Serve all these dishes with a green salad or a side portion of vegetables of your choice.

PAELLA

Serves 4

½ tsp saffron
Olive oil for frying
8 skinless chicken thighs
1 Spanish onion, sliced
125g chorizo sausage, cut into chunks
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
Tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp hot paprika (or 1 tsp sweet paprika and ½ tsp cayenne)
1 large cauliflower, grated
100ml hot chicken stock
24 cleaned mussels
8 large unpeeled tiger prawns
Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Lemon wedges

Sprinkle the saffron over the chicken stock and put to one side. Pour a dash of olive oil into a large sauté pan and fry the chicken thighs until golden all over. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add the onion and fry until starting to brown at the edges, then add the chorizo and the garlic for the last couple of minutes. Return the chicken to the pan, along with the tomatoes and paprika, and simmer gently with the lid on for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is tender.

Meanwhile, heat a dash of olive oil in another frying pan. Add the cauliflower and fry until it turns golden brown. Pour in the chicken stock. Keep stirring and cook until tender and the stock has all but evaporated.

Turn up the heat under the chicken and bring to a brisk simmer. Drop in the mussels, replace the lid and check after 2 minutes – they should all be open. If not, cook for another 30 seconds. Tip in the tiger prawns and simmer for about a minute, until they are just cooked through and bright and glorious pink. Stir the cauliflower “rice” through the chicken and seafood mixture and put into a serving dish. Serve with the parsley sprinkled over and lemon wedges on the side.

NB There are two rules for mussels: throw away any raw ones that don’t close when tapped with the handle of a knife, and throw away any cooked ones that haven’t opened during cooking.

THAI-STYLE MEATBALLS WITH PEANUT SAUCE

Serves 4

1 small onion, peeled
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 fat red chilli
1 stick of lemon grass
Stalks from 1 bunch of coriander
Juice of 1 lime
500g pork mince
1 rounded tbsp peanut butter
1 heaped tsp unsweetened desiccated coconut
1 tsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
2 tsp Tamari (a type of soy sauce)
Groundnut oil for frying

Put the onion, garlic, chilli, lemon grass, coriander stalks and half the lime juice, into a blender, or pestle and mortar, and blitz to a paste. Add the paste to the mince and mix.

Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Make the satay-style sauce: stir together the peanut butter, the rest of the lime juice, coconut, nam pla and Tamari. Add sufficient boiling water (about 1 tbsp) to make a runny consistency. Leave to stand until mince is ready to cook, then stir and add a little more water (it will thicken on standing).

Heat some groundnut oil in a frying pan. Take walnut-sized lumps of mince and roll into a ball, then flatten slightly – you are aiming for something that looks like a tiny beef burger. Fry briskly until golden brown on both sides. Serve blisteringly hot, straight from the pan, on a bed of salad leaves, drizzled with the peanut sauce.

TUNA KEBABS WITH BLACK PEPPER AND CITRUS VINAIGRETTE

Serves 2

5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
2 thick fresh tuna steaks (about 200g each)
1 small onion
1 green pepper

Make the dressing: whisk together the olive oil, cider vinegar and citrus juices. Stir in both zests and the crushed peppercorns. Leave to steep for about an hour.

Dice the tuna steaks into 2cm cubes. Quarter the onion and separate into layers. Remove the seeds and stalk from the pepper and cut into 2cm squares. Using the largest pieces of onion at the ends, thread the tuna, onion and pepper pieces onto metal skewers. Brush with oil, then grill or barbecue until the tuna is barely cooked through – it will be ruined if it is overcooked. Pour over the dressing and serve immediately.

AUBERGINE, SPINACH AND FETA PIE

Serves 4

1 large aubergine
Olive oil 200g feta cheese
5 nuggets frozen spinach (about 50g)
2 beaten eggs
Salt and ground black pepper
½ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp double cream

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Slice the aubergine thinly lengthwise, brush with a little olive oil and grill, fry or griddle until softened, but not mushy. Crumble the feta into a bowl and mash with a fork – you want it to have some texture, so don’t crush it to a paste.

Microwave the spinach nuggets for about 4 minutes, or until heated through. Tip into a sieve and run under a cold tap, then squeeze out as much water as possible. Use kitchen scissors to chop the spinach into the feta cheese. Stir in the beaten eggs, seasoning, nutmeg and double cream.

Lay the aubergine slices into an oven-proof pie dish like petals, with the fat end of the slice in the middle of the dish and the thin end hanging over the side – there will be gaps between the slices, but don’t worry about that.

Spread the cheese mixture over the aubergine, then fold in the ends of the slices to cover – again, there will be gaps. Cook in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown and firm to touch.

ALTERNATIVE IDEAS

Beef stew

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and brown 1kg lean braising steak. Remove. Fry 2 large chopped onions and 2 cloves of chopped garlic in the meat juices, until slightly coloured. Return the meat to the pan, cover with 1 pint of beef or vegetable stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for an hour with the lid off. Add 3 courgettes, 200g broccoli, 200g cauliflower and 4-5 field mushrooms, all chopped. Simmer for 15-20 minutes more. Serve with salad. Serves 4

Trout with almonds

Fry 2 whole trout in a little butter and oil for 3 minutes on each side (or 1 minute each side if using 4 fillets). Remove and keep warm. Add 75g sliced almonds to the pan, frying gently until browned, stir in 100ml double cream, heat through, then serve over the trout. Serves 2

Slow-roast pork belly

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas Mark 8. Score the skin of 2kg pork, ensure the meat is dry and rub with plenty of coarse sea salt. Sprinkle over some fennel seed and a small amount of crushed chillies. Place in a roasting tin, scored side up, and put in the oven on the highest shelf. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2 and move to the middle shelf. Cook for a minimum of 4 hours, until the meat is butter soft. Serves 6

Tagliata with rocket and parmesan

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil until very hot in a heavy frying pan, then sear a 400g beef fillet, turning, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Carve into thin slices. Using a potato peeler, make shavings from a fist-sized piece of parmesan cheese and arrange on top of the beef. Serve with rocket dressed with salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Serves 2

Adapted and extracted from Neris and India’s Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook by Bee Rawlinson, India Knight and Neris Thomas (Penguin £12.99). To order for the special price of £11.70 (inc p&p), call The Sunday Times BooksFirst on 0870 070 7717. Neris and India’s Idiot-Proof Diet by India Knight and Neris Thomas is also available for the special price of £7.59 (inc p&p)

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