If you’re sick of having a plain lamb roast dinner of a Sunday but don’t know how to spice things up a bit, why not try a lamb kleftiko recipe?

This Greek-inspired dish is both delicious and easy to cook; it produces lamb that is so tender that it literally falls off the bone.

Recipes for lamb kleftiko can be found all over the internet, but the best we’ve come across involve a few common ingredients:

• Lamb on the bone (leg, shoulder, shank)
• Shallots
• Greek feta cheese
• Broad beans (optional but a nice touch)

These and a number of other ingredients are all wrapped up in a foil or baking paper parcel, then slow-cooked to perfection.

The great thing about banana bread – apart from the exceptional taste – is that it uses up overripe bananas that have started to blacken or attract fruit flies. Rather than chucking them out, why not make banana bread with them using the normal baking ingredients you have in your cupboards?

My favourite recipe so far is the Nigella Lawson one, which you can find on her website. It basically uses:

• Plain flour
• Sugar
• Melted butter
• Baking powder
• Vanilla essence
• Mashed-up, overripe bananas
• A pinch of salt

What’s more, you can mix things up a little by adding a shot of dark rum, sultanas soaked in bourbon before cooking, or even some fruit or chocolate chips.

Rocky Road is the American variation of the good old ‘fridge cake’ (that means that there is no baking required as it sets in the fridge). The beauty of these recipes is that you can tinker until your heart (or stomach) is content with this little recipe. You can change the types of nuts you use, (brazil nuts, pecans, chopped almonds, etc), add or remove the glace cherries, or leave out the marshmallows (not sure why you would want to!) – whatever you like! You just need to keep the basic template of butter, chocolate, biscuit and syrup, and you can play around with the other pieces in your own way.

Ingredients:

• 4tbsp golden syrup
• 200g plain chocolate
• 150g milk chocolate
• 150g unsalted butter
• 175g malted milk) biscuits, crushed
• 150g marshmallows
• 150g unsalted peanuts (you can use chocolate covered ones for that extra chocolate kick!)

Method:

1. Line your 30×20cm tin with cling-film and put it to the side.
2. Weigh out the biscuits and put them into a large plastic sandwich bag. Seal it and use a rolling pin to crush the biscuits. (This step can also be done in a food processor.)
3. Weigh out the marshmallows and peanuts, and put them aside ready.
4. Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter in a pan over a low heat. When this is smooth and molten, tip in the biscuits and stir quickly.
5. Continuing to work quickly, tip in the marshmallows and peanuts, and stir thoroughly.
6. As soon as everything is evenly mixed in, tip into the prepared tin and smooth it out with a spatula.
7. Leave the tray in the fridge to cool; once set, cut it into squares and enjoy!