Use a spoon to combine the lemon juice, oil and cream (I use anything leftover – soured, single, double, Elmlea, whatever), then add the sugar and season. You have to TASTE this to get the proportions of everything just to your liking, then you finely chop the onion (or chive, or fresh parsley) and add to the dressing. I use this dressing to coat crisp iceberg lettuce on its own or even just finely sliced cucumber. Adding parmesan makes it more like a Caesar.

This is a delicious low-cost meal,and looks really impressive- like a huge, crisp cake of potatoe! Serve with salad.

Ingredients: Good 1lb of peeled potatoes, 6 free range eggs, 1 medium chopped onion, 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin rapeseed oil, salt and pepper

Finely slice and cut the potatoes into roughly scrabble tile-sized pieces; sprinkle with salt. Heat 2 good tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and when hot, cook potatoes for 5 minutes, turning frequently. Add the onion, stir well, reduce heat a bit and then cover, cooking for a further 10 minutes, stirring often. Break eggs into a large bowl and beat just a little, adding salt and pepper. Check the pots are cooked and then add to the bowl of egg mixture. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and then add the contents of the bowl. Cook for about 15 minutes on a very low heat, until there is only the smallest amount of runny egg on top. To turn over, cover the pan with a large plate, invert and return the omelette to the pan the other way up by sliding it off the plate. Cook for a further 2 minutes.

Just wanted to let you know how pleased we are with our first order! We’re away next week but have already filled our basket for the following week!

I can even get my husband to collect the shopping as it’s conveniently delivered to the Burnt Gate!!

Thanks very much

Sharron

Claire, Fauld

Ingredients: 1lb lean minced pork, 1lb extra lean minced beef, small onion or 3 spring onions, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of bread crumbs*, salt and pepper, parsley if you have it.

Get prepared to get all squidgy fingered with this recipe! Chop the onion up small and then combine all the ingredients in a large bowl using your hands. Roll clumps of the mixture with your hands into roughly ping pong ball sized shapes. You can then roll these in seasoned flour and then fry carefully, adding a tomato sauce mixture and cooking on low for a while before serving with spaghetti. Alternatively you can make them into patties and fry on both sides for a least 10 minutes to make Frikadellen, which are like German beefburgers. Delicious!

*Never throw leftover and stale bread away! Dry it out and then whizz it in your food processor to make perfect breadcrums. Store in an airtight container.

Ingredients: 300g fish pie mix, 2 chopped spring onions, extra virgin rapeseed oil, bunch of asparagus, 500g risotto rice, at least 2 litres of stock (I use chicken), garlic clove, grated parmesan, lemon juice, parsley, seasoning

Risottos are fab and can be made out of all sorts of ingredients, basically all following the same principle.

Heat a generous tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, fry the spring onions (can be a finely chopped regular onion), add the crushed garlic for a minute ir two and then stir in the risotto rice covering it with the hot oil and onions. Add stock gradually and keep stirring and adding until it’s all absorbed. Just keep adding-don’t let it go dry- it needs to have a wet, sticky sort of consistency (sounds lovely!!). The rice will take about 20 minutes to cook, depending on how firm you like it; add plenty of parmesan to taste, a tablespoon or so of  lemon juice and also salt and pepper. About 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the fish and pop on a lid to steam the fish, making sure there is still enough liquid in the rice for it not to run dry. Meanwhile steam the asparagus in another pan for five or so minutes ready to pop on top of the risotto when you serve, adding a knob of butter. Before serving up the risotto, finish by stirring in a generous quantity of chopped parsley.

Honestly..practice makes perfect…!

Just wanted to say a big thank you for doing my order at such ridiculously late notice. I am so sorry to have been a pain, and was amazed that you managed so much of it! I really didn’t expect it.

The prawns and curry kit went together beautifully on Friday night; the lamb was delicious on Sunday with roasted veg, and today I went for a long walk (9 miles from Tutbury to Hanbury & Fauld and back to Tutbury) with my friend Clare – muscles killing me now! – and put the oxtail in first thing this morning and left it slow cooking all day. That went down a treat with him indoors.

Probably my favourite thing, though, was the Easter chocolates from Bittersweet. They were gorgeous! Real quality chocs.

Thanks so much for your hard work.

Julie

Squeeze the sausagemeat out of the skin and use half of each to make a smaller, skinless sausage. Open up the thighs, place the sausage on the meat and then wrap the chicken around the sausage. Now wrap the bacon rasher around the chicked thigh, place in a baking dish and cook for 30-40 minutes in a hot oven.

(Get inventive – you can always stuff the thighs with something else..how about some finely chopped mushroom and spring onion, with some spinach all just pre-sauteed in butter with a little garlic?) Let me know the results of any experiments!

Ingredients: Tin of prunes (or 12 dried soaked overnight and stewed until tender), 12 whole blanched almonds, 8oz/227g plain flour, 1 egg yolk, 10z sugar, pinch of salt, a little white wine or cider to mix paste. To garnish: 2oz caster sugar and grated plain chocolate.

Pop an almond in the centre of each prune, replacing the stone if it’s still in. Mix a pastry paste with the flour, salt, egg yolk, sugar and wine. Roll out the pastry and cut into 12 rounds, enough to wrap each prune. Once wrapped, bake in a moderate oven on a well buttered baking tray for about 30 minutes, turning half way through. Roll in the sugar and chocolate to finish. Sounds great!

Claire, Draycott in the Clay