The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is a good reason to open a bottle of fizz

The recipes this week are ideal party food and reinvented classics.

There’s something regal about smoked salmon and nothing says posh like a cucumber sandwich and a cup of tea. All three are combined in the first recipe – tea smoked salmon and pickled cucumber open sandwich. The base is a good wheaten bread rather than crustless pan loaf.

You can have these as a big lunch dish or cut the bread up into canapé sized bites.

Devilled eggs used to be all the rage and I really don’t understand why they went out of fashion.

Thankfully they’re having a bit of a revival now. My version uses chorizo and smoked paprika for the spicy element rather than the usual curry powder.

We have two great charcuterie makers in Northern Ireland – Ispini in Moira and Corndale in Limavady.

They both make exemplary chorizo that would more than give the Spanish a run for their money. They’re topped with roasted celery leaves.

We tend to throw out the leaves which is a shame as they’re perfect as an addition to salad or as a garnish on their own.

Here they’re tossed in some Broighter Gold rapeseed oil, seasoned with salt and roasted. It changes their flavour and is a lovely texture and taste contrast to the creamy spiced eggs. Use good local eggs of course.

You can’t have a party without a cake and the one included here uses fresh and dried apricots and lemon – a match made in heaven.

The dried apricots are soaked in that British institution, Earl Grey tea. It’s flavoured with bergamot lemons and adds a zingy hint to the fruit.

This isn’t a traditional cake recipe and has a moist texture similar to sticky toffee. It’s made in a similar way – dried fruit simmered in the tea and blended before adding baking soda and the dry ingredients.

The cake is topped with a white chocolate cream and some slices of fresh apricots.

The perfect sweet treat for an early summer party.