1 pot cookery.

So incredibly unfair. In the last few months the yet living fat lady of "two fat ladies" fame, stole my idea and published a book of single pot recipes... Incidentally why have I not bought it yet? These are simple, ingenious little recipes which require less kit and thus; critically less washing up. I'm talking stews, soups, warming delicious recipes. Well today I made a single pot lentil soup, and flapjack which is so ridiculously simple it might as well be one pot.

Perfect Lentil Soup:

Makes 8-10 portions:

1 Onion chopped,

3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed.

2 chicken stock cubes,

2 litres of water.

500g of lentils,

1-2 cans of chopped tomatoes ( ideally two, but I was being stingy today.)

1 can of baked beans,

oil,

salt and pepper,

spices: chilli powder, ground chilli flakes, cumin. mixed ground spice.

1. Heat the oil gently and add the spices. Fry gently, add the chopped onion and leave on a low heat till the onion softens. Add the garlic, and continue to fry.

2. Add the chopped tomatoes and make up some stock with the cubes and water.

3. Add the lentils quickly followed by the water. Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer gently until the lentils begin to soften.

4. Add the baked beans. Cook until it is a nice soupy texture, the beans are warm and the lentils are completely soft.

This is the most durable food I know. I make a big batch and then eat it for a week without getting bored. I love to eat it with lightly poached eggs, so the yolk mixes in with the soup and makes it thick and rich. It's delicious with cheese and bread, tonight I have put brie on top and it's melted in perfectly. It would be amazing with white fish, chicken and pork. It's a winter warmer. If you make it thicker you can serve it on spaghetti with butter and cheese. You can bake it in the oven and eat it with salad.

Flapjacks:

I seem incapable of making food in small amounts. I tripled these quantities and put the mix in a rectangular baking tray (usually used for roast potatoes). This recipe is from the ladybird cookery book of my childhood.

3oz of butter,

3oz of sugar,

30z of golden syrup

6oz of oats.

1. Preheat oven to 160 C. Grease a tray and line with greaseproof paper. The tray needs to be big enough to hold the amount of flapjack you want to make. Inexact, but true!

2. Melt the butter on a low heat in a pan, add the sugar and golden syrup. Stir it altogether don't let it so much as bubble. If it boils the pan will never, ever, ever come clean. Pour the oats in. Mix it altogether gently.

3. Put it in the tray. Put the saucepan in the sink, and fill it with hot water. (You'll thank me later). Bake the mix for 20-25 minutes. It will still be soft when it comes out the oven. If it's hard when it leaves the oven it will be like trying to eat rocks.

4. Let it cool a bit then remove it from the tray.

5. I'm gonna drizzle some dark chocolate on these bad boys.

They smell amazing. I freaking love cooking!