Beloved British cook, TV presenter and bestselling author of 24 cookbooks, Delia Smith has delighted the nation with her recipes and kitchen charisma for over five decades. There are some great above and beyond tips here, such as with the Thai Curry, chopping the lemon grass and soaking it in lime juice for some time before blending it, this made such a difference to the taste, I feel that lemon grass bought in the UK is so dried up, soaking it first helps to rehydrate and release some flavour. The same goes for the vegan sausage roll from my favourite local bakery, the Sunflour on north London’s Caledonian Road, which also seems to contain leek, plus shredded carrot and possibly potato, plus garlic: it’s very tasty, but it’s not festive.

Delia shares quick recipes for cooking when time is of the essence as well as inspirational recipes for entertaining including soups, starters, egg recipes, recipes with and without cheese, breads, pizzas, baking and puddings. Deliciously rich vegetarian lasagne with no less than 4 different kinds of cheese (mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and blue cheese). It might work better with another kind, but then you could also encase meat-free sausages in pastry without any guidance from me.When it comes to pasta, I will usually pick a simple mushroom pasta, pesto pasta or creamy carbonara over a tomato-based pasta. Many of the seasonings used in the recipes don’t work so well with a chestnut base – Smith’s mustard powder and Young’s togarashi, to name just two – but fresh sage, as used by Mob Kitchen, is an excellent pairing, as well as a pleasing nod to classic festive stuffing.

At last - what every vegetarian has been waiting for: a vegetarian cookbook from Queen of Cooks, Delia Smith.

Laura Fyfe’s recipe for Jamie magazine also contains cheese (stilton this time), but the base is roast butternut squash mixed with breadcrumbs and chopped walnuts, which makes it much more adaptable – you could easily leave out the cheese, or replace it with a plant-based substitute without changing the flavour profile too much.

When we had a veggie friend coming for dinner I just winged it and made up a version of a savoury plait. Her ‘Complete Cookery Course’ is a great reference book and her writing style is fuctional, comforting and reassuring. The breakfast muffins are not only easy to make, but can go into a packed lunch, if you’re out and about. Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people not to eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet.

Divide the mixture into two balls and roll each ball out into a long sausage shape about 1 1/2 – 2cm in diameter. This is one of Delia's greats, complete with beautiful photographs - have made quite a few of the other recipes including Spiced Chickpea Cakes with Red Onion and Coriander Salad - really tasty! Then toss the dice in a level dessertspoon of salt and pack them into a colander with a plate on top and a heavy weight on top of the plate.