90. Prawn bisque with basil & brandy

Home Cooking Made Easy p129

This recipe requires raw shell-on prawns, which for me were impossible to find. Not even the fish man on the market had any. In the end I settled for cooked shell-on prawns from Morrisons, as the point is really simmering the shells for about 30 minutes.

79. Light & crispy tempura prawns & soy chilli dipping sauce

Home Cooking Made Easy p32

Sorry to shock you, dear reader, but in our household, sometimes we just don’t have time for a starter at dinner. But every recipe in the book has to be cooked so I sort of turned this one into a meal.

27. Hearty Spanish paella, and 28. Extra gooey pecan pie

Home Cooking Made Easy p124 and p191

heart·y adj. 4. b. Providing abundant nourishment; substantial: a hearty meal.

I think Lorraine may have overstated the case here with her paella. It’s certainly very pleasant, but not exactly abundant in nourishment. Of course, she might have meant the other meaning of hearty – a meal fit for a pirate (“avast, me hearties”) – but this would also be some way off the mark.

25. Pad Thai

Home Cooking Made Easy p76

Rural Devon is in the grip of a Thai cooking frenzy. You might not think it, but that’s the only reason I can come up with for why my local Tesco has sold out (yes, sold out) of tamarind paste.