Mashed potatoes are formed into a dough and then lightly fried in butter for this Irish classic. A great way to use any leftover mash, but also well worth doing some especially. Delicious served straight from the pan with herb for anchovy butter melting over. Try for breakfast or lunch - maybe even with a fried egg on the side too.

A simple, hearty, nourishing soup that is a classic in Portugal. The type of potatoes chosen will affect the final texture of the soup - floury potatoes will collapse and thicken the soup; waxier ones will hold their shape. Both ways are delicious.

A vegetarian soup if you go for a water or vegetable stock. For a meatier option with even greater depth of flavour, you could add slices of cooked chorizo to serve too.

This is a dish of glorious flavours. Peaches in summer (or swap them for plums when they are not in season) -are poached with rich honey, and then tempered by goats cheese and pepper. A quick and very tasty lunch. 

This is just the kind of salad for a chilly January - full of wonderfully rich colour from the radicchio and lots of robust flavour. Try to use the leaves from at least two different types of radicchio if you can, just to give maximum interest of look and taste.

I love this for lunch - served with tomato bruschetta, where small tomatoes have been cooked through for barely 2 mins in olive oil, crushed garlic and anchovy - but this salad is also great as a side-dish to lamb or fish. 

Radishes are so often eaten raw but take on a mellower flavour when cooked. This recipe makes use of their peppery leaves and partners with other seasonal highlights - new potatoes, fennel and wet garlic. It is great as a side dish for meat or fish.  

(When the wet garlic season is over, use three garlic cloves instead - crush then and add to the pan at the same time as the fennel.)

Spring’s seasonal soft, young goats cheeses here deliciously take on the flavours of mediterranean herbs by being marinated with them in olive oil. Only good, fresh-tasting, aromatic extra virgin olive oil will do as it is so front and centre to the quality of the finished dish.  The leftover infused oil can be kept in a well-sealed, sterilised bottle for use in dressings etc.

This quick and simple recipe makes the most of the nutty, full-bodied flavour and texture of top quality pasta. That’s pasta which has been bronze-drawn and slow-dried…

This aillade of pestled walnuts, garlic and vinegar is mixed with warmed cannellini beans, chopped tomatoes and torn basil leaves to have as an accompaniment or a meal.  Serve it warm with a lamb chop and a handful of rocket; as a salad with watercress; add some slices of chorizo sausage fried just long enough to release their oils; or pile onto toast.