Bolognese sauce is an Italian classic but it often lacks some traditional ingredients. In Italy minced prosciutto fat or panaccetta is added. A little minced streaky bacon will also give a satisfactory depth of flavour.

To feed four people heat 50gms of butter in a heavy pan, add the panacetta, bacon or prosciutto fat with finely chopped carrot, celery and onion. Cook gently without browning for about 10 minutes.

Next, stir in 200gms lean minced beef or 100gms beef and 100gms minced pork. Cook for a further 15 minutes. Pour in a glass of red wine letting it bubble for a minute or two to evaporate the alcohol. Add a tin of tomatoes or a little beef stock and tomato puree to loosen the mixture.

Stir then simmer for I ½ hours adding more stock if necessary. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground, black pepper. Put 500gms of tagliatelle in boiling water and cook till al dente. Strain the pasta, rinse and reheat with a little olive oil. Serve with the Bolognese sauce, grated Parmesan cheese and a green salad.

Why not warm up with a good old fashioned Steak and Kidney Pud…

To feed six first cut up 900gms of really good, lean stewing steak together with 300gms of ox kidney. Brown the meat quickly in batches in hot oil. Remove each batch from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Chop a large onion and a couple of shallots and a scrap of celery or celeriac if you have it. Deglaze the pan with a generous glass of red wine and about 300ml of stock or water. Return the meat to the pan, and cook gently for one and a half to two hours depending on the quality of your beef.

Meanwhile to make the Suet Crust mix 350gms of self raising flour with 175gms of prepared suet, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and salt Add enough water to make a stiff dryish dough. Take a 1.75 litre basin and line it with the suet pastry remembering to keep a piece for the lid. To line the bowl roll out a circle, flour it well and fold it in half. Push up the sides to make a flat bowl shape and continue to roll until it looks as if it will fill your bowl. Lift it carefully and open it up and put it into place. Press it gently against the edge of the bowl. Now roll out your lid and set aside.

When the meat is tender fry 275 gms of mushrooms in a little oil. Stir them into the cooked steak and kidney. This is the moment to add the oysters if you really want to be authentically Old English! Really delicious!

Now carefully spoon the filling into the basin and cover with the pastry lid, sealing well by wetting the rim. To take a large piece of baking foil and fold making a large pleat to allow you pudding to swell during cooking. Cover the pud with this and a pudding cloth. Secure with string. Place it in a steamer if you have one or in a pan of water on a little trivet or top of an upturned saucer. Cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Wrap the pudding in a crisp white napkin, in the traditional way, and serve the pud from the bowl! Bon appetite!

I always cook the steak and kidney filling first, then make up the pie.

First I brown 500grms of diced beef skirt or chuck steak in hot oil, then remove from the pan into a heavy lidded casserole pot. Next I brown the chopped ox kidney, having made sure all sinew has been removed. The kidney goes in with the beef. I heat a little more oil and soften three fat, finely chopped shallots, add a piece of celery, a few chopped parsley stalks and a couple of rashers of streaky bacon. All these add to the depth of flavour of the finished pie. I sprinkle a tablespoon of flour into the pan, give it a stir, and add a spoonful of tomato puree, red wine and home made stock. As it comes to the boil, stirring briskly, I deglaze the pan, then simmer for a few minutes, pour over the meat, add a bay leaf, cover the pot and place in a moderate oven. I let it cook gently, stirring once or twice, for two and a half hours.

Cooking time will vary according to the quality of the beef. Don’t be tempted to boil hard, this will only toughen the meat. While it’s cooking I slice 350 gms of flat mushrooms and fry quickly in oil and a little butter.

When it has cooled a little I put the steak and kidney and the mushrooms into a pie dish filling to the brim. I have a little old pie funnel which I put in the centre to let out the steam.

Meanwhile you can make the flaky pastry if you’re really dedicated, I don’t! I buy ready made and enhance it with some extra butter, cheating I know, but so much quicker and really very effective. Simply roll out the pastry into a long strip, butter the centre section fold one third to the centre, butter again and fold again. Now roll out for the pie topping and as you do so, the extra butter will be spread throughout making a lighter flakier texture.

Next wet the edge of the pie dish and cut a strip of pastry to go around the edge of the dish. Put it in place and now wet this too. Roll out the remainder of the pastry till it’s a little larger than the dish; make a cut in the centre of the pastry for the funnel and, using the back of the rolling pin gently lift the pastry on to the pie. Lower it gently onto the edging strip being careful not to stretch it. Press down round the edge and, holding your knife at ninety degrees, trim off the excess. Now seal the edges with the prongs of a fork, or crimp with your finger and thumb.

Decorate your pie with traditional pastry flowers and leaves and brush with beaten egg. In days gone by when baking was done once a week the savoury pies were identified in the larder by their decoration. Put the pie in the ’fridge to rest the pastry, until you need it Bake in a hot oven until the pastry is crisp and golden, about thirty to forty minutes. Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes, buttery vegetables or a green salad.

Today I will roast a shoulder of our own spring lamb with garlic and rosemary and serve it with young vegetables from the garden. I’ll dig up some potatoes and pick mange tout peas. Or perhaps I’ll take a little more time and pleasure to prepare a traditional Navarin Printaniere This is not a dish for stewing lamb. It calls for tender, lean meat which will cook gently but quite quickly. I prefer to cut up a shoulder or even use a boned out loin.

Take a little time to trim off any fat and sinew before cutting the meat into fairly small pieces.

Melt a large piece of butter and a little oil in a heavy oven proof pan that has a well fitting lid. Incidentally, the oil stops the butter burning and becoming bitter. Brown the meat quickly turning it over with a wooden spoon until sealed. Then take it out and set aside.

Chop a shallot and crush a garlic clove or two. Add to the buttery juices in the pan and, heating gently, allow them to soften slightly. Stir in a spoonful or two of flour scraping up the meat juices and mixing to a thin paste. Gradually add some stock and a little tomato puree.

Return the browned meat. Heat gently, adjust the consistency, which should be creamy, by adding more stock if necessary. Bring slowly to the boil, cover the pan with its lid and place in a moderate oven for about an hour. Test the meat with a skewer to see if it is tender. If not return to the oven for a little longer but don’t over do it.

Meanwhile prepare some young fresh root vegetables; new potatoes, very young turnips and whole baby carrots. Once the meat is tender add these and cook for a scant half hour without the lid. Top and tail some mange-tout or shell some peas and broad beans, slice your first runner beans or harvest the early French beans; use what you have in your garden or what you can find in your local farmers market.

Blanche the vegetables very briefly in plenty of boiling water, drain well and add to the lamb. Heat through, skim off absolutely any remaining fat, (there shouldn’t be much if you took time to trim your meat) taste and add salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve on warm plates with hot, crusty bread.

Follow with fresh raspberries and some really good ice cream. despite the rain I have a bumper crop this year,

Fresh free range chicken
2 garlic cloves crushed with salt
2 chopped shallots
2 tbsp olive oil
large knob of butter
glass white wine
juice half lemon

Mixed chopped fresh herbs: parsley, thyme, a little sage and a few wild garlic leaves at this time of year. In spring and summer the mix will be different, maybe tarragon and lemon zest or basil , chives and marjoram. The flavour of the dish will reflect the season.

Cut the chicken into six or eight pieces, save the carcass*.
Melt the butter in a heavy based pan, one which has a close fitting lid, add the olive oil. Put the chicken pieces in the pan skin side down. Brown a little then lower the heat and turn the meat. Cover the pan and cook for 40 - 45 minutes turning again occasionally, till the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm.

Now add the crushed garlic cloves and chopped shallot to the pan, stir in the wine scraping up all the residue with a wooden spoon, let it bubble, add lemon juice and half chopped herbs, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Put the chicken back into the pan, cover and cook a further five minutes.
Remove from the heat sprinkle with remaining herbs. Serve straight from the cooking pot with crusty bread and a green winter salad.

* Make chicken soup for tomorrow with the carcass!

The meat and fish are preserved in a dry cure of flavoured salt and saltpetre. Saltpetre is sodium nitrite and in these health conscious days regarded as unsuitable for human consumption. Its dubious origins and old stories of its early collection certainly make one wonder! However it is a good preservative and turns the meat pink. If you are not using it refrigerate the meat during curing. Sea salt is considered the best for curing and preserving but rock salt is quite acceptable. Modern fine table salt contains chemicals to stop lumps forming so is therefore not suitable for curing.

For 3kg of meat, I suggest belly of pork to start with, mix 500 gms of sea salt with 15 gms sugar, 1 teaspoon of crushed peppercorns, 15 gms juniper berries, 2 dry bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, 2 crushed cloves. Herbs and spices can of course be varied according to taste.

Rub some of the salt mixture well into the pork skin, then, turning it over, rub more into the meat making sure no part is missed. Put a handful of salt into an earthenware or plastic bowl or bucket and place the meat on top. Pour over the remaining salt covering it completely.

Cover with a piece of close fitting, boiled wood or a scrupulously clean plate and a heavy weight. Leave in a cool, dark place for four days and up to several weeks if you have used saltpetre. Do check in regularly in these modern days of central heating and double glazing. The longer you leave it the more moisture will be drawn from the meat gradually turning the salt to brine. At first the salt draws the liquid from the meat then the procedure reverses and the salt solution begins to penetrate the meat.

Rinse the meat well before cooking, soaking for a couple of hours. Bring it up to the boil, drain and then simmer gently with herbs etc for about forty minutes for a piece of pork belly, longer for a larger cut. Serve hot with traditional choucroute or crisp savoy cabbage or press it under a heavy weight, slice finely and eat cold with all those pickles, chutneys and preserves.

Serves 6:
1x 6-8 bone ‘French trimmed’ loin of pork, (see notes).
Salt and pepper, plus coarse sea salt for sprinkling.
Cooking oil
1 Tbsp clear honey.
1 Teaspoon picked fresh thyme, saving the stalks.
Juice of ½ lemon.
300ml (½ pint) Chicken stock, tinned consommé or water.
25g (1oz) butter.

For the parsnip cream:
1.3kg (3ib) Parsnips.
Milk to cover (approximately 450-600ml / ¾-1pint).
Knob of butter
1 tablespoon Dijon or wholegrain mustard.

Preheat the oven to 230°C / 450°F / Gas mark 8. Score the skin of the pork with a sharp knife in a line between each bone. Season the underside and meat ends of the pork with salt and pepper. Brush the skin with cooking oil, then sprinkle with table and coarse sea salt. Place the joint in a roasting tray, sitting on its arched bones, skin side up. Place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes at the high temperature to begin the crisping of the skin. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C / 400°F / Gas mark 6 and continue roasting, basting from time to time, for a further 50-60 minutes.

During this time, the skin will have crisped to a salted crackling finish. Remove the joint from the pan and keep warm to one side, allowing to rest for a good 15 minutes.

Pour away any excess fat from the roasting tray and place it on a medium heat. As the residue begins to bubble and crackle, add the honey and thyme stalks. The honey will melt instantly and begin to sizzle within a minute or two. When it begins to caramelise, add the lemon juice, which will begin to split, lifting all the flavours. Add the stock, consommé or water and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for a few minutes seasoning with salt and pepper. Stir in the butter. A teaspoon of flour can be added to the 25g (1oz) of butter. This will immediately thicken the liquor. Cook for a few minutes to finish the gravy,then strain through a fine sieve. Add the fresh thyme leaves just before serving.

While the pork is resting, make the parsnip cream. Peel the parsnips, splitting each lengthwise into quarters and cutting away the core. Cut the strips into rough dice. Place the diced parsnips in a saucepan and add enough milk to cover. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a gentle simmer. Place a lid on top and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the parsnips are completely tender. Using a slotted spoon, place some of the cooked dice into a liquidizer and blitz to a smooth puree, adding some of the milk if needed. As the parsnips begin to cream, more parsnips can be added. This may have to be done in two batches. If slightly grainy, you may want to pass it through a sieve. Once all of the puree has been made, keep to one side, ready to rewarm when needed. When reheating the knob of butter and mustard can be added and the seasoning checked.

To carve the pork, simply separate the portions by carving between each rib. An alternative is first to cut away the crackling. This can now be broken into pieces ready to serve with the craved pork. Serve the craved pork on warm plates with a spoonful of the parsnip cream and a drizzle or two of the thyme flavoured gravy.