Linguine with watercress & almond pesto

Make your own Italian sauce from nuts, garlic and watercress, add a touch of lemon and serve with pasta

Apricot & ratafia sponge cake

A simple fruit cake flavoured with almond and Amaretti biscuits – perfect with tea or as dessert served with cream or custard

Salmon & horseradish burgers

Fishcakes served in a bun with contrasting hot horseradish, a cool and creamy dip and crunchy salad

Seared scallops with flavoured greens

Cooking for friends? This sophisticated starter is a taste sensation with lemon, anchovies and garlic packing a punch

Frozen blackberry fool

Falling somewhere between an ice cream and a syllabub, this berry-rippled dessert is seasonal and spectacular

Sautéed asparagus, toasted almonds & manchego cheese

Drizzle asparagus with nutty brown butter, top with toasted whole almonds and shavings of salty manchego for a springtime starter that's so simple to make

Pan-fried sea bass with citrus-dressed broccoli

A restaurant-quality fish supper, ready in just half an hour

Griddled chicory with figs & bitter leaves

Also know as endives, chicory is the perfect leaf to spruce up a salad

Long amaretto sours

Add some glamour to an al fresco lunch by serving these cocktails to start

Carrot & sesame burgers

Burgers are always a barbecue staple, and these sesame-scented ones can be dressed up or down

Aubergine with spicy apricot tabbouleh

This aubergine parcel looks very dramatic, but is dead easy

Squid, chickpea & chorizo salad

Contains pork – recipe is for non-Muslims only
Found in every ocean, squid is the most widely available seafood in the world and one of the cheapest. This works well on the barbecue, too