Serves 6 as a first course or lunch.

This is a three saucepan recipe, but very easy. Any short pasta is fine for this.

• 500g asparagus spears, coarse ends snapped off, spears sliced on the diagonal about 4cm long

• 200g fresh or frozen peas

• 125g snow peas, stalk ends cut off, pods halved lengthways

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

• 150g bacon, rinds cut off, diced 2cm

• zest of 1 lemon

• 500g Italian short pasta

• 250ml cream

• 250g ricotta

• 4 tablespoons chopped parsley

• freshly grated parmesan for serving

Bring a large saucepan of well salted water to the boil and keep it simmering. This will be for the pasta.

Bring another saucepan of water to the boil and add the asparagus, peas and snow peas.

Bring back to the boil and boil 30 seconds then drain and cool completely in a large bowl of iced water or under cold running water. Drain and reserve.

Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the onion, bacon and zest.

Fry gently, without browning, for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the pasta saucepan back to the boil and add the pasta.

Boil until al dente or tender to the bite, drain well.

Meanwhile add the cream to the onion and bacon saucepan, season and bring to the boil.

Add the vegetables, ricotta and parsley, mix carefully but well and bring back to the boil.

Add this to the drained pasta and mix well.

Serve with plenty of freshly grated parmesan.

All good cooks plan ahead and this muesli is a good example of that as you need to soak it overnight. Makes about 1kg of dry muesli mix for soaking.

Dry overnight oat mix:

• 450g rolled oats

• 50g chia seeds

• 200g raisins

• 150g natural almonds
  

Put this into a jar or container and mix well. I store mine in the fridge. When I want some, I put, 1 cup of the dry mix in a bowl with 1 1/2 cups of water, mix it well, cover it and place in the fridge for 12 hours (enough for around four people). The next day I grate a whole apple and mix it into the soaked oats. I then add plain unsweetened, additive-free yoghurt and the fruit of my choice.

( I used strawberries, grapes, blood orange segments and pomegranate seeds, but any ready to eat fruit is fine, or even just the apple.)

You can change out the almonds for hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts or a mixture of nuts.

The raisins can be substituted with almost any dried fruit, but slice the larger varieties like dried apricots or figs.

If you want it sweeter, you can drizzle some honey over it.

Serves 4-6

Dinner in a bowl, what could be more convenient? There are several components to this but they are all easy to make and can be used separately with other things if desired. Make each component in the following order.

First, preheat the oven to 200°C, then:

Couscous

• 1/12  cups wholemeal couscous

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Put the couscous into a heatproof bowl, add the oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour in enough boiling water to just cover by 1cm. Carefully swirl the bowl so everything is level, cover with a plate and reserve for 25 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Reserve, it will stay hot for 40 minutes. When needed, fluff it up with a fork so there are no lumps.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

• 350g cherry tomatoes

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Put everything into a small ovenproof dish, mix well, season with salt and pepper and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes are browned and collapsing. Remove from the oven, mash a little and reserve. Serve warm.

Fritters

Makes about 12

• 1 egg, beaten

• 3 zucchini, grated coarsely

• 200g drained canned cannellini beans

• finely diced peel of 1/2 preserved lemon (or zest of 1 fresh lemon)

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 3 tablespoons chopped coriander 

• 5 tablespoons wholemeal flour

• vegetable oil for frying

Put everything except the oil into a mixing bowl and season with pepper but not salt. Mix well. Shallow-fry spoonfuls in 1cm of hot oil until well browned on each side. Don’t try to turn them until the underside is well browned or they may fall apart. Do this in batches and drain on paper towels. Keep warm in the oven if necessary, they will also reheat if you want to make them in advance.

You will also need

• a couple of salad leaves per person

• 1-2 avocados, peeled, stoned and sliced

• 200g feta, crumbled coarsely

• coriander sprigs

Assembly

In each bowl put salad leaves, couscous, fritters, feta, avocado slices, tomato sauce and a coriander sprig then serve.