september

Still away

Antipasti: olives, toast and pumpkinseed oil, anchovies, tomatoes

Salad of bacon, chicory and lettuce, new potatoes

Quinoa, broadbeans, bacon, avocado oil

Ratatouille, olive bread and chevre

Ate out

Lunch: refried beans and bacon; corn, tomato, chilli, cilantro, tortillas

Dinner: Duck breast, sauce of ginger, pomegranate seeds and molasses, cumin, allspice, wine; rosti potatoes, petits pois

Lavender pannacotta, grilled peaches and strawbs

Epoisses

Lunch: Chicken and barley "plov" (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom), pomegranate seeds, fried pistachios

Dinner: Venison steak, mushrooms and red wine, chestnuts, braised lettuce, baked potato

Raspberries, shortbread, cream

Tuna, avocado, tomato, chilli, cilantro, rice

Strawberries, Cointreau, cream, shortbread

Imam bayeldi

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

At Nigel and Carolyn's

Sausages, savoy cabbage with cream and horseradish, mashed potato

Caramelised plums, creme fraiche, amaretti

Ate out

Lunch: Aloo parantha, dhal, pickle

Dinner: A sort of soup of sauteed squash cubes, toasted seeds, sweet chilli, red lentil, squash, onion pureed (with ground toasted seeds)

.. but I got the consistency wrong and it was like a sauce rather than soup. I should have just added stock but I was probably in too much of a rush

Pork belly cooked in milk, braised fennel (with olives and tomato and Pernod), saute potatoes

I had wanted to try this pork in milk recipe for some time, but I'm not sure if it was worth it in the end.

Lunch: Simon and Amelia

Linguine, smoked salmon, creme fraiche, salad

Raspberry cake

5 oz rasps, 2 eggs, 4oz butter, 5.5 sugar, 5.5 flour. 7" tin. I seem to have not written down the timing nor the oven temperature. Aha, I have found the place I stole the recipe from (the foody website) and it says 1 hour at Gas4.

Dinner: Pies of chestnuts, mushrooms, porcini, black "beluga" lentils; savoy with bacon and juniper, mashed potato

Spag, chicken, chilli, tomato, chevre; spinach and lime juice

Raspberry cake and the rest of the raspberries in Framboise

Marinated anchovies on toast

Aubergine slices and red pesto; red peppers roasted then stuffed with olives, tomato, anchovies; rocket; ciabatta

NCG pea and mint soup

Bighams crayfish and rocket cakes, dill and cream sauce; broad beans, spinach, mashed potato

Courgette and chevre cakes, sauce of red lentil and red pesto, mashed potato and olive oil

The courgette cakes were more or less the same as I have done before, from Nigel Slater's book. This time they didn't hold together at all well, and I think it's because the courgettes were too watery

Figs in raspberry vinegar, cream and yoghurt, and chilli

John

Confit of duck with thai veg curry and mint

Slow roast pork shoulder with chorizo and garlic; beluga lentils, red peppers, pardron peppers; saute potatoes

Plum cake, 5-spice-honey-ginger ice cream

Stinking bishop and Berkswell

Lunch: Soba noodles, plum and ginger sauce

Dinner: Ate out

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: Lamb, olives, tomatoes; green beans, new potatoes

Pear and sour cherry tarts

Cherries were dried morellos, soaked in booze for years. Tartlets cases from freezer. Creme patissiere from 1 egg, 1oz sugar, 2tbs cream, 5floz cream/milk; we used about half of it)

Marinated anchovies, couscous with tomato, padron pepper, peppadew

Chicken with fresh girolles in cream and sherry; spinach, polenta and parmesan cakes

Pork, kidney beans with chipotle, paprika, tomato puree; mashed potatoes, polenta, sweetcorn

Apple and blackberry brule

using up the creme patissiere and a little more cream

Haddock roe fried with garlic and butter, on toast

Pork, lentils, tomatoes, quinoa

Colin was away so I could treat myself to things he doesn't like, such as roe

Linguine with haddock roe with chorizo, cream

Ceviche of mackerel, salad of tomatoes, peppers, spring onion

Cauliflower with hazlenuts and roast garlic

this was insipid, cauli needs sharper flavours

Chickpeas, chorizo, spinach, chilli, padron, pork gravy; olive bread, toasted

Lunch: Linguine with cockles, bacon, seaweed flakes, cream

Dinner: Oxtail in red wine, pearl barley, Yorshire pudding, cauli cheese

I had cooked the oxtail for 3 hours, very gentle heat, but it hadn't rendered down as much as we would have liked. The gravy, absorbed by the barley is the best of it anyway. I do not make Yorkshire pudding very often. It rose nicely but I think I needed to cook it longer in order to make it crisper.

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: Kidney beans, bacon, tomato, red pepper, rice

Duchy beetroot soup

Meatballs, red pepper, paprika, tomato, mushrooms, cream; tagliatelle, carrots in cumin

Bighams Persian lamb parcels, aubergine cubes fried with chilli garlic ginger soy; couscous

Poached pears, chocolate and cream sauce (with coriander seed)