Food & Drink notes: Celebrity square meals `Cod with pesto mash and tomatoes' by star hairdresser Charles Worthington

THIS IS dead easy but effective. I like the simplicity and the tasty ingredients. I cook every day during the week and then I often entertain at the weekend. Cooking for 10-15 people is no problem - I enjoy plating up the food and being creative with the presentation.

Ingredients Serves 4

6-8 potatoes

115g fresh basil

115g fresh chives

6tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

Small knob of butter

8 tomatoes, halved

115g brown sugar

2tbsp red wine vinegar

2tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 cod steaks (from managed stocks)

Boil the potatoes until they're soft. Put the oil, chives, basil and seasoning into a food processor and blitz. Drain the potatoes and mash with the fresh pesto.

Heat some oil in a pan, add the sugar, two vinegars and seasoning, then fry the tomatoes until the sugar has dissolved. Reserve the liquid in the pan and transfer the tomatoes to a 200C oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, clarify the butter by melting it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then pouring off the clear liquid and discarding the cloudy butter at the bottom. Season the fish with salt and pepper, fry it in the clarified butter, skin-side down for three or four minutes. When the skin's crispy, flip the fish and cook the other side for three minutes. Finally, assemble a mound of mash in the centre of the plate, putting some of the tomatoes into a dent in the middle. Serve the fish on top, and drizzle the vinegar and oil from the pan around the edge of the plate.

Celebrity hairdresser Charles Worthington has five hair salons in the UK and one in New York. Jamie Oliver and Sophie Dahl among his famous clients.