Nicholas the cook

Nicholas's favourite recipe from The Independent


I'm much more of a gardener than a cook. When I go into the garden I become inspired to create something, but my wife looks after meals. One is so lucky these days that supermarkets have such wonderful prepared foods. If I'm on my own, doing my Edinburgh show for example, these are what I eat. I can't see any point in cooking something if you're on your own.
So when I was in the studio to appear on Ready Steady Cook, I was fascinated by the amazing skill of the chefs. I tasted all the dishes afterwards and they were all wonderful.
The one thing I am good at in the kitchen is experimenting with the fruits and vegetables that I grow. I'll give you my stewed apple recipe here, without hesitation, though perhaps with a little repetition and deviation.
Stewed apples
12 apples that you have grown yourself Some zest and all the juice of 2 lemons 2 cloves A little cinnamon A scattering of raisins A touch of pickled ginger, from a jar
Peel the apples and chop them into chunks. Put them in a pan. The key thing here is not to leave it. Watch your apples - you don't want them to turn into slush. Well, a few of them will, but the idea is that you end up with chunks of apple that have taken on all the flavours of the other ingredients. Don't let them come to the boil.
Cut some of the zest from the lemons and add it along with everything else. Keep the heat low and when it's softened, you can either ask your wife if she would be kind enough to make a crumble, and put that on top, or you can put it in cereal. I like one that's crunchy. I think it's called Jordan's Crunchy. Otherwise, you can just have it with good ice-cream.