Spicy hot toasted cashew nuts

Poire Belle Hélène

Poire Belle Hélène is a fairly simple cold dessert. The pears are poached in a vanilla-flavoured syrup, then served on top of vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce poured over.

Yvetot Douillons

This dessert, named after a small town in Normandy, consists of a pear filled with confectioner's custard (French pastry cream), which is wrapped in a pancake and puff pastry, then baked. The "douillon" part of the name comes from a warm coat, the "douillette", of former times.

Cajun pork with rice.

In Cajun cooking, rice dishes with meat, like the famous jambalaya, take pride of place. Here is a simplified version using marinated pork.

Vegetable clafoutis

Clafoutis, the traditional French batter puddings, are normally sweet, but here is a savoury version: a layer of mixed vegetables (pre-cooked in this case) in a gratin dish with a cheesy mixture poured over, then baked in the oven. Here I have used diced carrots and courgettes, chopped onion, fried diced ham and a mix of cream, eggs and Comté.

Sausage and lentils "en cocotte"

This is a casserole-style version of the traditional French sausage-and-lentils recipe with a special feature: the lentils are cooked in just the right amount of water. The other ingredients add flavour as does, most importantly, the sausage (preferably smoked). When pricked, this will release its full flavour into the lentils during cooking. Not only will the lentils be perfectly cooked and extra-tasty, thanks to the sausage, they are ideal to serve with the sausage itself.