Soak about 30g of shitake mushrooms other mushrooms are also available in a litre of water overnight.
Put the heads of garlic in a 180-200°C/Gas Mark 4-6 oven for half an hour to an hour until they are soft and begin oozing.
Squeeze out the mushrooms and strain the stock through fine muslim or kitchen roll.
Roughly chop the onion or you could use shallots or leeks.
Clean and chop the mushrooms.
Heat a mixture of butter and olive oil and sweat the onions until they're transparent. Add a couple of tablespoons of miso paste and fry until it begins to caramelise a little, then add the mushrooms, thyme leaves and a good grind of black pepper. Fry gently until they collapse and their excess water has cooked off.
De-glaze the pan with a generous glug of marsala wine or sherry, or white wine. Add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, a tablespoon or two of fish sauce and 1 litre of the mushroom stock.
Allow the baked garlic heads to cool slightly, then squeeze the now soft and oozing garlic out of the cloves into the mushrooms. Stir the mascarpone through the mushrooms then blend everything in batches to a smooth soup, lubricating with extra water if needed.
Now enrich the soup with double cream, and crème fraîche and season with soy sauce. To serve, spoon the soup into bowls. Dress with a swirl of cream or crème fraîche, a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, or a splash of sherry vinegar, if you like.
Brown some mushroom slices in olive oil over high heat and scatter them over the soup. Add some chopped parsley or other herbs like chives, tarragon or chervil, and a drizzle more of olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
Halve the tomatoes and remove the hard woody core. You can leave cherry tomatoes whole.
Oil a baking tin (not too shallow), layer in the tomatoes skin-side down, drizzle with more olive oil, a squirt of balsamic vinegar sprinkle over about a teaspoon of golden sugar if you like scatter over the leaves stripped from a bunch of thyme or oregano and a good grinding of black pepper.
Slide the tray into the middle of the oven for about an hour until all the tomatoes are well softened, and a few are blackening.

Oil a second baking tray. Remove the stems from the peppers, halve and de-seed them and layer them skin-side down in the tray. Peel the red onion and cut into 8 leaving on the root part to hold them together. Scatter in the tray. Add a few sprigs of rosemary, left whole to discard after and throw in the whole head of garlic, only removing any loose skins.
Drizzle with olive oil, then add to the oven too - above or below the tomatoes.

Over the course of an hour or so occasionally switch the trays so nothing burns. At the end everything should be well softened with some dark roasting here and there.
You might need to remove the garlic head early.

Peel the carrot and the white half onion and cut into small dice. Heat a knob of butter in a fairly large pan and sweat the carrots for a while, then add the onions, adding more butter as necessary. When everything is well softened without significant browning, add the tomato paste, if using, and cook it until it darkens and loses any hint of bitterness. Sprinkle in the paprika and sweat until melts into the vegetables and loses any harsh aroma.
Pop or squeeze out the garlic cloves from the head and add to the pan.
Remove the rosemary sprigs and add the contents of both baking tins to the pan, washing in the scraps from the tins with a little water or stock.
Blend or purée the soup until smooth. Blend in a few tablespoons of mascarpone if using (and you don't intend to freeze the soup, in which case best add that after thawing it out again). Adjust the seasoning and the thickness with water or stock.

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil or double cream if you like, and a scattering of basil leaves or chives.
You could also top with some roasted sesame seeds, crumbled goats cheese, more paprika, or a few reserved roast tomatoes chopped small.

Peel and dice the carrots into cubes about the size of a couple of peas. Blanch in salted, boiling water for a minute or two until tender, then flash chill in ice water and reserve until needed.

Reduce 150ml of lamb stock by about half.
Fry, grill or barbecue the lamb chops for about 6 minutes per side until the fat gets crispy. Leave to rest, covered, for half the cooking time.

Quarter the lettuce lengthways and season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roughly chop any loose leaves to add to the ragoü too.
Caramelize under the grill for 8-10 minutes.
10 minutes before serving, heat a little oil in a sauté or frying pan. Add the lardons and gently fry until they render their fat and are coloured all over.
Add a pinch or two of ground cumin and cardamom powder. Set the pan aside.
To finish the ragoüt, add the blanched carrots and the frozen peas to the lardons. Cover with the reduced lamb stock along with any cooking juices from the chops. Leave to simmer for 2 minutes, or until the peas are tender.
Season with salt and pepper, if necessary.
To plate, slice your lamb cutlets, and place on top of the charred lettuce. Cover in ragoüt and enjoy!

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 3-4.
Blanch the peppers in boiling water for a few dozen seconds, drain, then slice them open along one side and remove the core and seeds. Leave them otherwise intact.
Chop the soft apricots, mash cream into the mascarpone to loosen it, and mix in the apricots. Maybe some herbs or garlic if you liked?
Oil a baking dish. Stuff the peppers with the mascarpone mixture and lay them slit-side up in the dish. Give them an extra drizzle of olive oil and bake for 20-30 minutes until the peppers are tender and the cheese filling is bubbling.
Sprinkle the dish with grated parmesan if you like and return it to the oven to melt just before serving.

Crush the garlic with some black pepper into a paste using the side of a knife.
In a jam jar mix the garlic with the juice of half a lemon, and about the same volume of soy sauce (perhaps 2-3 tablespoons of each).
Double the whole volume with olive oil.
Season with hot sauce and/or minced red chillies, shake and serve.

Take a small pan.
First fill it with water and boil an egg, quick-chill it, shell it and cut it in half.
Next heat a pool of oil in the pan, throw in the chilli flakes, after they sizzle throw in the minced garlic, then the white parts of the spring onion. Add a teaspoon of chilli powder or paprika of some kind and swirl.
Pour out and set aside - it will do for two portions of noodles.

Add a little stock and water to the pan, mix in the peanut butter and the honey, add any flavour packets from the ramen, bring to the boil and add the noodles.
Cook until the noodles are al dente, remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream.
Put a spoonful of the chilli oil and the soy sauce in the bottom of a bowl, pour in the pan of noodles, add the halved boiled egg, dress with the sesame oil, extra chilli oil or chilli sauce to taste and sprinkle over the green parts of the spring onion and some sliced red chilli.

Cook the noodles and all the package flavourings in only the water needed to cover them. Take them off the heat.
Finely slice the toppings.
Mix the egg yolk with all the other ingredients.
Stir the mixture through the noodles, then heat gently while stirring until the sauce thickens.
Add the topping, a drizzle more of sesame oil, and chow down.

Cut the chorizo into 1" slices.
Put them in a small saucepan or ovenproof dish with a couple of bay leaves if you like. Cover with a good quality dry cider.
Boil for 15 minutes, simmer gently for an hour, or stick in a low oven for a couple of hours.
The cider should have reduced down to a rich syrup when it's ready.