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Boo started cooking in 1970 when she rented her first apartment in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Surround by the sights and sounds of the city, one of the first recipes she picked up was this barbecue shrimp from her sister. It's a great way to prepare shellfish (use fresh prawns) and a New Orleans favourite. Strangely enough, it doesn't involve a barbecue at all!

This recipe is a total winner in my books.  It's full of fantastic colour and flavour.  You can adapt it quite easily by replacing the turkey with ham or fish or prawns.

This tart is not only delicious but also makes the most of leftover ham and cheese.  The true highlight of dish however is the caramelised red onions.

This dish is full of festive flavors and makes life simple for anyone not completely convinced on tackling a full traditional Christmas dinner this year.

Not your traditional Turkey but an absolute must for any of those with a fear of carving.  By removing the bones and rolling the meat with the stuffing, it becomes easy to slice.  Your butcher will happily bone and roll the turkey for you, just be sure to bring the prepared stuffing with you and they can pop it in for you, tie it up tight and send you home with a perfect little packet.  I love the combination of maple, orange, smoked bacon and apple, but you can easily adapt this with your own favourite flavours.

These have to be the most amazing potatoes, just the way I like them, crispy and crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.  It's really worth getting some goose fat as it imparts wonderful flavour.

Traditionally in our house we always steamed sprouts, but I really like the flavour you get from pan frying them.  You could also add a few rashers of smoked streaky bacon for even more flavour.

The Swedes have a special drink which is sold during the Christmas period which is a cross between a sweet root beer and coca cola.  It's so popular in fact that the Coke's sales drop by almost 50% over the christmas period.  I first came across this method when I was younger, glued to one of Nigella Lawson's TV programs.  Boiling the ham in this liquid gives a sweet and almost spicy taste.  You can bake your ham with any topping you like and something like a maple glaze is delicious, but this mustard and breadcrumb topping is traditionally Swedish and is absolutely delicious.

This is a great take on good old fish and chips. The hasselback potatoes are one of my favourite ways of cooking potatoes, they turn golden brown and beautifully crispy. Don't be afraid of shallow frying the fish, once you have a nice high-sided pan and a controlled heat, everything will work out nicely, but do be careful when cooking with hot oil.

This is a proper beast of a weekend meal, ideal for a crowd! The buffalo sauce can be used on chicken wings. The coleslaw mix makes quite a lot, but will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge. If you want you can skip the step of blanching your potato chips in boiling water, but this will result in less fluffy insides.

This makes the perfect midweek supper, which can be easily thrown together with a few simple ingredients.

This is my basic risotto recipe, which is essentially a blank canvas for any ingredients you want to add. Try mixing through roasted squash and crispy pancetta, or an Arrabiata sauce for a delicious alternative to mushrooms.

This is a great meal to throw together in just minutes and it’s really filling. You can pick up sun-blushed tomatoes in the supermarket. They are a much brighter colour than sun-dried tomatoes and a little less intense in flavour.

Alternatively roast some halved cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil with sea salt and black pepper at about 200oC for about 40 minutes.

This soup tastes better if you use 2-3 different kinds of fish. Prawns or mussels are a great addition too. In France, this dish is usually served with oven baked croutons topped with spicy garlic paste and to me this is what makes it special.

If you missed it yesterday, check the full menu for the Kitchen Hero Online Dinner Party over here.  Today I’m posting the main course recipe which is for Thai Beef and Mango Salad.  It’s one of my favourite recipes from the book, it sounds complicated with the amount of ingredients but really it’s just a case of assembling the salad ingredients, making a dressing and frying the steaks. While we were shooting the images for “Kitchen Hero” one of the days, we spent at possibly the most amazing house I have ever... 

This is a snappy little dish dish with a nice hit of spice.  Harissa paste is a super handy storecupboard ingredient which really adds an extra kick to dishes like this.  You should be able to find it most supermarkets close to the spices.  It goes really well on fish, poultry and meat.