Spaghetti Vongole

Us Brits are a nation of animal lovers, apparently. A fact reflected in what we eat. Although there are an odd few who keep chickens, sheep and even pigs as pets the vast majority of us don't. Because we want to eat them.

Admittedly some of those who keep farm animals as pets do end up eating them, but I can't imagine a chicken called Sally tastes a great deal better than one called £5.99 from the butcher. Familiarity may breed contempt but it doesn't guarantee flavour.

There is a more practical view of animals in other parts of the world. Dog may not feature on many menus seen by tourists in South-East Asia but it does appear in the diet of ordinary people at home in Vietnam and Cambodia. France hasn't produced any famous jockeys and I can't help but think that the reason is because they'd rather eat horses than watch them run round a field.

Put simply, some animals are meant to be eaten and some aren't. There was no heartache, then, when we recently said goodbye to our clams.

We had only had them for 24 hours before we decided that they would make a much better spaghetti vongole than a house pet - having said that, we live in a flat so they weren't such a bad idea. We bought them from the excellent fish market in Kirkgate Market (terrible website alert!) in Leeds.

The stalls at this market sell a range of fish that I haven't come across in this country. Fresh conger eel, clams, parrot fish are some of the more exotic varieties on offer. The stalls also provide the restaurants of Leeds with their fish so it would be safe to assume that there is a high turnover of produce, which means the fish is fresh.

Once you've got some clams making spaghetti vongole is straightforward. We used about 100g of clams per person, and cooked them in a pan along with 4 cloves of garlic (we like garlic), half an onion, a small glass of wine, a chilli and olive oil. The clams cook till they open and then get mixed with cooked spaghetti.

This is the kind of meal that would cost the best part of a tenner in a restaurant, yet at home it can be made for a couple of quid. It's well worth it.

Rabbit with pasta

There is something gloriously retro about eating rabbit. Not that it featured a lot, in fact at all, in my 1980's childhood. It went out of fashion long before that. I suspect that once the country was spared the hardships of rationing, and was introduced to convenience foods, rabbit went off the menu completely, only to be seen again following the rise of the TV chef.

It was a TV chef (Jamie Oliver) inspired recipe which provided the basis for this dish of rabbit with pasta.

First of all the meat is marinated in olive oil, lemon zest, garlic and fresh herbs. We picked some lemon thyme and fennel from the Incredible Edible beds in Todmorden yesterday so that's what I used. Incidentally, we picked the herbs from the beds at the police station, which must be one of the few times some has reached in through the bars of a police station, rather than reaching out.

After marinating for about 4 hours the meat was browned in a big saucepan and then following it into the saucepan went a glass of white wine, 3 bay leaves, a chopped up lemon, salt and pepper and enough water to just about cover the meat. This went into the oven, at about 170-180 degrees, for a couple of hours.

After the rabbit had cooked for a couple of hours it came out of the oven to cool down, and I then picked the meat from the bones and strained the cooking liquid. The shredded meat I added back into the liquid, with a good knob of butter and heated it through whilst I cooked some pasta.

It made a really nice change from chicken and beef, and with a couple of tweaks is something I'd do again. I'd leave out the fennel next time, as it had a slightly medicinal edge to it, which may have been exacerbated by the Aussie viognier I used. Pinot Grigio never fails when I use it in Italian food, it has such a well rounded taste it can go with just about anything. The viognier had too much of a mineral taste.

From a rabbit costing £3.50 there was enough meat to feed 4 people, which makes it really good value. As it is the extra is now sitting in the freezer waiting for a day when cheese on toast for lunch just won't do.

Bolla e squittiscono (Bubble and squeak)

I have no idea whether the translation in the title is accurate or not, but a couple of online translations suggested 'Bolla e squittiscono' as a translation for 'bubble and squeak'. And even if it isn't right, I like it.

This isn't a dish of fried sunday lunch leftovers, it's done with fresh ingredients - potatoes, dried pasta, greens, herbs and cheese. Just reading what's in it you know it's going to taste good, even if pasta and potatoes together seems odd at first.

Cooking it couldn't be simpler because you'll only need one pot.

Peel and slice some potatoes, enough for the number of people you're cooking for. Then get everything into a pan of boiling water. Our favourite version so far used potatoes and pasta (fusilli) with spring greens, frozen peas and frozen broad beans.

Once everything is cooked, drain it and get a serving dish. Put a layer of the mixture into the serving dish then scatter over some cheese. The original recipe calls for Fontina, but we haven't managed to get any of that so we used cheddar when we first made the dish. Second time around we used ricotta which was delicious. Anyway, a layer of the boiled mixture gets scattered with cheese, some salt and pepper, fresh or dried herbs (sage is good, or mixed italian herbs) and some olive oil. A grate of nutmeg adds a nice flavour as well.

Keep layering as above and then cover with grated parmesan (if using) at the end. You could pop it under the grill now to get the parmesan melted and browned slightly.

It might not sound much, but this is a very tasty and satisfying dish, so much so that's its worth making more than you think you might need.