It’s that delicious but oft-forgotten fried potato scaffolding made moreish with any number of cheeky seasonings or toppings

The Swiss have a reputation as a secretive people, and indeed there is a curious dearth of cookbooks for English speakers hoping to master recipes such as this crisp potato pancake described by the Swiss government as “one of the country’s best-known national dishes”. Originally a rustic breakfast, it’s now a popular accompaniment to everything from sausages to cheese, and too good not to share.

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Both sides of the changeable season are covered here: in like a lion with hearty cheese and pickle roast potatoes, out like a lamb with a light gratin with lemon, capers and herbs

Easter is an in-between time of year. I have spent some basking in the garden, while on others, there’s been snow. Spring demands food that is both fresh and hearty. Today’s gratin is loosely based on one from the cookbook Sunday Suppers at Lucques – coins of early season courgettes with a perky salsa verde topped with golden cheesy breadcrumbs. And you can’t go wrong with this spin on roast potatoes with cheese and pickle, served with a crisp bitter leaf salad.

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Buttery and soft leeks with a cheesy crusty topping – a relatively faff-free Easter meal

Parsley sauce is making a comeback – you heard it here first. I eat it a lot, in various iterations, but in today’s dish it is one of three things that are very simple to make and work beautifully in harmony. The other two are soft, buttery leeks and cheesy breadcrumbs. Together, these three building blocks make a perfect Easter lunch, either alongside potatoes and greens, or as a side for ham or roast chicken. I urge you to make extra breadcrumbs – they are addictive and go with everything. Thank me later.

Kitty Coles’ book, Make More with Less: Foolproof Recipes to Make Your Food go Further, is published by Hardie Grant at £22. To order a copy for £19.36, go to guardianbookshop.com

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A wide spread of lots of different dishes is my usual go-to, but at Easter I’m more than happy to let one (semi-)traditional main steal the show

Easter is perhaps the only traditional meal for which I’m happy to let one dish dominate. Normally, I’m all about the spread: a table full of food where all sorts – meat and veg, salad and fish – sit side by side as equals. There is something about a shoulder of lamb, though, packed full of flavour and cooked slowly until it’s more or less falling apart, that’s so symbolically tied up with both the season and the occasion that it turns me into a meat-and-two-veg sort of cook. Well, maybe a few more than two, but still, there’s a lot of space on the table reserved for the centrepiece.

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An early spring pie of leek, spinach and sheep’s cheese in a rosemary garlic cream, served with a wild rice and cauliflower salad in a sweet almond dressing

As my eldest daughter approaches teendom, I am realising the full gamut of motherhood. Among other things, she, as I did before her, approaches her mum’s belongings as if they were her own, and as a result I am increasingly appreciating my own mother’s patience and unconditional love. I think little says love more than a pie, and I am hoping that this simple but delicious one will do the trick.

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A traditional maqluba – an upside-down layered treat of rice, veg and meat – with sides of pickled aubergine and a spicy, herby courgette salad

Ramadan in Jerusalem holds a special place in my heart, and evokes a blend of spirituality, community and tradition. A vibrant atmosphere envelops the city, the streets come alive with bustling markets selling festive foods, sweets and decorations, and the aroma of fresh baking fills the air.

Sami Tamimi is a chef and food writer.

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Make a jar of this killer lime and pepper sauce, and it will keep for months, on hand and ready to perk up all sorts, including this super-simple mackerel with baked beans

For many in the Caribbean, hot sauce is part of everyday life. While locals in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana are hardened to the punch of scorpion, wiri wiri or scotch bonnet peppers, I have more than once made the mistake of drizzling chilli-based condiments a little too liberally on my food. The citrus in my lime and pepper sauce offsets the intensity of the chilli, making it more palatable for the hot sauce-averse yet still delicious for existing fans. It goes really well with this Caribbean play on beans on toast.

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A delicious way to poach a chicken, bollito-style, with a range of flavours to complement it

Before she moved, Ginia lived in a fifth-floor flat in a 1920s block near Piazza Vittorio. And before she gave up cooking, she used to make a bollito every other Sunday. Once upon a time, that meant an almost full bollito misto alla Piemontese , as her father taught her to make it: beef (muscle, tail and tongue), also a whole chicken and cotechino sausage boiled separately, then served together, sliced and steaming hot, with a selection of sauces. But as the years went on and the house emptied – of children, also of her husband (she threw him out) – her bollito streamlined.

By the time I met Ginia, the bollito was half a chicken, or maybe a boneless beef rib known as scaramella . Not that there was any talk of food when we first met in the international bookshop near Termini station. Browsing side by side, she asked me what I thought of Iris Murdoch, looked appalled when I said I hadn’t read her, then walked over to the desk and ordered me a copy of The Sea, The Sea. Two weeks later she sent me a message in capital letters – “LIBRO ARRIVES, BOOKSHOP WED 10” – and, after picking it up, we went for coffee, the first of many. She also seemed appalled when I told her I wrote about food. “Of all the subjects”. But then later we did talk about food – if the story involved something sinister or salacious, or a pub. Which is how we arrived at the bollito, and her ex-husband’s insistence that for it to be true bollito, the raw meat must be put into boiling water, but how she used to start from cold and he never noticed the difference. And somehow we arrived at Fergus Henderson ’s way of poaching a chicken, which she was quite delighted by, and in return she gave me suggestions for the sauces for boiled meat, whether for a bollito or a single poached bird, which is one of my favourite meals. Ginia suggested two or three condiments, plus mustard, with a poached bird, the sauces, and all ideally served in a compartmentalised dish. Leftover sauces are a gift for future meals and the saviour of leftovers. Ginia now lives in Berlin near her daughter, reads avidly and never cooks.

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This beloved Italian-American chicken dish is perfect for a midweek dinner, while the vibrant, garlicky, tangy side makes for a brilliant accompaniment

Chicken piccata is not only a beloved Italian American classic, it’s also easy enough to be a weeknight dinner on the reg. The sauce is typically made with butter, lemon juice and capers – briny, bright and fatty all at once – but my take leans on buttermilk for tang and anchovies, chilli and shallots for brininess and spice. For the marinated zucchini/courgettes to go alongside, you’ll use them in two ways: raw and seared. As they sit in a vibrant, garlicky, tangy, minty marinade, all that flavour is absorbed into the flesh. The fried sunflower seeds on top add a necessary salty crunch.

This is an edited extract from More Is More: Get Loose in the Kitchen by Molly Baz (Murdoch Books, £26).

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