One of my favourite kitchen occupations at this time of year is to refresh my acetaia – rather a grand term for my collection of bottles of home-made flavoured vinegars – and to make new ones.

Herbs, fruit, spices and edible flowers can all be turned into unusual, subtly-flavoured and exotic condiments quite unlike anything you will find on the shelves of any supermarket. In my Gozo kitchen I have bottles of fennel flower, sage, lavender and chilli vinegars.

Over the course of the year, the level goes down as I use the vinegar. So now I take each bottle and carefully decant the remaining vinegar and herbs or flowers through a muslin-lined sieve into a jug.

In a clean bottle I replace, for example, fresh lavender. I then add the vinegar remaining from the previous year and top up with new vinegar. Thus the vinegar goes through something like the Spanish solera system, the old vinegar ‘educating’ the new vinegar and fresh ingredients adding their flavour.

The only vinegar to which I do not add fresh ingredients is the chilli vinegar, which is quite hot enough after one year and needs no addition.

The vinegar I use is a fairly standard, widely available, Italian, white wine vinegar. I choose white simply to allow the herbs or flowers to show through. Naturally, the vinegar does darken over the year. At the beginning of the season, it is clear and elegant, as can be seen in the photo of the wild garlic flower vinegar, a new one for me this year.

Next to it is raspberry vinegar in the making, of which I always have a bottle in hand, if nothing else for when I make one of my favourite chicken dishes, Poulet Charles Barrier.

This originated in the restaurant of the same name in Tours in the Loire Valley, where Barrier was one of the great French chefs of his day. The recipe is from the 1980s and I highly recommend it as a lovely dish for Sunday lunch or for entertaining.

Fragrant vinegars also enhance today’s other recipes. If you do not have the ones suggested in the recipes, try tarragon vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sherry vinegar or cider vinegar.

Poulet Charles Barrier

(Serves 4 to 6)

1.5 kg chicken pieces
2 tbsps flour
Gozo salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Butter
1 onion, peeled and sliced
3 tbsps raspberry vinegar
2 bay leaves
2 or 3 sprigs French tarragon
300ml cream

Dust the chicken joints with the flour, season with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a frying pan and gently fry the onion until golden. Put the onion in a casserole.

In the same frying pan, fry the chicken all over, a few pieces at a time, to the same colour as the onions. This is a pale dish, not a brown one. Transfer the chicken to the casserole. Pour the vinegar into the frying pan, bring to the boil and pour it over the chicken.

Tuck in the herbs. Cover and simmer for about an hour, possibly less depending on the size of the pieces.

When pierced with a skewer in the thickest part, the chicken juices will be clear when cooked.

Carefully pour off the cooking juices into the frying pan, add the cream and boil until thickened a little. Pour the mixture back into the casserole and let the chicken cook in the sauce for a few minutes. Before serving, remove the herbs.

Cook’s note: Basmati rice is the perfect accompaniment to this richly sauced dish.

Sweet and sour pickled fish

(Serves 6)

3 mackerel, filleted; each fillet cut in half on the oblique
4 tbsps flour
Extra virgin olive oil
3 large mild onions, peeled and thinly sliced
125ml fennel flower vinegar
75ml dry white wine
3 bay leaves
3 or 4 heads of fennel flowers
Seasoning to taste – Gozo salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar
3 or 4 tbsps pine nuts, lightly toasted
3 or 4 tbsps raisins, soaked in white wine for a few hours

Dip the fish fillets in flour, shaking off the excess, and fry them gently in a little oil until just cooked. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Discard the oil and wipe out the frying pan. In some fresh oil, gently fry the onions until completely soft, but not browned or caramelised in any way, as this is a pale dish. Add the vinegar, wine, bay leaves, fennel flowers and bring to the boil.

Add seasoning as you think fit, bearing in mind that this is a sweet and sour dish, then add the pine nuts and raisins. Put a layer of onion mixture in a glass or other non-porous dish, then a layer of mackerel, more onions and so on until you have used up the ingredients, making sure you have onions on top. Cover with cling film, refrigerate and allow a couple of days for the flavour to develop.

These will keep for a week in the pickle. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Cook’s note: other oily fish can be used in this recipe. Salmon works well, as does lampuki.

Pork tenderloin with aromatic herbs and vinegar

(Serves 6)

2 pork tenderloins sliced into thick medallions
Freshly ground black pepper
Gozo salt
Freshly grated nutmeg
Rocket and other mixed salad leaves
Chives
A few sage leaves
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 to 2 tbsps fragrant vinegar, such as sage or lavender

Season the meat with black pepper, a little sea salt and a hint of nutmeg.

Heat a heavy non-stick frying pan or use a little extra virgin olive oil to prevent the meat from sticking, and fry the medallions for about eight minutes, until cooked through.

Remove from the pan and keep them warm. Pour off any excess oil. Arrange salad leaves and herbs on individual plates.

Reheat the frying pan and add the oil and vinegar, heat, but do not boil and scrape up any pan juices before pouring the hot dressing over the pork, which you arrange on top of the salad leaves.

Cook’s note: creamy mash, quinoa or polenta will also accompany the meat, to make a more substantial dish.

Raspberry vinegar

(Makes 500 ml)

250g raspberries
250g granulated sugar
500ml white wine vinegar

Mash the fruit in a bowl with the sugar, then pour on the wine vinegar. Stir well, then cover with cling film and leave to stand for four days. Stir occasionally.

Line a fine sieve with damp muslin, place it over a non-reactive saucepan. Strain the vinegar into the pan. Boil for 10 minutes. Pour the vinegar through a funnel into hot, sterilised bottles and seal tightly.

When cool, label and store in a cool, dark place.

Cook’s note: that is the standard recommendation for storage, but of course, the vinegar looks so pretty you will want to keep it somewhere it can be admired. And you will probably want to make double quantities so that you can give some as presents. Strawberries, blackcurrants, blackberries and other soft fruits can be used to make fruit vinegar in the same way.