I like the concept of doing it big, making enough of it to last, to put it in the freezer, and take it out serving by serving as required, so that there is always some food on the ready. I like studying fish and game recipe books, more for inspiration, since I can’t really follow a recipe properly, and don’t have the ingredients anyway. It’s more a case of use what you have around, particularly if the items in question might be getting on. Wasting food isn’t a nice thing to do (and we never do it). Throw it all in the pot, is my attitude, as long as it’s one pot, since I like to think of myself as a one-pot cook. (Then I like to bend low over whatever I’ve created and dig in.)

FISH PIE In this case it was fish pie. I already had the crust, a commercial concoctions, frozen, which turned out to be not very good anyway. Next time I think I’ll make my own. I had the fish, of course – trout – but you can use any fish, one (or more) which, hopefully, you have caught. Cut it up into little squares (don’t spend too much time at it) We like olive oil, but you don’t have to use it; there are plenty of other oils you can use. Throw in the fish, potatoes, if you’re going to use them, tomatoes, tinned or fresh, and whatever else you can, into the pot. Cook until ready (well obviously). Pour it all into a crust-enshrouded disposable oven dish of appropriate size. Do a crust over the top, and prepare yourself for a real treat that you have created. The one problem with this recipe is that you will not be able to reproduce it, as the ingredients will probably be different each time you make it.

More than half of our pie disappeared almost immediately, because it was so good. We hadn’t actually meant to eat so much. But we did manage to get the rest into the freezer, and have enough for another day.

'The bigos on the stove, happily cooking away – don't do it in an aluminium pot'

It’s also known as Hunter's Stew. It’s not a question of what you’ve got around, but what you can get, which counts for even more. It’s Polish, world famous, and it’s not just Poles who start drooling when they hear the word. It makes people, especially hunters, want to participate. How do they do that? Well, they drop off some of what they have just killed. It is a manifestation of Polish generosity, of a strong desire to share, which is characteristic of hunters and fishermen anyway. It could be a pheasant, a hare, a rabbit, some venison. Then somebody else comes along with his offering, and just throws it in, thus bigos can go on for a long time, right into infinity.

I have here an authentic Polish cook book, presented to me by our good friend Jack Recknitz, the well known German international actor, who worked in Poland (he has a Polish wife), Germany, the US and elsewhere. Here is what the book has to say: "Bigos is a composition not only complex, but with a great many variants. In each old Polish kitchen it was made in a different way, in accordance with home traditions. Thus, there was hunting bigos, Lithuanian bigos, rascal's bigos and others, made with sauerkraut, with sauerkraut and fresh cabbage and with fresh cabbage only."

For sure, besides the cabbage and sauerkraut, you want some apples and prunes, although there are those who will start fighting with you about the prunes, and the apples too. If you don’t have game, or a lot of game, throw in some ham or kielbasa. Regarding the apples, the book says to peel them (I’d drop dead before I peeled an apple). The book says to cook some dried mushrooms – throw them in, yes, but don’t dirty a utensil for that – just throw them in – they’ll cook. Onions, "lightly browned in lard or butter." Lard? What, you want a heart attack before you even finish your first bowl of bigos? Same with the butter. Try olive oil instead. The book says to reheat it the next day, that it is tastiest and "mature" after the third reheating.