My first job as a chef was at the iconic Carved Angel in Dartmouth, working for the wonderful Joyce Molyneux. She has been the biggest inspiration throughout my cooking life, and continues to be: I still visit her a couple of times a year, and she will always have made a biscuit or something for us to have with our tea. At the Carved Angel, we served cheese straws and olives on arrival, and so one of the first jobs we learned was to make and roll endless numbers of the things, but they were so melt-in-the-mouth we soon forgave them their monotonous toil. I regularly make these quick ones with any pastry off-cuts, shortcrust or puff – or buy ready-rolled for extra ease, and to allow time to make some cocktails to go alongside! I use a dry-ish cheese like parmesan, because it packs more of a flavour punch, but do experiment. Ditto with the seeds that go on top: cumin adds a note of warm spiciness; caraway and onion a kind of sweet musky appeal; celery and dill a herby mellowness. Sesame and poppy are a constant, as they add texture and carry the other flavours. As these cheese straws freeze very well, making a bigger batch seems sensible…