As digestive systems everywhere brace for the annual chocolate onslaught, I thought I’d throw a cake your way so you’re match fit for Easter. Not literally, natch. I mean ‘throw’ more in a ‘here’s my chocolate cake recipe, come and geddit’ kind of way. And not that it’s ‘my’ cake, either…

We love the layered flavours you get in an Indian curry, especially when they skew sweet-sour. Which they do here, thanks to jaggery, tomatoes and – yum! – tamarind paste. There are a few steps to making this but none are hard. It’s a perfect Sunday cooking project and you can make extras and freeze them for during the week too…

Unleash the corgis and guzzle the Pimms… it’s coronation time! Well it was.  Concocted by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume from the London Le Cordon Bleu for Elizbeth 2’s anointing, coronation chicken was a mess of cold chicken, curried mayonnaise sauce, dried apricots and almonds…

I’m flexing my mince muscles in anticipation of May, which I’m dubbing My Month of Mean. Or of Mince. Or of Misery. Or something. With the cost of everything going bananas and cash reserves shrinking (thanks, Reserve Bank!), I’m pulling my horns in. No more soothing retail, bye bye Binge account and see ya later exxie wine habit…

Just in time for some Sunday baking, these ridiculously rich buns are exactly what the doctor ordered for a leisurely long weekend breakfast. Scrub that - they’re probably not. Because they’re chockers with chocolate, sugar, various fats and evil white flour. YUM! Please, please PLEASE don’t be terrified of yeast…

There are a gazillion interpretations of kedgeree and this one skews toward the dry end of town; essentially it's a subcontinental fried rice, if you will. The original contained just rice, eggs, smoked fish, onion, butter and parsley, with the curry powder ( the best bit!) coming laterr…

Cheese or date? It can be a divisive issue. Throw plain with jam and cream, sultana, or the Aussie abomination that is pumpkin into the mix and you’ve got a real mess of opinions on your hands. We’re talking, of course, about scones, up there with shortbread, smoked salmon and a few cheeses as Scotland’s only real contribution to culinaria…

The shortcake base here is like the LIttle Black Dress for dessert making; it’s no-brainer easy, is deliciously indestructible and is perfect for people who might be challenged in the pastry department (patisserie is a black art, weswear). There’s not much you can do to mess it up and because it’s more cakey than a classic pastry…

Ah, quinoa. Remember the tiresome mania for quinoa? When the Western world ‘discovered’ it (despite about 7000 years of quinoa domestication) and hipsters practically snorted it for breakfast? Who can forget how the price for the poor bloody Bolivians, who rely on it as a nutrient-rich staple, went utterly bonkers? We hate food trends…

Now here’s a combo I’ll bet you never saw coming. But jeebus, is it delicious or what? And we don’t have much more to say than that... and nor is there really a recipe. It’s more a concept. You know, the vibe of the thing. “In summing up, Your Honour, it’s melon, it’s tomato, it’s feta, it’s rightness, it works, it’s the vibe..

This is an oldie but a goodie recipe – it’s not fancy, but we don't really do fancy anything. Certainly not cake. It’s easy and tastes great and isn’t that enough? Use pear wedges, banana slices or even canned pineapple rings (retro!) if you’ve missed the plums already…

Here’s a cheese-heavy pasta dish that’s the kind of simple thing to make when you can’t be arsed to properly cook… which, if you’re anything like us, is maybe quite often.  All you do is cook some dried pasta (a tube-y one works great), then heave it into a large pan with some of the pasta cooking water, lemon, herbs, ricotta, a bit…

Can we talk about chicken skin? (That’s a rhetorical question; we’re bloody talking about chicken skin). Peruse supermarket fridges where assorted poultry parts lurk, witness the pallid, pink, skin-free horror and you’ll be asking the same question as we regularly do... where the heck does it all go?…

This Syrian-Turkish dip-spread is so full of intense flavour, it’s ridiculous. It’s not hard to make but, lest you think charring and peeling capsicums is tedious, it’s their exact sweet, smoky flavours that make this so amazing. So don't be tempted to skip this step. If you have a gas cook-top, just hurl your capsicums straight on the flame whole, then turn them regularly so they char all over…

Platter up! Grab the nicest of what’s in season, cook it simply, hurl it on a big plate, then do the ‘come help yourselves’ holler’ like a fishwife. We love a salad Nicoise and, while salmon might not be a traditional inclusion, it’s perfect with everything else. The recipe here is all about the emulsified vinaigrette…

Lately, we’ve been making tomato sauce like there is no tomorrow; maybe there is no tomorrow? Existential crisis/neurosis aside, our freezers are full of the stuff. When it’s winter, and fresh tomatoes taste like shite, we’ll be ever so glad of a never-ending supply of sauce for pasta…

When the weather turns torrid, it’s time to make like the Andalusians and blend up some silky-suave salmorejo. Yep, the southern Spanish know a thing or two about sweltering and chilled, rich, tomato-loaded soup is one of their ways of giving it the big Eff You. It’s SO delicious. If you ask us (and nobody has), salmorejo is the nectar of the bloody gods…

Ah... Paula Wolfert. Or should we say... ah, Musa Dağdeviren. If you don’t know, Wolfert is a legendary American food writer who came to prominence thanks to her extensive knowledge of Moroccan food. Her seminal book, The Food of Morocco, reworked a decade or so ago, is essential for any keen cook; I’m sure Felicity at Cook the Books…

Nab the last of the peaches now (sob); we mean, how much of a bugger is it when they march out of season? Not. Particularly. Peachy. As a parting shot to stone fruit lusciousness, whaddabout making this super-simple peach number, where the fruit is cooked in rosé and thyme syrup, then served with creme fraiche…