There’s a difference between tampering with classic recipes and improving them, so says two Michelin starred chef, Marcus Wareing.

The 47-year-old, best known for presenting MasterChef: The Professionals, and for running three restaurants, has created a whole book based around that distinction.

New Classics, the follow-up to Marcus At Home, takes traditional favourites and puts a spin on them, as well as offering up original dishes the chef hopes could one day become classics in their own right.

Take his new pineapple upside-down cake – a riff on the first thing he ever made in home economics at school. “That day, it was all about creaming your butter and sugar together to make a basic sponge,” he said. “You lined a tin with butter and greaseproof paper, then put your tinned pineapple rings in, your tinned glace cherries in the holes in the pineapple, then put your mix on top, bake it – and it’s like, wow, hey presto – you’ve got yourself a fabulous looking cake. So simple, but so much fun.”

His ‘new’ version still uses tinned pineapple (although sadly no glace cherries), plus the added bonus of rum.

“I do have a fabulous sweet tooth. When I was growing up, fruit was a big part of our life,” says Marcus, recommending his poached peach with oat crumb and ricotta pudding, and recalling beautiful figs he’d buy with his father, who supplied local corner shops with produce. It’s those memories driving Marcus’s next venture: growing his own.

“As a chef in central London, and who’s worked in cities, I just want to go back to my roots,” he said. “As a boy, I used to spend a lot of time going round farms with my father. I’d see farmers digging up the carrots, swedes, potatoes and the herbs and beetroot that we used to get – it was amazing, but I never really understood the growing aspect of it. I really feel that I want to be part of that.”

And he’s found a fairly big farm in Kent to develop. “I’ve got some apple orchards and bees, so I’m going to start producing my own honey, and we’re getting ready for the spring crop next year,” says Marcus, buzzing at the prospect. “It’s the first time I’ve ever done it in my life and I’m really excited.”

The idea is that, long term, he’ll have a kitchen garden to cook and write from, and “be inspired by what’s in front of me”.

In recent years, Marcus has been inspiring others as a judge on MasterChef, alongside stern Monica Galetti and dessert aficionado, Whitstable’s Gregg Wallace.

He has some rather adorable plans for the New Year.

“I want to get some piglets,” he says. “I’ve never done it, but I’ve got some woodland on the farm as well. I want to put some piglets on there, but it’s all got to be done right, and then…” he pauses, “we can eat them! Sorry!”

New Classics: Inspiring And Delicious Recipes To Transform Your Home Cooking by Marcus Wareing, photography by Jonathan Gregson, is published by HarperCollins, priced £20.