6 months into my relationship with Catherine (now my wife), I found myself on a plane from Heathrow to Clermont-Ferrand to meet the in-laws for the first time.

From the age of 15 until 23, I mainly lived in, what was at that time, West Germany. The Germans are famous for a few things like: beer, getting the silver medal in world wars, and of course sausages!

I was 15 at the time, and in a co-op program in my first professional kitchen at the Carlton Hotel. The chore at the time seemed straight forward. Wrong.

I must have been six or seven when I started to spend most of my summers with my grandparents. They lived in a small town in the centre of France called Varennes-sur-Allier, about 2 hours from Lyon.

It always happened on Thursdays or Fridays. My Mum would start to get her ingredients together, ready for baking on Saturday morning.

Polenta puppies have a complex story with me. I mean you look at it, it looks like a ball of.. well polenta. There’s a bunch of different ingredients but when it comes to the plate, the final dish, it’s just one thing.