We’re continuing the brassica theme today with a hearty cauliflower cheese. Cauliflowers are grown year round here in the UK, with May being the end of the winter season, and even though the weather is slowly warming up there are still a few lingering chilly days where something more warming and substantial is required at dinner time.

We’re right in peak asparagus season here in the UK - traditionally it runs from St. George’s Day (23rd April) until the summer solstice (around the 21st June), so there’s a very limited window of opportunity if you want to enjoy some of the country’s finest produce…

When I was at high school I was lucky enough to go on a school trip to Thailand as part of a school exchange programme. The competition was fierce, and to apply for a place involved writing essays and taking part in interviews to prove that you were a worthy “school ambassador”.

I’d like to think that nowadays I’m quite an adventurous eater; as long as there’s no meat in it (maybe no liquorice or coffee either) I’ll give it a try. As a child, however, I was very fussy. Eggs, cheese, tomatoes, even broccoli - seen as one of the more “child friendly” vegetables - I did not want to eat any of it.

I guess you could call spaghetti bolognese a family recipe for me. I have many memories of eating it as a child, both at my grandmother’s house where she’d use a sachet of Colman’s Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe Mix and stir in some baked beans for good measure…

Ah, the humble sausage roll - stalwart of picnics and children’s parties alike. Growing up not eating meat (in the time before Greggs’ vegan sausage rolls) I always missed out on the crisp pastry and savoury filling that a good homemade sausage roll promises.

My fiancé is a great lover of lemons. His mother reliably informs us that he only started speaking as a child to ask for “some lemon dosh” (dosh = squash), and even now he will happy munch on a leftover lemon slice when one is available to him. Me, I’m more ambivalent about lemons, particularly in their application in sweet recipes.