Tuscan pasta with kale, leeks and sausage, traditionally served with pappardelle, is another great dish for those who like pasta but can't eat or don't like tomatoes. I'm doing it here according to the recipe my father recorded in his journal in the 1960s, though it's easily turned lactovegetarian. It's neither slow-cooked nor a quick dish, but easy to cook with relatively few ingredients.

Japanese-influenced katsu fish pie is a reworking of the British comfort food classic. Brimming with a mix of fish and seafood with a creamy béchamel subtly infused with with the flavours of katsu curry, a Japanese comfort food increasingly popular around the world, it's topped with a sweet potato and a panko crust.

Pasta with Romano pepper, courgette and black olive sauce is a recipe from Sicily perfect for hot weather; easily digested. It’s a lactovegetarian sauce dripping with the additional flavours of onions, basil, white wine, oregano and ricotta—and a kick of peperoncini if you like your Sicilian spicy. But, it is often served with the addition of pancetta cubes if you want a little meat. Though it’s best slow-cooked, it remains very easy to make.

This barley, beetroot and beef pie—easily turned vegan or vegetarian—comes from the most easterly region of Germany near the Czech border. Steeped in the delicious flavours of celery, mushrooms, spinach, curly leaf parsley and caraway seeds, it's notable for having both a summer style and a winter one. Either is delicious. Furthermore, it freezes very well if you make a number of pies with these quantities.

This linguine with crab, peas and lemon, and more besides, is the perfect dish for hot weather. With its notes of fresh herbs and healthy ingredients, it's fully satisfying yet easily digested. And, it is also both quick and easy to make when temperatures mean the last thing you want is to spend time slaving over a hot stove.

Another in my series of a fusion approach to the British tradition of the Sunday roast, this Thai Sunday roast—with chicken—is a fusion Sunday meal influenced throughout by Thai cooking, an easy way to make a Sunday fixture a little different. A spiced Thai rice stuffing, sweetcorn fritters, peanut and ginger roast potatoes and Thai style vegetables.

This prawns in tomato and artichoke sauce is a simple—optionally quick—dish from the South of France near to the Italian border, and the culinary influences of both countries are evident. The flavour of sun-drenched tomatoes and red peppers shine through, both in the main seafood dish and side dish of pan roasted vegetables. A perfect lighter meal for warmer weather.

8 best side dishes for warm weather.A collection of delicious and less obvious side dishes originally created for specific recipes. But, they all share being able to work with a far wider range of dishes. Some are classics, others a little more leftfield and many are a good way to stop leftovers from going to waste. Issue no.1 of what I hope to be an occasional series and focuses on side dishes that work well in warmer weather. So, ideal for those who live in hot places or a

This lactovegetarian butternut squash and sweet potato tart was one of the first recipes I ever created, way back in the Dark Ages when I was still a teenager. With its creamy, slightly sweet filling balanced with herby onions, peppers and black olives, it immediately proved a crowdpleaser that I've dished up to successive generations of plant-based dinner guests.

Spanish slow-roasted pork belly is widely known as the tapas bar dish 'torreznos con mojo dulce,' a sweet spicy sauce. But it also has other guises such here, served with a fresh, green salsa verde, skin-on roasted potatoes, Rioja-style beans and grilled padrón peppers. It's a slow dish, but gets on with it in the background while you get on with other things. A great weekend family meal or alternative to a traditional Sunday roast.

My father chanced upon this spicy Sicilian spaghetti with scallops in Palermo in the 1960s and it's been a family favourite ever since. It's brimming with flavours—scallops, anchovies, peperoncino, capers, shallots, and more—but takes less than 30 minutes to make. Above all, good quality olive oil is the star. It's a healthy, easy option perfect for hot weather.

Provençal lamb with orange and fennel and various fresh herbs is a traditional recipe from the South of France, hearty yet dripping in the sun-drenched flavours of the region. A rustic, slow-cooked meal, it's a dish that is easy to make and packed with nutritious vegetables.

This recipe for pasta with kale and pancetta sauce comes from Castelfranco Emelia in Italy's Modena Province. It's a combination of the deeper flavours of onions cooked in white wine, pancetta and cream and the green flavours of kale and basil. Given its particular cooking method, it can be turned into a lactovegetarian dish with no effort at all.

My Dublin coddle recipe is a personal take on a dishes considered their signature dish by many natives of the capital of the Republic of Ireland. Like so much in Irish culture, its story is complex. Nonetheless, its core ingredients of carrots, potatoes, bacon and sausages are the stuff of comfort food in many cultures. Easy-to-cook, I have alway found it a crowd-pleaser, particularly among crowds of diminutives. Yes, kids like it.

Italian mascarpone cake is a personal favourite. It's flexible and the perfect option for those who don't like overly sweet things. Easy-to-make, it can be made with many different combinations of berries, citrus zest and spices. I'm doing it here with my favourite combination—blueberries, orange zest and nutmeg—but you can adapt it to your own personal preferences.

Recently, people have asked me if I have any child-friendly recipes. This chicken, bacon, mushroom and asparagus bake takes me back to when I had to think up healthy dishes that would go down with kids of differing preparedness to try anything adventurous. This easy recipe has consistently proved popular with kids and adults alike.

This recipe for pasta with pumpkin, spinach and thyme sauce takes barely 30 minutes to prepare and is surprisingly delicious for something that is so easy to cook with relatively few ingredients. Ideal for when you need to pull something impressive together with little time on your hands.

These Basque fusion buns, which I am calling Bil-bao Buns, are a fusion of flavours from the north of the Iberian Peninsula and Asian cooking, most notably Japanese food. With two fillings—pancetta and tomato and prawn and green asparagus—they are a quick and easy to make, they're an easy meal that puts something a little different into a mid-week, no-fuss supper.

Moroccan duck roast duck with figs is a delicious dish from the Moroccan High Atlas, here served with smoky vegetables and couscous. Its great additional benefits are that you're likely to get at least one additional meal out of this dish—maybe more—and possibly discovering a new Japanese-Moroccan sauce.

Cullen Skink is a traditional Scottish dish, a hearty soup that includes white fish, smoked fish and potatoes at the very least but often also includes cream and other seafood. Similar to chowder, it can be served as a hearty meal-soup but is often served as a first course on formal occasions in Scotland.