When I meet up with the freelance women writers of The Oxford Times, we arrange a lunch put together by contributions from us all. Last week our lunch took place in artist Valerie Petts’s attractive Mediterranean-style garden where we enjoyed, among other things, Linora Lawrence’s scrumptious Quark Gratin.

YOU WILL NEED 250g Quark cheese 2 large eggs 125g caster sugar 425g fresh cherries weighed once pitted Zest of one orange and one lemon.

METHOD Separate eggs and mix the quark, cheese, citrus zest and egg yolks together.

Whip the egg whites as for meringue then gently fold everything together and place in a preheated ovenproof dish.

Toss the cherries into the mix then bake slowly at 150C/ 300F or gas mark 2 for about 50 mins.