Chicken and wine - them Frenchies know what they're about!

Not the best picture in the world I'll grant you but a lovely thing

Named after one of Meg's school friends, its a bit like coq au vin but tarragon gives it a lovely fresh lift

Do this in a heavy-bottomed casserole and if you can get chicken with skin on so you can roast it and get it lovely and crispy on the outside and gives the stock a lovely flavour. Whole legs are good but if you don't like bones then skin-on breasts are ok

Tomayto-Tomarto

I’ve written about Sofrito before, but I didn’t realise that both the Italians and Spanish use the same word. Well, actually I did know that, but didn’t realise it was for slightly different things.

Rice. Lovely, sticky, deeply-flavoured rice. Lick the plate

Risotto is sold to cooks as a dark art that normal people can’t do – it’s all about timing, hot stock and standing around for 20 minutes while it comes together.

Yes, I know it sounds weird: Bonkers but beautiful

This is adapted from a recipe in Sophie Grigson's Eat Your Greens - the only book on cooking vegetables anyone needs

… nope the song just wouldn’t come.

Don’t use cheap Lager, Not just for this, it's a general rule.

Beef in beer, Guinness works well or anything brown. You can adapt it with Pork and Cider for a nice change

Vinegary rabbit is not everyone’s thing

Umbrian Rabbit is from The Classic Food of Northern Italy (Anna del Conte). I love it but the vinegar hit, and the rabbit for that matter, are not to everyone’s taste so I’ve adapted it by using chicken instead of rabbit and wine instead of vinegar. It’s worth trying the original though.

Sunny Sunday in Frigiliana

This is a nice bean stew that may or may not be “authentic” but uses Spanish flavours and since I’m in Spain cooking it with things I bought here, I’m claiming its authenticity.

The real reason we have roasts on Sunday

There are several ways of making this, but the traditional description of gravy is that it’s made from the juices from the meat. Well, if you’re Achilles on the beach of Troy sacrificing 20 white bulls for the death of Patroclus then you might have enough juices for that but the rest of us use oxo.