Garlic, Lemon and Rosemary Chicken

I catered for a family get-together this weekend. This marinade on roast chicken drumsticks worked well on the buffet. The rosemary was a last-minute flash of inspiration.

Two Kinds of Melting Method Biscuits

Two quick melting method biscuit recipes. These were mainstays in any tin of homemade biscuits when I was growing up.

Spicy Carrot and Coriander Salad

I invented this particular salad a few years ago, inspired by the flavours in the vegetable recipes in my copy of the old edition of North African Cookery.

It has proved very popular. The strong flavours are a great accompaniment to barbecues and grilled chicken.

Slow-cooked Ham

A cheap gammon or ham joint cooks nicely in the slow cooker, and cooking one in this way is a good way to prepare cold meat in bulk for a large buffet.

Lobio Tkemali / "Russian" Red Bean Salad

Way back in the day, a regular feature of my Mum's salad buffets was something called "Russian Red Bean Salad", which involved red kidney beans in a sweet dressing made with damson jam.

Whilst looking through my copy of The Georgian Feast however, I came across a recipe for a Georgian bean salad with a plum sauce dressing, "Lobio Tkemali". The dressing is apparently typical of Georgian cuisine. It would seem that Mum's "Russian" salad is actually Georgian!