Making Lemon Risotto this way is for week nights – when you want a beautiful result but might also have the homework to check, the washing to fold or a phone call to your mum to finish. It is zingy enough to eat by itself, although a green salad and a glass of wine on the side would complete the experience!

Serves 4

1 leek, finely sliced – optional
1 small bulb of fennel, finely sliced – optional
2 stalks of celery, finely sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil or the fat from the top of home-made chicken stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
2 cups Arborio rice
1 glass of white wine (whatever you are drinking)
1 Lavender’s Green Preserved Lemon, finely chopped flesh and skin (discard the pips)
1 Litre boiling chicken stock
1 large organic lemon, juice and zest
5 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, finely grated
60g butter

Sweat the first seven ingredients over a gentle heat, in a covered saucepan, until soft but not coloured for about 10 minutes

Add the rice and the Preserved Lemon to the pot and stir for about two minutes to coat the rice with oil and make it look shiny.

Turn up the heat and add the glass of wine and the lemon juice and zest; keep stirring until it has bubbled away to a glossy syrup. Add all the boiling stock at once, turn the heat down really low and simmer, very gently for 12 minutes (I time this step). After 12 minutes the rice will be perfect – el dente, and still sloppy with stock.

Turn off the heat; add the grated parmesan, the butter and fresh herbs if you like and hold, covered for five minutes or so, or until you have rallied the troops, got the serving dishes organised and are ready to serve and eat!

I love home baking to eat and to make to give away to friends. But realistically it’s not something I do on a regular basis, for all sorts of reasons. I do make these cookies often though. They are gluten free with readily available pantry ingredients and they can be whipped up within five minutes – if you’re organised! Have a play with the recipe and add more nuts, chocolate chips or dried fruit as the whim takes you.

• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set the oven to 350F or 180C.

In a beautiful china bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg, salt and soda together until well mixed. Fold in the walnuts and cranberries or any other treat you want to add to your cookies.

Using two teaspoons, place blobs of the mixture neatly on the baking tray and allow room for the cookies to spread as they cook. Expect to get about 36 cookies.

Wet the tines of a fork and press down on the cookie to shape and decorate it. Place the tray in the middle of the oven and set the timer for 10 – 14 minutes. The cookies should be golden brown and slightly puffed up when cooked sufficiently. Don’t forget to use your nose to judge how well roasted you want your nut cookie to be!

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the tray for five minutes. The cookies are very fragile at this stage! Then move them to a rack to cool completely. Resist them, if you can!

The title is a bit odd, I know. I tried to present this dish to the family with a more formal title, but as soon as the son and heir spied it, he dubbed it Chicken Ball Curry and it’s hard to call it anything else now. We like this dish because it is warm and feels generous. The combination of tomato, pumpkin, chicken and coriander just works and the conversations around the table will be suspended until most of the plates are clean.

Serves 6

Tomato and Pumpkin Sauce
400g tin of tomatoes in juice
140g tub tomato paste
That tub filled with boiling water, hold for a minute to dissolve the remaining tomato paste
Pinch of salt and sugar
Pinch of turmeric
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cups butternut pumpkin, roughly cubed
½ Lavender’s Green Preserved Lemon, skin and flesh finely chopped; discard any pips
1 cup coriander and mint, roughly chopped and added at the end of cooking

Put all the ingredients except the coriander and mint into a pot and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 -20 minutes until the pumpkin is tender and the sauce has thickened. Turn off the heat, add the chopped herbs, cover and keep warm.

Chicken Balls
1kg free-range chicken mince
2 teaspoons of both garlic and ginger paste
1 teaspoon red chilli paste
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Pinch of turmeric
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 small onion grated on a microplane grater
2 heaped tablespoons of Lavender’s Green Roast Lemon Chutney
Extra coriander and mint, roughly chopped, to serve.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and then form into balls with two dessert spoons as it’s quite a sloppy mixture. Heat a large lidded frying pan and fry the balls gently in olive oil until golden. You will have to do this in batches. When all the balls have been cooked, return them to the fry pan and cover with the tomato and pumpkin sauce. Pop the lid on the frying pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with extra chopped coriander and mint and serve over Basmati rice.