Her latest cookery book is a collection of simple, wholesome, and most importantly, realistic recipes – think zero-waste whole banana smoothie (including the skin) and homemade hummus (“It’s so much cheaper to make yourself”), to crispy pork belly and traditional coq au vin. Littered throughout are handy hacks, time-saving shortcuts and basic kitchen skills – many with QR codes for video instructions.

“I just realised that so many people learn to cook these days on YouTube or by watching Instagram, and it seems silly to have half a page of written instruction when you can just show them,” she said. Think, how to chop a pineapple, how to peel garlic and spatch-cocking a bird.

And there’s nothing wrong with not making everything from scratch. “I think anything is worth cutting corners as long as it doesn’t compromise on the food. What I don’t think is recipes that are about shortcuts [but] it means using nothing but pre-made, not very good, products.

“I have no objection to some pre-made products. These days you can get very good custards in a packet. And some things have always been accepted as good convenience food, like chopped tomatoes in a tin.”

After all, life is too short!


Perfect scrambled eggs

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

4 thick slices of bread with about 60g butter

Marmite (optional)

8 large eggs

100ml whole milk

A few good handfuls of rocket leaves (optional)

Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Toast the bread. Use about half the butter to butter the slices and spread them lightly with Marmite, if using. Put them on heated dinner plates. Keep warm.

2. Blitz the eggs and milk briefly together in a blender, or whisk them in a bowl until there are no streaks of egg white. Season with salt and pepper.

3. On a medium heat, melt the remaining butter in a large non-stick frying pan and pour in the eggs.

4. Using a spatula or fish slice, keep the mixture moving. Don’t stir wildly – just scrape the mixture from edge to middle as the eggs solidify. When they are almost all cooked, with only 20% or so still runny, spoon the mixture on to the toast – by the time you are done, all the egg will be cooked, but still moist and shiny.

5. Drop a handful of rocket on to each plate, if you like, and serve at once, perhaps with a little extra black pepper over the top.

Credits: PA;

Grilled lamb chops with toum and herb salad

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

8-12 lamb chops

1tbsp olive oil

Salt and black pepper

For the toum:

1 garlic bulb, cloves separated, peeled and roughly chopped

1/2tsp salt

200ml vegetable oil

1tbsp lemon juice

For the herb salad:

A handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

A handful of mint leaves, chopped

1 small red onion, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, diced

1/2 large cucumber, diced

1tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Prepare the toum by blending the garlic and salt to a paste in a blender or food processor. Scrape down the inside and blend again. Slowly drizzle in the oil while the motor is running until the mixture becomes thick and emulsified. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Heat the grill (broiler) to medium-high and line the grill tray with foil.

3. Arrange the chops on the lined tray and brush them with the olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper.

4. Grill (broil) the chops for three to four minutes, turn them over, oil and season the second side, and grill for a further three to four minutes, until cooked through to medium. Remove the chops from the grill, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for five minutes, while you make the salad.

5. Mix together the parsley, mint, red onion, tomatoes and cucumber. Drizzle olive oil over the top and toss to combine. Season with salt and black pepper.

6. Arrange the chops on warm plates. Spoon some toum over them and serve with the herb salad.


Dark chocolate and orange trifle

Credits: PA;

Ingredients:

(Serves 4-6)

4 large oranges

3tbsp Cointreau or other orange liqueur

300g 70% dark chocolate

500ml double cream

50g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1 chocolate Swiss roll (about 250g)

500ml vanilla custard

Method:

1. Segment the oranges, keeping any juice separately from the segments.

2. Add the Cointreau or other orange liqueur to the juice.

3. Roughly chop 250 grams of the dark chocolate, then melt it in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is smooth and fully melted. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

4. Whip 200 mililitres of the cream with the sugar and vanilla until it will just hold its shape.

5. Fold the melted chocolate into the whipped cream until combined, creating a rich chocolate mousse.

6. Cut the Swiss roll into one centimetre-thick slices and use two thirds of them to line the bottom and sides of a deep trifle bowl.

7. Pour half of the orange-juice mixture over the Swiss-roll layer

8. Spread the chocolate mousse over the cake.

9. Arrange the segmented oranges over the mousse, keeping a few back for garnish.

10. Add another layer of Swiss-roll slices, then drizzle them with the remaining orange-juice mixture.

11. Pour the custard all over, spreading it out evenly.

12. Whip the remaining cream until it will just hold its shape (the soft peaks stage).

13. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the remaining chocolate to create chocolate curls for decoration. Or simply grate it.

14. Top the trifle with the whipped cream, remaining orange segments and a sprinkle of chocolate.

15. Chill in the fridge, preferably for two to three hours, or overnight, which gives the dessert time to set. (Although, it will still taste terrific if you have to eat it straight away.)

Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom by Prue Leith is published in hardback by Carnival, priced £25. Photography Ant Duncan. Available now