Menu of the month: March 2011

Spinach soup with fontina 

We think Italian Fontina cheese, which has a melting creaminess, is the best to use in this soup but if it’s hard to find, Gruyère is equally good.

Chicken basque 

The delicious combination of chicken and rice, olives and peppers is typical of all the regions around the western Mediterranean but, to my mind, this Spanish version, with the addition of spicy chorizo sausage and a hint of paprika, beats the lot. My interpretation of it also uses dried tomatoes preserved in oil to give it even more character. This recipe will provide a complete supper for four from the same pot – it needs nothing to accompany it! 

Pile it high orange and rhubarb meringue pie 

The flavour of orange zest does something quite magical to the flavour of rhubarb, and this light, fluffy meringue pie is a perfect dessert for late spring. ‘Pile-it-high meringue', incidentally, applies only if you have extra egg whites to use up or want to make the meringue high. If not, you can simply use the egg whites in the recipe: it will still be superb! If you want to use more egg whites, then 4 egg whites need 8 oz (225 g) sugar, 5 need 10 oz (275 g) sugar, 6 need 12 oz (350 g) sugar.