The Tartlet filling

4-500g mashed potato

1 tsp Dijon mustard

3 generous handfuls of grated

Gruyere, Red Leicester and Mature Cheddar Cheese

black pepper

sprinkle of dried parsley

This is perfect for leftover mash or perhaps a good reason to cook more than you would use!

Mix the Dijon mustard and black pepper into the mash, add the cheeses, cover and fridge until you're ready to use.

Remove the bagged tartlets from the freezer and fridge on the morning of the day you want them.

Fill each tartlet with the mash mixture and top with a sprinkle of parsley, it should be generous and irregular.

Pre-heat oven to 200c/180fan/Gas 6 and a baking sheet.

Cook for 20/25 minutes until the tips of the mash are golden brown.

Serve with the Sharing Plates.

Any leftover cheesy mash can be frozen for another day.

It's providence – I must have known how useful they'd be – they were a huge hit and I'll definitely be making the tartlet cases for stashing in my freezer!

Coming up … ideas for the Tartlet cases

The Tartlet recipe

… I'm ignoring the weather forecast and pressing on regardless.

This is where my freezer came into its own – a little while ago I experimented with tartlet cases, bagged them, uncooked ready for filling and into “the store cupboard” aka my freezer they went, for another day.

Here it is – a tartlet case made from wholemeal flour and blitzed walnuts and Parmesan cheese, which I thought would make a perfect receptacle for anything that took my fancy!

The Tartlet recipe

200g plain wholemeal flour

pinch of baking powder

75g unsalted butter

25g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

50g walnuts, finely blitzed

ice cold water

Using a small Kenwood mini food processor, blitz the walnuts.

Using a standard size food processor place the flour, baking powder and butter and blitz until you have breadcrumbs, then add the Parmesan cheese and blitzed walnuts to combine. Add a drop of ice cold water and blitz again until the pastry comes together (do not over blitz). Tip the pastry out onto a sheet of clingfilm, using the film gather the pastry together into a ball and fridge for at least 30 minutes.

After resting the pastry, lightly flour a work surface with a little wholemeal flour, roll out, using a 10cm fluted cutter cut 6 shapes to the thickness of a pound coin and line the tart tins, pressing gently to the the edges. Bag and freeze, uncooked.

10cm fluted cutter

10x2.5cm tart tin

… now for the filling

In the face of adversity … crack on

I must have known about the snow – only because the dessert I had planned was similar to the Christmas Sundae and only one element needs to be prepped!

This dessert is a variation on a theme … but this time it's lemon.

You'll need :

Spring Sundae

Lemon drizzle cake or Madeira will do just as well

Lemon syrup – see recipe below

Sicilian Lemon Curd – courtesy of M&S

Amaretti biscuits crushed – roughly 25g per person

Swedish Glacé ice cream

Limoncello Liqueur – optional

You can make your own cake if you prefer – you're going to soak it in lemon syrup.

Using the same sundae dish as for the Christmas Sundae, begin to build. One standard slice of cake per person, cut into small pieces, drizzle lemon syrup over the cake then add a dessert spoon of lemon curd in the centre, add one scoop of ice cream and top it with the crushed Amaretti biscuits.

If you want an adult version, pour a shot of Limoncello over the ice cream, before sprinkling the Amaretti biscuits.

Here's the syrup recipe :

Lemon syrup

200g icing sugar, sifted

8 tblsp lemon juice

To make the syrup place the lemon juice and icing sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.

This will give you 300ml approx of syrup.

Sifting the sugar ensures it dissolves evenly, no lumps required!

This is the most versatile syrup, here's a few extra ideas :

A Soft drink, a drop of syrup in a tall glass, top with chilled soda water and just swizzle.

Spiked – add a generous drop of Limoncello liqueur.

Sparkling and special – for that celebration - add a drop in a Champagne flute or a Martini glass, top with Prosecco, swizzle and enjoy.

I can make it ahead and freeze it – if you'll pardon the pun!

Will they make it … Friday morning and many of the roads are blocked in the Peak District – after a blizzard to begin our day in Northamptonshire it's clearing.

It's lunchtime and in what seems like an interminable length of time and toing and froing I'm delighted to report that Whizzer and Brian are on their way, ETA 4.30pm, via the M6.

Happy Spring time!

Next up the Three cheese and potato tartlet recipe …

The best laid plans …

… of mice and men!

I'm excited because my Sister, nickname Whizzer is coming to visit this weekend with her other half Brian – hooray – and I'm planning on pushing the boat out – it's her birthday. They are arriving Friday, going home Monday.

Not knowing exactly when they'll arrive I decide to serve a dive-in supper for Friday evening and the menu goes something like :

Sharing plates

smoked mackerel with horseradish cream

smoked salmon

king prawns

medium prawns

with Marie Rose sauce

roast turkey breast

tomatoes

lettuce

cucumber

avocado

beetroot

slaw

black olives

Three cheese and potato tartlets

Sounds good ...

What I wasn't planning on was the weather – SNOW! Thursday dawns in Northamptonshire and we've had a shed load – in the Peak District where Whizzer lives, only a sprinkle – watch this space.

In the face of adversity … crack on

The alternative rice!

Once you've made the curry sauce, it takes minutes and like I said, it can be made ahead, cooled and fridged until you're ready to roll.

Stir fried rice

Serves 2

280g pilau rice

130g cooked chicken

generous handful of petit pois, cooked leftovers

or microwave for 2 minutes if frozen

medium brown onion, sliced

Wok

Add a drop of rapeseed oil – 5ml - to your wok and stir fry your onions over a medium heat – 2/3 minutes, followed by the rice - toss it to ensure it is all evenly coated then add the peas and chicken – 3-4 minutes.

Do not reheat.

Serve in warm bowls with the curry sauce drizzled over the top.

Another template which you can adapt to whatever you've got leftover in the fridge and “store cupboard” staples like rice, an onion and peas.

The curry sauce is so easy and lifts boring leftovers to “I want to eat this dish!”

P.s. It is not safe to reheat rice that you have already cooked, hence the reason why the curry sauce is ready to reheat from the fridge – a word to the wise!

Another template …

… this time using rice and in particular pilau rice.

These days you don't have to struggle with specifics cooking rice - you can buy products that are microwaveable or ready to stir fry in minutes.

Here's a photo of the pilau rice which you can buy from Aldi :

The following recipe again is a template with a curry sauce thrown in for good measure!

We're going to begin with the curry sauce since it can be made ahead and reheated.

Rendang Sauce

160 ml coconut cream

3 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp curry powder

(I used mild)

1 tbsp kecap manis

(also known as sweet soy sauce)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat for 3/4 minutes

and serve. Can be made ahead and re-heated.

Now for the stir fried rice!

When you're ready

When you're ready to stir fry, begin with the rapeseed oil and the onion on a medium heat, stir fry for 2/3 minutes, add the peas, prawns and noodles and stir fry for 2/3 minutes and finally add the hoi sin sauce and toss everything for a further 2 minutes.

Serve in a warmed bowl, with optional soy sauce on the side.

Here's a couple of photos :

a noodle nest

Amoy hoi sin sauce

Oh and by the way, you have to remember to take the prawns out of the freezer!

I appreciate that prawns may be outside your budget – it's the original recipe – use it as a template, anything goes from leftover chicken and veggies from your Sunday roast.

Then there's the rice alternative!

Noodle stir fry

Have you run out of steam, nay inspiration, for a quick and easy mid week supper? How often have you arrived home without a clue?

What follows isn't rocket science, as I'm fond of saying, the recipe – if you can call it that – uses “store cupboard” ingredients and by store cupboard I include pantry and freezer.

Store cupboard stir fry

Serves 1

1 noodle nest

vegetable stock pot

generous handful of petit pois, microwaved for 2 minutes

1 medium brown onion, sliced

drop of rapeseed oil

80g large king prawns, defrosted

hoi sin sauce – 1 pouch

soy sauce to serve

Wok

When you arrive home and are getting organised as you're passing place your wok on the hob, boil a kettle, add the noodle nest with the stock pot and pour boiling water over the two so that the noodles loosen and are flavoured with the stock. Leave it be, whilst you're doing other things, then when you're passing turn the nest so that the loosening is even, leave again whilst you're in the shower!

Drain through a sieve and set aside.

When you're ready …