At the pub in Suffolk, we used to get many buckets filled with quinces as gifts from regular customers. Mr P was in charge of ripening them, a process more commonly known as ‘bletting’. For recipes such as this one, the quinces need to be bletted before use to make sure they are ripe and almost squidgy before you begin. Mr P caringly used to spread out the quinces in perforated plastic baskets and then keep them in a dark shed. Once a week he attended to them by turning them, removing the rotten ones and then selecting the quinces that were ready to use. The smell wafting from the shed was superb and fantastically fragrant.

Towards the end of the season we would then make a large batch of this delicious mildly spiced and aromatic quince chutney and jar it to be sold over the bar.

I absolutely love how the humble quince has remained such an integral and fantastic seasonal ingredient in my life, from my childhood to happy times at the pub and beyond.

It’s easy, I suppose, to make a vegetable purée (like I do in the recipes below) and then simply stir it into Greek yogurt, but the flavour is never quite the same as when you make your own savoury yogurts. The basics of making yogurt are explained below and once you understand these (it’s very easy, by the way), then you can make any flavour that you fancy.

For the tomato-flavoured yogurt, I applied my chef’s knowledge, because I know that raw tomatoes contain enzymes that may destroy the delicate live cultures in yogurt, so it’s important to cook the tomatoes before use to prevent this happening (cooking kills off these enzymes).

I used equipment that I already had to make these yogurts, including a water bath and metal beakers from a pacojet (a specialist chef’s kitchen appliance), but please don’t be put off by this because you can buy an inexpensive yogurt-maker from online stores, including Lakeland Limited (or perhaps you already have one), and this will work just as well as the equipment I use.

When making yogurt, remember the following:

• Follow the temperature guidelines closely and accurately, otherwise the recipe will not work.
• Once you have got the yogurt set up, do not leave it in a drafty place and don’t stir or disturb it for the entire incubation period. If you stir it before the process is complete, the yogurt will ‘collapse’ and it will not thicken.
• The longer you leave the yogurt at the incubation stage, the thicker and more tasty/sour it will become.
• Draining the yogurt is not essential; it depends on how thick you want the yogurt to be. I drain/hang mine, as I like it to be quite thick, but remember that the longer you drain the yogurt, the less (total volume) you will end up with and the thicker it will become.

Tomato, Lemongrass & Ginger Smoky Barbecued Beetroot & RosemaryOven-roasted Carrot, Maple & Fenugreek

There was one salad I remember that regularly featured in those publications and it was a chopped salad of some description. At the time I could not quite understand the attraction; it looked a bit of a mess in a bowl to me and seemed to lack culinary flair and excitement.

However, the older I get, the more salad I enjoy eating, and funnily enough, I find myself chopping all the salad ingredients, then mixing in some vinaigrette, and it’s just simply delicious! Well, I’ve realised that the attraction of this type of salad is, in fact, the deliciousness of all the ingredients chopped fairly small and simply mixed together. So, here is my tasty take on one of those classic American-style chopped dressed salads, which I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did.

The beauty about this salad or slaw is that you can make it a few hours in advance before serving (but it’s best eaten on the day of making). Simply store the chopped slaw (without the dressing) in a covered bowl or airtight container in the fridge, then when you are ready to serve, simply mix the slaw with the dressing, tip it into a serving bowl and, hey presto, it’s done! Once dressed, the salad should be served immediately. No fancy garnishes are required either as it’s very attractive just as it is.

I have done away with mixed leaf salads at barbecues as they just get wasted, so this tasty fresh green number has fast become my favourite leaf salad replacement. It’s ideal for al fresco dining and is great served at a barbecue or with grilled meats or fish such as burgers, salmon or chicken or Slow-barbecued Lamb Shoulder.

I found these baby cucumbers at our local farm shop. They’re a great find as their skin is very thin and they have less seeds than standard cucumbers, plus I think they are even tastier. However, a standard English cucumber will give just as good results if you can’t find baby ones.

I served this salad with Barbecued Venison Kofta Skewers, so to improve the presentation, I thinly sliced one of the cucumbers and arranged it on top with a sprinkling of sumac and extra chopped mint. This extra touch to the presentation is well worth doing if you have friends coming round to join you for a barbecue.

Mr P and I both love vegetables and cooking them whole on the barbecue is a fantastic way to enjoy them. This barbecued curried whole cauliflower is simply delicious, and once it’s cooked, the cauliflower has a soft and creamy texture but is still just holding its shape. We slice it into wedges like a cake and serve it alongside Slow-barbecued Lamb Shoulder or barbecued spatchcocked chicken.

It’s an easy recipe too and doesn’t require much preparation, allowing you more time to chat and mingle with your guests.

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.

This hummus can be served as a dip with pitta breads or breadsticks, or it can form the basis for a salad. Served as a dip, it makes a great recipe to serve at a barbecue or drinks party.

We love corn on the cob and when it’s in season, Mr P and I enjoy it prepared in many different ways. We are having a great summer so far this year and our barbecue is ready and on standby at all times, so we have been enjoying all sorts of different things cooked on the barbecue, especially vegetables, including carrots, beetroot, potatoes and corn on the cob. It’s an ongoing experiment and we’re loving every minute of it!

For this recipe, the corn cobs are seasoned with oil and aromatics, then wrapped in foil to almost create a mini oven for the corn to cook in. The foil parcel creates steam, which prevents the kernels from drying out and helps to cook the corn evenly, while still allowing enough heat through to create that authentic barbecued flavour.

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).