Put the rosemary, lemon zest, fennel seeds and garlic in a mortar and grind them with a pestle to a good paste. Stir in the oil and season with salt and pepper, then set aside. Heat half the butter and the oil in a large saucepan on a lowish flame, until the butter starts to sizzle, then add the shallots and season generously. Cover the pan, leave the onions to sweat gently for 10 minutes, until they are soft, then take off the lid, add the diced parsnip and fry, stirring regularly, for three minutes.

First, make the pastry. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the pinch of salt. Add the lard and butter and rub them in with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the rice, and stir for a few minutes more, until the grains are coated in the fats and almost translucent. Turn up the heat, add the wine, and simmer for two minutes, until the alcohol has evaporated and most of the liquid has been absorbed into the rice. Got a pasta-shaped hole in your belly? Solve that problem instantly with this indulgent bowl of creamy broccoli and bacon spaghetti – ready in just 20 minutes. This salad could be either a great starter or a fantastic main event with bowls of fries. This is not the classic crab salad with egg and parsley, but a sea-fresh crab salad with a lovely hit of lime. You could replace the baby gem with chicory or kohlrabi, or a mix of the three would be great. And homemade mayonnaise, of course. Depending on how good your night has gone, your guests might decide to spend the night and have breakfast with you in the morning.Tip out the dough on to a lightly floured board or work surface and knead it gently. Cover or wrap it in clingfilm and rest it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. Generously oil the base of a large frying pan and heat over a medium-high flame. Fry the rösti in batches for five minutes a side (make sure they’re not touching), until crisp and golden, then drain on kitchen paper. Keep warm in a low oven while you cook the remaining rösti. Years ago, before marriage and kids (and in the days when my weekends often passed in a blur sandwiched between epic after-work drinks on Fridays and a crippling case of Sunday night anxiety, I came across Tamasin Day-Lewis’ book “Weekend Food”. Fairly small and modest-looking compared to a lot of cookbooks, I bought it on a whim, mostly because of its comforting tagline of “Cooking to come home to”. Thomasina Miers’ whole blood orange cake. Photograph: Louise Hagger for the Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay

The rich, creamy risotto is given delicious piquancy and freshness by the zingy dressing. Serves four to six. Meanwhile, whisk the citrus juices with 80g caster sugar. When the cake has rested and cooled for 10 minutes, poke it all over with a skewer, spoon over the drizzle and leave to cool completely. While the risotto is cooking, pound the parsley, nuts, vinegar and oil, ideally in a pestle and mortar, until you have a textured dressing, then season to taste. Take a look at this creamy gnocchi number, with bacon pieces, mushrooms and sage butter, for a speedy and simple treat-yourself dinner. There are plenty of recipe books devoted to weekend food, each with their own twist on what the weekend – and weekend eating – means to them. But it’s still Tamasin’s no-nonsense but wonderfully evocative words that remain my favourite. Her description of the excited weariness at the end of a long week says it all: “Friday night, that longed for semi-colon to the week , is where the weekend starts, full of anticipation and promise, full of exhaustion, the longing for a good drink, a magical dinner, TIME, someone else to take over.” The Best Weekend CookbooksMelt the butter in a medium pan on a low heat, then stir in the chocolate, taking care not to burn it. When the mixture turns smooth and velvety, add the sugar, cinnamon and salt, stir until the sugar dissolves, then slowly sift in the flour, stirring to combine. Beat the eggs, then beat into the chocolate mix a little at a time. Blind bake the pastry case for 20 minutes, until lightly golden, then remove the paper and beans and return the case to the oven for a further 5 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the tin.

Make the caramel. Tip the sugar into a clean pan and add 2 teaspoons of water. Melt the sugar over a low heat, brushing down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush from time to time, until the sugar turns a dark copper colour. Do not stir! Remove the caramel immediately from the heat to stop it from burning. I love it. When people bring stuff we sort of share a bit of the cooking and I do cook a lot at the weekend. So if we've cooked something or there's more of it, we'll always just ring or text a few neighbours, and they come on over. So I think it's really easy. I love it.” Heat a dry frying pan on a medium-high flame. Wipe the chillies with a clean, damp cloth, make a tear down the side of each (with scissors or hands) and open out like a book. Strip out and discard the seeds, stems and veins then rip the chillies into largish, flat pieces. Briefly toast these in batches in the frying pan for 30-60 seconds, until darker in colour and smelling fragrant (just as you’d toast cumin seeds), then put in a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 15 minutes, until soft. A dish which screams indulgence, we’ve really upped the ante here with our Korean twist on the British staple: cheese on toast. Alternatively, enjoy as a hangover cure.This is a bit of a showstopper; the meringue quenelles, the caramel and the custard make it a great dessert to impress. The Sunday Night Book is another charming little book based on a concept I’m passionate about: that Sunday evening should not be allowed to be curtailed or spoiled by anxious thoughts of Monday morning. Its subheading is pretty self-explanatory: “52 short recipes to make the weekend feel longer”. Rosie Sykes writes a spot-on intro where she describes the Sunday night fearas “a social construct dictated by empty streets, empty pubs and closed curtains”, before going on to start her book with an entire chapter dedicated to things you can eat on toast. Simple, soothing, and just the antidote to that low spot on Sundays. The Weekend Chef by Catherine Fulvio Meanwhile, scatter the flaked coconut on a baking tray and toast in the same oven until pale golden. At just after nine one Friday spring morning, Angela Hartnett’s basement kitchen in her beautiful, chaotic, Georgian terraced house near London’s Spitalfields Market is still blinking itself awake. Hartnett, in leggings and an old sweatshirt, has some coffee on the stove and a pile of croissants on the tiny kitchen table surrounded by mismatched chairs that have moved houses with her. The one worktop is piled with a jumble of pots and dishes and books and letters. Add the brown crab meat and blitz the mixture together. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add a good squeeze of lime juice. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside.