Saturday night is “Retro” night.

Here's the plan – Saturday night should be easy in every way – to prepare and to eat from a plate on your knee watching your favourite programme/film – whatever is your bag.

With that in mind the following suggestions don't take any time and effort and you don't have to produce them all – it's just a selection of bits and pieces that would hit the spot.

Here goes :

Baked Camembert

250g Camembert

1 clove garlic or garlic paste

olive oil

Bread of your choice

Pinch of sea salt

Handful of chopped dried cranberries

Handful of chopped mixed nuts

Preheat your oven 180/350/Gas 4. Leaving the Camembert in the box, score around the top about half cm in and cut off the top layer of skin. Slice the garlic clove and poke into the top of the cheese. Drizzle with a little olive oil then bake in the oven for 15 minutes – or until gorgeous and oozy in the middle.

Serve the Camembert with warmed flat bread or French bread – dunk the bread into the cheese and then into the cranberries and nuts – repeat!

Cream cheese and cashew nut paté

1 carrot, finely grated

225g cream cheese

100g roasted cashew nuts, crushed to a rubble – not

to a dust!

1 tbsp of chopped chives

salt and black pepper

black olives – pitted and sliced (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together, box and fridge. If you are feeling really virtuous have a side of raw carrots.

(any leftovers are perfect for lunch, served on whatever takes your fancy – rice cakes, gluten free cheese oatcakes, toast or even as a sandwich filling – a toasted bagel would be good too – sounds positively healthy).

Retro Rooms

Serves 6

750g chestnut mushrooms cut into quarters

2 tbsp flat leaf parsley – finely chopped

2 tbsp lemon juice

Glug of dry sherry

6 tbsp rapeseed oil

100g unsalted butter – at room temperature

4 garlic cloves – or equivalent paste

salt and black pepper

Mix the butter with the garlic. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the mushrooms and season with salt and black pepper. Add the lemon juice and a glug of dry sherry. Add the butter and garlic mixture and cook for 5/7 minutes, fold in the chopped parsley.

Serve in ramekins with warm crusty bread to mop up the garlicky yumminess.

As an alternative you could add croutons to your mushrooms and not bother with the crusty bread.

Speaking of bread … read on