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 still warm fr
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 pudding with a sharp pl
My favourite granola/muesli This is a good healthy way to start the year and start the day. Hard to beat, with a delicious taste and texture and very sustaining. Serve with natural yoghurt, topped with fresh fruit. Kept airtight
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 you buy farmed,
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 richer
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 fish.For 4
Strawberry Pavlova This is our Perch Hill version of Sarah Mead’s favourite summer pudding. She uses strawberries from The Cheddar Gorge. For 8For the meringue:110g granulated sugar110g caster sugar4 egg whites½ te
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 this, the more va
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 tum
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 68 blood oranges100g caster sugarZest and juice of 1 lemonCampariSqueeze the juice
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, often at its best at t
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 starter160g freshly-podded peas (f
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 occasional crunch
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 cooked in whi
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 in batches and f
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 vegetables, such as aspar