may

Haddock with sauce of saffron-chorizo-tomatoes-cream; new potatoes, broad beans

Bananas with white rum, passion fruit, cream, vanilla sugar

Bouillabaise (tin)

Prawns, tomatoes, mushrooms, chilli, rice, spinach

Chilled soup of cucumber, oregano, yoghurt

Braised chicken leg with raspberry vinegar; salad of potato, lettuce, green beans, pine kernels

Pink grapefruit, blood orange, watercress with chilli-raspberry vinegar-pink peppercorns-cumin-coriander-cream

Pork belly with butterbeans and garlic, watercress, bread

Lunch: Spaghetti with mushrooms, paprika, tomato puree, cream, a little chilli, sherry vinegar

Dinner: Wild rabbit, asparagus, wild garlic risotto

Rabbit was a small one. Braised the hind legs 1.5-2 hours, with the bones, carrot, onion in chicken stock. Took saddle meat off the bone, cut into two and two parcels, tying them with string. Chopped the foreleg meat and made burgers with pine kernels and lavender. Fried the saddle rolls 5-10 mins (still a bit pink) and the burgers a few mins. For the risotto, used the leg cooking liquid. Added parmesan and sliced wild garlic leaves (10-12) at the end. It was a really good flavour. The lavender was quite bitter, so I'd use it sparingly again.

Lemon Meringue

Not very successful.

Lunch: Spaghetti with asparagus and vanilla sauce

Ends of a bunch of asparagus, chopped, sauteed with onion, then boiled, liquidised, sieved. Then add a few drops of vanilla extract

Dinner: Roast Guineau Fowl, couscous stuffing, fennel and tomato, new potatoes.

Stuffing : 4-5 tbs couscous, 1/8 preserved lemon, 1 sundried tomato, pine kernels, mint.

Cheese, at Janet’s

Venison sausages, port-orange-mushroom sauce, mangetout, spaghetti

Sauce : shallot, chilli, garlic, mushrooms, 1/2 small orange, juiced, 1 tbs port, stock, cream. This went very well with the sausages

Banana and date cake, whipped cream, with ginger syrup and Cointreau

Waitrose goats cheese tartlets, rocket

Risotto with saffron, ovendried tomatoes, red peppers, artichokes. Ratatouille.

Braised chicory with bacon, balsamic, lemon juice, cream

Guineau fowl legs, new potatoes, purple sprouting and asparagus, cashew nuts, lettuce with chilli-ginger-mirin-sesame oil

Stirfry of purple sprouting, shitake mushrooms, oyster sauce, chilli; jasmine rice. (Colin ate out with his office)

Sardines with lemon, mung dhal with cumin-coriander-kalonji-curry leaves-tamarind-onion-garlic.

This goes very well, the sweetness of the dhal and the oily fish

Braised celery with ham, stock. New potatoes

Lunch: Safeway ravioli and cream

Tea: Chocolate cake after the 10.

Dinner: David and Bobby

As seasonal as I could make it. Local asparagus, lamb, rhubarb – and wild garlic from the woods

Asparagus velouté with vanilla

Woody ends of asparagus bunch, chopped. Soften with onion in butter and oil. Add a little water and boil. Liquidise, sieve. Add 1/2 tsp real vanilla extract. Makes 4 small glasses. Is pretentious, but nice.

Asparagus spears, petits pois, broad beans. Mayonnaise. Cubes of ham with wild garlic.

Asparagus spears. 2 each, boil 5 mins. Beans and peas were from frozen. Mayo with 1 yolk, 4-5 floz oil, 1-2 tsp lemon juice, a little water. Ham cut into 1cm cubes. Warmed with 1 cube stock and 2 cubes pork jelly, then add sliced wild garlic. Garlic from the local woods.

Loin of lamb, boned, stuffed with herbs, lemon, breadcrumbs, then roast. Flageolets with garlic. Ratatouille of red onions-red peppers-aubergine-courgettes-mint. Jersey Royals.

Lamb 1.1 kg 20 mins on gas 7-8 then 30 gas 3-4 then 15 rest. Still nicely pink. Mint was from the garden. Courgettes from farm on local 10 course.

Rhubarb crumble, white chocolate and rose masala ice cream

4 stick rhubarb, 1/4 tsp sugar, ginger. Crumble 1 oz butter, 2oz flour. Ice cream sounds weird but it does work. 2/3 of 100g bar of good white choc, melt with 1 tsp rose masalsa. No garlic. Make custard with 1 large egg 6-7 floz double cream, 2 tbs sugar. Mix into chocolate. I did add a bit of milk and possibly cream, later, to make it up to 12 floz. Churned it before they came, then put the bowl in the freezer. This works fine.

Petit Langres – Woolsery goat – Blue Wensleydale

Lunch: Spaghetti with ham, wild garlic, leftover peas and beans, stock, cream.

Dinner: Ate out

Fried sea bass with lemon, cilantro, white wine and cream sauce; sugar snap peas.

Raspberries, kirsch, cream, meringue

Waitrose Thai chicken soup

Salmon, fried, shallot, garlic, chilli, soy, cooking sherry; enoki mushrooms, pak choi; wide rice noodles

Ate out

Ratatouille (leftovers from Saturday)

Ham, asparagus, flageolets, potatoes

Red peppers stuffed with the remains of the lamb, with garlic. Bulghar wheat with fried almonds, shallots, garlic, chilli, lemon zest, cherry tomatoes.

Langres and Blue Wensleydale

Saturday 15.5 –

Wednesday 31.5

On holiday