Birthday pancakes (with cherry and nectarine compote, greek yogurt and honey)

I challenge you to find a nicer way to start a summer birthday than lighter than air pancakes with a sweet, fruit topping. (Alright meat-eaters – bacon sarnies excepted!)

These pancakes are super easy to make, the lightest I’ve ever tasted and are really healthy, what with being partially wholemeal, full of goodness from the seeds and have hardly any fat.

Serves 4-6

For the pancakes:

4 eggs, separated

155g flour – use a mixture of wholemeal and plain if you prefer, or all wholemeal

1 ½ tsp baking powder

a handful or two of seeds – I used sunflower but poppy are also good

190ml milk

pinch of salt

Mix together the dry ingredients with the egg yolks and milk to form a thick batter. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in to the batter. Now it’s ready, heat a good non-stick pan then add spoonfuls of batter. Turn them when you see little bubbles. They only need a couple of minutes on each side to be a nice golden brown.

You can keep them warm in a low oven while you cook the rest.

For the compote:

A punnet of cherries, stoned and chopped in half

A couple of nectarines or peaches, stoned and chopped into smallish pieces

To make the compote, put the fruit in a saucepan and heat for a few minutes until it’s all jammy and gooey.

Serve with greek yogurt and honey.

Wet garlic, herb and lemon omelette

I was given a very large tray of the freshest, organicest, free-rangest eggs you can imagine at the weekend, from hens that roam around an overgrown field all day, much to their delight. They make the yellowest eggs I've ever seen, so naturally, I wanted to do them justice. This did just that - simple enough to enhance the eggs yet with enough flavour to excite the palate.

I have two omelette tips (and you've probably heard them before) - firstly, get yourself a great pan. It makes all the difference. A smaller pan is easier and makes a thicker omelette, which means you get more foldy juiciness and less pancake-yness. The second is add a bit of water to the egg once you've beaten it to make it light as a feather - never fails.

Wet garlic works really well in this and it was in my box this week, but if you can't get it, normal dried (bulb) garlic is fine - it's just got a fresher flavour.

Egg and chips anyone?

Here's a new take on egg and chips using the delightful Jersey Royals that are around at the moment. Crispy and nutty, with lovely runny poached eggs - great for brunch.

This could also be good with a few sundried tomatoes (not too many though as they're quite strong), some rosemary on the spuds or perhaps a bit of garlic.