Lemon and cinnamon is a combination of flavours that is very much used in Spanish deserts and go together very well. In fact there is a well known recipe called Mantecados that uses this combination and is very typical of winter time and Christmas, but this recipe is not based on that one. I used these two flavours and combined it with another one to round off the cinnamon – dark muscovado sugar which gives it an accent of caramel and treacle and works wonderfully well. This recipe is quite easy to make, but the butter must be soft in order to combine with the sugar.

• Preheat the oven to 180C
• Mix the butter, white sugar, muscovado sugar in a bowl and mix thoroughly until combined
• Add the egg yolk, salt, vanilla extract and mix well
• Add the flour (doesn’t need to be sieved), cinnamon, lemon zest, and mixed spice and work it until it is all combined evenly.
• Roll into small balls about 3cm in diameter and place in a tray with greaseproof paper, and press down with your fingers to flatten until it is about 1cm in height
• Sprinkle some white sugar on top
• Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes

The result is a delicious and crunchy biscuit, sweet with hints of treacle, cinnamon and lemon.

Summers where I live are hot for months on end, so there is nothing more refreshing than a nice piece of cold watermelon, taken out of the fridge. An instant cooling and thirst quenching effect.  This recipe came about from a watermelon I bought which I left on the counter-top for a couple of weeks and by the time I opened it to eat it had gone a bit too ripe. By that I mean that it had all the sweet taste by the texture was no longer juicy and crunchy, it had gone grainy and soft. So as I don’t like throwing things away, I used half of it to make ice lollies and granita. I would have just made ice lollies but there was too much for the 6 molds I have, so I decided to use the rest to make granita. All it takes is taking out of the freezer every few hours, and scratching with a fork to prevent it from freezing in one block. So easy, so rewarding.

Note: The extra sugar is added because we tend to taste sweetness less on frozen foods, which is why ice creams have so much sugar. If your watermelon is not that sweet you may need a little more sugar.

• Peel and de-seed enough watermelon until you have about 1kg
• Place in a large bowl and blend with a hand blender
• Add the icing sugar and lemon and pulse until everything is mixed
• If making ice lollies pour into molds and freeze for at least 6 hours until set solid
• If making granita pour into a shallow container (you may need 2) and freeze for about 4 hours, then scratch with a fork to prevent big solid ice pieces, and repeat every few hours 2 or 3 more times.

I came up with this recipe for my birthday dinner because despite making Nigella Lawson’s super delicious ice cream cake, I have some family members that only like lemon desserts. So I needed to make something quick that was no fuss, and a Tiramisu is just that. It takes all of 15 minutes and you can make it the day before. The flavours develop as the hours go on and it is incredibly tangy and comforting.

• Prepare the liquor to dip the ladyfingers in by adding 3tbsp of limoncello (or thereabouts), the juice of a lemon, and about 2-3 tbsp of water
• Dip the ladyfingers, front and back and line the bottom of a 20cm x 20cm glass dish with all the biscuits
• Add the excess liquor to the biscuits
• Whip the double cream with the sugar until it is stiff enough to hold up
• Fold in the mascarpone (at room temperature)
• Spoon one layer of the cream / mascarpone mix and spread evenly
• Spoon a layer of lemon curd and spread evenly -this will be a thin layer but will pack in the lemon flavour.
• Spoon another layer of cream / mascarpone mix, spread evenly, and refrigerate overnight.

Salmorejo is a cold soup, typical of the Córdoba region in Andalusia, which is why it is usually known as Salmorejo cordobés. This soup is similar to Gazpacho although a little more consistent. Whereas Gazpacho can be eaten as a soup or beverage, this is a little thicker consistency due to the bread. It is also served with finely diced ingredients which are added to the soup after serving, such as serrano ham, boiled egg, croutons, tuna, and best of all, melon! In the ingredients I mention stale bread as this is the traditional way of making it. The bread (including the crust) is soaked in water for about 30 minutes to an hour and then the water is disposed of and the bread is squeezed to remove excess water. This was a way of recycling an ingredient instead of throwing it away and is very typical of many Spanish dishes. It’s OK to use fresh bread, but the soaking time will be considerably less. For this dish it is best to use white bread especially one that isn’t sweet or processed (like sliced bread) – a baguette is perfect.

The best thing about this dish is that it is so easy - literally chop the ingredients, put in blender…and blend! No extra instructions needed really.

Like I said earlier this is usually served with a few extra ingredients, so you can boil a couple of eggs and finely dice them, some serrano or parma ham, croutons, tinned tuna, and my favourite is Christmas melon, which is sweet and also very firm, which feels like there’s a party in your mouth with all the different flavours complementing and contrasting each other.

It is OK to make this in advance, but the earlier you make it the more garlicky it becomes, as the garlic intensifies with time. I always make and serve immediately.

Hummus is one of my all time favourite things. I could eat hummus all day every day, I could actually live on it. However everyone seems to make hummus differently. I make it the way one of my Turkish ways taught me, and it tastes like the hummus I had when I was in Istanbul. The secret to it (in my opinion) is the use of tahini (creamed sesame seeds) and a hint of garlic. Hummus without those 2 ingredients is not hummus in my opinion…it’s just a chick pea purée. This recipe is full of flavour and is so easy to make that it will never disappoint. Great for dinner parties, as a dip, or as a quick lunch with crudités.

One hummus anecdote that comes to mind when writing this is when I went to a hummus bar a few years ago in Soho, London, and they asked me if I wanted my hummus with garlic or without…??? Obviously I chose with, but it still was lacking somewhat in flavour.

• Drain the chick peas, save a handful to one side to garnish, and place in a food processor
• Add the tahini (be generous with it), the olive oil, lemon juice, and water
• Blend until it is a smooth paste
• If it is too thick add a little water, teaspoon at a time
• Taste and add salt to taste
• Decant into a bowl. Place the saved chick peas on top, drizzle some olive oil, and sprinkle a little smoked paprika.
• Serve with crudités and / or pitta bread

I got the idea for making coconut biscuits after a craving this afternoon, so I was searching recipes online and I found this coconut biscuit recipe from the BBC website and I thought I’d give it a try. I have changed the amount of sugar from the original as I thought it was too little, perhaps because the original calls for maple syrup to be added to serve but I did not have any nor would I do this…with this amount of sugar the biscuits were just sweet enough. The result is a delicious and coconutty biscuit that is crunchy outside and almost marsh-mallowy on the inside. They are quite filling though, but best of all they are incredibly easy to make and they will infuse your house with the sweet smell of coconut.

• Preheat the oven to 200C 
• Separate the eggs, and keep the whites
• Add the sugar in a large bowl and add the egg whites
• Whisk the egg whites and the sugar for a few minutes until it is combined and frothy. It will have a creamy white colour.
• Add the coconut and mix well
• Put some greaseproof paper on a baking tray, or alternatively grease the tray with some butter
• Place a large spoonful of the mixture to make a circle and spread to about 1cm in thickness
• Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown.

I have to admit that I absolutely love Portobello mushrooms, and one way I love to make them is gently fried on a griddle pan with just a little oil. This makes them tender and so incredibly flavoursome. I usually brush some oil on the tops of the mushrooms which gets quickly absorbed and use just a little oil on the griddle, enough so that they dont burn. This idea came to me based on hunger and greed, when I realised I was starving and wanted some instant gratification, so I used what was in the refrigerator. The combination of Portobello mushrooms, Manchego cheese and serrano ham is a winning one. I think you could use any other type of cheese or meat filling as a substitute, the possibilities really are endless!

• Brush the Portobello mushrooms with a little oil and place on the griddle top side down.
• After a couple of minutes turn over and repeat several times until the mushrooms are cooked through. I don’t season while cooking because the salt would make a lot of water to come out of the mushroom.
• In the meantime cut your bread bun into slices, or two bread slices and place in the toaster.
• Peel the clove of garlic and cut in half.
• When the bread is toasted and still hot rub the bread with the cut part of the garlic clove. This will give it a hint of garlic without being overpowering.
• Place a slice of cheese on top of each mushroom in the last minute or so of cooking so it partly melts
• Place the spinach leaves  on the bottom slice of bread, layer with the serrano ham, and place the mushroom with cheese on top.
• Cover with the other slice of bread and enjoy this tasty delight!

This recipe is sort of a modification of the Orzo risotto recipe which I made from Nigella Lawson’s Nigelissima’s book. The problem is that right now I am on a diet so I needed something light, and I can rarely find Orzo pasta. But what I have found recently in a Spanish supermarket chain is a type of pasta called ‘Piñones’, which means pine nuts, and it is actually shaped like a pine nut, and a little bigger than a large grain of rice. I’ve tried to make a pasta risotto with this pasta before and it is a resounding success – actually better than Orzo pasta!

The result is a delicious and tasty pasta dish, a very healthy and light alternative to a risotto.

• Finely dice and sauté on a medium heat the onion with a pinch of salt
• Place the sundried tomatoes in a small bowl and cover with hot water from a recently boiled kettle and allow to stand and rehydrate
• Dice the green beans and sauté with the onions
• After a few minutes when they have began to soften add the garlic and serrano ham
• Finely dice the mushrooms and add into the onions, mix well
• Remove the sundried tomatoes from the water (but do not discard!), finely dice and add to the vegetables
• Add the piñones pasta, stir well, and quickly add the liquid which you can make from adding water to the liquor from the sundried tomatoes up to the desired amount.
• Allow to simmer gently for about 8-10 minutes at most, at which point the pasta is done.

I have to admit, even though I like Japanese food I don’t have much expeirence in making Japanese dishes. However after eating several times at Ikkyusan in London’s Chinatown, I was converted to this tasty Japanese soup. So much so that after that I managed to find Miso soup in sachet form and have made it many times since. I don’t know how authentic this recipe is, I would have to ask someone who knows about Japanese food, but it tastes authentically good, so I keep making it.

• Pour the water into a pan on a medium heat, together with the miso paste and stir well until it dissolves
• Cut the spring onions into thin rings, and add
• Cut the mushrooms into thin slices and add
• Cut the silken tofu into small squares and add
• Finally add the spinach so it wilts
• Allow the soup to simmer but not boil for about 10 minutes until all the vegetables are soft but still have a bit of crunch and texture