Nigella’s Cook, Eat, Repeat Season 2 is yet to be announced by BBC Two

The Christmas tree is up, the tea lights are sparkling, wood is burning in the fire pit, and it's the culinary highlight of the festive season and the year. Nigella is indulging in a little kitchen-table tourism with food from near and far to warm up the winter evenings and add a special sparkle to the season. Expect wintry walks bolstered by warming and celebratory food and drink: melt-in-the-mouth Linzer cookies, gloriously pink pomegranate cocktails, smoked salmon on black bread and Norwegian pork ribs with Swedish-inspired Jansson's temptation.

Should you meddle with a classic? Nigella thinks that in the case of her crab mac'n'cheese, it's a must. If the sight of glorious melted cheese isn't enough, fear not, as she follows it with her aptly named 'mine all mine chocolate cookies' and a firm family favourite - chicken with orzo, a one pot dish designed to bring comfort and joy. Rice is the order of the day for dessert; inspired by the Italian torta di riso and her love of the very British rice pudding, Nigella creates a rice pudding cake with a vibrant raspberry sauce.

As winter draws in and the nights get cold, Nigella creates recipes that deliver comfort and warmth to banish the winter blues. Nigella's grandmother's recipe for creme caramel provides the inspiration for a simple but elegant dessert of caramel custard.

Nigella then rifles through her pasta collection to find the ideal pasta shape to go with her spicy sauce made from Italian 'nduja and cavolo nero. This is followed by a visit to the famous gadget cupboard for an electric potato masher to prep her brown butter colcannon, the perfect match to a dish of black pudding meatballs in tomato sauce.

Nigella champions the much-maligned bacon of the sea, the anchovy, which she uses to create an elixir to accompany seared steak or crisp, red chicory.

Nigella shares her go-to celebratory cake - a divine, layered chocolate and peanut butter cake that will make even die-hard haters of peanut butter relent.

Nigella bakes a fluffy, white, no-knead bread, which she uses to sandwich her crispy fried chicken, accompanied by pickles and kimchi.

In the first episode, Nigella begins with her take on bhorta, a dish of fried and mashed vegetables mainly associated with Bangladesh, to which she introduces a very British - but very familiar - ingredient. After creating a warm, spicy and aromatic dish of lamb shanks with wide noodles, Nigella uses very ripe bananas to make a rich and gooey chocolate tahini pudding, and then goes on to create a warming curry with a surprising ingredient.