I have written two methods for cooking the rhubarb in this recipe, if you have the sous-vide tools, then give this recipe a go (see Chef’s Notes); it works for me every time, but if not, then the conventional method is just as good. The results are slightly different because with the conventional method the rhubarb may lose a bit of its shape if the heat is too fierce, but just use your commonsense with this one – I have given timings, but please keep a close eye on it. I am looking for a result of a cooked but almost candied rhubarb rather than a purée.

I have also used fresh sourdough breadcrumbs for these puddings. You could use normal wholewheat bread instead, but the sourdough gives these puddings their amazing light texture and wonderful nutty taste. Don’t be fooled by the title either, because these puddings are deliciously light and not heavy as one might expect.

I must be honest though, there’s quite a lot of work involved to make these beauties, but they are so tasty and such fun to eat that they are definitely worth a try!

I am fond of nuts and I use nuts and seeds in a lot of my cooking. My step-grandmother had a couple of acres of land bordering onto the Sundays River near Addo in the Eastern Cape. We didn’t visit her very often, but the few memories I have of her include her pecan nut trees. She had quite a few of these trees on her land and grew pecan nuts to sell. She was a very stubborn lady and even at a very old age she would climb the trees herself to harvest the crop. My mother’s parents also had pecan nut trees, so as a family we used to have plenty of fresh pecan nuts. My mother freezes the nuts to preserve them as they do go stale and rancid if left too long.

For the fritter batter, I toast the pecan nuts in the oven for a few minutes before grinding them with the rest of the ingredients. The taste is great and it gives my apple fritters a slight sense of sophistication. You could substitute the pecan nuts for walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios or even almonds, if you wish.

So, armed with that knowledge, I thought it’s time to do a quick Google search and be inspired to make my own version of a Linzer Torte, so here it is. I have made one fundamental change and that is to use walnuts instead of the more traditional almonds, but the choice of nuts is yours and you can use almonds, hazelnuts or even pecan nuts instead, if you prefer.

That particular week, Mrs Cochrane brought me a couple of kilos of fresh greengages and I also needed to make a new dish for my set lunch dessert menu. Well, hey presto, problem solved as the greengages were turned into jam in a jiffy, so the next stage was to perfect my pastry to make the tart. This pastry is slightly tricky to handle as it’s so short, but it’s well worth the effort as the results are ridiculously fantastic!

You don’t have to use greengage jam for this recipe (though it works very well with the walnut pastry, I must say), you could use another flavour of good-quality shop-bought (or home-made!) jam instead, such as raspberry or loganberry jam or even marmalade.

We feel that here in the UK we do not do enough to protect and promote our own regional food treasures, and with Slow Food their intention is to do exactly that – to protect our regional foods and spread the word about them. If we look at our European cousins, particularly countries such as Italy, Spain and France, each one is incredibly proud of their own produce and would not even dream of using their neighbour’s ingredients, not to mention importing goods, which would simply not get a look in.

I was asked to create a seasonal recipe for Slow Food UK using an ingredient from the forgotten foods list, and so I have chosen sea lavender honey.

Even for me it was quite difficult to get hold of, but when you are next in East Anglia, especially Norfolk, then do make a point of picking up a jar or two. It’s delicious! If you cannot find sea lavender honey, then substitute local honey from your own region instead.

I basically use any berries that I have to hand. Some say that a traditional summer pudding does not contain strawberries, but from my point of view, if you have them, then use them, if you like.

These puddings are made using a Victoria sponge cake instead of bread. The reason for this is that for me to serve a pudding in the restaurant it has to be special, and the Victoria sponge adds a bit of richness and decadence to a traditional dessert.

I have also added gelatine to the filling to help keep it together. I can already hear some sighs and perhaps people losing interest, but this is my twist on a traditional dessert and it does create something rather special, so I would encourage you to give it a go.

At the height of summer, these puddings prove to be really popular, so much so that I can hardly keep up with making enough of them! We serve each pudding with a scoop of raspberry ice cream or a dollop of cream or crème fraîche and plenty of fresh berries.

I love the wonderful blackcurrants we get delivered from High House Farm and it’s my mission to create as many wonderful recipes with them. I call this a sorbet and not an ice cream as it does not contain any eggs or cream. The brown sugar meringue recipe features in one of my other delicious recipes, so a bit of cross-referencing is needed.

I recommend full-fat yoghurt for this recipe as low-fat yoghurt can be fairly unstable. The liquid glucose helps the sorbet to stay scoop-able and prevents it from freezing too hard.

This sorbet is sophisticated and tasty enough to be served on its own and does not need any accompaniments.

Let’s begin with the cheese. I did not make the cheese, even though it’s been a life long ambition of mine. OK, I have dabbled a bit with making butter and making soft fresh curd cheese, but I have never got as far as making a rind- washed or hard cheese. One day perhaps I will when I am old and grey (ha, the joke is on me as I am already grey, but there is still enough life in my old bones to give cheese-making a good go at some point!).

That was short and sweet about the cheese, but actually I should give credit to two of the best Suffolk cheese makers I know. I adore Shipcord cheese made by the folk at Rodwell Farm Dairy, Baylham, Suffolk; the cheese is an alpine-style cheese and if you’re lucky enough to get an extra mature piece, then you can taste the salt crystal formations in tiny little pockets captured in the cheese. Delicious! You can tell I have tasted enough of this cheese to know its exact characteristics.

The other one is Baron Bigod cheese, a soft rind-washed cheese from Fen Farm Dairy near Bungay, Suffolk; I am truly excited about this cheese. It’s got a really unique taste and a wonderful texture and is amazingly rich and creamy. I like to leave this cheese at room temperature for at least an hour before serving, so the rich interior of the cheese starts to soften. The contrasting taste of the rind and the creamy centre is very unique – the perfect match for my whole wheat crackers!

Last year, Adrian Eatwell, our good friend and neighbour, brought us some fabulous seasonal treats, medlars. On receiving them they were hard and had to be bletted; bletting the medlars is when you leave them to ripen in a cool, dark place (such as a shed) for about a month, until they become very ripe, and almost squidgy jelly-like – you might think they have gone rotten, but they haven’t (although do turn them every so often as you do not want them to go mouldy, they just need to soften and ripen). It’s a long process, but if you can control your patience, it’s a very rewarding one indeed. I am well pleased with this year’s batch of medlar jelly, although sadly I ran out of jars and could only jar half of the batch. However, the rest is used on the cheese board and served with last Sunday’s roast pork, so it is enjoyed by some very lucky diners indeed.

The wheat crackers are simplicity in their own right, but I find that these crackers work best with the types of cheese we serve. I use half whole wheat flour and half white flour for this recipe; the whole wheat gives the crackers a nutty taste. They last for a long time if you keep them in an airtight container in a cool, dark cupboard. I usually make a double batch of the crackers, as they are not only tasty with cheese but are great to serve with pâtés and rillettes.

For the real ale ice cream, you can use any local ale of your choice and preference. I have selected Woodforde’s Wherry real ale, an East Anglian ale from Norfolk, for its fruity character. It is slightly floral and less hopsy in taste and that tones the bitterness down.

In the summer, I substitute the real ale ice cream for cherry ice cream and serve cherries marinated in red wine syrup with it. It’s a classic but reliable and truly delicious combination.

My mother loves cheesecake and she usually makes the chilled set type of cheesecake as it’s easy and she does not really like to use the oven – too expensive she says. My saying always used to be, “Mother, if you are going to eat cheesecake it has to be worthwhile, and in my opinion it has to be a baked cheesecake.” She likes to remind me of my words every so often, and I must say after all these years that my opinion still has not changed and I still agree with myself!

I make a baked crumble for the base, but if you really do not have time then use crushed digestive biscuits instead. I quadruple the crumble recipe and then use the leftovers for a delicious gooseberry crumble. Alternatively, the leftover crumble mix will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month (or it can be frozen), and it can then be used to make more delicious cheesecakes.

Loganberries are a hybrid of a raspberry and a blackberry. The large berries are deep purple red in colour and their sharp taste is similar to that of a raspberry. Their season coincides with the raspberry season and usually finishes before the blackberry season begins. We buy our loganberries from High House Farm, not far from us in Suffolk.

You could alternatively use blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or rhubarb for this cheesecake.