscous’ made from nearly-raw cauliflower is an excellent side dish to have with any of the chillies or curries. It looks great with multi-coloured cauliflower, of
Asparagus, pea and Broad Bean Salad This is the perfect late spring, early summer salad, using all the best produce from the garden, good farmer’s market or greengrocer. For 4 as a main course or 6 as a starter
Strawberry and passion-fruit granita Hardly needing a recipe, this is a super-quick and easy pudding. Strawberries and passion fruit are both sweet, so you don’t need the usual piles of sugar of the average granita. The occ
Chard gratin A fantastic meal-in-one recipe, which is delicious just as it is, served with a few potatoes. It’s also lovely with good olives cut in half and added to the chard. Or you can add mussels
Squash and Feta Filo Parcels One of our favourite things to serve for our Garden Open café lunches, filled with squash, courgettes, spinach, chard, grated beetroot, fennel, or a mixture of veg. You can make these i
Primavera Risotto A Venetian classic which always looks as good as it tastes, with the first, tender mini beans, asparagus and mangetouts of the season. For 4–5: About 450g selection of new ve
Bay & Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes You can make these with any waxy salad potato, but I love them best with ‘Pink Fir Apples’. Stuffed with herbs they’re tasty and have a good mix of softness and crunch. I lov
