The amaretti biscuits can be made up to a week in advance and kept in an airtight container in a cool, dry cupboard, then, on the day of serving, simply sandwich them together with the freshly prepared almond cream. The sandwiched biscuits are best served on the day they are assembled.

I do make these quite a lot with different fillings such as forced pink rhubarb, cherry, raspberry, apricot and plum. When I make the raspberry and rhubarb ones I do not cook the fruits, all I do is add a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the centre of each piece of pastry, then arrange the prepared fruit and cream cheese on top. The baking time is enough to cook the fruits to perfection and the jam adds a dash of sweetness. Delicious!

These turnovers are perfect for picnics, afternoon teas, packed lunches and even breakfast, or try them served warm as a pudding with plenty of custard or pouring cream.

Anyway, I thought I would give it a go, so I adapted her measurements and got baking and I was super pleased with the results, as they’re delicious. This recipe is very easy to make and quick too. The crumb of the muffins is fine and very moist and they taste just as good the following day (if they last that long!).

I serve these for breakfast on their own, with just a pot of hot, fresh coffee to accompany, and that’s all you need – they are just the perfect start to the day.

I think raw button mushrooms must have fallen out of fashion for a while; I had forgotten how delicious they are in this fresh, raw salad. It is pretty quick and easy to prepare too, which is a definite bonus on hot summer days.

Please note though that the shaved mushrooms don’t keep well, as they discolour slightly and become soft after about an hour. Therefore, I recommend that you get all the ingredients together, make the dressing and prepare the salad (except the mushrooms), then when you are ready to serve, slice the mushrooms and put the salad together at the last minute; it’s really easy and quick. I have used a mandoline to slice the mushrooms, but a sharp knife will also work just as well.

This salad is delicious served as a side dish at a barbecue with barbecued salmon, Sticky Pork Ribs or Slow-barbecued Lamb Shoulder, or it can be served as a starter with crusty bread. 

The tiny crisp amaretti biscuits contrast beautifully with the peach jelly and almond foam and the thinly sliced peaches create this really pretty dessert. I make these as individual desserts, as I think they look even more attractive. They are very delicious too, so enjoy!

You’ll need to make these desserts in advance and ideally the day before you want to serve them, as the jelly needs to set for a minimum of 6 hours (but overnight is best).

I have chosen a particular cheese for this recipe as I liked the look of it and I have a special affection for stronger-tasting cheeses, especially blue cheeses, which get my vote in any shape or form. This cheese also appealed to me because of its lovely bright yellow colour; it looks summery to me.

The cheese dressing for this recipe, well, this is a new chapter in my life! Gosh, it’s so delicious, even if I say so myself! It’s quite thick and looks almost like a mayonnaise but it doesn’t contain any egg yolks. The dressing makes a little more than you’ll need, but this isn’t such a bad thing as the leftover dressing is delicious served over a simple garden salad.

The courgettes are sliced very thinly using a mandoline to create long ribbons, which look beautiful. The raw courgette ribbons and blue cheese dressing go together perfectly – I love this combination!

This pitta bread dough recipe is fantastic. I like the feel of the dough and it works perfectly every time (I use it a lot). For this particular recipe, I thought it would be great to stuff the raw dough pockets with a filling before cooking them.

As I usually cook my pitta breads using a griddle pan, the barbecue idea is not alien at all. The trick with this is to make sure that the barbecue is not too hot. Our barbecue has a lid, meaning I can close all the vents and the lid, which, in effect, turns the barbecue into an outdoor oven. The pitta breads take about 8–10 minutes to cook and if the temperature is controlled and you turn the pitta breads a couple of times during the cooking process, they cook perfectly all the way through with just the right amount of caramelisation on the outside.

This recipe makes a delicious starter or something tasty to nibble on while you are slow cooking a joint of meat on the barbecue.

For the filling, I have kept it simple today by using caramelised onions, feta cheese and oregano, but if you have some lovely curried/seasoned cooked minced lamb (drained of fat and as dry as possible), this would also be fantastic to add as a filling, along with the caramelised onions.

I used feta cheese for the salad as that is what I had in the fridge, but you could use fresh homemade curd cheese or crumbly goat’s cheese instead, if you prefer.

Any leftover dressing keeps well in a covered jar or squeezy bottle in the fridge for up to a week and can be drizzled over other salads.

I am in love with making rough puff pastry! It’s a pretty straightforward recipe and I find it remarkably satisfying to make. Once you have made your own, I guarantee that you will never buy puff pastry again. I make the recipe in larger batches and freeze it in 250g blocks, as these are perfect to whip out if you fancy making these palmiers, or perhaps a pie or tart or something. There are so many recipes that can be made using this rough puff pastry.

It is made by using equal quantities of flour, butter and cream cheese and the beauty is that you can make the quantity according to the amount of ingredients you have, e.g. if you only have 80g cream cheese, then you adapt the rest of the ingredients accordingly. The secrets to success are that your butter must be cold, make sure you don’t overwork the dough, and if a few larger flakes of butter are still visible when rolling your layers, then it’s actually a good thing as this helps the flaky layers to form during baking.

For these palmiers, I have used a mature strong Cheddar cheese and a Corsican semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese (that is encased and aged in herbs from the island). The reason for this latter choice is that I had some leftover from a function and it provides an interesting taste. You can use any cheese you like, but the harder and stronger the cheese, the better results you will get (but avoid using soft creamy cheeses for making these palmiers).

The salt-baked parsnips are great. I have done other ingredients in the same crust before, such as sea trout, salmon, mackerel, celeriac and beetroot, and it’s a great cooking method as the salt crust steam-roasts the contents inside and the seasoning penetrates the food, resulting in a tasty, succulent and well seasoned dish inside (you can’t eat the salt crust). It’s definitely worth the effort.

I pickle almost anything I can find, so the pickled parsnips here add a lovely, interesting texture and taste element to this wonderful dish.