Few sounds are more satisfying than a spoon cracking through the scorched golden top of a crème brûlée to reveal the creamiest vanilla custard core. This is one you need in your entertaining bag of tricks.

Extracted from Even More Basics to Brilliance by Donna Hay (Fourth Estate, £28)

These super fluffy no-knead flatbreads will change your mind about making bread at home. They're the ultimate minimum-fuss flex, perfect for dipping, mopping or ferrying those tasty toppings.

Extracted from Even More Basics to Brilliance by Donna Hay (Fourth Estate, £28)

This is the only carrot cake you need in your life! Layers of super soft cake are warmly (but not overly) spiced and studded with nuts, then coated in the dreamiest lemony cream cheese frosting.

Extracted from Even More Basics to Brilliance by Donna Hay (Fourth Estate, £28)

There are recipes in this book that i love because they are interesting, there are those that I love for their simplicity, and there are those that I find myself making again and again. This is the latter, a great roast chicken, the heart of home cooking and one of life’s great pleasures. I relish the ritual, my family’s fight over the wings, the secret chef ’s treats of the oysters, the leftover sandwiches and bubbling stocks. There is no meal that makes me feel more at home. In my mind, there are three keys to a good roast chicken . . . juicy meat, brown salty skin and most importantly a ton of sauce. And it’s the sauce of this chicken that really sets it apart: handfuls of tarragon, lashings of cream and a proper dollop of mustard, which when combined with the cooking juices, garlic and wine creates a truly epic mouthful.

Extracted from The Farm Table by Julius Roberts (Ebury Press, £27). Photography by Elena Heatherwick.

It’s the Valentine’s sugar-pink of the rhubarb, blushing under a blanket of melted Cheddar, that makes this feel like romantic food for me; though it’s the flavour – rhubarb’s intense earthy sourness counterbalanced by rich buttery pastry and melting cheese – that makes me long to eat it. As much as you might associate rhubarb with puddings and nursery fare, don’t be fooled: this is very much a savoury business and also very much a ‘grown-up’ dish. I’ll be honest: the portions here are more than generous for two, but to make half a tart seems mean, and this is one of those dishes that everyone always eats more of than seems sensible, so I prefer to err on the side of plenty. And while it really does taste its very best warm straight from the oven, the cheese melting in your mouth, I nonetheless always look forward to leftovers.

To go with it, you only need a salad: I can’t resist pairing this with a similarly pastel- hued salad of blush-pink radicchio rosa or dark red bitter chicory. Too much? Or just enough? One warning: this works best with long, thin, furiously pink rhubarb stems rather than the fatter ones, which take longer to cook and can taste a little too sharp.

A Table Full of Love by Skye McAlpine is published by Bloomsbury, £26.

Photography by Skye McAlpine

Skye is hosting a supper club upstairs at Daylesford in Pimlico on Thursday 29th June 2023. Spaces are limited and booking is essential; last few places remaining. Find out more.

Discover Romy's top tips for making flatbreads at home in our journal here.

Photos by Matt Inwood. 

We serve a version of this dish in the restaurants and on the food to go menus at Daylesford year-round. 

We’ve used our new peanut butter in this dressing but cashew butter is also excellent. Make extra and use the dressing to add punchy flavour to other dishes such as salads, grain bowls, noodles, fish and chicken.  

For the slaw, feel free to vary the ingredients depending on what’s in season, or what you have handy.  

This recipe can be made in the oven or slow cooker.

An extract from Seed Magazine Volume 5, available to order now. 

Seed magazine was founded on the belief that we need to live sustainably and consciously. Its philosophy is to lead by example: to gently inspire readers to make small changes with their own choices. 

The recipes in volume 05 demonstrate delicious ways we can reduce food waste and be more economical in the kitchen. This sticky beef brisket uses a cheaper cut of meat and an energy-saving slow cooker to help you feed more for less – without compromising on flavour. 

This iced tea recipe from Kirthanaa Naidu is so good we recommend having a jugful at hand to enjoy throughout the day. Kirthanaa has added our Daylesford Oxfordshire honey to make this iced tea not only delicious but free from refined sugars. It's simple to make, perfect for a hot day and easy to make in advance when hosting friends or family.

A real centrepiece, this barbecued fillet of beef recipe is perfect for entertaining and makes an elegant and light summery dish.

The contrasting colours of the punchy green tapenade and the rich reds, oranges and yellows of our heritage tomatoes are stunning. 

“Wild salmon comes into season at the start of the summer, so this dish is based around pairing it with other seasonal ingredients. The accompaniment is a twist on the classic French dish, ‘petit pois à la française’, something I’m quite partial to, in which peas and lettuce are braised in stock and butter. My husband likes the addition of the bacon, but you could happily leave it out to make it a meat-free dish.”

Carole Bamford

When it comes to the garden’s ingredients, spring is the most uplifting time of year with the arrival of asparagus and Jersey Royals.