It was National Potato Week recently, but I think you know that every week is National Potato Week for me. I am a great fan of our best-known vegetable. Sweet potato wedges are a great way to get children eating vegetables. Like my other recipes, they are a great Friday night TV treat and like most things children love, adults love them too.

Chilli bean tacos are a fun snack. You can use any cooked meat with this recipe. Chicken works just as well. The cocoa is important for the taste. Mexican recipes use dark chocolate a lot. If you’re stuck for time, tinned beans are fine. People often ask me how do I know an avocado is ripe, but these days the shops and supermarkets are very helpful and usually label them as ripe or ready-to-eat.

The chicken patties and cucumber recipe is a great way to use up cucumbers. It also works as a nice, light starter. You can make it ahead of time and freeze. Turkey works just as well as chicken. Thai Gold make a good-quality sweet chilli sauce.

Happy cooking.

SWEET POTATO WEDGES

Serves four

500g of sweet potatoes cut into wedges

1 tbsp of Donegal Rapeseed oil

½ tsp of cajun seasoning (optional)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, gas mark six. Put the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with rapeseed oil and sprinkle over the cajun seasoning, if using. Toss until evenly coated, then season to taste and roast for about 25 minutes until cooked through and lightly golden. Serve hot.

CHILLI BEAN TACOS

Serves four

2 tbsp of Donegal Rapeseed oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 celery stick, diced

1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

1 tsp of ground cumin

1 tsp of hot paprika

½ tsp of ground coriander

1 tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder

400g can of haricot beans, drained, rinsed

400g can of kidney beans in chilli sauce

400g can of chopped tomatoes

1 heaped tbsp of tomato purée

8 crisp taco shells

200ml carton of sour cream

1 ripe avocado, halved, stoned and diced

2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Juice of ½ lime

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lime wedges, to serve

1 Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic, celery and chilli and cook for 10 minutes until softened and lightly golden, scraping the bottom to remove any sediment. Stir in the spices and continue to cook for one to two minutes. Stir the cocoa powder into the vegetable and spice mixture with the beans, tomatoes and tomato purée. Bring to the boil, then season to taste and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until well reduced and thickened.

3 To make the tomato and avocado salsa, place the avocado, tomatoes, coriander and lime juice in a bowl and season to taste. Mix well to combine.

4 To serve, place some of the mixed bean chilli into each taco shell and spoon the tomato and avocado salsa on top. Add a dollop of sour cream to each one to serve.

SESAME CHICKEN PATTIES

Serves four

450g of minced chicken

25g (1oz) of fresh white breadcrumbs

2 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander

2 spring onions, finely chopped

50g (2oz) of sesame seeds

2 tbsp of sunflower oil

2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar

2 tsp of caster sugar

1 mini cucumber

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sweet chilli sauce, to serve

1 To make the sesame chicken patties, place the chicken, breadcrumbs, chilli sauce, coriander and spring onions in a bowl and mix well to combine. Season to taste and shape into 12 small patties. Put the sesame seeds on a flat plate. Press them into each patty on both sides.

2 Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and shallow-fry the sesame chicken patties over a medium to high heat, for three to four minutes on each side, until cooked through and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.

3 Meanwhile, pare the cucumber into long thin ribbons and place in a bowl. Mix the vinegar and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and then use to dress the cucumber.

4 To serve, arrange the sesame chicken patties on a serving plate with a separate pot of the pickled cucumber and a bowl of sweet chilli sauce. CL