Pear and dark chocolate crumble-base tart

110g vegan cooking fat, diced, 170g plain flour, pinch salt, 55g golden caster sugar, 1tbs of water

60g dark chocolate, splash of oat milk , knob of vegan cooking fat

6 medium pears, cored and cut into wedge/slices, sprinkle of sugar if depending how sweet the pears are

Make crumble mixture. Put flour, fat and pinch of salt in a food processor and pulse until starting to resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and pulse a few more times. Add the water and pulse couple more times.

Grease a tart tin (one with a removable bottom). Tip in the crumble mixture and spread it out so it covers the bottom and up the sides as far as it will go. Lay in the sliced pears and sprinkle of sugar if needed

Melt the chocolate with the splash of oat milk and fat in a bain marie. Trickle over the top.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 200, for 25 minutes or until golden and the edges of the pear slices are starting to caramelise.

Delicious hot or cold

Seafood waterzooi

This Belgian style fish stew is a great winter warmer. A bit like potato and leek soup with fish in it, I put smoked eel in this one (which I get from Paul Utting, of Cambridge's Wednesday Fish Van, near Stir Café). Serves three.

300g baby potatoes, cut into thick oval chunks
1 large leek, sliced into coins
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 onion, roughly chopped
big handful fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
400g mixed seafood
600ml vegetable stock
100ml cream or milk
butter
rapeseed oil
Salt and white pepper to taste

Heat butter with a bit of oil (to prevent burning) in a big heavy pan. Add the garlic, then sauté the leeks until just done, then remove them and set them aside.
In the same pan, sauté the onion, then add the carrot. When coated with the infused butter/oil, add the potatoes, then the stock.
Bring to a simmer, and add the potatoes. Part-cover and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add a big pinch of white pepper, the cream, and the seafood (and in order of required cooking time) and cover. When just done, add the reserved leeks and the parsley, stir in another knob of butter (optional, for added richness/gloss - if using cream you probably don't need to), and ladle into warmed bowls. Serve with crusty bread and maybe chilled Belgian blonde beer.

Crab and cashew warm rice salad

I know it's not quite the time of year for salads, but sometimes you want something a bit lighter than the seasonal hearty warming dishes, and this fits the bill as a nice quick light supper (or lunch).

1 dressed crab/ cooked meat of one crab
small handful cashew nuts (unsalted ideally - if using salted, be careful with your seasoning at the end)
150g cooked rice, cooled
handful of fine beans, blanched and halved
1 medium size shallot, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chilli, seeded
splash of white wine vinegar
handful of whatever fresh herbs are to hand (chives, flat leaf parsley, a bit of mint even)
Rapeseed oil
salt and pepper to taste
salad leaves to serve
lemon juice to finish

Heat a good heavy frying pan and add a good lug of rapeseed oil. Fry off the shallots, garlic and chilli, then add the red pepper and cashews. Add a splash of white wine vinegar and deglaze any nice caramelised bits of shallot that have caught on the pan. Add the rice and fine beans and mix so the rice is nicely coated in the cooking juices. Then add the crab meat and mix all together. Check seasoning, and serve with some salad greenery and a squeeze of lemon to taste.

Balsamic glazed roast peppers

I know the title of this one sounds a bit retro 90s, but it's a lovely handy thing to make a batch of and keep in the fridge as an antipasto and use however you want - chuck into pasta, on pizzas, salads, sandwiches, whatever. The quantity here will fill two roasting trays. Do more if you've got more than two oven shelves!

3 bell peppers, deseeded and torn into big chunks one or two shallots, sliced lengthways 1 dsp muscavado sugar Couple of big splashes of (not too expensive) balsamic vinegar salt and freshly ground black pepper Couple of lugs of olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 120C. Put all the ingredients except the olive oil in your roasting trays, and rub together well so everything's coated nicely. Then drizzle the olive oil over the top, mix together again gently and pop in the oven for 45 minutes or so, until starting to caramelise but so they're still juicy. About half way through, take them out and give them a quick mix around, scraping any gooey caramelised goodness off the bottom of the tray and mixing it back into the peppers. When they're done, they'll have shrunk down quite a bit and all the flavour will have concentrated. Let them cool uncovered so they don't steam and go soggy.

Fakebait (sustainable alternative to whitebait)!

I miss eating whitebait (seeing as it's just about the least sustainable seafood dish on the planet).
So here's my solution: FakeBait! Strips of sardines  coated in seasoned flour (plain flour, polenta, cayenne, smoked paprika, salt and pepper), shallow fried and served on top of spaghetti in tomato sauce, squeeze of lemon over it.
Allow one good size herring per person. Once filleted, open flat and pop the backbone out. The smaller bones you just crunch.
Season the flour according to taste - sardines have a robust flavour, so feel free to be generous with the cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. I use salt with dried seaweed in it for extra essence of ocean.
You could also serve with tartare sauce, a salsa verde, or oven dried tomatoes and a bit of salad. And possibly some dry West country cider.

Fishcakes

A great way to use up leftover mash!

Or make the mash beforehand and chill it.

Serves two

500g floury potatoes
1 small onion or shallot, finely sliced lengthways (almost like thin matchsticks)
handful of capers, chopped
handful of parsley
1 clove garlic
10g butter
splash of milk
Salt and white pepper

1 small can tuna, or any handy cooked fish

Vegetable oil

Make the mash - peel and quarter the potatoes, and simmer them with a clove of garlic. When done, drain and let steam for ten minutes or so, then push through a ricer into a warm pan containing the butter and milk. Add salt, pepper and the parsley, mix well, and leave to cool.

Fry the onion, and mix in a bowl with the tuna and chopped capers. Add the cooled mashed potato, mix well, and with floured hands, shape into little cakes.

Fry the cakes for five minutes each side in a good couple of lugs of vegetable in a medium-hot pan. Don't be tempted to move them or they'll break up. Turn once, carefully. Serve with a bit of sweet chilli sauce and mixed salad.

Puy lentil shepherd's pie

It's still cold out there (and wet and windy!), so winter warmers remain on the menu. This one's vegetarian if you omit the Worcestershire sauce, or use a veggie alternative.

Serves 3

For the filling:
200g Puy lentils, soaked in cold water for an hour
400ml vegetable stock
2 medium onions or shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 carrot, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 tbs tomato puree
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
Pinch each of dried sage and dried thyme
Big splash of ale or bitter
1 tbs sunflower or rapeseed oil

For the topping:
500g Maris piper or similar potatoes, peeled and quartered (or smaller still if they're big ones)
20g unsalted butter
Splash of milk
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Small handful frozen peas
Salt and white pepper to taste
Small handful of strong cheddar
Butter to dot on top before baking

Boil the potatoes in a large pan of salted water. When tender, empty into a colander and leave for 10 minutes for some of the moisture to steam off.
Warm the butter and milk in a pan, then push the potato through a ricer into the pan. Mix in the spring onions, peas and seasoning. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan, then add the onions/shallots and carrots. Cook until the onion starts to soften, then add the splash of beer. When the beer has mostly evaporated, add the tomatoes. Mix in, then add the drained lentils, tomato puree and herbs. Coat the lentils in the onion mixture, then add the stock and Worcestershire sauce (if using). Cook covered for five minutes, then uncover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until the lentils are soft and the liquid reduced by half.

When the lentils are tender, tip the filling into a buttered oven dish, and top with the mashed potato. Dot with butter on top, and bake in a preheated oven at 180c for about 25 minutes.

Serve with seasonal greens, or salad with a zingy lemon dressing. And more of the ale that went in the filling.

Pizze Bianche

Bored of pizza margerita?  Try one without a tomato base. This pizza uses creme fraiche instead, which makes it feel lighter.

Serves two

For the dough:
110g plain flour
110g strong white bread flour
pinch of sea salt
a few lugs of olive oil
150ml warm water
4g quick yeast
half tsp of sugar

For the topping:
2 or 3 tbs of half fat creme fraiche
Whatever fresh herbs are to hand (marjoram, basil etc)
A couple of sliced tomatoes
1 tbs of capers
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
Small handful of hard-type mozzarella cheese, cubed
 plus whatever else you fancy - in the one in the picture I used some chunks of leftover roasted squash and some grilled peppers

To make the dough, sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and some olive oil, then mix together. Make a well.
For the yeast mixture, add the sugar to the warm water in a bowl and stir. Sprinkle in the yeast and stir, then leave for a few minutes until it starts to activate.
Once the yeast is ready, pour it gradually into the well in the flour, folding it in until it's all incorporated. Keep stirring the dough mixture with a fork until it comes together, then switch to hands, kneading it until it's smooth and elastic (if it gets too sticky, drizzle a bit of olive oil around the bowl). This will take five or ten minutes. Cut a cross on top, and cover. Leave to prove for about an hour.
Pre-heat your oven (and pizza stone) as hot as it will get.
When proved, knock back the dough and work it on a floured surface, or toss between your hands until it's thin and roughly pizza shaped. Carefully transfer to the pre-heated pizza stone, then add the topping.
Spoon on the creme fraiche, then sprinkle the other ingredients on top. Bake for about 15 minutes or until it looks done!

Cut in half or into slices and serve with a mixed salad.

Grilled sardines with samphire salsa verde

...following on from the samphire salsa verde post earlier, here's a serving suggestion!

Flatten out your sardines, slash the skin a few times, season well with salt and black pepper, and put them under a hot grill for 3-4 minutes.
Arrange a circle of salad leaves on each plate, and in the middle, scatter some garlic croutons dotted with spoonfuls of the salsa. Place the grilled sardines ontop of the croutons and dot the last of the salsa on top. Squeeze over some lemon juice and you're done!

Samphire salsa verde

This is a great accompaniment to fish. Try it with grilled Cornish sardines!

Handful of fresh samphire
A few cornichons or pickled gherkins
Tablespoon of chopped mint or lemon mint
Tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
A few capers
A big dash of cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar
A couple of lugs of olive oil

Either chop everything by hand or use a mixer. Check for seasoning - there's no need to add salt, as the samphire is really salty. If you're using ordinary mint, you might want a squeeze of lemon juice. Make it a couple of hours before you need it and let the flavours mingle in the fridge.