Sophie Dahl - Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights

SERVES 1

1/ 2a small red onion

Olive oil

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

50g/2oz of Red Leicester cheese (any good, sharp, hard cheddar like Monterey Jack will do as an alternative)

I cry like a baby when I chop onions. A few years ago I found a brilliant device from Williams Sonoma online which does all the work for you. You simply peel the onion, put it in the top of the contraption, pop the lid on and turn the handle. Voilà, diced onions without tears.

Roughly chop the onion. On a low flame, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. I use a small fat pan as I like my omelettes tidy and plump. Gently fry the onion, letting the edges brown but making sure the middle stays softly purple. This should take about 5 minutes. When it looks to your liking, take it out and reserve on the side. Remove any crispy bits from the pan.

Beat the eggs and season. On a low heat again, heat a scant bit of olive oil in your frying pan and add the eggs. Let them settle for 30 seconds. Either grate or break the cheese up into rough chunks and put it in the setting omelette. As it melts, pour in your onions and gently fold the omelette in half with a spatula. Depending on how done you like your omelette to be, you can then fry the other side. I like mine very slightly oozing.

Delicious with a dollop of mustard! (And if you are my pernickety brother, Ned, without the onions!)

SERVES 4-6

Oil for greasing

200g/2 cups of rolled oats

70g/ 1/ 2a cup of pumpkin seeds

50g/ 1/ 2a cup of flaked almonds

50g/ 1/ 2a cup of desiccated coconut

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

160g/ 1/ 2a cup of agave syrup or honey

2 tablespoons of apple juice

1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground allspice

1 pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

100g/ 1/ 2a cup of chopped dried apricots

You can eat this with milk as a cereal, sprinkle it on yoghurt or porridge or simply stick your paw in the jar throughout the day. It makes one feel very fifties housewife, because as it bakes the house is bathed in a warm cinnamon-y glow.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4 and oil a large baking tray/cookie sheet.

Combine in a mixing bowl the oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds and desiccated coconut. In a separate large mixing bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients and the spices. Combine the dry ingredients into the wet.

Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking tray/cookie sheet, using a spatula to smooth it down. Bake for around 40 minutes, keeping an eye on the granola. When it starts to brown, turn the mixture over with the spatula to make sure it toasts evenly on both sides.

When it is ready, take it out of the oven, let it cool, then add the apricots.

Store in an airtight container and serve with milk or yoghurt, or eat as a snack when the whim takes you.

MAKES ONE LARGE LOAF

450g/4 cups of wholemeal/whole wheat flour or spelt flour

100g/1 cup of rolled oats

20ml/1 large tablespoon of quick yeast

1 teaspoon of sea salt

600ml/2 1/ 2cups of warm water

1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

1 tablespoon of runny honey

My beloved is a musician. This, a strong cup of tea and Miles Davis on the stereo makes him a happy fellow of a morning.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. In a large Pyrex jug, mix together the warm water, sunflower oil and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients in the large bowl, mixing them together. Cover and put in a warm place, like a plate warmer or airing cupboard. It should stay there for 20 minutes, or until it’s doubled in size.

Once it has doubled, take it out, stir it with the wooden spoon until the air is gone and it is back to its original size. Trust me on this. Place the dough in an oiled 1.5-litre/6 3/ 4-cup (23 x 13 x 6cm/9 x 5 x 2 1/ 2-inch) loaf pan, and banish it back to the warm place for another 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas 5.

Take it out, and put it in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how it looks.

Serve with butter, mustard and a big slice of Parma ham—or, if you’re like me, simply butter and marmalade.

SERVES 2 HUNGRY PEOPLE WITH SOME LEFT OVER FOR TEA

2 egg whites

340g/1 1/ 2cups of cooked and coarsely mashed sweet potatoes

2 medium-sized spring onions/scallions, chopped

1 1/ 2teaspoons of curry powder

1 pinch of ground cumin

Salt and pepper

Groundnut oil

I once spent a few months in Bombay making a film that cemented two things: one, an actress I am not, but two, should all else fail I can now dance while lip-synching in Hindi. I love, love, love Indian food and, most of all, Indian breakfasts with a stress on the savoury. These aren’t really pancakes, more like latkes without the oil.

Beat the egg whites with a fork in a bowl. Combine everything else except the groundnut oil in a big mixing bowl with your fingers, putting in the egg whites last.

Heat a frying pan or griddle, rubbed with a little bit of groundnut oil, and place dollops of the mixture onto it. Remember: the bigger the pancake the longer it will take to cook, so keep them little and neat. Squash them a bit with a spatula once in the pan. They’ll take about 5 minutes each side on a medium heat, with another couple of minutes’ blast on the first side at the end.

SERVES 2 – ALREADY IN LOVE

Butter for greasing

1 generous piece of undyed fresh smoked haddock (about 350-400g/11-13oz)

250ml/1 cup of milk

2 bay leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

50g/ 1/ 2a cup of grated strong/sharp Cheddar

Fresh parsley, to garnish

Don’t make this in the first throes of love or when you have people coming over. Haddock is not, and never will be, a sensory aphrodisiac. It is, however, delicious.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4. Preheat the grill.

Butter two ramekins. Halve the haddock and put a piece in each ramekin. Pour the milk over the top and add a bay leaf and black pepper to each. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, top with Cheddar and blast under the hot grill for a few minutes. Chop some fresh parsley and sprinkle on top.

SERVES 2

2 eggs

90g/3 cups of spinach

1 small bunch of watercress

110g/ 1/ 2a cup of soft goat’s cheese, crumbled

70g/ 1/ 2a cup of toasted pumpkin seeds (or as many, or little, as you prefer)

For the dressing

1 1/ 2teaspoons of harissa paste

2 tablespoons of olive oil

This is an easy salad, so I suggest buying harissa for the dressing! You can find really good harissa in any good deli or Middle Eastern shop, and all you have to do is mix it with some smoky olive oil (see below), pour it on your salad and luxuriate in being a bit damn lazy.