A spicy-sweet alcoholic treat to warm the cockles of your heart on a chilly day. And doing it this way stops you from boiling all the alcohol away!

• 1 bottle fruity red wine
• 1 large orange
• 1 satsuma, cut into thick slices
• 4 heaped tbsp sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 allspice berries
• 3 cloves
• 6 gratings of nutmeg
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, sliced into 3

1. Pare long strips of zest off the orange, dropping the fragrant curls into a large saucepan
2. Halve the orange and squeeze the juice into the pan
3. Add the sugar, satsuma slices and spices to the pan
4. Pour over roughly a glassful of wine and turn the heat on to medium-high
5. Stir gently while the syrup bubbles, the sugar dissolves and it starts to smell of Christmas
6. Boil and bubble for 4-5 min before pouring in the remainder of the bottle of wine
7. Turn the heat down and warm the wine through without boiling it
8. Sieve out the spices etc and serve piping hot
9. Then get another bottle out, squeeze a new orange, grab the sugar jar and re-use the spices because everyone is going to want more!

Extra lovely served with cheese straws, smoked paprika and almond biscuits or caramelised chilli nuts.

The perfect purpose for a surfeit of garlic, the result is sweet, savoury and mellow. A brilliant jar to have in the fridge for all occasions – use the cloves to make garlic bread, add to mashed potato, smear under the skin of a roast chicken, jazz up pasta sauce, use in hummous etc. And of course use the oil to cook with, dress salads, make bruscetta.

• Loads of garlic cloves, peeled
• Enough neutral oil to cover (3 bulbs of garlic will need around 300ml oil)
• Pinch of chilli flakes or stalk of rosemary for additional flavour (optional)

1. Place the garlic (and flavourings if using) into a small saucepan
2. Pour in oil until the cloves are submerged
3. Heat over the very lowest heat for 30-40 mins, until the cloves are just starting to turn golden
4. Decant into a sterilised jar and keep in the fridge