RECOMMENDATIONS

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  Cottage pie

  Cheesy potato-topped beef in a wine enriched sauce adds a special touch to cottage pie in this hearty recipe from Tamasin Day-Lewis

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  Chorizo and potato soup

  You'll probably have potatoes and onions in the house even if the cupboard are otherwise bare, so you could make Darina Allen's simply delicious soup at a moment's notice

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  Chicken with puy lentils cooked in cider

  Ben Ticehurst cooks these green lentils with bacon, onion and garlic to create a dish full of the flavours of France

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  Carrot and cashew crisp with hot lentil salad

  This delicious vegetarian dish from Marise Maddison combines the sweet flavours of carrot and toasted cashew with hot puy lentil salad and an orange and cardamom sauce

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  Spaghetti with cockles

  Tom Aikens’ simple seafood pasta would make an elegant dinner party dish

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  Herring salad with dulse

  Gary Rhodes uses an Irish sea vegetable, to add an extra hint of the sea to his potted herring salad

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  Vegetarian Christmas pudding

  In Roopa Gulati's suet-free Christmas pudding, vegetarians get to enjoy all the highlights of Christmas without compromising on any of the taste

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  Warm beetroot, pomegranate and feta salad

  Sophie Grigson whips up a flavoursome salad that’s as much a treat for the eyes as the stomach

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  Deep-fried ice cream and mincemeat parcels

  Nigel Slater's splendidly decadent mixture of hot, crisp pastry, boozy mincemeat and cold vanilla ice is an all-round winner

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  Chicken earle

  Ann Keeling makes a chicken and vegetable gratin with a crisp cheesy top