With a bag of prawns in the freezer, you are never stuck for a quick meal. This recipe combines defrosted prawns, with melted cheese, bacon and spring onions, to make a very tasty snack.

Baylough Cheese is available at Country Choice, Nenagh; McCambridge’s, Galway; On the Pig’s Back, English Market, Cork; Urru Foods, Bandon and Mallow; Hudsons Whole Foods, Ballydehob, west Cork; Super Valu, Poppyfield, Clonmel, and farmers’ markets countrywide.

NIGEL SLATER’S books — Real Cooking, Real Fast Food, The 30-minute Cook and Real Fast Puddings — have all been refreshed and will be published by Penguin next week.

THIS recipe for Pumpkin Soup comes from The Festive Food of America by Martina Nicolls published by Kyle Cathie with wonderful photographs by Will Heap.

Apple cakes like this one are the traditional sweet in Ireland. It would originally have been baked in a pot beside an open fire and later in the oven on tin or enamel plates.

Songs have been sung and poems have been written about Colcannon. It’s one of Ireland‘s most famous traditional potato dishes. It’s comfort food at its very best and terrific for a party.

450g (1lb) flour, preferably unbleached 1 level tsp bread soda, sieved 1 level tsp salt 2 tsp sugar 50g (2oz) dark chocolate roughly chopped 50g (2oz) raisins 400ml (14fl oz) buttermilk or 350ml (12fl oz) + 1 egg

This delicious tea brack recipe was given to me by Lana Pringle, who lives in Shanagarry. Lana makes her delicious cakes by hand and cooks them in her old Aga.

Makes 35-40 biscuits.

Makes 2 loaves.