Literally "re-boiled", this sustaining, ancient recipe is the very essence of kitchen economy – a big fat soup substantial enough to be a main course.

For the record, I add a small cup of oats to the same volume each of cold water and milk.  Add a pinch of salt and bring to a simmer.<br />
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"Porridge is keeping me going during these icy mornings. Few breakfasts can offer such instant insulation as oats simmered with water until thick and creamy. The exact texture of porridge is a personal thing and both coarse and fine mixtures have their fans."

Sugar-dusted, spicy and exotic, these tiny cookies will hit the spot when you need a seasonal bite-sized treat

Succulent pork belly, sizzling slices of aubergine… Most things taste better cooked over coals – especially if they've been marinated in spices, soy sauce or lime

This is quite a substantial soup and could double as a main dish. Any of the red-fleshed squashes will do for this. Butternut is probably the most user friendly. To make a quick version, use canned beans. Drain them of their canning liquid and rinse them thoroughly. Add them to the soup once the tomatoes have simmered down to a slush. You could use any bean, but the cannellini type has a good contrast of texture to the soft vegetables and tends to stay quite firm during cooking. The soup can be kept for several days in the fridge.

It seems fitting, in the year that celebrates 60 years since the publication of Elizabeth David's A Book of Mediterranean Food, to offer a classic that she helped bring to our notice.This little stew of onions, tomatoes and sweet peppers appeared in more than one of her books. According to the area and whim of the cook, it can also contain potatoes, black olives and garlic. ED uses none of these. (Marcella Hazan adds potatoes.)

Embellish your basic shredded cabbage with a bit of bite and punch

I have used both fontina and taleggio on pizza before now and been happy with the result. The cheese gets so little time in the oven that its qualities remain pretty much intact. I have tried pizza dough at every temperature short of the one on the mega-hot self-cleaning setting and it is always a case of the more the merrier. I now go as high as 250C/gas mark 9 and leave them in for barely 10 minutes.

Leeks and onions are interchangeable in so many ways, yet they require very different treatment in the kitchen. All the caramelised edges and amber sweetness we revere in a cooked onion are exactly the opposite of what we want in a leek. The crisp, occasional charring of the outer edges that brings a smoky sugariness to onion soup and onion tart don't work with the onion's long green-and-white sister. Even a hint of golden brown in a leek is unwelcome and can introduce a bitter note into our cooking.

The name refers to the appetising sound this stir-up of cooked potatoes and greens makes as it cooks. As kitchen recycling goes, this is probably the most useful of all, neatly dispensing with those most difficult of leftovers.

I can't grow enough rhubarb for my own needs, so I carry the slender stalks, as pink as Blackpool rock, back from the farmers' market. Whatever else I do with it, there is always some that is chopped into pieces the length of a wine cork, tipped into a baking tin, sweetened with sugar, honey or maple syrup, then baked till they are soft enough to take the point of a knife. This becomes a template for breakfast or pudding.

For some time now I have been trying to make a decent muesli style biscuit. Something crunchy with nuts and oats but with the same stickiness as a flapjack. Previously I have only managed recipes that crumble into thousands of pieces like a dish of granola or taste like a hamster's cage. At last, this week I got it just right, a biscuit that is tender enough to crumble a little, but well-behaved enough to put in a lunch box. Basically an oat bar studded with everything from sour cherries to pumpkin seeds, scented with treacly maple syrup.

I sometimes think that if I could have only one piece of meat it would be a piece of pork belly. It has everything I look for – crisp skin, chewy fat, tender meat and masses of flavour. It also happens to be one of the cheapest cuts. I often just whack it in a very hot oven, leave it for 20 minutes or so, then turn the heat down and let it cook very slowly. Sometimes I leave the ribs in, other times I get the butcher to bone and skin it. A real carnivore's cut, this one – wonderful with masses of steamed greens at its side.

This quick supper dish should be salty, piquant and hot. The saltiness comes from anchovies and olives; the piquancy from the tomatoes and the effect of the capers; the heat from dried chilli flakes. Spaghetti puttanesca is not a genteel dish – it should in fact be a little coarse and the flavours should explode in the mouth. It is the best of all standby dishes, ready in minutes and made from ingredients you probably have.

Sloe gin is just the tipple for warming up cold days, but you have to think ahead and make it now so the rock-hard, purple-black fruits have time to flavour the gin. Your gin isn't ready until the colour resembles a decent Beaujolais.

The sausage is a relative newcomer to the position of toad, the space having been previously reserved for any small pieces of meat that could be eked out with a bit of batter. Scraps of the Sunday roast, bits of cooked ham or pretty much anything you like have been used in place of the sausages, and never more so than after the war. Nowadays it's bangers or nothing. The recipe stands or falls by the quality of the sausage you use.

Matching beef with beetroot may not be as well known as some of this season's great food partnerships, but the rich meat and the sweet root make a perfect pair.

Almost nothing is required of the cook – this salad stands or falls on the quality of the provisions. For each person you will need one large, perfectly ripe tomato, a ball of mozzarella di buffala, 4 to 6 basil leaves and extra-virgin olive oil. Slice the tomatoes thinly and the mozzarella less so. Arrange them as you wish on a plate. Dress with basil leaves, black pepper and olive oil. It's as simple as that. (The Italians are fiercely torn over the subject of vinegar, but I prefer not to use it here.)

Aromatic pot roasts are the perfect dish for early autumn, their deep flavours bringing a warm counterpoint to the chilly evenings ahead