Recipe: Cherry apple tart

For the Pastry
100g butter
Two eggs
175g sifted flour
Two drops of vanilla essence

For the filling
200g unsalted butter
200g sugar
Four eggs
100g ground almonds
50g plain flour
Three medium cooking apples
150g cherries- halved and stoned

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 150c

First cook the pastry base
In a bowl,cream the butter with the eggs until smooth
Gently fold in the flour and the vanilla extract and bring together in a ball.
Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for 45 minutes.
Roll out and line an eight-inch pastry ring of flan dish.
To bake blind, cover the pastry with foil and weigh it down with dried beans and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, lift off the foil and allow to cool.

pre-heat the oven to 180c
To make the filling, in a mixing bowl, cream together the butter with the sugar, then , adding them individually, beat the eggs.
Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the ground almonds followed by the flour.

Peel and slice the apples. Half fill the pastry case with almond mix and fan the apples on top.
Then fill the case with the remaining mix and arrange the halved cherries on top.
Place in the oven and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean-about 20-25 minutes.
Serve warm, possibly with mascarpone, creme fraiche or fresh cream.

Recipe: creamed leek and potato broth

For the broth

Two leeks cleaned plus one more for finishing the soup
Two medium potatoes peeled and chopped small
One onion
Three carrots peeled
Three sticks of celery
Two rashes smoked bacon
125g butter
Two litres of homemade vegetable stock
500ml double cream
Salt, pepper

Method

Chop the leeks, potatoes, celery, onion, carrot and bacon into 1cm cubes.
Melt the butter in a large pan
Add the leeks, potatoes, celery, onion, carrot and bacon
Cook slowly, stir until the potatoes are nearly cooked, be careful not to burn at this stage
Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes
Blend the soup until rustic and return to the heat
Add the last leek, ensure this is chopped small, simmer for a further 5 minutes
Add the cream, season and bring back to the boil.
Serve and enjoy with a farmhouse bread, gnocchi or suet dumplings.

Recipe: Chorizo sausage and sweet pepper soup

For the soup
200g Chorizo sausage chopped
Four red peppers chopped
Two cloves of garlic chopped
Two plum tomatoes chopped
One pint of chicken stock
One handful of chopped coriander
Creme fraiche
Seasoning if required

Method
Heat a large pan and dry-fry the chorizo sausage until it begins to release its oil, remove from the pan.
In the resulting oil, gently fry the peppers, garlic and tomatoes until tender. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for ten minutes.
Add the chorizo and coriander and blitz in a food processor, if the mixture is to thick add more stock.
Taste the soup and if required season, the seasoning will depend on the sausage being used.
Pour into soup bowls and finish with the creme fraiche, enjoy with crusty bread.

Recipe: Plum soup

For the plum soup
100g caster sugar
One vanilla pod
10 ripe plums stoned
Icing sugar
One tablespoon honey
Zest and juice of one orange

Method

First make a vanilla syrup by putting the caster sugar in a saucepan with just enough water to cover it. Add the vanilla pod. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes, remove from the heat.

Using half the plums, place them in a saucepan, coat them in icing sugar, over a gentle heat allow them to caramelise. Add the honey, orange zest and juice and allow them to caramelise for a couple more minutes.

Remove the vanilla pod from the syrup and add to the plums, bring the whole mix to the boil and remove from heat, blend the mix until smooth then chill.

Dice the left over plums and place in the serving bowls, pour over the chilled soup and serve.
This chilled soup is fantastic with vanilla pod ice cream or vanilla mascarpone.

Recipe: My beef stock

For the stock
Two carrots chopped
Two sticks of celery chopped
Two cloves of garlic peeled
Two onions chopped
One leek washed and chopped
100g parsley
25g thyme
25g rosemary
1.5kg beef bones
3 tablespoons of tomato purée
300ml red wine
Cold water
25g pancetta rind chopped
Vegetable oil

Method
Place the bones into a roasting tin and brown in a preheated oven at 250c until coloured but not burnt. Meanwhile, in a large pan, colour the vegetables, herbs and pancetta in a little oil. When the bones are ready, remove them from the roasting tin, shake off any excess oil and add them to the vegetables.
Stir in the tomato purée , add the red wine and water, use enough to cover the bones. Bring to the boil, turn down to a rolling boil and reduce by two- thirds, skim the stock every 20 minutes. Once reduced pass the stock through a fine sieve, allow to cool and store in a fridge until required.
The stock can be kept for up to five days, you can freeze the stock if you wish to keep it longer, freeze it in ice-cube trays for easy portion control.

Recipe: Rich hot chocolate fondant

Serves six
For the fondant
250g of plain chocolate
250g of unsalted butter
Two eggs
200g of caster sugar
135g of plain flour
30g of cocoa powder

Method

Grease six ramekins with butter, dust them with some of the cocoa powder and chill them in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. Break the chocolate into pieces and put in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water in a pan . Once it's all melted, gently mix in the butter.

Sieve the flour and remaining cocoa powder into a bowl. Whisk the eggs and sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. Then, using a metal spoon, rather than stir gently fold in the butter/cocoa powder mix. Spoon the mixture into the ramikns until each is 3/4 filled. Tap each to remove air bubbles, cover with cling film and chill for at least a couple of hours.

This can be done well in advance, as you can do the final cooking after you've finished your main course. Heat the oven to 200c, bake the ramekins for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow them to cool for a couple of minutes and then turn them out onto the serving plates. You could serve them with a chocolate sauce, cream or ice cream.