Gache Melee

I don't often do sweet stuff, but this is a traditional Guernsey recipe, an apple dessert.

Peel and core cooking apples and cut into rough chunks in a large mixing bowl - about 1 1/2 lbs in total. Sprinkle over 3 oz granulated sugar (I actually used demerara sugar). With a sharp knife chop the apple into smaller pieces until the sugar has dissolved into the released juice.

Thoroughly mix in 2 oz suet, 4 oz self-raising flour, and a pinch of cinnamon, and then 1 beaten egg.

Pour the batter into a greased baking dish, sprinkle with a bit more sugar, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The top should be nicely browned. Ideally, the top should end up slightly crisp and chewy while the middle is soft and juicy.

Eat hot or cold, with cream or ice cream.

Clam chowder

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet. Maybe we went a little while without making it, but it's a tasty warming bowl for a chilly evening.

Start by making up a roux sauce, adding some chicken stock along the way - either paste, or in liquid form instead of some of the milk. You can also add a splash of white wine for extra flavor. Either way, you want to end up with a sauce that is thin enough to pour but not too thin.

Add a tin of drained clams, some finely-diced and pre-cooked potatoes and carrots, and optionally a handful of peeled shrimp. You can also throw in other veggies such as sweetcorn if you wish. Season with salt and pepper, serve with toast (or garlic toast).

Spinach and ricotta lasagna

A delicious variant on lasagna, using a white sauce rather than tomato sauce. Follows the basic procedure for lasagna, with a few differences:

For the meat sauce, use a white meat like ground turkey or chicken instead of beef. Instead of the tomato pasta sauce add a jar of Alfredo sauce.

Make up the cheese sauce as normal, but use equal parts mozzarella and ricotta cheese instead of regular cheddar.

When layering the lasagna, put a layer of the meat sauce, then pasta, then a thin layer of chopped spinach before adding the cheese sauce.

Greek salad

Easy, tasty, and a perfect accompaniment to pork souvlaki.

Mix together in a bowl: 1 cucumber (peeled, seeded and chopped), 1 tomato and 1 red pepper (seeded and chopped), black olives, and a sprinkle of finely-chopped red onion. Crumble over some feta cheese and top with a simple vinaigrette.

Pork Souvlaki

A summery recipe we discovered this year ...

Combine 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, 1 tsp dried oregano and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. Add cubed pieces of pork and leave to marinade in the fridge for a day.

Skewer and season the meat and grill.

Serve with tzatziki sauce, rice, salad, pittas, retsina, and sun. Also tasty at any other time of year :)