Did you know that it was probably Neanderthals that boiled soup for the first time. They used a hole in the ground for cooking this soup. They covered it with an animal skin, poured in water and added various ingredients. Then they put hot stones into this. It was only in 5000 BC that craftspeople started using ceramic pots for cooking. The oldest of this kind of artefacts were found on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

I like soups: homemade, fresh, fragrant, with seasonal vegetables. Nothing else warms you up like a plate of hot soup on an autumn or winter day. Today I would like to show you how to change classical barley soup into something new.

Ingredients:
2 carrots
1 parsley root
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of butter
1 stock cube
1 can of coconut milk
3 potatoes
3 tablespoons of barley groats

When a young couple starts their own home, they bring to it their own customs and habits, but also flavours from their home kitchens. Grandma's cake, a roast according to aunty's recipe, liqueur made by grandpa – everybody carries these tastes in their mind, and despite changes in life, would like to memorise, nurture and pass them on to their own children. The young housewife's cookery books are a combination of recipes for dishes from different homes, countries and cultures.

Today's recipe has a history like that. I received it from my husband's mum. It tastes best with horseradish or marinated mushrooms.

Ingredients:
600g of hake fillet
2 stale bread rolls
1 onion
2 tablespoons of butter
300ml of milk
A bunch of parsley
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoons of salt and pepper

In the kitchen the most difficult thing to do is to come up with an idea. Then you are over the hump. Unless you make up a dish with original chmieli suneli. Even if it sounds like a rhyming joke, it is not. This unusual name is that of a traditional Georgian dish prepared with basil, marjoram, chili pepper, dill, coriander and saffron.

Let's assume that we have to prepare a fast tasty lunch or dinner after a busy day with basic ingredients. In this situation I usually make spaghetti. Today I would like to share with you a recipe for spaghetti with smoked salmon, served with kale in a buttery-creamy sauce. The time for preparing this dish isn't longer than boiling the noodles and the prepared course tastes excellent and looks slick. You may choose whatever noodles you like. I chose spaghetti because I like it the most and always have it in my kitchen. The kale can be replaced with spinach – the effect will be equally yummy.

Ingredients (for two people)
300g spaghetti
3 fistfuls of kale
2 cloves of garlic
half an onion
2 tablespoons of butter
200g of smoked salmon

My daughter called this simple dessert "a bit cold – a bit hot". The name is accurate because some really hot peaches were served with balls of ice cream. You can make this dessert all year round. In the summer use fresh, sun-blessed peaches, and in the winter peaches from a tin will be excellent. The secret of this dessert is the buttery, sweet and crusty cover made with almonds and butter cookies. You may use any flavour ice-cream and leaves of fresh peppermint or juicy green slices of kiwi for decoration.

Ingredients:
12 halves of peaches
100g of butter cookies
40g of butter
25g of almond flakes
50g of brown sugar
2 egg yolks
Ice-cream
leaves of fresh peppermint or kiwi

Lecho is a Hungarian dish known in Slovakia, Ukraine, Germany and the Czech Republic. The vegetable version with lightly fried fatback is served in Hungary as a side dish for meat or as a single course. You may add sliced sausages as well. Sometimes we prepare lecho with courgette or aubergine, making the dish similar to Provencal ratatouille.

Lecho and Breton style beans reminds me of school time when we had to cook something tasty, cheap and ... a lot of it. An additional asset was the possibility of reheating the dish without losing the quality and flavor.

Ingredients (for two people):
4 sausages
1 red pepper
1 courgette
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of oil
1 tin of tomatoes (cubed)
1 teaspoon of paprika
2 tablespoons of oil
salt and pepper