You will need:-
shallots, onion, butter, fresh thyme, white wine, double cream, crème fraiche, vegetable bouillon, flour, vegetable oil

Firstly finely chop the four shallots and the half an onion and then sweat them for 5 minutes in a pan with a little butter and oil, you can also add your sprigs of fresh thyme at this point.

After 5 minutes remove the pan from the heat and then you add half a bottle of white wine; return to the heat and reduce the sauce by half. This takes approximately 15-20 minutes.

To this reduction you can then add a pinch of ground black pepper, 250ml of vegetable bouillon and 800ml of double cream/crème fraiche combined (400ml of each); bring back to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and then pass the mixture through a sieve to remove all the onions and thyme etc. Return the sauce to the pan and now you can thicken the sauce to your required consistency using a beurre meunière (this is a 50% butter, 50% flour mixture) or cornflour is equally as good mixed with a little water. Add the mixture gradually, whisking it in each time, the sauce has to be brought back to the boil for the thickening process to be effective.

If you don’t want to use the sauce immediately you can cool it down for an hour and then cover and store in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Et voila! A tasty base sauce for many home-cooked favourites!

You will need; 1 pint of double cream, 150g caster sugar, lemon juice. Serves 6.

So to make it is very simple, here is what you do:

1. Firstly, into the pan goes 1 pint of double cream and 150g of caster sugar. Bring this to the boil, give it a quick whisk and add the juice of 2 freshly squeezed lemons – whisk again.
2. Pour the mixture into ramekins or glasses and chill in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.

Et voila! Ready to be enjoyed – I like to serve it topped with a fruit compote and with some home-made sable biscuits. A lovely refreshing dessert, perfect to finish off that summer BBQ!

You will need; 1/2 a Romaine or Cos lettuce, 1/2 a cucumber, 2 x tomatoes, kalamata olives, 3 x slices feta cheese, oregano, lemon juice, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil.

So to make it is very simple, here is what you do:

1. Firstly, roughly chop your washed lettuce and place on a plate, then season with salt and pepper
2. Then slice your cucumber (skin it first if you prefer) and quarter your tomatoes
3. Arrange these in a nice pattern around the edge of the plate
4. Drizzle generously with olive oil at this point and with the juice of half a lemon and then lay the feta cheese slices on the top of the lettuce and drizzle with olive oil again
5. Add some olives to the salad and then sprinkle a good pinch of oregano, (freshly-chopped if you have it) or dried is fine, on to the feta cheese

Et voila! Ready to be eaten, fresh, healthy and tasty.

You will need; parsley, lemon juice, salt, garlic and extra virgin olive oil.

So to make it is very simple, here is what you do:

1. Firstly, into your blender goes about 100g of parsley leaves (flat or curly), a teaspoon of rock salt, the juice of half a freshly-squeezed lemon, 2 garlic cloves and approx 200ml of extra virgin olive oil.
2. Then you blend until it is a smooth liquid and it should be a lovely green colour! Taste and adjust if necessary, if it needs more seasoning etc.

Et presto! Ready to be used and enjoyed now or it can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4/5 days.

You will need; salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil and vinegar (I prefer to use red wine vinegar).

So to make it is very simple, here is what you do:

Instructions:

1. Firstly, into your bowl goes 1 tablespoon of vinegar then your seasoning – a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix so the salt dissolves in the vinegar.
2. Next you add 1 tablespoon of the Dijon mustard and mix well
3. Once this is mixed in you add 4 tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil and mix thoroughly
4. Taste the dressing so that you can adjust it as necessary, for example if it is too “sharp” add a bit more olive oil
5. If you like, at this point, you can add finely-chopped fresh herbs.

You can always experiment with other vinegars and oils, but the principle remains the same; 1 part vinegar, 1 part mustard to 4 parts oil.

Et voila! Ready to be used and enjoyed!

All you need is a good quantity of sugar pastry (approx. 250g, view the Sugar Pastry recipe and video here), some good quality mincemeat, a rolling pin, a non-stick baking tray, and two pastry cutters (one slightly bigger than the other one) and some flour for the rolling.

So to make it, here is what you do (this will make approx. 12 mince pies):

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 °c (160 fan)
2. Firstly, dust the work top and the pastry with flour
3. Roll out the pastry with the rolling pin, rotating it a quarter turn each time
4. Continue with this until the pastry is about 1/2cm thick
5. Cut the bases of the mince pies, using the larger cutter
6. Lay these on a baking tray and add a generous helping of mincemeat
7. Then just cut the tops of the mince pies with the smaller cutter and cover the mincemeat on each one
8. No need to seal the lids, this will happen in the cooking process
9. Put them in the oven and bake for 20/25 minutes or until they are a nice golden brown colour
10. Rest them on a cooling rack and then after 10/15 mins dust them with a little icing sugar

Et voila! Ready to be enjoyed, by the fire, with a nice glass of red or white mulled wine!

Top tip – You can store them in a sealed container and they can be warmed through before serving.

So to make the pastry, here is what you need:

Ingredients:

200g Plain Flour (sifted)
125g Butter
50g Caster Sugar
1 Free Range Egg (beaten)
Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. First sift your flour into a good size mixing bowl
2. Then add the butter, break it into smaller pieces and work it into the flour with your hands for a few minutes until the butter is incorporated into the flour
3. Make a well in the flour/butter mix and add the sugar, salt and the beaten egg
4. Starting with a fork, mix the ingredients for several minutes (you may prefer to use a spatula after a while) until it is a nice, smooth dough
5. Before being used the sugar pastry must be put in the fridge for two hours, this firms the pastry up – just cover in clingfilm

Et voila! Ready to be used.

I love eating al fresco and always make the most of it when I can.

On the menu there would usually be; Chicken Kebabs (made with the chicken marinade recipe of course!), Homemade Burgers & Lamb Kebabs.

Accompanied by a nice green salad and usually one or more of the following salads; Greek Salad, Tomato Onion & Basil Salad, Couscous & Roasted Vegetable Salad.

We would grill some mini pittas or ciabatta and have with houmous and tzatziki.

An essential for me is fresh lemon – a squeeze of this over your kebabs really brings out the flavour.

As for desserts, the family love watermelon or any fresh fruit on ice or alternatively strawberries with meringue, vanilla ice-cream and clotted cream.

I use lumpwood charcoal for our BBQs and prefer this to a gas BBQ – it does take longer but this gives you time to be a good host and chat with your guests although don’t chat for too long after the coals are white hot as you miss the best heat and may struggle to cook everything.

I have indeed done this (just ask my dear wife about it!) and had to finish the food off in the oven!

The good news is that my daughter Aloise enjoys being the BBQ chef so I can leave it in her capable hands now!!

As parents we were encouraged to attend with our children and I know that the adults enjoyed it as much as the children – if not more!!

With that in mind, one Sunday we decided to go “en famille” and do our own version of Forest School and have our lunch in the woods. We took sausages, hot dog rolls, ketchup and all you need is an old frying pan to cook over the fire with – we now have a designated Forest Pan!

Obviously you need to build a fire but collecting the wood with the children is fun.

When it came to lighting it we did cheat a little and took fire-lighters to help things along and soon we had a great fire going – there is something special about a camp fire!

A little olive oil in the pan and you are ready to start sizzling your sausages! Smoke from the fire is coming at you all the time – but it is all part of the fun (although you do smell very smokey by the time you get home!).

Half-way through the cooking of the sausages I added some onions (already chopped at home) and there you have it! Hot dogs with caramelised red onion in the forest – simple, basic but very tasty. It is very peaceful and you feel close to nature plus it is something a bit different for Sunday lunch for a change. Don’t forget your marshmallows either!!

Since that first time we have been back several times and taken other family members – the kids love it and we do too!

Try it yourselves – you will love it BUT…..like we do, always take plenty of water into the woods with you so that you can make sure that your fire is completely out before you go and that you leave the woods exactly as you found them.

So, here is what you need –

Ingredients:-
200g of granulated sugar
50ml water

So, in a clean thick-based pan put the sugar and add the water. Bring it to the boil on the hob to start making the caramel.

As soon as some colouring appears on the side of the pan remove it from the heat and let it cool down. The colouring will then spread to all the mixture.

NEVER stir the caramel in the pan.

Then with a spoon take some of the caramel and start drizzling it quickly back and forwards on a piece of parchment paper.

With this it is definitely ‘practice makes perfect’! Don’t despair if it doesn’t work the first time just try again and before you know it you will be a master at it!

It will last up to 3 days stored in a cool dry place.

Et voila! Ready to be enjoyed.