I am always surprised at how many cookery books are written specifically for Aga owners. But then we Aga owners cannot have enough books dedicated to our warm friend in the kitchen. Louise Walker's Four Seasons Aga Cookery Book (Absolute Press, £17.95) is an innovative collection of recipes destined to keep you and your Aga busy from spring through to winter and includes a comprehensive chart detailing what produce is in season, month by month.

Sadly there are no colourful pictures to show how the finished recipes should look, but then this is definitely a book which is more concerned with the taste of fresh seasonal food, hence the accompaniment of charming illustrations with a country feel and snippets of folklore.

The recipe I prepared, as with most in the book, could just as easily be cooked in a conventional oven but, as there is no temperature control as such on an Aga, no temperatures are given.

This is such a quick and easy casserole to make and I chose it out of curiosity at the combination of beef, chestnuts and orange. Fresh chestnuts will not be in the shops for another couple of weeks so I used dried chestnuts which I soaked for half an hour.

The recipe suggests a cooking time of 2-3 hours in the bottom simmering oven. I left it there for 3 hours and the result was melt-in-the-mouth beef.

RECIPE

Braised Beef with Chestnuts

Serves 6

Ingredients:

18 fresh chestnuts

1kg (2lb) stewing beef, cubed

1 tbsp seasoned flour

25g (1oz) butter

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

150ml (1/4 pint) beef stock

300ml (1/2 pint) brown ale

grated nutmeg

grated rind and juice of one orange

salt and pepper

chopped parsley

METHOD

Slit the skins of the chestnuts and place in a saucepan.Cover with water and simmer for seven minutes. Drain and while still warm, peel off the thick outer skin.Toss the meat in the seasoned flour. Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and brown the meat in batches. Drain and transfer to a flameproof casserole. Add the onion to the pan and cook until softening. Add to the meat.Stir the stock and beer into the frying pan and bring to the boil. Add a seasoning of nutmeg, the orange juice and salt and pepper. Pour over the meat. Stir in the chestnuts. Place the casserole either on the simmering plate or on the floor of the roasting oven and bring to the boil.Transfer to the simmering oven and cook for 2-3 hours, until the meat is tender. Stir in the orange rind and sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.

VERDICT: Delicious! Rich, dark gravy and the combination of chestnuts and orange was excellent. This book is a must-have for Aga owners.