This warm chorizo and chickpea salad is a wonderful combination of flavours and textures. Irish Gubeen Smokehouse does an excellent chorizo. You could replace it with sausages if the chorizo is too spicy for your taste. I like to serve this salad warm, but it would also be good at room temperature, especially as part of a dinner.

Just as tasty is the bacon and Cashel Blue salad. Cashel Blue cheese has become a great success, and when I was filming for Home Chef I even came across it in Dubai.

Wicklow Blue and Bellingham Blue are also cheeses to look out for. If possible, try and get smoked lardons. Also a small tip, is using the lemon-flavoured Donegal Rapeseed oil. This delicious dressing would also be great poured over halved baby new potatoes, preferably Jersey Royals.

Happy cooking.

Neven Maguire’s Complete Baby & Toddler Cookbook is published by Gill & MacMillan

Warm chorizo & chickpea salad

Serves four

3 tbsp of Donegal Rapeseed oil

3 red chillies, seeded and thinly sliced

12 garlic cloves, chopped

3 red onions, thinly sliced

150ml (1/4 pint) of cider vinegar

8 x 50g (2oz) of chorizo sausages, sliced in half lengthways and then cut in half again

2 x 400g (14oz) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 large handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

1 large handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 large handful of fresh mint leaves

200g (7oz) of feta cheese, chopped

8 spring onions, thinly sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Heat two tablespoons of rapeseed oil in a pan. Add the chillies, garlic and red onions, and cook over a high heat for five minutes until they are starting to catch up, stirring quite frequently to prevent the mixture from sticking. Pour in the vinegar and boil fast for two minutes, until it has evaporated. Transfer to a large bowl and leave to sit for 15 minutes before giving it another stir. Season to taste.

2 Heat the remaining rapeseed oil in the frying pan and add the pieces of chorizo. Fry for a few minutes to release the fat, then add the chickpeas and continue to cook for a few more minutes until the pieces of chorizo are cooked through. Tip into the chilli mixture and toss until well combined.

3 Fold the herbs into the salad with the feta cheese and spring onions, tossing until coated. Season to taste and divide between plates to serve.

Bacon and Cashel blue salad

Serves four

225g (8oz) piece of rindless streaky bacon, cut into lardons

2 shallots, finely diced

1 tbsp of red wine vinegar

4 tbsp of Donegal Rapeseed oil

2 tsp of wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp of chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 cos lettuces or 6 little gem lettuces, separated into leaves

225g (8oz) of Cashel blue cheese, rind removed

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Crusty French bread, to serve

1 Fry the bacon lardons in a dry, non-stick frying pan until crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside, keeping warm. Add the shallots and sweat for two/three minutes until softened but not browned, stirring occasionally.

2 De-glaze the pan with the red wine vinegar, then stir in the rapeseed oil and mustard. Sprinkle in the parsley and season to taste.

3 Tear the lettuce leaves into bite-sized pieces and then place in a bowl. Pour over the hot dressing and quickly toss to coat. Just before serving, add the crispy bacon and crumble the Cashel blue cheese on top. Divide between plates and serve with plenty of crusty French bread.