Rick Stein's Elegant and homely comfort food menu

Advance preparation

1. Read through all the recipes in advance to familiarise yourself with the steps.

1. Purchase all of the ingredients and check them off the list to avoid last-minute panics.

1. Make sure you have enough room in your fridge for all the ingredients. You may have to rent or hire a second fridge if you're serving lots of people and don't have a larder.

1. Make sure you have a saucepan large enough for the Pumpkin soup if you're serving lots of people.

Day before

1. Make the Lemon posset; pour it into the ramekins or tea cups and leave to chill in the fridge overnight.

1. The Pumpkin soup can be made in advance up to the point at which it is liquidised. Cover and leave it in a cool place overnight.

On the day

1. You can make the Potato and green bean salad in the morning and leave it covered in the fridge. Make sure you take it out and allow it to return to room temperature for serving.

1. Prepare the Salmon en croûte – it needs to chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

1. Grill the figs, allowing the sugar on top to caramelise; set aside to cool until you're ready to serve the Lemon posset.

Last minute

1. Reheat the Pumpkin soup and add the cream and grated Gruyère.

1. Don't forget to factor in five minutes resting time for when the Salmon en croûte comes out of the oven.

Leftovers

1. Leftovers should be stored in the fridge and consumed within two days of preparation.

Dairy, eggs and chilled

1. 600ml/1 pin double cream

1. 75g/3oz butter

1. 300ml/½ pint single cream

1. 175g/6oz Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated

1. 100g/4oz unsalted butter, softened

1. 2 x 500g/1lb 2oz packets ready-made puff pastry

1. 1 free-range egg, beaten

Cooking ingredients

1. 150g/5oz caster sugar

1. 4 tbsp caster sugar

1. 175ml/6fl oz extra virgin olive oil

1. 2 tsp red wine vinegar

1. 2 tbsp sunflower oil

1. 2.25 litres/4 pints vegetable stock

1. plain flour, for dusting

Fruit and vegetables

1. 2½ medium lemons, finely grated zest and juice only

1. 6 fresh figs, quartered

1. 1.8kg/4lb new potatoes, scraped to clean

1. 700g/1½ lb fine green beans

1. 4 medium spring onions, chopped

1. 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1. 3kg/7lb unpeeled pumpkin, kabocha or butternut squash

1. 2 medium onions, chopped

1. 8 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only, plus extra leaves to garnish

1. 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

1. 2 tbsp lemon juice

1. 500g/1lb 2oz fresh spinach, large stalks removed, washed and dried well

Meat, fish and poultry

1. 2 x 550g/1lb 4oz pieces thick salmon fillet, skin removed, cut into pieces