As regular readers will have gathered, I like to give collections of recipes that you might like to put together when friends come for dinner. Or should it be supper? Have you noticed how we deny all knowledge of dinner parties? “Oh, we never give dinner parties”, says one, and “I have never been to a dinner party”, claims another. I am not sure how to describe our entertaining at home, but I did once write a book called Ten Dinner Parties for Two, long since out of print. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Although I work from home now, I can remember when, even after a long day at the office, I would come home to prepare three or four courses for dinner from scratch. Late February 1986, a Friday, I made tortelloni for four, followed by duck breasts in a passion fruit sauce, having started with salmon roe canapés, followed by a salad of pink grapefruit and smoked salmon. Cheese and fruit followed the main course, which will have been easy and quick to prepare, sizzling the meat in a frying pan, making a sauce of the pan juices and then adding a few squeaky vegetables. But the homemade tortelloni will have taken all the time I had.

Lamb, being such a young, tender meat, makes one of the best roasts

My kitchen diaries also tell me that on February 24, 1976, when a friend came for dinner, I served lamb kidneys in a mustard sauce, another nice quick dish, buttered rice, green salad and an apricot clafoutis.

This can be a dismal time of year, the evenings still long and dark, with a chill in the air, so that the prospect of spending one of those evenings sitting round a table with food, wine and friends is a bright one indeed. It is certainly one of our favourite pastimes at this, or indeed any other time of the year.

Lamb, being such a young, tender meat, makes one of the best roasts. I like to use rack of lamb, with a herb and mustard crust, giving it about 20 minutes in the oven as I serve it rare to medium rare. Joints of rabbit, chicken, duck, spatch-cocked quails are also quick to cook on top of the stove in a sauté pan. And fish or shellfish are always winners for a first course, appetising and easy to cook under the grill in a frying pan or en papillote.

Scallops cook so quickly that in todays’ dish, you will need to have the other ingredients – the crisp pancetta and white polenta – already cooked. Lamb and scallops are not cheap, but if you want something quick to cook and to serve your guests these are ideal. The alternative is to choose inexpensive cuts of meat, which can be prepared and cooked in advance when you have more time, requiring no more than heating up. Similarly, you might choose a fish which you can transform, the day before, into a delicious first course, a mousse or a salad, for example. Watch this space.

I have included a recipe for steamed pudding, because it will soon be too warm and spring-like to enjoy it. As to the timing of this meal, I would prepare the meat first and put it to one side while you get on with the rest of your mise-en-place. It can go in the oven before you serve the first course. You can then prepare the pudding and put it on to cook before you start preparing the first course and it will be ready to serve after the main course. It is a good tempered dish and will wait for you.

To drink with the scallops, I suggest a crisp white wine, but with some weight to take on the pancetta. To accompany the lamb, a classic red from France, Italy or Spain would be ideal, a cru bourgeois Médoc, for example, a Rioja Gran Reserva or a Barbera d’Asti.

Scallops with pancetta and polenta

(Serves 6)

500 ml water
200g polenta, white or yellow
12 slices pancetta, cut in half
12 to 18 scallops, trimmed of the ‘gristle’ and orange part
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or unsalted butter

Put 300 ml cold water in a saucepan and stir in the polenta. Bring gently to the boil, stirring all the time. Meanwhile, boil the rest of the water in a kettle or another saucepan. Once the first starch has been released from the polenta, add a little more water and stir from time to time to keep it smooth. While you are doing this, fry or grill the pancetta until crisp and keep it in a warm place, well-drained of fat by placing it on paper towels. Continue to add water to the polenta until cooked and smooth, but not too soft. You may not need all the water, or you may need to add more to get it to the consistency you like.

Heat a heavy-based frying pan or griddle and add the oil or butter. In it sear the scallops for just a few minutes until the edges are lightly caramelised, but without overcooking them, which makes the flesh rubbery.

To serve, spoon the polenta into shallow soup bowls, arrange the scallops on top and then the pancetta.

Roast rack of lamb

(Serves 6)

3 racks of lamb
Dijon mustard
1 tbsp fresh or dried fennel flowers or seeds
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tsps Gozo salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsps fine dried breadcrumbs

Have the racks chined and trim any excess fat and sinew from the meat. Spread the meaty side with the mustard. Shake up the rest of the ingredients in a paper bag and sprinkle the mixture over the mustard, pressing in lightly.

Place the racks in a roasting tin, herb crust uppermost and roast in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how well done you like your meat.

Steamed orange and lemon sponge with hot fruit salad and caramel sauce

(Serves 6-8)

Fruit salad
8 ready-to-eat dried apricots
1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced
1 pear, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp dried cranberries, cherries, sultanas or blueberries
100 ml fresh orange juice
75g unsalted butter
75g light muscovado sugar
Sponge
175g unsalted butter or sunflower margarine
175g light muscovado sugar
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour
Finely grated zest of an orange and a lemon
1 tbsp each of the juice

Put the prepared fruit in the bottom of a buttered 1.5 litre basin. Put the juice, butter and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then boil for five minutes until you have a nice rich caramel. Pour half of it over the fruit and keep the rest in the saucepan, off the heat.

Mix the sponge ingredients by hand, or in a food processor and spoon it over the fruit. Tie on a sheet of greased greaseproof paper with a pleat in the middle and cover that with a piece of foil, also pleated to allow for the pudding to rise. Fold a long strip of foil and place it on a trivet in a saucepan. Place the pudding basin on the foil strip and fold its ends loosely over the pudding. This will make removing the pudding from the saucepan much easier.

Pour boiling water into the pan, three-quarters of the way up the basin, put on the lid and steam for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the basin from the pan. Let the pudding stand for 5 to 10 minutes before turning it out and serve with a sauce made by mixing the caramel with 2-3 tablespoons water, rum, or orange juice, or a mixture of all three.

Cook’s note: If you are short of time, forget about the sponge and simply make double or triple quantities of the hot fruit salad and serve with Greek yoghurt or thick cream.