Spicy cheese straws

It is absolutely worth making these addictively moreish, light crumbly cheese straws which were served at my son Will’s pub The Marquess Tavern back in the noughties and which I included in my book An Appetite for Ale (which you can currently pick up for an absurdly low price on Amazon.)

Serves 6-8

150g plain flour

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or hot pimenton

1/4 tsp mustard power or 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard (see method)

A pinch of sea salt

100g chilled, unsalted butter cut into small cubes

150g strong, mature farmhouse cheddar, coarsely grated

1 egg yolk

Sift the flour with the cayenne pepper, mustard and salt and tip into the bowl of a food processor (or just a bowl if you’re going to make it by hand)

Add the cubed butter to the flour and pulse to amalgamate (or rub it in with your fingertips). Add the grated cheese and pulse or rub in again. Beat the egg yolk with 2 tbsp water - and the Dijon mustard if you haven’t any mustard powder) and add just enough to the mix to enable you to pull it together and shape into a flat disc. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes than remove the dough and allow it to come back to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 190°C/160°fan/Gas 5

Roll out the dough fairly thinly (I find it easiest to divide it into two halves) and cut into long strips. (Don’t cut off the uneven ends - that’s what makes them look homemade.) Lay the strips carefully on a couple of lightly greased baking sheets and bake for about 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Leave on the trays for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Eat fresh, ideally but they will keep well for a couple of days in an airtight tin and you can refreshing them briefly in the oven.

What to drink: Originally designed to go with a classic pale ale but a gutsy red like a rioja or malbec will work pretty well too.

Rosemary and chilli panisse

I was thrilled to find this recipe in chef Claire Thomson's brilliant new book The Five o'clock Apron. It's an irresistible snack I always order in her restaurant Flinty Red.

The book records the suppers she makes for her three young children (hence the 5 o'clock reference) but it's the kind of food that any of us would fancy eating.

Panisse is a traditional Italian (and Provençal FB) street food. Crunchy, gnarled and gnobbled, these bite-size pieces of fried chickpea batter are a moreish snack. The unfried panisse will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days, but it might release a bit of water, so change the container every day, and fry when needed.

Makes enough for a couple of bowlfuls

- 150g chickpea (gram) flour

- 500ml water

- salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

- 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves

- chilli flakes, to taste (about ½ tsp does the trick)

- sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying

1. Sift the chickpea flour into a pan and whisk in the cold water gradually to avoid lumps. Add ½ teaspoon of salt, the chopped rosemary and chilli flakes to taste.

2. Place over a moderately high heat, mixing continuously with a whisk until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Once it does, switch to a wooden spoon, turn the heat to low and cook, stirring continuously, for another 10 minutes.

3. Spread the mixture on a 28 x 20cm baking tray to a depth of about 1–2 cm, roughing up the surface as you go – this will give the broken pieces of panisse a good rubbly texture when fried. Leave to stand for 1 hour.

4. When ready to fry the panisse, roughly break it into thumbsize nuggets.

5. Heat some oil in a large, deep pan (the oil should be at least 5cm deep) over a moderately high heat until approximately 180°C. If you don't have a thermometer, drop a cube of bread into the hot oil and it should fry golden brown in 60 seconds. Fry the panisse in small batches until golden all over – about 1–1½ minutes.

6. Drain on kitchen paper. Sprinkle with extra salt as you wish, extra chilli flakes and/or black pepper.

What to drink: this is designed to accompany an aperitif so would suit almost any crisp white wine or rosé, dry sparkling wine or a glass of chilled manzanilla

The Five O’ Clock Apron by Claire Thomson is published by Ebury Press, £20. Photography by Mike Lusmore. You can find more of Claire's recipes in the Guardian.