Pale and interesting

I was looking for some comfort in this week’s recipes, but blonde comfort as opposed to beefy, red wine, Bourguignon-style oomph. Something that could be made well in advance and just reheated and plonked sur la table, without any sniggers suggesting that making a lasagne in the height of “summer” seemed a bit ludicrous.

But this recipe did start with an abundance of red wine overtones as I salivated over the pork and red wine lasagne from Katie Quinn's gorgeous book, What Katie Ate.

But to get that summer lasagne vibe, I immediately thought of the authentic and delicious bolognese recipe I wrote about a couple of years ago in which the minced meat was enriched with white wine (not the usual splash of red most of us allow to cascade into our bolognese sauce) and enriched with cream and chicken livers.

The last two ingredients were going to be too rich for this lasagne, and I was still keen to use my obligatory two tins of tomatoes. Plus, I really wanted lots more veg in it to remind us that it was indeed, summer, hence the use of plenty of carrots, celery, and fennel seeds to lighten up the flavours, plus lots of white wine and slow cooking. The result was a really delicious dinner that was happily devoured over the course of two nights.

These ricotta cheesecakes are really cute little things and possibly more lemon posset than cheesecake. The crumbs and glazed blueberries added a little something finer to what can be an unsophisticated type of dessert. If you are a fan of the type of posh yoghurt that comes in glass jars, then tea lights aren’t the only things you should keep these vessels for. The cheesecakes can be served in any trinket-type of jar or glass and mean you can stash them in your fridge.

They are light and luscious and are one of those desserts that you can serve straight from the fridge, confident that you haven’t botched anything up.

The glazed blueberries will “run” and streak the creamy filling, so serve them in a bowl for people to spoon onto their lemon base and top with some of the wholewheat streusel.

This will make even the most needy guests feel included in the proceedings, which is always a worthy endeavour at the end of a night.

Food cooked and styled by Domini Kemp and Gillian Fallon