THIS wonderful tomato stew is best made during the summer, when the tomatoes are very ripe, but it can still be very good made with tinned tomatoes in the winter.

REDCURRANT jelly is a very delicious and versatile product to have in your larder.

Serves 10 approx

I hated seed cake as a child and now it is one of my great favourites. It may just be a flavour that grows on one as one gets older. I bought a delicious cake from Marguerite Garton of Ballydehob.

Makes 25-30 pieces.

DON’T forget to put the Midleton Food and Drink Fair, which takes place on September 2 and 3, in Midleton, Cork, into your diary.

Recipe for Mary O’Keefe’s Featherlight Sponge

THESE fritters are fairly easy to make and the resulting texture is incredibly light and delicate — which comes from the use of tofu. They contain no egg, which is unusual for a fritter but good for your cholesterol.

THIS soup is wonderful served both hot and cold. In winter, use canned tomatoes; in summer, fresh ones.

“When I made these for my book photographer, Jean Cazals said they melt in your mouth — which is the point of them.”