5 April - pork with mustard sauce

We finished a short week with some nice chunky pork steaks from Ruby & White with a creamy mustard sauce, some baby leeks, beans and new potatoes - simple but delicious.

21 January - fillet steak and thai dressing

We were in town at lunchtime today so stopped off in Carluccio's for a bite to eat. I didn't want anything too big, so I choose a starter - aubergine rolls - plus some potatoes on the side. The rolls were thin slices of aubergine stuffed with a mix of breadcrumbs, tomatoes, pine nuts and cheese, served warm with a tomato sauce - really nice and just the right amount.

We picked up a really expensive piece of beef fillet from Ruby & White this morning. I couldn't quite justify cooking the whole piece for dinner, so I chopped off about two-thirds and we had it with spicy, herby Thai dressing (from Jamie Oliver), on a bed of spinach, beans, carrot and red pepper and some roasted cubes of sweet potato. The steak was a bit rarer than even I normally like it and the dressing a little bit spicier, but it was still a really tasty combination and the steak was lush.

8 January - beef stew

We had some simple baked potatoes for lunch today with some leeks from the vegbox, cooked up gently with some bacon and then mixed with a bit of creme fraiche - a classic, comfort-food combination.

For supper, I did a slow-cook beef stew. The recipe idea came with the vegbox and was originally for beef and squash stew. Having had squash yesterday though, I substituted it for some parsnip.

• Brown c. 450g diced beef in an ovenproof pan and remove.
• Add a sliced onion and cook until softened, then add a clove of chopped garlic.
• Return the beef to the pan and add 250ml red wine and the same of water (a bit more if the beef isn't covered), plus a sprig of rosemary and bay leaf.
• Cover with a lid and put in the oven at 150C for two hours.
• Add a couple of peeled and chopped parsnips and cook for another 10-15 mins - checking there's enough liquid in the pan - I had to add a bit more at this point as it was drying out.

It came out smelling great, but looking a bit grey and watery. It could have done with some nice juicy greens on the side, but the only thing I had was some more leeks. It did taste really good - the beef was melt-in-the-mouth and the sweet, nutty parsnips were great mashed into the gravy. If I did it again, I think I'd find a way of thickening the sauce a bit, maybe just a bit of cornflour stirred in at the end.

8 December - a bacon sandwich and a leek and bacon tart

Lunch today was a good old bacon and avocado sandwich with some proper smoky bacon from Ruby & White - mmm!

Perhaps inspired by yesterday's successful baking, I decided to use the leeks still sitting in the vegbox in a tart. It was sort of a made up recipe, roughly as follows:

• I made up some basic pastry and lined a tart tin - chilled it for a bit, then baked it blind for about 15 mins @ 200C.
• I sweated a couple of chopped leeks, then mixed them in a bowl with c.100g soft goats cheese, c.50ml double cream, one whole egg and one egg yolk, plus a bit of chopped fried bacon.
• I poured the mixture in the pastry case and put the whole lot back in the oven for about half an hour at 180C.

We had the tart with a salad of spinach and beetroot - tasty and warming, but not too heavy.

6 December - leftovers and no moussaka

Considering this cold seems to have killed my appetite, I'm not doing a bad job of "feeding" it! I decided to use up a few leftovers for lunch and somehow ended up with a huge plateful. There were a couple of sausages and some cold cooked cabbage that I made into bubble and squeak. It looked like it might be a bit dry, so a chucked in what I thought was just a small spoonful of leftover mushroom stew as a kind of "gravy". It was way more than I'd usually have for lunch, but very tasty and I managed to munch my way through the whole lot over my lunchtime crossword!

This afternoon I managed to talk the nice man at Ruby & White into doing me some lamb mince to make the moussaka which didn't get made at the weekend. I cooked up the meat sauce and left it to bubble, but then when I cut open the aubergines, both were brown and soggy inside.

They'd arrived in the vegbox on Friday and been in the fridge since, so not great. With organic veg, you expect the odd slug and blemish, but it's no good when it's completely inedible, especially when you're already halfway through a recipe! I added a bit more tomato to make the meat sauce a bit more "saucy" and we had it with some pasta instead.

12 November - tapas and a huge pork steak

It was Saturday lunchtime tapas at the Lido again today - humus, squash and feta salad and some posh ham - a great relaxed start to the weekend.

For dinner I got some pork steaks from Ruby & White, which turned out to be absolutely huge. I did some cream and tarragon sauce and we had them with a small splodge of potato and parsnip mash and some spinach. As I was cooking them, and struggling to squeeze them both in a large frying pan, there was talk of leaving some meat to have cold tomorrow, but somehow we managed to clear our plates after all!

30 October - thai beef curry

I think dinner tonight was unconsciously inspired by a bottle of Gruner Veltliner that Tris bought from our local wine shop, Corks of Cotham, when he was stocking up the other day. It's quite a sharp, 'green' tasting wine, but it goes fantastically with Thai food. Mulling over the thought of a Thai curry, I somehow didn't fancy the usual chicken or prawn, so decided to try out a less conventional beef version instead. I went into the Ruby & White asking for some really lean beef that I could slice up into thin strips. The butcher came up with a piece of topside which once he'd cut the fat off the outside was perfect for the job.

I made up a version of my usual Thai curry paste (with red chillis instead of green), fried it up with some spring onions and sliced mushrooms, then added some vegetable stock and coconut milk. Once that had come up to the boil, I dropped in some julienned courgette and finally the beef. I let it bubble for a couple of minutes added a splash of fish sauce, some lime juice and some more fresh coriander. Served with Thai sticky rice, it made a really nice combination, one I'd probably try again, possibly adding the beef really right at the end when I had everything else ready to go (I probably spent a good five minutes faffing today after the beef was already cooked) so that it came out even more tender.

12 October - pasta and a steak

Leeks, bacon, cream and cheese are a classic combination and today they made a great pasta sauce for lunch - warm, tasty and comforting on rather a grey, drizzly day.

Tris was away this evening, so I was looking for a supper for one and feeling a bit uninspired. The butcher's does meat already marinated and packaged. I've often looked at it, but generally, I prefer to add my own flavourings. Today though, I picked up a steak in teriyaki marinade to give it a go. I flash-fried it - accompanied by quite a bit of smoke and lots of smell - and had it with some homemade chips and a few carrots and beans. The steak came out with a promising caramelised coating, but it was rather thin for my liking and, to be honestly, a bit disappointingly bland. I wonder if it might have been better sliced and stir-fried instead.

4 September - brunch and venison sauce

An already-soft avocado was the starting point for a Tex-Mex brunch - my take on huevos rancheros. We had poached eggs on a toasted bagel with some tomato salsa (chopped onion, garlic and green chilli cooked up with some tinned tomatoes) and fresh guacamole. Great with a big pot of coffee.

Some venison in the butchers (Ruby & White across the road) had caught my eye, so today I made some rich slow-cooked venison sauce to go with pasta. Initially, as I fried up the diced venison, I was a bit disappointed as it looked a bit fatty and chewy, but actually, once it was cooked up, it was fine and made a really nice warming sauce.

• Fry c.300g diced venison to brown and set aside.
• Fry 1/2 a chopped onion and some chopped carrot for 5 mins.
• Add some chopped rosemary and 2 tbsp concentrated tomato puree.
• Return the meat to the pan, add 250ml red wine and 250ml chicken stock and bubble gently for a couple of hours.
• Serve with pasta.

30 July - melon & mozzarella and spicy meatballs

The weekend started with another trip to Ruby & White for some more meat - I think it's going to prove quite difficult to resist! Lunch was a lovely, summery salad of canteloupe melon with parma ham and creamy mozzarella, scattered with a few basil leaves and dressed with a little olive oil and lemon dressing.

For dinner, I made meatballs based on a Nigel Slater recipe:

• Mix 300g pork mince, a handful of lardons, a chopped shallot, some chopped lemongrass, chopped red chilli and a handful of fresh chopped coriander. And shape into small (walnut-sized) balls - today I made 10.
• Gently fry a few mushrooms with some sliced garlic and chilli in a wok.
• Add about 500ml chicken stock and a bashed stalk of lemongrass. Throw in a good handful of fresh peas and simmer.
• Fry the meatballs in vegetable oil for a few minutes until cooked through and nicely caramelised on the outside.
• Boil a few noodles. Add some chopped mint, coriander and basil to the broth.
• Serve a pile of noodles in the bottom of a large bowl with the meatballs on the top and the broth poured over.

The first time I came across the idea of meatballs in soup, it seemed a bit odd, but it's actually a really good combination - substantial (with the meatballs and noodles), but fresh and herby too.

29 July - a new butchers and a pork chop

Over the past few days, I've been watching as a new shop was fitted out just across the road and today I was very excited to venture into a new local butchers for the first time. It's called Ruby & White and it's a very classy-looking outfit - all Farrow & Ball woodwork and cool branding. It has a very impressive main meat counter, with just about everything from the usual pork, beef, lamb and chicken to venison, veal and pigeon. Then there's a deli counter with cold meats and cheese (although not a huge range), a bit of wine and things like marinades, spices and sauces. I've been losing interest in supermarket meat for some time and the other nearby butchers are neither very nearby nor often seem to have what I'm looking for. So this is quite an exciting development.

I was so overwhelmed by the choice, not to mention all the staff who were a bit overeager to tell me all about what they were doing, I played it safe with just a couple of pork loin chops to start off - all nicely wrapped in classy waxed paper - okay, so I'm a sucker for some nice packaging, esp. when it doesn't involve nasty plastic trays!

I fried them up with some chestnut mushrooms, took the pork out of the pan (to a warm oven) and added a good glug of pear cider, followed by some cream to make a sauce. Served with baby leeks and new potatoes, not only was the sauce tasty, but the flavour of the pork really shone through. A very promising start.