It is mid summer and we are in Northern Finland, staying at Arola Farm with ex dairy farmers Helena and Eero Sappanen. Arola is just south of the Arctic Circle and skirts the Russian border. Close by is Martinselkonen National Park, a Tolkeinesque wilderness where shy bears roam the forest, beavers create their chaos on the riverbanks and capercaillie can be spotted in the trees.

Helena and Eero are the closest I have come to modern day hunter gathers. They have to be. The nearest supermarket is 100km away and they have a houseful of guests to feed throughout the year. Some come for the bear safari Eero organises or the cross country skiing. Others come for the astonishing Second World War military history. We are here for Helena’s warm hospitality, food and the opportunity to trek through the stunning Finnish wilderness.

The day starts in the farmhouse kitchen complete with wood fired bread oven . A generous buffet style breakfast is served. Helena has made dark rye bread, traditional rich egg pancakes, porridge, lingon berry and cloud berry compote. Slices of cheese are available and so too is yogurt. One morning Helna made a special cheese from ‘beestings’ or first milk - a thick, creamy spreadable cheese which went well with bread and jam. For drinks - a jug of carmine pink juice made from young rhubarb is on offe r together with good tea and coffee.

Packed lunches were made up from the b reakfast table and we set off for a day in the forest. Nothing prepared us for the beauty of the Taiga as the forest biome is known. The Taiga is cove red in deep green sphagnum mosswhich acts like a giant sponge. Boarded walkways over the wettest areas allowed us to follow the well marked trails without getting wet feet.

The trails led into deep into the secretive forest threaded with gushing st reams and rivers. It was not long before we spotted a chaotic beaver’s lodge made from branches and mud. Lodges are strong enough to withstand bear attacks and the penetrating winter temperatures.

Delicate lichen known as liverwort coats the trees. Reindeer moss provided another layer of loveliness to this pretty, bright forest. There were even scarlet lichen coating some of the rocks making the whole scene look colouful and fresh. Amber cloudberries, ink blue bilberries and ruby lingonberries grow in profusion here. In late July gangs of immigrant workers come to the forest to pick the wild berries on an industrial scale.

At regular intervals in the forest were well organised, naturalistic cooking areas. Fire pits were equipped with cooking utensils, a fire bucket, logs and hewn benches on which to sit. Finnish people love hunting, fishing and cooking outdoors. There were even wooden refuge huts painted in pretty col ours. These come with wood stores, stoves and eco loos to help make the for est a wonderful comfortable place to be even in the coldest weather.

In mid summer the climate can be warm and sunny but it can also be cool and rainy. On our return from one walk

Helena had prepared the traditional smoke sauna for us to enjoy. “This is the best type of sauna” Helena told us as

she lay bunches of birch twigs for us. Its warmth was wonderful and we could look out of a glass window across

the rainy forest. Helena also us es this sauna to smoke elk meat and fish. “I allow the sauna to fill with smoke from

the wood burning stove and hang the meat and fish for several hours.” Also on the menu at Arola were fresh water fish. We ate both perch and pike caught from the crystal clear watersof a nearby lake. The pike, a large fish with clean white flesh, was delicious and served baked in a white sauce, flavoured with dill. Helena also made us traditional Finnish fish bread - rather like pissaladiere but with a rye bread base. When the lake freezes in the depth of winter Helena draws on her supply of delicious bottled fish.

We were served fresh vegetables from the farm’s kitchen garden. I was surprised to learn how much grows at this latitude. Helena pointed out “although the growing season is short, the summer days are long and both fruit and vegetable grow very quickly”. I saw rows of beetroot, carrots, onions, peas and beans growing.

We spent a week at Arola and gained a real appreciation of how important a degree of self sufficiency was to people living at this latitude. Helena and Eero do not play at being hunter gatherers. Their survival depends on it. The ability to hunt and preserve meat and fish, grow and cook fruit and vegetables, make bread and simple things like porridge are all life savers when the temperature plummets and a visit to the supermarket may be a month away. We take food security for granted in the UK but up on the Arctic Circle it is probably wise not to.

Getting there

We flew Finnair (www.finnair.com) Manchester to Helsinki and on to Kuusamo for £440 per adult.

Two bed apartment, meals, bear safari, smoke sauna and transfer from Kuusamo Airport £880 for two.

Contact

Helena Sappanen

Arolantie 5, 89920 Ruhtinansalmi Finland

Tel +358 50 5189775

www.arolantila.suomussalmi.net

In 2002, she won a gold medal at the Salon Culinaire, the world class culinary competition, for her petits fours. “Moving from making petits fours to chocolate is a natural progression” explains Claire. Has she found her dream job heading up the chocolate team at Bettys? She gives me a cheeky grin and says: “Almost - I have a second love. When I am not in the chocolate room I am on the golf course and would love to play golf professionally.”

Claire escorts me to the chocolate room at Bettys Swiss-style head quarters at Plumpton Park on the outskirts of Harrogate to give a tutorial on how to taste chocolate. It is a cool, glass fronted, hygienic, tiled area, where the company’s chocolates are created lovingly by hand by a team of chocolatiers, two of whom are huddled over a marble topped bench practising freehand piping dark chocolate swirls and dots on a tray of chocolates.

“Making chocolates is a team effort and it takes a great deal of practise to produce perfectly crafted chocolates” Claire impresses upon me. “Surely chocolates can be made by machine these days?” I ask. “Yes they can” explained Claire “but to achieve chocolate that is velvety smooth with a clean snap takes human skill and judgement. A slight change in the temperature of the room for example, will affect the chocolate and needs to be adjusted for.”

“Bettys chocolates are all made and finished by hand the only difference between how chocolates are made today and how Frederick Belmont, the company’s founder, made them in 1919 are the tempering machines which heat and cool molten chocolate to the point at which it can be worked by hand.”

Claire starts our chocolate tutorial with a challenge to awaken my taste buds. “To taste the finest chocolate involves the same care as tasting fine wine, coffee or tea” says Claire. I learn that untreated cocoa beans are astringent and bitter but after they are fermented, roasted and turned into chocolate, fruity, wine-like aromas develop together an infinite variety of nutty, earthy, woody flowery and spicy notes.

In front of me Claire arranged four small pots containing mystery food aromas. I was instructed to close my eyes, remove the lid from each pot and breathe deeply. The first I identified as the clean pure notes of freshly roasted coffee. The next was raisins but I mistook it for angelica. The third and fourth were cinnamon and roasted hazelnut, both of which I identified correctly.

With a score of three out of four, I felt buoyed up and ready for Claire’s next challenge. This time I was faced with four small discs of chocolate and had to rate them on two scales - bitter and sweet. Chocolate tends to become more bitter as the percentage of chocolate solids increases and sweeter as the percentage of cocoa solids decreases.

One sample was 100 per cent cocoa mass sample and was the most bitter. “Chocolate with such a high percentage of cocoa solids is not eaten on its own but incorporated in small quantities into other products. Between 65 per cent and 75 per cent the chocolate was less sweet and more flavoursome but seemed to take longer to melt in the mouth. Finally, Claire delivered a 3cm disc of dark chocolate to a plate in front of me and I was instructed to taste the chocolate and identify ten flavours from a list of approximately one hundred ranging from liquorice and date through to coffee and butter - just to demonstrate how complex the flavour of good quality chocolate is.

With my taste buds fully tuned, Claire let me taste her latest creations. A spherical Champagne truffle finished with raspberry dust looked tempting. Its luxurious ganache filling made from a mix of chocolate, cream and Moët & Chandon’s classic Champagne was as smooth as thick clotted cream but with a hint of fresh raspberry. It’s lavish, romantic and thoroughly delicious. I then tried a comma shaped Piedmont praline. It was enrobed in a thin sheet of chocolate and decorated with a trace of dark chocolate. I bite and take a little of the chocolate into my mouth. I allow it to melt, and I breathe in its rich dark flavour. Crisp flakes of caramelized sugar add a further dimension to this beautiful, classic chocolate.

The chocolates are made by hand, in small batches, from the finest quality Criollo cocoa beans which are grown below the canopy of the rain forest in the tropical climate of Venezuela. Criollo cocoa beans are relatively rare and account for only three per cent of the world’s production. Bettys is supporting the protection of this rare cocoa by working with local producers and suppliers. The cocoa beans are processed in Switzerland by Felchlin, a family business founded at the turn of the last century before the chocolate is delivered to Bettys chocolate room.

I ask Claire which is her favourite chocolate. “A Cru Sauvage truffle made from a rare cocoa bean grown wild in the Bolivian Amazon. When it melts in your mouth, you must close your eyes and breathe in the flavour and aroma of the chocolate. It is exquisite.” She enthuses.

My favourite was a blackcurrant ganache truffle. The pairing of dark chocolate with the complex flavours worked well. There are more in the range including a milk chocolate langue de chat -designed to melt on the tongue and deliver an exquisite chocolate experience. Rose and violet creams - crowned with a crystallized violet and vanilla caramel hearts which are decorated with a touch of real gold dust. These have to be the most romantic chocolates on the market.

Bettys latest range of chocolates have been inspired by photographs and original art deco style packaging found in the company’s archive which dates back to 1919 when the company was founded by Frederick Belmont the Swiss chocolatier.

“These chocolate represent what Bettys is all about” says Claire. “They are what Frederick Belmont would have wanted to produce himself if he were still alive.”

The chocolates are packaged in elegant boxes complete with art deco inspired designs and are beautiful enough to become collectable keepsakes.

Claire’s Chocolate Tasting Tips

• The best chocolate to try is between 65per cent to 75 per cent cocoa mass.
•  Nibble - don’t bite. Allow the chocolate to melt in your mouth and release its complex flavour.
• Manipulate the chocolate in your mouth to distribute the melting chocolate across your palate.
• Taste chocolate at ambient temperature but store in a cool dry place.
• Claire recommends drinking dark chocolate with a good quality, vintage port.Bettys latest range of chocolates will be available from September 9. The handmade chocolate selection, chocolate liqueur truffles and langues de chat will be available from November. For further details www.bettys.co.uk

Sugar syrup

When making jelly, the liquid you use must be slightly sweeter than you want the final jelly to be. The best way of controlling the sweetness of a jelly is by adding small quantities of sugar syrup. This syrup can also be used to sweeten cocktails.

To make about 300ml

• 250ml water
• 250g granulated sugar

Bring the water to the boil and then take it off the heat. Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Any remaining sugar syrup can be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Blackcurrant and cassis jelly

Serves 4

• 500g blackcurrants
• 4 tbsp caster sugar
• 100ml water
• 4 tbsp Crème de Cassis
• Sugar syrup to taste
• 6 leaves of gelatine

Place the blackcurrants sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and cover with a lid. Cook for a further five minutes. Allow to cool. Line a sieve with a piece of muslin and place over a jug. Force the blackcurrants through the muslin and allow the juice to drip into the jug. Add the Cassis. Make the juice up to 600ml with water. Adjust the sweetness of the black-currant juice to your taste by adding some sugar syrup. Cut the leaves of gelatine into small pieces and place in a heat proof bowl. Cover the gelatine with about 100ml of the blackcurrant juice and leave to soften for 10 minutes. Place the bowl of softened gelatine over a pan of simmering water and stir until it has dissolved, then add to the rest of the juice and stir well. Pour through a sieve and then pour into your chosen jelly moulds, glasses or bowls. Place in the fridge for about six hours to set. To unmould the jelly: Dip the jelly mould into the hot water for about five seconds then place a plate over the jelly mould and invert the jelly on to the plate.

Wild nettle jelly with sweet berries

Serves 4

• 150ml cordial (wild nettle, elderflower, lemongrass etc)
• 350 ml water
• 5 leaves of gelatine
• 125g summer berries (raspberries, red currants, blackberries)

Mix the cordial with water. Cut the leaves of gelatine into small pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl. Cover the gelatine with about 100ml of the diluted cordial and leave to soften for 10 minutes. Place the bowl of softened gelatine over a pan of simmering water and stir until it has dissolved. Add the dissolved gelatine to the rest of the cordial and stir well. Pour the unset jelly through a sieve to remove any stray pieces of gelatine and then pour into your chosen jelly moulds or bowls. Fill four small glasses, or small jelly moulds, half full. Keep the remaining unset jelly at room temperature. Place the half-filled glasses (or jelly moulds) in the fridge for about two hours until the jelly begins to set. Place a few berries on the surface of the setting jelly and then top up with the remaining unset jelly. Return the jellies to the fridge and allow the jelly to set completely. Unmould the jelly

Orange and Campari jelly

Serves 4

• 4 large oranges, juiced
• 8 tsp Campari
• Sugar syrup to taste
• 6 leaves of gelatine

Line a sieve with a piece of muslin and place over a jug. Pour the orange juice through the muslin and allow it to drip through. Add the Campari to the orange juice and make up the juice up to 300ml with water. Adjust the sweetness of the orange juice to your taste by adding a teaspoon or two of sugar syrup. Cut the leaves of gelatine into small pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl. Cover the gelatine with about 100ml of the orange juice and leave to soften for 10 minutes. Place the bowl of softened gelatine over a pan of simmering water and stir until it has dissolved, add to the rest of the juice and stir well. Pour through a sieve and then into your chosen jelly moulds or bowls. Place in the fridge for about six hours to set. Unmould the jelly.

Dietician Emma Croft spearheaded the campaign to set up the Leeds Ministry of Food. She says: “The UK consumes more than half the ready meals produced in Europe. The more ready meals we eat, the less we cook, until eventually we don’t even have the confidence to boil an egg or cook fresh vegetables.

“Being able to cook food from fresh ingredients is much better for people’s health and they enjoy it more.”

The Ministry of Food Kitchen is delightful. A spacious area allows students to work alongside their teacher in a pleasant bright and airy kitchen.

Simon has laid out trays with fresh salmon, madras curry paste, naan bread, cucumber, coriander, yogurt, lemon and chilli. He takes us through how to make a quick salmon tikka with naan bread and a spicy yogurt dressing. It is tasty, healthy and economical to prepare.

Now it is the turn of the celebrity students here to launch the venture. They include Yorkshire cricketer, Richard Pyrah, former rugby league player Ikram Butt and Vicky Locklin, the face of YTV’s Calendar.

Richard struggles a bit with chopping the cucumber. “I have to be very careful what I eat, but I don’t cook at all. When we are on tour all our food is provided.”

Vicky does better and produces a carefully-cooked dish under the watchful eye of Simon.

To enroll on a course at the Ministry of Food, Kirkgate Market, Row G, Leeds Market Hall, between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Saturday, or call 0113 240 6677 for further details. Courses cost between £2 and £4 per session.

Quick salmon tikka with cucumber yoghurt

Jamie says: “I love this dish. If you’re a fan of chicken tikka masala, give this one a go. You might think it odd to use robust spice pastes on fish, but it’s very common in southern India. When buying your fish, ask the fishmonger to scale it for you. You’ll be amazed at how quickly these cook.”

Serves 2

• 2 naan breads
• 1 fresh red chilli
• ½ cucumber
• juice of one lemon
• 4 tbsp natural yogurt
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• A few sprigs of fresh coriander
• 2 x 150g fresh salmon, skin on and bones removed
• 1 heaped tbsp Patak’s tandoori curry paste olive oil

Preheat oven to 110C/ 225F/gas ¼. Place the naan bread into the oven for 10 minutes.

Halve, de-seed and finely chop the chilli. Peel and halve the cucumber lengthways, then use a spoon to scoop out and discard the seeds. Roughly chop the cucumber and place most of it in a bowl, reserving some for a garnish. Add the yogurt, half of the lemon juice, half of the chopped chilli and a pinch of salt and pepper. Chop the coriander leaves and put aside. Slice each salmon fillet lengthways into three thin slices and smear the tandoori paste over both sides of the salmon.

Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and dribble a little olive oil over the surface. Put the salmon into the pan and cook for 1½ minutes on each side. Place the warmed naan bread on two plates. Spread a dollop of cucumber yogurt over the naan followed by three pieces of salmon. Scatter with reserved chilli cucumber and coriander leaves and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Meatballs and pasta

This is good looking enough to serve to a crowd and packed full of flavour.

Serves 4-6

• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary leaves, picked off the stem and finely chopped
• 12 Jacob’s cream crackers
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 500g good-quality minced beef, pork, or a mixture of the two
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 large egg
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper olive oil a bunch of fresh basil leaves
• 1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• ½ a fresh or dried red chilli, finely chopped
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 400g dried spaghetti or penne
• Parmesan cheese, for grating

To make meatballs:

Wrap the crackers in a tea towel and smash up until fine. Place in a bowl with the mustard, minced meat, chopped rosemary and oregano.

Break the egg into the bowl and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well using clean hands. Divide mixture into four large balls. With wet hands, divide each ball into six and roll into about 24 little meatballs.

Drizzle the meatballs with a little olive oil and place on a plate. Cover and refrigerate.

To cook pasta, meatballs and sauce: Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and add two lugs of olive oil.

Add the onion to the frying pan and cook until softened and lightly golden. Add the garlic and chilli and as soon as they start to brown add the basil leaves. Add the tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Bring to the boil and season to taste. Lower the heat and continue to cook.

Heat another large frying pan; add a lug of olive oil and the meatballs. Stir them around and cook for 8-10 minutes until golden (check they’re cooked by opening one up - there should be no pink). Add meatballs to the sauce, simmer until the pasta is ready, remove from the heat. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the instructions.

To serve: Save some of the cooking water, drain the pasta in a colander. Return pasta to the pan. Spoon half the tomato sauce into the pasta, adding a little splash of the reserved water to loosen the sauce.

Serve on a large platter, or in separate bowls, with the rest of the sauce and meatballs on top. Sprinkle with torn basil leaves and some grated Parmesan.

I thought she spoke volumes for those of us who buy our meat during our mad dash around the supermarket at the end of the week. But this approach means missing out on cuts of meat that can really make a difference to your cooking.

Top chefs are reintroducing forgotten cuts of meat to the best UK restaurants.

Bristol chef Toby Gritten has reworked a classic recipe for Bath chaps or pig’s cheek, and this is once again a popular local dish in Bath and Bristol. Simon Gueller at the Box Tree in Ilkley is famed for his stuffed pigs’ trotters.

One way of getting to know how to cook the different cuts of meat is to ask the advice of a good butcher.

There can be savings too. Cheaper does not necessarily mean poorer quality. A slow cooked stew, made from diced shin of beef, sliced onions and carrots, a bay leaf and cooked for a couple of hours, is a case in point. The meat is so tender it melts in the mouth and the deep, rich meaty flavour of the gravy makes it a British classic.

In these recipes I have teamed up some great cheaper cuts of meat with the best and freshest of summer ingredients.

Roast joint of spare rib with caramelised onions and rhubarb

The sweet caramelised onions and sharp tangy rhubarb provide a very good foil for this succulent roast pork. The hint of elderflower is to remind you that it is June once again.

Ask your butcher to cut the joint as large or small as you would like. You will need about 125-150g per person. I bought a 526g joint for £2.20, and it will feed four people.

Serves 4

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 500g spare rib joint (without the bone)
• 100g dry cured streaky bacon
• 2 large sticks of rhubarb, washed and cut into 5cm lengths
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges
• 1 tbsp elderflower cordial or a tbsp sugar, sea salt and black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas mark 3.

Dribble the olive oil over the surface of a roasting dish or large cast iron pan. Wrap the bacon around the pork joint, season well with salt and pepper. Place the rhubarb and onion wedges around the pork. Dribble the elderflower cordial or sugar over the rhubarb and onions. Place in oven and after one hour turn the onions and rhubarb and baste the meat with the pan juices.

Continue to cook in the oven for a further hour until the meat is nicely browned and the rhubarb and onions are caramelised. Remove from the oven and leave the meat to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve slices of pork with the caramelised rhubarb and onions.

Pot roasted brisket with Yorkshire ale and local vegetables

Brisket is a cut of beef taken from just below the shoulder. It is a firm cut which tenderises during long, slow cooking. It is usually cooked in one piece as a pot roast, in the oven or on the hob.

It should be cooked at 180°C, gas mark 4 or simmered for 30-40 minutes per 450g plus 30-40 minutes. I bought a brisket joint weighing 650g for little over £5, enough for four portions.

This is a very quick dish to prepare but you must be patient and let it cook slowly for two hours. You will be rewarded with tender meat, tasty gravy and melt-in-the-mouth, silken shallots. The Black Sheep Ale marries perfectly with this dish. This is the ultimate one pot meal.

Serves 4

• 650g rolled brisket. Trim any excess fat
• 6 shallots, peeled
• 2 large mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped into 3cm lengths
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 1 large sprig of parsley
• A few stalks of thyme and sage
• 2 cloves (optional)
• 250ml Black Sheep Ale
• 400g new potatoes, washed and scrubbed
• Sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C, gas mark 4. Place the brisket in a casserole dish which has a tightly fitting lid. Take the cloves - if using - and stick them into one of the shallots. Arrange the shallots, mushrooms and carrot around the brisket. Pour over the Black Sheep ale and top up with enough water to come half way up the sides of the meat. Tie the bay leaf, parsley, thyme and sage together with cotton and drop into the pan or chop the parsley, thyme and sage and add to the pot with the bay leaf. Season well with salt and pepper. Forty minutes before the end of the cooking time add the potatoes and allow them to simmer in the stock which has developed. Remove the bay leaf and the clove studded shallot. Serve the pot roast in bowls allowing the gravy to cover the vegetables and meat.

Slow roast pig’s cheek

Pigs’ cheeks are available from a good butcher if you ask for them in advance. The cheek contains a well-developed muscle. It tends to be a little bit fatty and so goes well with sharp flavours like apple and quince jelly. It suits slow roasting and comes with a nice layer of crackling too.

• One pig’s cheek
• Olive oil
• Sea salt

Oven 180C, gas mark 4.

Rub the skin of the pigs’ cheek with a little olive oil and salt. Place on a baking tray and roast for one and a half hours.

Cavalo nero

Although this dark green beauty has an Italian name it is grown in Lancashire. It is a robust “good for you” vegetable that goes very well with the beef and pork dishes above. New in season this month, it is a dark glorious vegetable and it has a strong flavour so about 75g per person is enough.

Serves 4

• 300g cavalo nero
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

Strip out the central rib of the larger leaves and chop roughly. Blanch the chopped leaves in plenty of boiling water for three or four minutes. Cool and squeeze out some of the water. Gently fry some chopped garlic in olive oil for a minute. Add the Cavalo Nero and stir fry for a couple of minutes to coat. Toss the Cavalo Nero in the oil for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Champion butcher David Lishman runs courses on butchery, game and preparing your own charcuiterie at his shop in Bolton Abbey. Contact Charlotte Roberts on 01943 609436 or charlotte@ lishmansofilkley.co.uk for further information.

In the garden herbs are beginning to show. Mint is one of my favourite herbs and works well in both savoury and sweet dishes. I love it finely chopped with melon or as in the recipe below -  an Asian inspired salad - teamed with pink grapefruit.

Angelica leaves are good at the moment. They look rather like the young leaves of celery and have the aroma of Chartreuse. These fragrant leaves can be used chopped over strawberries or other fruit such as stewed rhubarb. The young stems can be candied and used in cake making. Most garden centres sell angelica plants for about £3.00 a pot and it grows quickly into a stately plant with glorious white or purple umbels. 

Some of the best seafood is available now until the end of July. Wild sea trout is an expensive treat and is very different from its farmed relative as it spends time at sea feeding naturally and getting fit. This gives it a sweet, firm flesh coral coloured flesh which lends itself to gentle cooking like poaching or baking in a parcel. A cheaper option at this time if the year is a white fish called hake. Hake is related to cod and lives in the cold deep water surrounding the British Isles. It has few bones and has firm clean white thick flesh and pairs beautifully with oven roasted tomatoes and chopped wild garlic leaves.

Fish parcels with wild garlic and oven roasted tomatoes

To serve this fish ‘en papillote’ is delightful. As each person unwraps their puffed up parcel they are mesmerized by aroma of wild garlic.

Serves 4

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 small tomatoes cut in half and oven roasted
• 4 leaves of fresh garlic, finely shredded
• 4  x 150g pieces of hake or other white fish
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the oven roasted tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 200C/ Mark 6. Lay the tomato halves face up on a baking tray and sprinkle with a little salt. Cook for about 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 150C/Mark 2 for a further half an hour or longer if you have time. Remove from the oven. The oven roasting concentrates the flavour of the tomatoes.

To make the fish parcels

Raise the temperature of the oven to 220C/Mark 7. Cut four 30cm (12 inch) squares of greaseproof paper and foil. Place the foil squares onto of the greaseproof paper ones and brush the foil lightly with oil. Place two halves of oven roasted tomato in the centre of each square of foil followed by a piece of fish and s scattering of chopped wild garlic leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the edges of the foil and greaseproof paper together to make a parcel. Fold over the edges several times so that when the fish cooks, the steaming juices will make the parcels puff up. Place the parcels on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Lift the parcels of fish onto warmed plates and serve still wrapped.  

Quick roasted potatoes with wild garlic

This is a quick, way of producing crisp potatoes packed with loads of flavour. There is no need to peel the potatoes. Just give them a good scrub and dry them carefully.

Serves 4

• 1 large old potato per person, scrubbed and cut roughly into approximate 2cm squares
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• A handful of young wild garlic leaves, washed, dried and chopped roughly.

Preheat the oven to 220C/Mark 7. Dribble a little olive oil oven the base of a deep roasting dish or large cast iron frying pan. Place the cubed potatoes in the pan and toss them in the olive oil. Sprinkle a little ground sea salt over them and place in the hot oven for about 40 minutes. Half way through cooking turn, the potatoes over in the pan to make sure they are evenly browned. Just before serving scatter the chopped wild garlic leaves liberally over the crips, brown potatoes. 

Strawberries with lemon verbena

Strawberries taste beautiful by themselves but their flavour also goes well with other herbs such as lemon verbena. This dish would pair up well with a few homemade meringues if you have time - if not good quality shop bought will do fine. Lemon verbena is a fragrant small bushy plant which can be used to flavour food and make a soothing tisane. Its leaves can also be picked, dried and placed in rooms to scent the air. Another great value herb which can be bought from most garden centres for around £3.00

Serves 4

• A small handful of lemon verbena leaves
• 45g granulated sugar
• 340g strawberries, hulled
• 250g Greek yogurt

Put the lemon verbena leaves into a mortar (or herb chopper) with the sugar and pound with a pestle until the sugar is crushed and the verbena leaves have been broken up. Roughly chop the strawberries and mix with the Greek yogurt. Add enough of the lemon scented sugar to sweeten.

Grapefruit and mint salad

Pink grapefruit is both sweet and sour and works well with mint in a bowl of fresh salad.

Serves 4

• 1 pink grapefruit, cut into thin segments
• 1 tbsp mint, finely chopped
• Salad leaves

Dressing

• Juice of 1 lemon, plus zest
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the grapefruit, mint and salad leaves in a bowl. Combine the ingredients for the salad dressing in a jar and shake well. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve.

“Autumn honey is our final honey of the year and is made from heather nectar. The bees have to be quick though as heather is only in flower for a couple of weeks in August. It has a distinctive heather flavour, a thick, bubbly texture and is pale gold” Liz explains. Mike Joyce, Liz’s husband looks after the bees and moves the hives on to the moors in early August to make sure the bees feed exclusively on heather.

As I taste my way round the different honeys in Liz and Mike’s honey room - a converted garage at their back of their house, I can detect differences between the spring and summer honey but I can’t identify a particular floral scent. “This is because they are polyfloral honeys” explains Liz. “Heather honey, on the otherhand, is monofloral and imparts its own heady scent to the honey.”

So how should honey be used in cooking? Honey is sweeter than sugar and can be used as a substitute. For sweetening drinks and puddings use slightly less honey than you would sugar. For baking, substitute half the sugar in a recipe with honey.

Honey has a natural affinity with dairy food: honey with milk or yogurt is a classic pairing but it can also be paired with aged hard cheeses like pecorino, pungent blue cheese - like Stichelton,  made for the Neal’s Yard Diary in Nottinghamshire and goat’s cheese.

Other classic honey combinations are with lemon, ginger, figs and mixed with mustard as a coating for ham.  For a tasty salad dressing; mix a teaspoon of runny honey with half a teaspoon of French mustard, three tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon of wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and salt and shake well.

Over the past few years the honey bee has been devastated by the Varroa mite. “I used to have 80 hives and now I only have 40″ Mikes tells me. But the good news this year is that the bees really liked the cold, dry winter and spring. Many more than usual survived.

“They also like dry weather” says Mike “If it’s wet bees get water logged and won’t fly so they stay inside the hive and eat all the honey, which is exactly what I don’t want”.

Honey week runs from 3-10^th May.

Breakfast pancakes with Yorkshire Black - home cured bacon and runny honey

These pancakes are foolproof and very quick to make. Each pancake provides a wonderful base for crisp bacon dribbled with honey. For a sweet version, just add a few blueberries or chopped strawberries to the pancake batter.

Serves 2-4

• 3 large eggs
• 115g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 140ml milk
• 4 rashers of Yorkshire Black or any other dry cured bacon grilled until crisp
• Runny honey
• Dijon mustard

Separate the eggs from the yolks and place each in a large bowl.  Stir the flour and baking powder into the egg yolks until you have a smooth paste. Gradually beat in the milk to create a smooth, thick batter. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gradually fold into the batter.

To cook: heat a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Add a tablespoon of batter mixture and cook for a couple of minutes on one side and when golden brown flip over and cook the other side. When ready place on plates. Meanwhile grill bacon until crisp. Place bacon on pancakes and dribble with honey and serve with a dollop of mustard on the side.

Honey cake with coriander, cinnamon and lemon

This cake is very simple to make as it uses the ‘all in one’ method.   I have added an exotic blend of spices which marry beautifully with honey to create a fragrant cake. Coriander, like cardamom, cinnamon and ginger can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes.

• 175g self raising flour
• 1 rounded tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp coriander seeds, finely ground
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 1 tbsp pine nuts or flaked almonds
• 175g unsalted butter at room temperature and cut into small pieces
• 90g caster sugar
• 90g runny honey
• 3 eggs
• For the icing
• 8 tbsp icing sugar
• Juice of a lemon
• 1 tbsp pine nuts or flaked almonds, toasted

Set the oven at 170C/Gas 3. Lightly butter a loaf tin measuring 9cm by 20cm across the base.  Sift the flour, spices and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the lemon zest, pine nuts, butter, sugar, honey and eggs. Mix together either with an electric hand mixer or in a food mixer until the mixture is smooth and  ’drops off’ a spoon.  Place the mixture in the loaf tin and cook for 50 minutes. Check after 30 minutes and if the top is browning too much cover with some foil. The cake is cooked when you can press a finger in its centre and the surface of the cake springs back into shape.

Make the icing by sifting the icing sugar into a bowl and adding enough lemon juice to form a runny paste. Dribble the icing over the cooled cake. Toast a few pine nuts or almonds and scatter over the sticky icing.

Yorkshire honey with cheese and oatcakes

I have paired Allerdale goat’s cheese made at the Thorby Moor Diary in Cumbria with Liz and Mike’s Summer honey for this dish. Fresh oatcakes are something really special. They are crumbly and have have a nutty aroma.

• 200g fine oatmeal
• 50g Grape- Nuts
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 20g unsalted butter
• 80-100ml water
• Additional oatmeal for rolling

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Combine the oatmeal, Gape-Nuts, salt and baking powder in a bowl and then rub in the butter. Add enough water to form a soft ball. Sprinkle a work surface with a little oatmeal and press the soft ball with your hand to flatten it slightly. Dust some more oatmeal over the top and roll out until it is about 5mm thick. Slice the cheese and place on the oatcake. Dribble a little honey over and enjoy.

Cut out circles using a 6cm cutter (or larger if you like) and place on a lightly buttered baking tray. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the oatcakes are tinged a little brown around the edges. Transfer to a cooking rack.

There are multiple small dining rooms. Outside the courtyard is a well laid out comfortable dining area and although there was a chill in the air we choose to sit here. The restaurant is run by the French chef Didier Corlou and named after his wife’s grand-mother. It aims to celebrate the best of Vietnamese food and cooking developed over generations by Vietnamese women. This explains why the walls show varied pictures of women.

The menu is extensively Vietnamese and before we ordered a generous bowl of toasted nuts and prawn crackers was brought to our table. We choose a simple meal of pho, steamed pumpkin stalks with fried garlic and fried noodles with shrimps and vegetables. The pho was a clean tasting vegetable broth. The steamed pumpkin stalks were deep green, carefully steamed and lovely and garlicky. One portion of fried noodles was enough for two. Glossy, slippery noodles flavoured with aromatic herbs and tender sweet prawns. Each dish was well presented. The service was attentive, courteous and friendly. This is a good place to eat if you want to get away from the chaotic street food and sample finely balanced, fragrant Vietnamese food in comfortable surroundings. We spent just short of $20 for two of us.

 Madame Hien, Café and restaurant. 15 Chan Cam, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam

Other food and travel writers have given this restaurant some attention and a few printed features are now pasted messily on the wall. Diners cook and assemble their own meal at the table. The ingredients: a bowl of cooked thin rice noodles, chopped dill, a selection of herbs, a bowl of chopped fresh chilli and some pungent fermented fish paste. Finally a small cast iron pan, set over an electric table cooker reheats precooked fish. This is a great idea for a dish but the owners have let the rot of complacency set in.  When meals in this city cost an average of $4 - Cha Cha La Vong charge an extortionate $9 per dish. The restaurant is dirty and scruffy and an avaricious Madame presides like a sinister spirit waiting for the money to hit the till. Give it a miss. There are now better places to eat in the Hanoi.

Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant, Cha Ca Street, Old Quarter, Hanoi.

Other food and travel writers have given this restaurant some attention and a few printed features are now pasted messily on the wall. Diners cook and assemble their own meal at the table. The ingredients: a bowl of cooked thin rice noodles, chopped dill, a selection of herbs, a bowl of chopped fresh chilli and some pungent fermented fish paste. Finally a small cast iron pan, set over an electric table cooker reheats precooked fish. This is a great idea for a dish but the owners have let the rot of complacency set in.  When meals in this city cost an average of $4 - Cha Ca La Vong charge an extortionate $9 per dish. The restaurant is dirty and scruffy and an avaricious Madame presides like a sinister spirit waiting for the money to hit the till. Give it a miss. There are now better places to eat in the Hanoi.

Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant, Cha Ca Street, Old Quarter, Hanoi.