august

Sardines and tomatoes sourdough toast

Osso buco, peas, saffron risotto

Tournedos Rossini, mushrooms, truffle oil, broad beans, potatoes

Baked figs with chèvre

Keftedes (Bighams), courgettes, rice

Baklava (Waitrose)

Lunch: Spag with sardines and tomatoes

Dinner: Pigeons, chicory, sauté potatoes

Caramelised peaches, brioche, cream

Lunch: quinoa, halloumi, pepper (T) pasta with tomatoes chilli (C)

NCG Gazpacho

Lamb, sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers, new potatoes

Avocado, tomatoes, peppadew

Goat steak, sweet potato curry, black and white rice

... cumin, coriander, allspice, chipotle, coconut milk

Tomatoes and basil on sourdough toast

Chickpeas, chestnuts, roast tomato puree, spinach, fried potatoes

Bacon, avocado, spring onions, cilantro

Spag with spinach, cream, chèvre

Tomato soup (Duchy)

Sea bass fillets, fried, saffron and cream sauce, broad beans, gnocchi

Prawns, mushrooms, tomatoes, cilantro, chilli; sweetcorn, rice

Mango fried in butter with white rum

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: Ivan

Crab risotto with saffron and vanilla

Rack of lamb, green lentils with thyme and rosemary, spinach in cream and roast garlic, new potatoes

Lime, chilli, white chocolate mousse

Made this friday. Juice of 2.5 limes, 2/3 green thai chilli, 2 eggs separated, 2.5floz cream, 2.5 floz milk, 1 lime leaf, a little lemon myrtle, 2 tbs sugar, 2 small gelatine leaves.

Make custard with everything except the chocolate, gel, egg whites. Melt the choc and stir in the custard, let it cool a little. Soak the gel and dissolve in the custard, cool in the fridge until it starts to set. Whisk the whites, fold them in, decant into glasses. Ivan found it noticeably hot.

Ardrahan, Belton Cheshire, Murcia al vino

Lunch: Spag with tomatoes, cream, vodka

Dinner: Ivan

Poached salmon, quinoa with preserved lemon, mint, fried cashews, shallot, avocado oil, chilli

Fillet of beef in Sybil Kapoor’s sweet oriental mariande; salad of mixed leaves, new potatoes

300g piece of fillet. Started this friday. It really does absorb the flavours. Seared, then in oven gas 4 for 15 mins. Salad dressing had sesame oil and mirin.

Prawn and salmon curry (Bighams), courgettes, rice

Pistachio cake, strawberries

Fried squash, urad dhal with tamarind and cilantro, rice

Rice pudding with orange and lemon peel, honey, chipotle; nectarine

Salad of Brie, red peppers, sweet potato, rocket, with ciabatta

Quince curd tart

Carrot and orange soup (Duchy)

Venison steaks, myrtilles and red wine sauce, mushrooms, peas and onions, new potatoes

Cakes for the office: Lemon and poppyseed, Chocolate, prune, chilli

Shall I tell them about the chilli? Steve noticed it anyway.

Dinner: Ate out

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: Fried squash, spring onions, shitake, oyster sauce; soba noodles

Lunch: spag with chorizo, tomato purée, chilli

Dinner: Ed and Helen

Olives, peppadew and chèvre, serrano ham

Roast chicken, stuffing of ciabatta, giblets, pine kernels, preserved lemon, capers; ratatouille, focaccia with rosemary

Lavender pannacotta with roasted peach

The recipe is similar to the one in Sybil Kapoor’s book. The trouble with gelatine leaves is that they vary in size, so I had done a lot of trawling of books and on the internet to find out exactly what weight of the stuff I needed. Estimates varied by 100%. What I did, and what worked, was the following

12 floz double cream, 8 floz full milk, 4 3-4in lengths of lavender leaves and a few flowers, 3 small gelatine leaves (Costa, 1.6 g each), 4 tbs caster sugar, 1 tbs crème de pêche

Put cream, milk, lavender in pan, bring to the simmer, simmered 5-10 mins and left to infuse for 30 mins. Volume was now 500ml. Then strained into the sugar, and dissolved sugar. Soaked the gelatine and dissolved that in the cream. Added the crème de pêche. Then put in fridge. Went to do intervals on Fiddler’s Elbow and on the way back got chatting to someone from the Dursley Road Club who said he once got to 55mph on a descent in the Trowbridge Hilly. Now the gelatine was beginning to set so I had a go at it with the whisk, and decanted it into 4 little pudding bowls.

Texture was very good. I halved 2 peaches and roasted them (10 mins?), skin-on, then skinned them; I thought this way I could get the colour coming through more. Served with lavender flowers, which go nicely with the peach colour. We were just in time; the lavender flowers are just about to go.

Olives, ham, peppadew

Chicken, pesto, ratatouille, focaccia

Any resemblance to yesterday’s dinner is entirely coincidental

Rachel, Andy, Claire

Onion bhajis (Waitrose)

Tandoori roast squash; dhal makhani; spinach and onions; saffron rice

I used about 1.5kg of squash, the weight including the peel and seeds. Spice mix was 4tsp cumin, 4 tsp coriander, 1 tsp fennel, 4 cardamoms, a little mace, cinnamon, cloves, 3in fresh ginger, some chilli, lots of garlic. About half for the squash and half for the dhal. Mixed with half lemon juice, and some yoghurt. Marinated overnight. The fridge became very garlickly. This amount only just fits in the big Mermaid roaster, so it took a while for it all to caramelise.

Rachel says she can identify precisely which spices have been used in a dish, but we didn’t test her

The dhal was 4oz urad and 4oz moong. Added half tin chopped tomatoes and some cream.

Spinach and onions had kalonji, curry leaves, black pepper.

Mango and black rice pudding

2 mangos. 3 tbs black rice, 2 tbs pudding rice, 2 cubes coconut milk, 4 lime leaves, 1 tbs caster sugar, a small piece of lemongrass that was in the freezer

Onion bhaji and mango pickle, and the last of the spinach and onions

Duck breast, Cointreau and olive and stock sauce, fennel, sauté potatoes.

You can buy small black olives marinated in orange zest from Waitrose. These suggested the dish. Fry the duck breasts; make a gravy in the pan using the stock; add the olives and 1tbsp Cointreau and bring back to the boil. The liqueur isn’t tasted individually but harmonises the sauce.

Lentil and Toulouse sausage soup (Waitrose?)

Salad of duck breast, cos lettuce, chilli, peppadew, potatoes

Ate out

Ate out

Ate out

Dhal soup

Beefburgers, roquefort sauce, sugar snaps, polenta

Sautéed squash, halloumi; pearl barley with tomatoes, olives, pine kernels, rosemary, garlic, chilli

These didn’t entirely go together

Grilled plums, brioche, cream

Fillet steak, mushrooms, truffle oil and cream; broad beans, potato cakes

Raspberries, cream, shortbread

North Shields crab and asparagus soup

Spag. Niçoise.

Various condiments are warmed up together and added to the spaghetti. I used oven-dried tomatoes; oven-dried courgettes (halve by length, then slice into quarters discarding the peel parallel to the slices; baste with olive oil and balsamic; put on a greased tray; throw in a low oven for an hour or two turning and basting once); fried red pepper strips; caperberries; toasted pine nut kernels; olives. Basil and parmesan shavings added when served.

Braised chicory with roquefort

Salmon in vine leaves with garlic, dill, mint; risotto and peas