'These are my favourite recipes inspired by my grandparents’ Greek Cypriot taverna'

“I love classic Spanish churros for breakfast – who doesn’t?” chef Georgina Hayden says.

“Dipped in hot chocolate, they’re such a treat, but deep-frying is not something I want to be doing on a weekday morning (or any morning, come to that). This is a striking and fun alternative.

“As with all good batters, you can just leave this one in the fridge overnight for next-level effortlessness. My kids’ dream breakfast.”

Serves 4. Ingredients: 85g plain flour; 275ml whole milk; 3 large eggs; A good pinch of sea salt; 1tsp vanilla extract; 50g unsalted butter; 4tbsp icing sugar; 1tsp ground cinnamon; 150g chocolate (Hayden likes a mixture of dark and milk, but whatever floats your boat…); 200ml single cream

Blitz the plain flour, 175 millilitres of the whole milk, the eggs, sea salt and vanilla in a blender until smooth. You can also do this by hand with a whisk.

If you can, cover and leave the mixture to rest for 30 minutes, or in the fridge if leaving longer (though bring the batter to room temperature before cooking).

Preheat your oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark seven.

Cut the butter into cubes and place in a large ovenproof frying pan or cast-iron pan.

Pop into the oven until the butter has melted and is browned (this adds loads of flavour), but you don’t want it to burn, so keep an eye on it.

Working quickly and carefully, leave the pan in the oven, pour in the batter and shut the door. Leave it untouched for 20 minutes (do not open that door!).

Then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark four and bake for a further five minutes.

While the pancake is baking, make the cinnamon sugar and the hot chocolate. Mix the icing sugar and ground cinnamon and set aside. Cut or break the chocolate into small equal-sized pieces and place them in a heatproof bowl.

When the Dutch baby is almost ready, heat the single cream and remaining 100 millilitres of milk in a small saucepan over a medium heat, so it is hot but not boiling. Remove from the hob before it starts to bubble, then pour it over the chocolate. Leave for one minute, then stir until you have a thick, smooth chocolate sauce.

When the Dutch baby is ready, remove from the oven and dust straight away with the cinnamon sugar, as evenly as you can. Serve with the chocolate sauce on the side.

Pappa al ratatouille

“A mixture of ideas inspired by my adoration for Italian pappa pomodoro, but with French and Spanish influences,” chef Georgina Hayden says.

“It’s so, so delicious, though it’s very humble and it doesn’t look like much.

“It becomes so creamy that it’s hard to believe it contains no dairy.

“If you’ve got a glut of lovely late-summer veg, it’s just stunning, a great make-do-and-mend style soup.

“If you don’t have a courgette, don’t worry about it; if you have more peppers, just shove them in. Make it to your tastes.”

Serves 4. Ingredients: 4 garlic cloves; 2 red peppers; 1 aubergine; 2 courgettes; ½ bunch of thyme; Extra virgin olive oil; 1tsp caster sugar; A 400g can of good-quality chopped tomatoes; 125g stale bread, ideally ciabatta (gluten-free, if needed); Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by prepping all your vegetables.

Peel and finely slice the garlic. Halve the peppers, remove the seeds and finely slice. Peel the aubergine in stripes, leaving some of the skin on, and cut into small cubes, around one-and-a-half centimetres. Cut the courgettes the same size. Pick the thyme leaves.

Place a large saucepan or flameproof casserole over a medium heat and pour in four tablespoons of olive oil, then add the garlic.

Fry for a minute before adding all the rest of the prepared vegetables, the sugar and most of the thyme.

Season generously and fry for 15 to 20 minutes, over a medium-high heat, until the vegetables are coloured and starting to soften.

Add the tomatoes to the pan, pour in 800 millilitres of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and leave to simmer for around 30 minutes, until the soup has thickened and is rich.

Tear the bread into small chunks and stir into the soup. Cook for a further 10 minutes.

Stir in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve with the remaining thyme sprinkled over the top.

One-pan moussaka

“Making a good traditional moussaka is a wholesome, but time-consuming process,” says award-winning food writer and chef, Georgina Hayden.

“That’s not the case with this version, which I created because of the love for the one-pan pastitsio from my last book, Greekish.

“This is a recipe that you can easily make on a weeknight evening. We’re not spending time whisking a white sauce here, or frying slices and slices of veg.

“It will impress, while also absolutely satisfy that Greek holiday moussaka craving we all get from time to time.”

Serves 4 – 6. Ingredients: 2 red onions; 2 garlic cloves; 1 large aubergine; Olive oil; 400g minced meat (Hayden likes half beef and half pork, but use what you like, even lamb is good); 1tsp ground cinnamon; 1tsp dried oregano, plus more for the top; ¼tsp cayenne pepper; 2tbsp tomato purée; 400ml beef stock; 750g waxy potatoes, red-skinned if possible; 250g mascarpone; 250g Greek yogurt; 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk; 50g Parmesan; Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic cloves.

Peel and cut the aubergine into one-and-a-half to two centimetre cubes.

Set a wide, shallow flameproof casserole that has a lid over a medium heat and add enough olive oil to cover the base.

Fry the aubergine for around five minutes until golden. Season as you go and stir just a couple of times; you want to get a nice crust.

When it’s golden, add the minced meat and increase the heat to high. Break the meat up with a wooden spoon and season it well.

Add the ground cinnamon, dried oregano and cayenne. Brown for a few minutes, then add the chopped onions and garlic and fry for a further 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C/170 fan/gas mark five.

Stir the tomato purée into the meat, fry for a few minutes, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer while you slice the potatoes. Scrub, then slice them as finely as you can, two to three millimetres thick.

Remove the casserole from the hob and lay the potatoes over the top, overlapping them as you go, a bit like a hotpot. Season and sprinkle with a little extra oregano, drizzle with olive oil and cover the casserole with the lid.

Place the covered dish in the oven for 30 minutes, removing the lid for the last 10 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Mix the mascarpone, Greek yogurt, egg and egg yolk in a bowl. Finely grate in most of the Parmesan, season and stir it in.

Remove the casserole from the oven, pour over the sauce, then finely grate over the remaining Parmesan.

Return to the oven, without the lid, and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes, until golden all over and bubbling.

Leave to rest for five minutes before serving.