Give three cooks a recipe with the same ingredients to make it and you will end up with three quite different dishes. This was evident at a recent cook-along at Leiths School of Food and Wine, when chef-led teams of four cooked a three-course meal. We ate them and compared notes. Sally Clarke’s (Clarke’s) team made dainty food, Peter Gordon’s (the Providores) was funky and Mark Hix’s (Le Caprice and Ivy) looked classy. Even the food of the brothers Matthew (Bibendum) and Henry (Racine) Harris looked noticeably different.

It happened again over Parsnips Molly Parkin, a dish invented by Denis Curtis in the 1960s and introduced to me at a recent dinner party. Parkin, the writer and broadcaster, hated parsnips, but combining their sweetness with acidic tomatoes and plenty of butter and cream changed her mind. It’s what we used to call a layer-bake. In this instance it is of thinly sliced, lightly fried parsnips, peeled and seeded tomatoes, grated Gruyère and cream, with a breadcrumb topping. My host likes a rustic, juicy version with thick slices of parsnip and tomato, which he doesn’t bother to peel or seed. Later, after talking to Sophie, Parkin’s daughter, I picked up a tip for slicing the parsnips super-thin with a potato peeler and not frying them. I peeled but didn’t seed the tomatoes, ditched the sugar and cut down the butter.

Before anyone writes to complain, I know that pesto is really made with basil, but an interesting peppery version can be made with good old British watercress. I like it stirred into pasta with flaked parmesan or piled on to garlic-rubbed, olive oil-dribbled toast with roasted peppers or tomatoes and a slab of glistening feta cheese. Slackened with olive oil, it’s good stirred into boiled new potatoes with black olives, hard-boiled eggs and a crumble of goats’ cheese.

It takes a bit of time and effort to make a tart from scratch, but this one, with parmesan pastry and a filling of sweet, minted leeks and peas offset by salty, sour feta cheese custard under a thin, crisp sheet of parmesan, is manna from heaven. Serve it with new potatoes or salad.

Parsnips Molly Parkin

Serves 4 (6 with roast lamb)

Prep: 20 min

Cook: approx 90 min

6 medium parsnips

6 plum tomatoes

150g Gruyère cheese

50g butter

300ml single or double cream

50g white, crustless bread

METHOD Heat the oven to 325F/170C/gas mark 3 and boil the kettle. Trim then peel the parsnips and use a potato peeler to slice them; size and shape is immaterial. Work quickly, slicing away from you, until you hit the woody core, which you discard. Cover the tomatoes with boiling water. Count to 30, drain and cut out the core in a cone shape. Slice the tomatoes. Grate the cheese. Smear a 1.5 litre casserole dish (deep is best) with some of the butter. Reckon on four layers. Start with parsnip, salt, pepper and a little cream. Cover with a layer of tomatoes. Spread with more cream and some of the cheese. Continue thus, finishing with cream and cheese. Tear the bread into pieces, blitz to make crumbs and sprinkle over the top. Dot lavishly with butter. Cook in the centre of the oven for 60-90 min, until the cream is bubbling up round the golden crusty topping and the parsnip is very soft. Reheats well and is excellent cold.

Grilled tomato orecchiette with watercress pesto

Serves 4

2 garlic cloves

3tbsp toasted pine kernels

90g watercress

7-9tbsp best olive oil

3tbsp grated parmesan

450g cherry tomatoes

3tbsp olive oil 1tbsp aged balsamic vinegar

350g orecchiette or conchigliette rigate

Knob of butter

Extra parmesan to serve

METHOD Peel the garlic. Place in the bowl of a food processor with the pine kernels, watercress and seasoning of salt and pepper. Blitz until evenly chopped, scraping down the insides of the bowl as necessary. With the motor still running, add the olive oil in a trickle and continue until thick but slack and nicely amalgamated. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the grated parmesan.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions while you attend to the tomatoes. Preheat the overhead grill. Place the tomatoes in a frying pan with the olive oil and vinegar and toss around until glistening with oil. Grill, shaking the pan occasionally, for 6-8 min until the skins begin to pop and split and the juices run. When the pasta is cooked and drained, tip it into a suitable serving bowl and toss with a knob of butter. Add the tomatoes and all their juices. Gently stir together and loosely fold in two tablespoons of pesto. Serve the rest separately with extra parmesan for people to help themselves.

Leek and pea tart with parmesan pastry

Serves 6-8

For the pastry:

200g plain flour

125g cold butter

4tbsp cold water

1tbsp grated Parmesan

For the filling:

400g trimmed leeks

20 mint leaves

50g butter

150g frozen petit pois

2 large fresh eggs

150ml double cream

100g Greek feta

4tbsp grated parmesan

METHOD Sift the flour into a mixing bowl with a pinch of salt. Dice the butter directly into the flour. Quickly rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water, 1tbsp at a time, stirring with a knife until it clumps together. Sprinkle 1tbsp parmesan over the top and quickly work into a ball. Leave for 30 min.

Heat the oven to 425F/220C/gas mark 6. Finely slice the leeks and wash in a sink of water. Drain thoroughly. Finely chop the mint. Melt 25g butter in a spacious frying pan over a medium heat. Stir in the leeks, mint and 1tsp salt. Cover and cook without browning, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 min until soft and not the least watery. Leave to cool. Boil the peas in salted water. Drain and cool. Whisk the eggs with the cream in a mixing bowl and crumble the feta into the mixture.

Smear a 23cm quiche tin with a removable base with 25g butter. Dust with flour and shake out the excess (to make it nonstick). Roll out the pastry to fit, leaving an overhang. Cover loosely with foil and fill with baking beans or rice. Place on a baking sheet and cook in the hot oven for 10 min. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 min. Reduce the oven to 400F/200C/ gas mark 6. Mix the peas into the leeks and spoon into the partially cooked tart case. Pour over the egg mix and cover with the remaining parmesan. Bake for 30 min until set and the top is golden.

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