Celeriac and apple soup with cheese croutons

Makes approx 3 servings

Peel and dice one celeriac and 2 medium sized potatoes. Fry in a little oil with one chopped onion and a couple of cloves of minced garlic. After 5 minutes or so add a peeled, cored and diced brampley apple and a couple of sprigs of thyme.

Add 1.2 litres of veg stock and season with salt and pepper.
Leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potato and celeriac are soft.

Blend the soup (adding a little water or milk if it looks too thick). Warm the soup through again once blended.

Whilst the soup is warming, top mini ciabatta rolls with small chunks of cheddar and stilton. Put them under the grill to brown and then seve with the soup.

Beef, chestnut and mushroom pie

This is perfect Sunday food for when it's cold outside. Leave the filling to cook for a few hours while you sit back with a glass of wine and a good film!

- Season about 500g of beef chuck steak with salt, pepper and plain flour. Brown in batches in olive oil in a deep casserole

- Remove the beef once browned and set aside. Fry a diced onion with a diced celery stick and 2 cloves of minced garlic

- Add the beef back into the pan once the onions have softened a little

- Pour in 250ml of beef stock and 250ml of ale followed by a couple of bay leaves and some fresh thyme. Leave to simmer for around 1.5-2 hours, stirring occasionally

- After 1.5-2 hours add a couple of handfuls of button mushrooms and a large handful of cooked chestnuts and continue to cook for another 20 minutes or so. Check the seasoning and re-adjust if necessary

- Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees.

- Pour the filling into a pie dish and leave to cool slightly for 15 minutes or so. Then top with your pastry of choice and brush with a beaten egg. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden

- We served ours with a selection of vegetables

Venison fillet with red wine sauce

Such a delicious piece of meat! We bought ours from an independant seller at Tatton Food & Drink fair.

Season the fillet and then brown on all sides in a little butter. Bake in a pre-heated oven for approx 10-20 minutes. This really will depend on how hot your oven is and how thick the fillet is - check after 10 minutes as you don't want to over cook it.

We made a red wine sauce using 250ml stock, thyme, 150ml red wine and a tea spoon of red currant jelly and reduced it down by half.

When the venison is cooked to your liking slice it into medallions and then pour over the sauce. We served ours with dauphinoise potatoes and steamed cavalo nero and carrots.

Moroccan lamb filo pie

This is a brillant way of using up bits and pieces from the fridge. You can do all sorts... Moroccan, Indian, Italian, vegetarian... whatever takes your fancy.

In this particular instance we used a small piece of lamb neck fillet, mushrooms, spinach, a sweet potato, courgette, an onion, a small handful of pine nuts and a little bit of feta. Everything was browned and then we added chopped garlic, ginger, a chilli, nutmeg, ground cumin, a little cinammon and some stock. We left it to simmer for 20 minutes or so until the potato was soft.

Allow the filling to cool a little and then you can build the pie in a loose bottomed cake tin. Overlap 6 sheets of filo pastry so that half of each slice is outside the tin perimeter, then spoon the filling into the middle. Fold over the filo sheets and scrunch to form a lid. Brush the top with a little oil before baking in a pre-heated oven for approx 20-30 minutes. Serve with appropriate accompaniments... with this we had a tomato chutney and salad.

Tandoori rack of lamb with saffron rice

First, make your tandoori spice mix. We used ginger, coriander, cumin, mustard powder, garlic, cardomom and paprika - mixed with yoghurt. Marinade the rack of lamb for at least an hour.

Roast the lamb in a hot oven for 15 minutes, and then put it under the grill for a final 5 minutes for pink meat.

Whilst the lamb is cooking prepare the side dishes. We had basmati rice with shallots and saffron, plus paneer cheese cooked with tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms.

Pork belly, noodle and cabbage soup

This is a really tasty and spicy soup but you can make it less spicy if you like. Make sure you cook the pork belly for long enough on a low-ish heat so that it melts in the mouth.

For two people:

Roast a small piece of pork belly in advance. We did it the night before when we were cooking a roast anyway. Before you roast the pork, rub plenty of chinese 5 spice and a diced hot chilli into the flesh side. Once it's roasted (on a low/medium heat for about two hours), remove the crackling and eat it as a snack if you're greedy like us!

For the soup, fry a pack of shitake mushrooms in a little oil. After a few minutes add 3 diced spring onions and then 750ml of chicken stock. Then add a table spoon of mirin, a table spoon of light soy sauce and half a tea spoon of sugar. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes before adding some shredded savoy cabbage and the pork belly cut into slices. After another few minutes taste the soup... you may want to add a little more soy, some dried chilli flakes or a little more chinese 5 spice. Now add a packet of ready cooked noodles and continue to simmer until the noodles are warmed through.

Serve in warmed bowls with sesame oil and extra soy sauce on the side for people to add if they wish.

Plaice stuffed with crab

Mix together soft cream cheese with white crab meat and a few chopped chives. Season the mixture with black pepper. Put a spoonful of the crab mixture at the end of a plaice fillet and roll the fillet up around the crab and secure with a cocktail stick. Put the rolled plaice fillets in an oven proof dish and pour over 100ml of white wine and 100ml of stock.

Bake in the oven for approx 25 minutes until the plaice has cooked through. Add 100ml of double cream for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.

Serve with lemon wedges, potatoes and green veg.

Turkey, pancetta and sage risotto

Perfect Autumn food... Fry a diced onion with a clove of garlic in olive oil until softened. Add the pancetta, turkey (we used breast) and a handful of sliced chestnut mushrooms. Once the turkey has browned add the rice and keep adding white wine and stock until the rice has cooked. Add some chopped sage leaves and some green beans (chopped into three chunks) to the pan about 10 minutes after you've added the rice.

Check the seasoning and finish with a swirl of double cream and top with grated parmesan to serve.

Spanish salad

Mixed leaves with thinly sliced red pepper and red onion, sliced chorizo and cubed manchego cheese. Make a dressing with 2 parts Spanish olive oil to 1 part white wine vinegar with 1 heaped teaspoonful of quince paste stirred in.