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.