Many people enjoy ready made flavoured yoghurts straight from the store’s dairy cabinet, but that isn’t all there is to this great food. It has medicinal uses for instance. Take some plain, live yoghurt after a course of antibiotics and it will restore normal flora to your gut. The same process also helps in yeast infections and you can even bathe affected parts with yoghurt.

It makes great cool drink if diluted with fruit pulp and a little iced water – try mango, strawberry and apricot or any combinations of these for my favourites, but I’m sure there are more great flavors out there.

In many middle eastern homes it is made freshly at home from a culture handed down, perhaps even over generations, but western tastes may prefer to buy a new culture every few weeks or so. Just add a pint of finger warm pasteurized milk to a small pot of live, plain yoghurt. You can use full cream or semi skimmed milk. Stir in a large tablespoon of dried milk powder. You then cover it and leave for about 8 hours in a warm place. You can buy special yoghurt makers, but I find a wide necked Thermos does a good job.

One way of using the resulting yoghurt is to make Labani or fresh yoghurt cheese. You need to stir a teaspoon of salt into 3 pints ( 1.7 litres) of yoghurt. Now line a colander or sieve with a clean cotton cloth, pour in your mixture and let drip overnight. It will be half its previous volume, but much firmer. Serve with salad having sprinkle it with olive oil or you could stir in chopped herbs such a s mint and parsley or even add a little garlic powder. A very easy way to make it is to buy a large pot of yoghurt and pierce the bottom a few times. Stir in a little salt and then place the whole thing in a colander to let it drain until it reaches a spreadable state. Either way it will keep if refrigerated for about a week.

Yoghurt also makes a great Frozen Dessert – so much so that when I took some round to a friend she immediately began to empty out her freezer so that she could hide it away to keep for a special occasion. I make my favorite by mixing with sugared raspberries and just place in a suitable container in the freezer, taking out and stir a couple of times before it freezes solid. Two thirds sweetened yoghurt to on ethird fruit works well. You can use honey, chocolate syrup or even artificial sweetener and just about any fruit pulp. Depending upon the fruit used you may want to add sweet spices such as cinnamon. For those who find the flavor a little sharp it can be mixed with vanilla ice-cream at the time of serving. You could also make a plain or vanilla flavored sweetened frozen yoghurt and serve this in place of cream with fruit.

Babies from about 6 months old will thrive on yoghurt, which is full of calcium and is easy to digest as the culturing breaks down lactose, which is why it breaks the ‘don’t give dairy before one year old’ rule. And it isn’t too sweet so you aren’t encouraging sugar dependency. You can mix in very small amounts of fruit preserves to give baby lots of variety.

If using yoghurt to add a tang to hot dishes such as soups remember to let them cool a little before adding the yoghurt or it may split, which doesn’t affect the flavour, but doesn’t look as nice – and definitely do not bring back to the boil. One tip to avoid splitting is to mix a tiny amount of cornflour into the yoghurt.

I didn’t eat my first yoghurt until I was about 18 – now I can’t imagine a week going by without it – so get the yoghurt habit soon.

Cooks have always looked for ways to make expensive foods stretch a little further, while at the same time wanting to make them even more enjoyable. So, over many centuries, have emerged mustards, sauces, pickles, relishes and of course stuffing. And when an animal is prepared for cooking,  cleaning out the innards leaves a secret space – just right for packing with goodies. That works quite well in smaller animals such as rabbit, smaller birds, but when it comes to  a large turkey it can be difficult to ensure that  the stuffing is cooked enough – especially if you are using one that contains meat. In that case cook the stuffing separately and just place a couple of lemons in the cavity – perhaps with some sage, thyme or other herb you have to hand.

Notice that phrase  - have to hand. My youngest daughter is a great fan of stuffing so when she is at home  we serve it often. But this is never planned – a quick tour of the garden or a peek at frozen herbs in the freezer – a handy fruit bowl and a few other bits and pieces and we are away.

To serve 4 ( you will have to multiply the amounts for more diners) my stuffing recipes always include an onion or a few shallots or green onions. These are peeled and roughly chopped before placing in food processor along with 3 slices of bread, torn, a knob of butter, an egg, and some salt. – about ½  a teaspoonful. What else is added and how much just depends  - sage or thyme, parsley or cilantro – at least a tablespoon of one or two of these if using fresh or frozen herbs. Half as much if using dried. Some herbs need rather less – tarragon and rosemary for instance. There is usually some fruit – perhaps a peach or apple, a few slices of mango or half a dozen apricots – is using the dried ones soak for 20 minutes or so in boiling water. The grated rind of an orange, lime or lemon are all good. You can add heat with a deseeded and finely chopped chilli, or perhaps parika, mustard, curry powder or garum masala.

Favorite combinations :-

* rosemary, apple and lemon rind and honey mustard
* sage, thyme and pear and chilli
* tarragon and apricot with black pepper
* lemon balm, pear and a little tarragon
* peach, thyme and cranberry
* apple, cranberry and chilli
* mango, chilli and cilentro

You can just combine everything in a dish and bake for about 25 minutes. Forcemeat balls can be made as small and dainty as you like. If there is room you could cook these around the turkey for the last 40 minutes or so.

Another nice idea is to use rashers of bacon or pancetta.  Cover these with stuffing mix and then roll up. Secure with tooth picks before cooking  for about 25 minutes in the oven.
The oldest known cookery book was by the Roman Apicus and included recipes  for stuffing chickens, pigs and even humble dormice. I once managed to jokingly convince a class of 8 year olds doing a project on Roman history to eat what  some of them at least believed were stuffed dormice  - figs with a chopped apricot stuffing. All the food  vanished, and some cam e back for more, but I dread to think what they told their parents. Turkey was of course one of the staple meats of the Aztecs and Incas, so there is little new under the sun – until you make up your very own stuffing recipe.

Long before the days of modern refrigeration methods there was ice-cream and frozen desserts – the Roman emperors would have snow and ice brought down from the Alps to satisfy their desire for cold sweets and chilled drinks. Marco Polo returned from his long visit to China with recipes for sorbets. In England many a stately home still has an ice house hidden away somewhere. Blocks of ice would be broken from the surface of lakes and stored underground where it would remain until needed on warmer summer days.

Nowadays there are many flavours available ready made – even savoury ones – one parlour in North Wales has on its menu ‘Pea’ ice cream – and no, I haven’t tried it. Despite all the flavors out there it is good sometimes to make your own – no preservatives for one thing – you will know exactly what is going in there and what comes out will be delicious. There are a number of ice cream makers out there, some excellent, if rather expensive , but I never seem to have enough room in the freezer to cool the equipment so tend to use just a plastic box, perhaps a food processor and a fork. The latter is necessary to stir the mixture at least once, preferably 2 or 3 times , as it is freezing. This will serve to break up any large ice lumps that form and keep your ice cream smooth. The important thing is to keep everything scrupulously clean.

Coconut Ice Cream
I cup of double cream ( heavy cream)
½ cup milk
½ cup coconut flakes ( dessicated coconut – if you use the sweetened kind don’t worry the mixture tastes rather sweet as freezing lessens the effect).
8 oz ,200g coconut cream

Combine, beat well and place in freezer. After an hour stir with fork and repeat each hour until frozen firmly – probably about three hours. This I serve with a sauce made by melting 6 cubes of dark chocolate, adding a good pinch of ginger and a teaspoon full of lime curd or lime marmalade. Serve with a crispy wafer biscuit at the most sophisticated of dinner parties – it has however also been enjoyed at a barbeque

Peanut Butter Ice-cream
½ pint, 250 mls double ( heavy ) cream
½ pint , 250 mls evaporated milk ( you could use single cream / light)
2 oz, 50 g brown sugar
½ cup of chunky peanut butter
3 drops of vanilla extract.
Adding some crushed choc chip cookies is also good – about 1/3 -1/2 cup

Heat the cream, evaporated milk, sugar and peanut butter gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the peanut butter has been well mixed in. Add the vanilla extract when it has cooled, plus the biscuit crumbs if using and transfer to plastic box for freezing. Again, stir with a fork every hour until frozen solid. I like this with a sauce made from cream with a spoonful of maple syrup stirred in. It is also good beside stewed fruit such as apricots.

You can make ice cream using packets of instant custard so I’m told. This is a more traditional Custard Ice Cream

1 ½ cups of castor sugar,
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
4 eggs
3 pints of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Heat the milk to the point where very tiny bubbles are beginning to form. Mix the flour and sugar together. Stir in the eggs. Pour the heated milk into this mixture. Stir well and then return to the heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until it thickens enough to coat the spoon. Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. This is a rich but basic mixture to which you can add whatever your imagination and availability allows – try sweetened stewed rhubarb and chopped strawberries for an unusual combination. As it is so rich it is perhaps best served after a very light main course and in small portions.

For more information about desserts please visit our website. Get tips on easy chocolate desserts