One of our most-loved treats from The Lavender House, we still serve Parmesan custard from time to time and it's always met like an old friend.

This is Rowley Leigh's recipe which in turn was inspired by Rick Stein. Leigh served it with anchovy toast fingers (mix 12 mashed anchovy fillets with 50g of unsalted butter, spread over eight very thin slices of pain de Champagne and toast on both sides, cut into fingers to serve), I've served it with toasted Marmite finger sandwiches and as here, with Parmesan and pistachio shortbreads from Mr Mitson's recipe which was so good, Delia used it in one of her books with a credit!

However you eat it, I hope you enjoy it!

If, like me, you have a fig tree but no idea what to do with your figs (we've exhausted all the obvious options!) this might be an idea. This is a dead easy Parisian dish, and we all know that the Parisians know a thing or two about food...

A fresh dessert; peaches flavoured with lavender and fresh herbs.

Eat these delicious cakes as soon as possible. You can split and butter if you want to gild the lily!

A lovely summery afternoon treat.

This is a quick soup that can be on the table in 25 minutes and will warm you from head to toe. Great for autumn evenings and one to bear in mind for Bonfire Night.

Save your fresh tomatoes for salads and bruschetta and use deeply flavoured canned tomatoes for this recipe. Great with a swirl of cream, a sprinkling of croutons or some crusty bread.

You've got to love a recipe where the method basically involves putting everything in a blender and switching the blender on. This cooling soup is perfect for a summer evening, although NOT if you're Ainsley or my wife: both are allergic to cucumber.

My wife is delighted: she's never met anyone who has the same allergy!

A warming stew for those cooler days.

A delicious dessert served with ice cream.

A tasty mediterranean themed supper.

This is my kind of recipe: hardly any work but a massive impact on the dishes you eat!

A delicious summer dessert.

A trip to Great Yarmouth without buying a bag of hot, sugared doughnuts, preferably from Lorenzo's on Marine Parade, is - in my opinion (and the opinion of my best man Gary Hunter) a wasted trip.

We used to serve these little doughnuts with coffee at the restaurant meaning that all leftovers were greedily consumed by the kitchen. Chef's perks...

This recipe makes 30 small doughnuts. There are some dipping sauce ideas below, but frankly, I don't think many hung around long enough to be dipped!

Cromer is famous for its crab and I’m lucky enough to have a friend with a house in Cromer who brings me crabs fresh from the boat that I can eat within hours – lucky me! This makes a lovely, light lunch and goes well with salad and garlic mayonnaise.

A delicious seasonal way to serve smoked haddock.

This recipe is everything I love in a dish: it’s easy to prepare, looks brilliant and tastes fantastic. Perfect!

A delicious treat served with a dollop of Cointreau cream

People come to The Richard Hughes Cookery School to learn how to master tricky techniques and dishes they’ve struggled with at home…and they leave realising that this is the best tip of them all and it requires zero skill!

This no-peel, no-fuss method is quick, easy and fabulous!

A fruity twist on a classic cocktail

These indulgent triple chocolate scones are always a hit here at The Assembly House.

In 2016, Marie Curie charity patron Melinda Raker and local food campaigners Vanessa Scott, owner of Strattons Hotel, and Mary Kemp, cookery writer and demonstrator, combined their knowledge and love of Norfolk ingredients to raise money for the charity.

Bringing together their passion for good food and everything Norfolk, they created Everything Stops for Tea: Norfolk’s Own Cookbook; a beautifully designed cookery book packed full of recipes celebrating teatime from some of Norfolk’s amazing producers, chefs and good food lovers from wonderful cakes to savoury dishes, jellies and ice-creams. My lavender biscuits from The Lavender House are in there somewhere, along with this lovely recipe.

The book raised a HUGE amount for Marie Curie: what an amazing effort from all!

Step by step guide on how to make a Mother (or Starter)

Instead of dialling out for a takeaway why not try our fakeaway!

Two recipes in one!

One of our most-loved treats from The Lavender House, we still serve Parmesan custard from time to time and it's always met like an old friend.

This is Rowley Leigh's recipe which in turn was inspired by Rick Stein. Leigh served it with anchovy toast fingers (mix 12 mashed anchovy fillets with 50g of unsalted butter, spread over eight very thin slices of pain de Champagne and toast on both sides, cut into fingers to serve), I've served it with toasted Marmite finger sandwiches and as here, with Parmesan and pistachio shortbreads from Mr Mitson's recipe which was so good, Delia used it in one of her books with a credit!

Have you got any leftover mash? If so, I have the perfect recipe for you! These potato scones are delicious for breakfast with bacon or with lots of salted butter for a teatime treat. It's almost worth making too much mash in order to have these the next day!

It's a pub quiz question with a sting in the tail: you'll often be asked on a food round when Sticky Toffee Pudding was invented, where it was invented and by whom.

Read on to find out more...

Traditionally, you'd serve Cock-a-Leekie soup on Burns Night, a Scottish soup filled with leeks and peppered chicken stock, often thickened with rice, or sometimes barley. The original recipe added prunes during cooking.

I prefer a Cullen Skink: Cullen is a fishing village in the north of the country while 'skink' is a Scottish word for soup. Perfect for chilly nights and dark days, this soup is warm, tasty and quick to make.

Serve hot with HP sauce or enjoy cold ... and don't forget a wee dram.

Our vegetarian alternative to a roast dinner.

Here's an absolute breakfast classic, although of course it can be eaten at any time of the day.

Julia Child's classic recipe for boeuf bourguignon is made with beef and bacon, but we decided to turn beef into beet. Gluten free and vegan. We've served ours in the photograph with some sour cream, but obviously you can leave this off if you're making it vegan!

Delicious hearty pies to keep the winter chills at bay.

These delicious spicy buns are perfect for a festive breakfast.

The perfect accompaniment to your Christmas Day dinner.

This can be made days ahead of Christmas dinner and brought to room temperature or slightly heated before serving. Wonderful with left-over meat.

No one needs to fear cooking the Christmas dinner! Plan ahead and be ready to take the compliments!

Biscotti are the original long-life food, a snack for hungry Roman gladiators and travellers who needed sustenance that wouldn’t perish under a hot Italian sun.

A delicious easy one-pot dish.

A sumptuous dessert that can be made a couple of days before you need it. Montezuma was said to drink 50 cups of chocolate from a golden goblet, in order to find the strength to look after his harem! Here’s a quicker way to get your chocolate fix for Valentine's!

Follow your potted shrimps starter with this delicious Valentine's supper main course.

A lovely simple little starter for your Valentine's supper, that's super easy and bang on trend! You can of course make the crumpets, or buy them from Norfolk’s own Crumpetorium!

This was one of the recipes using Mrs Temple's Binham Blue cheese from our very successful Norfolk Cheese & Wine Festival held here at The Assembly House last Sunday.

This was one of the recipes from our very successful Norfolk Cheese & Wine Festival held here at The Assembly House last Sunday.

This was one of the recipes from our very successful Norfolk Cheese & Wine Festival held here at The Assembly House last Sunday.

Try this recipe, inspired by our current Game cookery classes running at the cookery school.

If you can't wait until the end of January for the Great British Pudding Tuesday Masterclass, how about trying this pudding now?

If you would like to recreate Mark's Christmas pudding souffle from our Christmas patisserie demonstration last Sunday, here is the recipe.

If you would like to recreate Mark's Toblerone-inspired gateau from our Christmas patisserie demonstration last Sunday, here is the recipe.

If you would like to recreate Mark's gingerbread scones from our Christmas patisserie demonstration last Sunday, here is the recipe.

If you would like to recreate Mark's snowman coconut madeleine from our Christmas patisserie demonstration last Sunday, here is the recipe.

If you would like to recreate Mark's Champagne macarons from our Christmas patisserie demonstration last Sunday, here is the recipe.

We've taken our cheese, onion and potato pie and gone one better, adding some Baron Bigod cheese.

Food festival headliner, summer tea themed news and gluten free classes.

We had SUCH a good time at last year’s Home Chef of the Year competition that we’ve decided to do it all over again, and we’d like you to join us!

We are awash with terrific tomatoes of all colours, shapes and sizes that are grown locally. My wife’s favourite dish is tomatoes (raw!) on toast with fresh basil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, rock salt and olive oil – she’s making me prepare it three times a week at the moment and I can’t say it’s a trial. If you want to take it a step further, make this easy-peasy tomato tart and if you want to show off, top it with the chilli ice-cream

What a month May has been!

A beautifully simple dish that will remind you that summer is on the way, and the first of the asparagus is here! Gnudi literally means nude. These little parcels are like the filling of a ravioli without the pasta, hence they’re ‘nude’!

We were delighted to welcome Jaime Garbutt to one of our Tuesday Evening Masterclasses recently. His dessert bar has had a huge impact on the Norwich restaurant scene since opening in 2016. Here are some of his recipes from the demonstration.

We were delighted to welcome Jaime Garbutt to one of our Tuesday Evening Masterclasses recently. His dessert bar has had a huge impact on the Norwich restaurant scene since opening in 2016. Here are some of his recipes from the demonstration.

We were delighted to welcome Jaime Garbutt to one of our Tuesday Evening Masterclasses recently. His dessert bar has had a huge impact on the Norwich restaurant scene since opening in 2016. Here are some of his recipes from the demonstration.

This dish usually with lobster, would have been a favourite of any winning punter returning from Yarmouth races. If you had not won, it would have worked equally well with the humble, but no less tasty, crab

“The future of the county’s culinary scene is in safe hands, as The Assembly House’s Richard Hughes has launched an apprenticeship initiative to foster talent in the sector.”

We served this delicious souffle at the first of our Suppliers' Storytime lunches last week. Catherine Temple, maker of Norfolk's most famous cheese, including Copys Cloud, Gurney's Gold, Wells Alpine, and the cheese used in this recipe, Binham Blue, joined us to tell the story behind her fabulous produce. Guests then enjoyed a cheese feast for lunch.

Why not try this classic Italian festive cake … which even includes chocolate!

This week sees the launch of our apprenticeships' programme in conjunction with Norwich based training provider Skillsedge.

When the organisers of the launch of the Boudicca Breast Cancer Appeal were let down at the last moment, the team from The Assembly House stepped in to the breach ...

Prue managed to get through an entire day without revealing the winner of The Great British Bake Off before the show aired, so really, we were all winners says EDP guest reviewer Richard Hughes of the cooking competition’s grand finale.

"Why are people laughing about hump?” Rahul was puzzled, Ruby came out fighting, Briony mistook salt for sugar and Kim-Joy piped more rabbits on cakes. But who made it through to finals week? Guest reviewer Richard Hughes has all the answers.

Want to know what to do with your pumpkins? Cook up our beautiful pumpkin, sage and hazelnut risotto.

The bakers didn’t give a fygge about hygge this week as they struggled through Danish Week. Tears for sneers in the tent and a controversial exit, says guest reviewer Richard Hughes.

"It’s Vegan Week, there’s no dairy or meat, why don’t you chop up a leek, because it’s Vegan Week.” It was baking hummus-cide in the tent for one of the last men standing, says guest reviewer, chef Richard Hughes.

It’s pastry week and the judges rolled out some new challenges for the bakers which included a Tudor-style banquet pie. Ironically Manon struggled on the French technical challenge, Jon revealed pastry has ‘cannibalistic tendencies’ and there was plenty of red-hot steamhole action.

It’s week five and spice week - as Scary, Baby, Sporty, Ginger and Saffron (posh Spice) said, time for two to become one. And that was just the judges. In the case of the contestants, nine became seven. Confused? Not half as much as the contestants during this week’s technical challenge were.

Lucky escapes, a four-horse race, complicated little tarts, a cake in a tutu and a chocolate planet stuffed with choux space turtles: dessert week on the Great British Bake Off was sweet to watch, says guest reviewer chef Richard Hughes.

By week three on the Great British Bake Off, we are starting to sort the wheat from the chaff, quite literally, as this was bread week.

Ding Ding! It’s Round Two of The Great British Bake Off and our high hopes that the bun fight will hot-up with the addition of tears, hugs and handshakes are realised, despite it being Mundane Cake Week.

This year, the Festival headliner will be one of Norfolk’s most celebrated chefs, Richard Hughes.

Meet the seven finalists battling for the title of Norfolk Home Chef of the Year.

Guest reviewing for the EDP throughout The Great British Bake Off, Richard enjoys a surreal week in which contestants made Mount Fuji, Bristol, the London Marathon, Kilimanjaro and Las Vegas out of ... biscuit.

The workload is relentless, the pressure intense, your work colleagues and customers can be unforgiving, the rewards are reaped only after years of ‘paying your dues’ and a thank you from the chef is often way down the list of two-word send-offs. Yet, in many ways, kitchens are remarkably enlightened environments.

I've always loved a challenge, and so have always been a chef who embraces a customer who chooses a vegetarian diet.

The news of another Norfolk restaurant closure has touched a nerve, albeit for a different reason to the slew of economically-enforced shutdowns we’ve seen in recent weeks.

Serve this show-stopping dessert immediately from the oven, before the ice cream melts, and wow everybody!

Richard and The Assembly House team attended City College for the Chef Takeover Dinner.

This vibrant dish is coloured and flavoured with Norfolk saffron.

The use of black treacle instead of golden syrup gives this dessert a fantastic depth of flavour.

A tasty Winter dish of roasted pheasant breast, served with pan fried cabbage, bacon and chestnuts with a sherry and cream sauce.

We were delighted to welcome the 1st Long Stratton Beavers Group to the Cookery School recently.

I was surprised, disappointed and somewhat saddened by the lack of reaction to the death of French chef Paul Bocuse. In an age when celebrity mourning is ‘the thing’, his passing last month seemed to fly under the radar, but for chefs of a certain age, his death was akin to the loss of a king.

As you'd expect, our holidays are all about the food and somehow holiday food always tastes different.

It’s a skill (and IT IS a skill) that will last a lifetime and that will stand anyone in good stead regardless of profession. If you really want to learn all there is to know about the human race: ask a waiter or waitress.

All jobs have their perks, it's just that some jobs have better perks than others.

Time flies when you're having fun. Can it really be 12 months since I closed the doors of my beloved restaurant The Lavender House in Brundall to concentrate all my (not inconsiderable) efforts on The Assembly House in Norwich?

Happy New Year from the Richard Hughes Cookery School. Take a look at some upcoming classes to banish those winter blues!

There was a time - though I can’t remember when - I might look at each year’s food trends with a level of mild interest.

The Cookery School recently hosted a special cookery class for young adults with diabetes. The event was organised by the diabetes transition team from the Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

We served this dish at our Anniversary Gala Masterclass dinner this week. Traditionally made with lobster, it works equally well with the humbler, but no less tasty, crab.

Read our latest newsletter to see what is coming up at the Cookery School.

The latest diet that’s threatening to hit the mainstream is - at least - one that shouldn’t cause us too much consternation in the kitchen when the lists of dietary requirements come through.

We are very proud to announce that the Richard Hughes Cookery School is now a Children's University learning destination.

I must admit, even when I was based in the countryside, I never really embraced the foraging fad. The thought of searching for edible freebies in hedgerows, damp woods and the blustery seashore just doesn’t float my boat.

Richard was proud to be involved with the hugely successful Chef Takeover Dinners at the Debut Restaurant, City College Norwich in January. The review below shows why the opportunities to work with supportive employers is so important to the students of the Hotel School, College.

Yes it's true, a disaster has been happening live on the nation's Twitter feed, the hot topic of last month being yet another food shortage: this time the removal of the hummus pot from the shelves of a number of supermarket behemoths.

In his role as Chef Consultant for Serco and NNUH, Richard is pleased to have been involved with this award winning initiative.

Richard was on the Mustard Show last night demonstrating gluten free orange polenta cake - watch now!

Read our latest newsletter to see what is coming up at the Cookery School.

Spring is here, and confirmation can be found with the first asparagus appearing this week. To celebrate, why not cook this delicious dish?

Richard shows you how to make some delicious Easter themed chocolate brownies.

Richard makes smoked haddock chowder.

Richard demonstrates the great British favourite, bread & butter pudding.

Cooking, like kissing, is all about confidence. So it comes as no surprise to read of student Bee Patel’s shock and horror upon finding that she’s struggling to contemplate a return to the kitchen after failing her pastry exam at the London branch of the famed Le Cordon Bleu Cookery School.

The composition of menus has always been somewhat of an obsession of mine: indeed, I'm sure there are many who think I can write a menu far better than I can actually cook it.

Thanks to the ground almonds, this lovely cake is gluten-free so is fine for those who can't eat wheat. The longer you keep it, the moister it becomes.

Last week The Assembly House hosted a special ceremony for recipients of the Legion d’Honneur.

As part of the recent National Adopt a School week Richard welcomed pupils from Reepham High School.

Here's another recipe from our very popular Sauces Hands On Class.

Chocolate is the theme of the month here at the cookery school - Chocolate Masterclass, Chocolate Hands On Class and Chocolate Tuesday Technique Evening Class.

As part of National Adopt a School week, Richard welcomed pupils from Browick Road Primary School in Wymondham to the cookery school yesterday.

Some of Les Cagelles from La Cage Aux Folles (currently on at Norwich Theatre Royal) came in to the Cookery School yesterday to make their own French fancies with Richard.

There’s no rhyme or reason when it comes to predicting the food trends that we'll see emerging in 2017.

Richard will be taking over the kitchen of City College Norwich's Debut Restaurant on Tuesday 31st January as part of their Chef Takeover Dinners 2016-17.

Wayne Sleep took a short break from starring in the Norwich Theatre Royal panto to demonstrate his signature Cornish Pasty recipe.

Following on from our very successful first Cookery School event yesterday evening, here is another of our favourite 'One Pot Wonders' - Red Lentil Dhal, which is currently on The Assembly House menu.

Richard gave a bread masterclass to children from Browick Road School, Wymondham this week as part of the Chefs Adopt A School programme.

Richard demonstrates how to prepare a delicious Christmas Day lunch, and introduces some of the local producers

A Norfolk chef will be celebrating Norwich Market’s incredible food offer with a brand new cookery course which involves picking treats from underneath the colourful canopies before preparing a fresh and local feast with the ingredients.

In conjunction with Norse Catering “National School Meals Week”, a school cook from Millfield Primary School, North Walsham recently spent a day in the kitchens at The Assembly House.

To help celebrate 125 years of City College Norwich, Richard was helping to cook up a feast in their kitchen yesterday.

One of Norfolk’s top chefs, Richard Hughes, made a special appearance at a tea party to mark the
end of a unique team-building initiative by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust staff. As Great British Bake Off fever swept the nation this autumn, a team of budding bakers at the Trust’s Sandringham Ward, NSFT’s specialist dementia unit at the Julian Hospital, in Norwich, rose to their own team-building challenge.

Richard demonstrates a simple dish using Monkfish cooked in red wine with mushrooms.

Richard demonstrates an easy but decadent chocolate truffle torte.

Hallowe'en seems to get bigger and bigger every year - some people appear to have made more of an effort for October 31 than for December 25. Even food is being influenced, though as a menu obsessive I struggle with the idea of ghoul-ash, severed finger food and devil's food cake that seem to appear on every other restaurant's bill of fare at the end of October.

*Best Seller at The Imperial Hotel, Great Yarmouth 1977
*Best Seller at The Assembly House, Norwich 2016

What could be better comfort food as the nights draw in ... sticky sponge pudding with hot toffee sauce?!

The Adopt a School team are proud to announce the launch of National Adopt a School Week and invite you to support us during this nationwide campaign. Our first press release will be published in this week's The Caterer and further details are available from head office upon request (email: [email protected]).

A lovely moist cake to enjoy with a cup of tea in the afternoon!

This recipe for Venison & Liquorice Cobbler is always a favourite at our autumn Game class - a hearty dish to serve as the nights draw in.

It’s a real thrill to be recognised: I’m often greeted at The Lavender House as Mr Adlard or Mr Hickman. On civvy street, people I served only the night before will gaze at me quizzically, desperately trying to place where they’ve seen me before. “I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on!” is a regular refrain, the customer being more used to seeing me in bedraggled whites instead of pushing a trolley down a supermarket aisle in jeans and a t-shirt.