Lamb steak with Parsnip Crisps and Chard.

Season the lamb and marinate overnight in olive oil, garlic, thyme, bay and lemon juice.
Peel the parsnip and with a potato peeler or mandolin cut into thin strips - place in an oven proof dish roll in oilve oil season and sprinkle with chopped thyme or parsley place into a hot (180 -200 degrees) oven. Gently turn a few times while they cook (they take around 10-12 mins depending on thickness and go from cooked to burnt very quickly so keep an eye on them!).
Griddle the lamb in a hot pan and leave to rest.
Cut the stems from the chard and place in steamer. Place the leaves on top and steam until cooked. Squeeze any excess water from the leaves and dress in butter/oil and a dash of lemon juice.

Mediterranean Salad

Nice easy and quick this one and can be prepared well in advance.
Slice your veg of choice I used courgettes, aubergine, red pepper, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and baby artichokes.
Slice up all the veg (except the chokes) and brush with oilve oil and season. Cook in batches on a hot griddle and place in a covered bowl, they will keep warm and continue to cook in the steam. Only the aubergines have to be cooked throughly as all the others are just as nice partialy cooked.
Remove the tough outer leaves from the chokes and peel the stalks. Chop off the tough tops and place in a pan of salted water with lemon added to stop them discolouring. Bring to the boil and simmer gently until cooked. Drain and dress with a dash more lemon and oilve oil and leave to cool.
When cooled cut the chokes into halves or quarters and griddle.
Dress all the veg with olive oil and a dash of good vinegar, season with salt and pepper and add chopped fresh parsley and some dried oregano and serve.
Asparagus (griddled or steamed) and fennel would also work very well.

Beef and Mushrooms Braised in Guiness with Roasted Roots.

Dust the diced beef with plain flour and colour in a casserole, remove the coloured meat and set aside.
Finely chop some carrots, onions and celery and soften in oil/butter in the same casserole. Return the cooked beef and add some guiness enough to just cover the meat and veg.
Cover and transfer to a med / low oven and cook as long as slow as you can  - the longer and slower you do this the better it will be esp with cheaper more fatty cuts of beef.
About an hour before serving remove from the oven and add chopped mushrooms.

For the roasted roots i used some home grown salsify and artichokes with some bought potatoes and carrots, but you can use any - parsnips also go well, but the shop had sold out!
I par boiled the potatoes in salted water for 5 mins or so, while they were boiling i chopped a few carrots in half and cleaned and chopped the chokes (the trick is to get them all to a size that they will be ready at the same time so carrots and chokes larger than the potatoes). Put in a roasting tin with oil and chopped rosemary and put in the oven.
About half an hour before they are ready peel the salsify and par boil for a few mins in salted water with some lemon juice added to stop it browning.
Let it dry for a min or two before adding to the roasting tin.
When all the veg is cooked serve.