Individual Belgian chocolate cakes with ganache fillings.

Leftover bread should never be thrown away just because it is a few days old. It may have lost some of its moisture content but that means it’s perfect for making bruschetta, croutons and breadcrumbs.

Richard Bertinet’s Czech assistant Zdenek introduced him to these gingerbread biscuits. Z, (as he is most often called) got the recipe from his grandmother. It’s a tradition for him and his family to bake the biscuits at Christmas time.

This Mexican style dish makes a hearty meal and will appeal to meat eaters as well as vegetarians. The dish consists of a base of corn chips which is then topped with a delicious bean mixture.

Ganache makes for a beautifully finished cake. Professional cake decorators use it to achieve clean and sharp edges. What’s more, it tastes a whole lot better than buttercream and then it lasts longer too.

Planet Cake is a step-by-step course in beginner’s cake decorating that will have you decorating like the professionals over time.

Richard Bertinet’s ciabatta recipe.

Sweet and sour sauce is used in traditional Chinese cooking but it can also be used as a dipping for fondues or as a basting sauce for chicken.

Chicken Kiev is a classic Ukranian dish where chicken breasts are rolled around herb butter before being coated in crumbs and fried.

James Martin says in his book James Martin Desserts that his recipe for raspberry and nougat semifreddo was inspired by a trip to Italy: ‘I first stumbled across semifreddo in Italy where I tried it with nougat inside.