There are three reasons why this book came into being. First, throughout the 33 years I’ve been writing recipes – although I’m not vegetarian myself – I have greatly enjoyed creating vegetarian recipes, and cooking and serving them at home.

A cake is a very good test of an oven: if it browns too much on one side and not on the other, it’s not your fault – you need to have your oven checked.

I sometimes think the chef end of cooking is not the real end of cooking. Cooking is all about homes and gardens, it doesn’t happen in restaurants.

There are people who claim to be instinctive cooks, who never follow recipes or weigh anything at all. All I can say is they’re not very fussy about what they eat. For me, cooking is an exact art and not some casual game.

The chemicals in the dishwashing process tend not to be good for saucepans.

Although a food processor is not an absolutely essential piece of equipment, because you can certainly chop, grate, slice, knead and mix everything by hand, it does do all these things very quickly and efficiently and saves you time and energy.

A measuring jug is also vital when cooking rice, as this is always measured by volume rather than by weight.

I found in my whole career the best thing that can happen to you is that you hear what people want.

Getting into the habit of switching a timer on will, I promise, save you from any number of kitchen disasters.

I have always read all the latest cookery books and magazines, from all over the world.

In 35 years of being in the media, I’ve had all this mud flung at me many, many times. It’s not the first time. It’s nothing unusual. I’ve been through it all before and the best way to deal with it is not to read them.

Memories are fallible and a timer can save a lot of hard work from going out of the window.

But quite honestly I can’t help being a passionate football supporter. If that’s my sin, I’m guilty.

There are three reasons why this book came into being. First, throughout the 33 years I’ve been writing recipes – although I’m not vegetarian myself – I have greatly enjoyed creating vegetarian recipes, and cooking and serving them at home.

Food is for eating, and good food is to be enjoyed… I think food is, actually, very beautiful in itself.

Good kitchen equipment is expensive, but most items last a lifetime and will pay for themselves over and over again.

Remember, it’s very simple to have an oven tested professionally, and it only takes about five minutes.