Spicy tomato and red pepper chutney

A taste of Spain in a jar! This is one of my own chutneys - the chilli pepper gives it a slight kick but it's the flavours of the red peppers and the paprika that shine through.

2 onions, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, grated

2 red peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

(or 1 tsp dried chilli)

1 kg ripe tomatoes, quartered

450ml white wine vinegar

350g soft light brown sugar

100g raisins (optional)

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp smoked paprika

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 cinnamon stick

First of all wash and sterilise your jars - if you're not sure how to do this, learn how on 'all you need to know about making chutney'.

Put all the ingredients into a large pan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 1-1½ hours until thick, stirring towards the end of the time to make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. Once it’s ready, remove the cinnamon stick and allow to cool slightly before spooning into your sterilised jars and putting the lids on.

This makes 2 large or 5 small jars

Dorset Apple Cake

My grandmother lived in Dorset after the war. Apples were, and still are, abundant in the autumn and this was a quick and easy way to use up some of the windfalls from the garden. This is from my mother's book and below you will see the cryptic instructions she passed on to me!

It is best made with firm eating apples - Bramley apples tend to fall apart when cooked - and can either be made as a cake or is equally good as a pudding served with custard.

100g self raising flour, sieved

50g butter, softened

pinch of salt

1 egg, beaten

75g caster sugar

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped small

splash of milk to loosen the mixture

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line the bottom of a 20cm tin with greaseproof paper or, if you prefer, simply grease a pie dish with butter.

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, beat in the egg and then add the flour and a pinch of salt. If the mix needs loosening, add a splash of milk. Stir in the chopped apples and put the mixture into your tin or pie dish. Bake for 45 minutes.

When it is ready and while still warm, sprinkle with caster sugar.

This makes one cake, but I usually double the quantities as one cake doesn't last long in our house!

The perfect scones

There's nothing better than a Devon cream tea - scones, strawberry jam and dollops of clotted cream.

Here's my basic scone recipe, one that I use all the time!

450g self-raising flour

pinch each of baking powder and salt

50g caster sugar

110g butter, diced

1 egg, beaten

50ml double cream

200ml milk

To glaze - 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt into a bowl and stir in sugar. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.

I have a distinct memory of my grandmother guiding me as a child to carefully lift the cold butter cubes out of the flour and rub it between my fingertips. "Like the gentle rain falling from heaven" she used to say.

Add the egg, cream and enough milk to form a soft dough. Put on to a floured surface and roll out lightly to about 20mm thick. Cut out shapes with a medium-sized circular cutter and place on to the baking sheets. Brush the tops with the egg glaze and bake for 15-20 minutes.

If you want to make brown scones, omit the sugar and substitute the amount of flour to half brown and half plain white. Increase the baking powder to a heaped teaspoon.

And for a savoury version, check out my cheese and chive scones here ...