This is an (almost) instant fresh chutney that will give a lively green kick to any curry. Go for as much or as little chilli as you like - you can also mix it through yoghurt for a cool, pale green dip to serve with tandoori prawns or cutlets or with samosas.

This week's smoky chilli beef with black beans is lifted to a whole other level of winter comfort when it's served with a side or topping of just baked, home-made cornbread. It takes all of three minutes in the food processor to prepare

We’re all a bit salad-happy here at the moment. Summer may, at last, be over, but we’re still craving the freshness, health-giving qualities and general zippiness of fresh, raw vegetables and leaves, put together with a few other interesting ingredients and a bit of care. Lunch, in particular, says salad time to us, especially a salad that can be packed in a container – or a jar, for the terminally on-trend – and taken to work or school. The sturdier leaves and vegetables available at this time of year call out for big flavours and robust dressings and can even handle being dressed ahead of time – a bonus when you’re making a salad that needs to travel.

To those who've asked for one last superfoods salad for the year we apologise. We just couldn't squeeze one more damn thing in. But here's the next best thing - the recipe! Teach a man to fish...

We're cooking a paella this week and it's such a happy, festive dish for a crowd that it calls for a Spanish theme to run through dinner. I'm always one for the easy option, particularly when friends come over. I admire but don't quite understand those who try out their most laborious and experimental cooking on guests. Tricksy, weird stuff? That's what my family's for, on sober evenings, when I have my wits about me, not socially stressed and a couple of finos worse for wear. So if I was thinking a dinner with a paella as the main event, I'd keep the bits beforehand very simple: some slices of jamon, a bowl of warmed olives, maybe a few roasted almonds and always some crudites dipped in romesco, that wonderfully versatile and piquant Spanish sauce.