I know you’ll all be thinking of easing off on the food front at this time of year, but I just want to plant a little idea in your heads: terrines are the perfect winter food. True, they take a bit of preparing (although time’s something we have plenty of on these long January nights) but, once made, they are the quickest supper in the world, be it with toast in front of the TV, or as a no-fuss starter for a dinner party.

Foie gras may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is ideal for going that extra mile and works really well with game and sweet root vegetables, as in the terrine recipe below. We serve this at Claridge’s and, if you like to over-achieve, then this terrine recipe has to be the one for you.

If you’d rather have lighter, fresher flavours, then you may prefer the mosaic of seafood: succulent, chunky fillets of salmon, halibut and tuna are poached in olive oil, cut into strips then set in a mould with lobster and mixed herbs. We vary this starter at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay depending on what’s in season, but one of my favourite ways to serve it is with tomato consommé, diced saffron potatoes and a quenelle of caviar. Equally decadent, yet easier to pull off, you can serve it with caviar vinaigrette and a simple mixed-leaf salad.

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