august

On holiday

Roast carrots, green beans with Moroccan salsa

Roast red onions, beetroot, sour cream, poppy seed, paprika; bacon slices; pearl barley

Waitrose beetroot and tomato soup with cream

Chicken stuffed with black pudding, red wine and cream sauce with fried apple slices; French beans in butter; roast baby potatoes

Ate out

Lunch: spag with bacon, spinach, garlic, cream, lemon juice, stock

Dinner: Roast pattypan squash, roast fennel, green beans, new potatoes. Sauce of roast garlic, pureed with oil, lemon, water

Mango and strawberries in syrup of ginger-lemongrass-lime leaves. Cream and vanilla yoghurt

Lunch: Blackeye bean dhal, spinach, cucumber raita, lime pickle, rice

Dinner: Aubergine and lamb millefeuille, lamb sauce, sugar snaps, new potatoes

...where 1000=2

Pears in butter with cherries in kirsch, cream

Gazpacho

Pappardelle with bacon olives, cream, stock.

Who's cooking? I thought it was you. No, we agreed it was you...

Fennel, tomatoes, olives, feta with Pernod; ciabatta

Annie Bell's recipe

Strawberries, kirsch, shortbread, cream

Figs with ricotta, balsamic-honey glaze, pine kernels

Risotto with radicchio and stilton

Colin's favourite

Waitrose red pepper and tomato soup

Fillet steak with red wine, shallot, stilton, mushrooms; courgettes, new potatoes

Bighams artichoke and chèvre parcels

Flageolet beans, saucisson, watercress, ciabatta

Lunch: Blue cheese and bacon ravioli

Party:

Pissaladière, artichokes on ciabatta, olives

Chicken marinated in rosemary, thyme, bay, pepper, garlic, oil, lemon; barbecued

Flageolets and saucisson, with purée of roasted garlic

Chickpeas, butternut squash, lemon, preserved lemon, pine kernels, cumin, coriander, saffron

Ratatouille

Green beans, walnuts, chèvre

Tomatoes and pesto

Potatoes, shallot, avocado oil

Bread and oil

6 apricot halves per slice of brioche, then cut the slice into 6 pieces.

Figs stuffed with chestnut purée

15.5oz tin of purée, 1tbs vanilla sugar, 1-2 tsp vanilla extract, brandy, cream. About half of this did for 45 figs. Figs were dried figs, poached. I halved them and filled them with some purée, then put a toasted pine kernel on top for decoration.

Brie – Cantal – chèvre

Lunch: Green beans and tomatoes left over from the party

Dinner: Chicken, ratatouille, bread

Apricots on brioche

Chicken, flageolets, artichokes, saucisson; tomatoes, bread

Figs with chestnut stuffing

Chicken, tomatoes and pesto, olives, peppers, tabasco; bulghar wheat

Chestnut stuff with more brandy and cream

Waitrose wild mushroom and Madeira soup

Pissaladière, ratatouille, green beans etc.

Cumberland hotpot (lamb, black pudding, potato), courgettes

Baked peaches, amaretto, amaretti

Ate out

Lunch: Thai aubergine curry

Dinner: Venison steaks, girolles, truffle oil; green beans, gnocchi

Medjool dates stuffed with chèvre, raspberry vinegar

Lunch: Penne al Vodka (cream, tomatoes, vodka)

Dinner: Butter beans, chorizo, cream

Tagine of lamb meatballs, peaches, veg; couscous with pine kernels, preserved lemon

Hummus and pitta

Filo parcels of spinach, feta, red pepper; dolmades and yoghurt; bulghar wheat, oregano, tomato

Ate out

Dolmades, yoghurt, feta

Lamb meatballs and couscous

Roast garlic and onion soup

1 big head of garlic, roasted. 3 medium onions, chopped, cooked till soft. Kalonji seed. About half a slice worth of white bread. 1 icecube of reduced chicken stock. Enough water to make it liquid. Liquidise. I garnished it with thin strips of saucisson sec, but this didn't add much.

Gratin of squash, cream, stilton; green beans and broad beans; pearl barley

Kohlrabi, pak choi, spinach, cashew nuts in oyster sauce

Pork spare ribs in "barbecue sauce", watercress, potatoes

Waitrose chicken liver terrine

Chicken with chorizo, red pepper, tomatoes, chilli; sugar snaps, sautée potatoes

Lunch: Penne with squash, walnuts, sage, chèvre

Dinner: Ruth and John

Salmon fillets with lemon myrtle and pepperberry seasoning, spinach with cream, roast garlic, stock, lemon

First of the Australian herbs and spices from Winifred

Slow roasted pork with 5-spice, soy, chilli. Butter beans, green beans, potatoes

The pork recipe is from Hugh F-W's meat book. I could only get small pieces of shoulder and leg, which wasn't ideal. The shoulder works better than the leg.

Plum tart, plum wine syrup, cream

Appenzeller – Ardrahan – St Agur

Lunch: Spag with tomato, cream, wattleseed, a little pork

Dinner: Tuna steak with thai curry sauce (lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, chilli, coconut, nam pla), mushrooms, pak choi, sweet potato

Peaches, poached, with syrup, pistachios, cream

Courgettes, diced, fried, with mint, thyme, dill, shallot, garlic; pumpkin, sesame, sunflower seeds; feta with lemon zest, sumac, black pepper, oil

"Lomo Saltado" – strips of steak with onions, tomato, chilli; kidney beans with cilantro and sour cream; red quinoa

Waitrose beetroot and tomato soup

Lamb steaks, tomato and chèvre sauce, courgettes, gnocchi

Pork (from sunday), pakchoi, red peppers, kohlrabi, rice

Quince, cream