26 January - thai salmon curry

I tried out another recipe from the leaflet that came with the slow cooker today - for Thai salmon curry. It doesn't seem like an obvious candidate for slow-cooking, but I thought I'd give it a go. Again, you just put all the ingredients together in the slow cooker - salmon chunks, spring onions, peas, sugar snaps, carrot and red pepper, along with Thai green curry paste (I made my own) mixed with coconut milk and a dash of fish sauce - then put on the lid and pop it in the oven for an hour.

It came out pretty well and because of the steaming effect, the veg stayed nice and crunchy. I have to say, I'm still not completely convinced about fish curry though. As a technique though, maybe with prawns or chicken, I'd definitely try it again.

1 January - leftover lamb and thai curry

2012 started with leftovers ... we had cold lamb for lunch with some home-made tzatziki and a salad of the leftover squash and onion with some chickpeas. Not a bad spread for a picky lunch.

One of our more unusual Christmas presents was some grow-your-own mushrooms. I'd started off the shiitake mushrooms a couple of days ago and there were already some huge cups sprouting. Really impressive!

So dinner was a Thai chicken curry with the mushrooms and a few green beans. The curry paste always comes out a bit different and tonight it was pleasantly sharp (from the lime and a big blob of fresh ginger) with just the right amount of background chilli hum.

28 December - potato salad and aubergine curry

I tried out another recipe from my new cookbook for lunch - well, more of an idea than a recipe really, just a bit of a twist on a potato salad. You roughly chop a boiled egg into a simple dressing of oil, vinegar and mustard and slightly mash it in so that the yolk mixes a bit with the dressing. Then you add cold, boiled potatoes and cherry tomatoes. The slightly thickened yellowy dressing coated the potatoes and made it a nice simple lunch with a bit of mozzarella on the side.

We had another one-pot veg dish for supper, this time an aubergine Thai curry from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries, with aubergine, mushrooms and tomatoes in a spicy coconut sauce. It's a recipe I've done before with several variations and always comes out tasty - you can't beat aubergine for soaking up lots of lovely spices!

1 December - jerusalem artichoke soup and a thai curry

Today the cold is in full force and food is the last thing I feel like. I bought some Jerusalem artichokes yesterday though, so I went ahead and made the soup I'd got planned for lunch. I only discovered Jerusalem artichokes quite recently and I think they've got a lovely nutty, sweet flavour. They're also incredibly simple to make into soup. I just peel and chop them and sweat them in some oil with a chopped onion, a bay leaf and some fresh thyme for about 10 mins. Then I add some chicken stock and bubble for another 10-15 mins, before removing the herbs and blending the whole thing. I stir in a bit of cream at the end and then serve with a drizzle of truffle oil. And today it was that strong truffle flavour that just managed to break through the cold.

Keeping up the theme of strong flavours, for supper I made a Thai chicken curry with plenty of chilli and ginger. Looking for some veg to go in the curry, I made the mistake of getting some green beans from Africa. I usually avoid out-of-season veg imported across the world just on eco principles, but actually taste is a much greater motivation for avoiding it. The beans were rather pale, watery and completely tasteless - absolutely no comparison to the lovely green, silky, melt-in-the-mouth beans I was growing in the summer.

5 November - a thai curry at the wrestlers

The day was spent catching up with old friends in Cambridge, culminating in fireworks on Midsummer Common and then a Thai curry at the Wrestlers. It's an old haunt that was just as good as ever. I had a really good Penang pork curry - just the right amount of spice, although a bit too much raw onion and pepper for my taste. A great evening though with great company!

Tris and Clive trying to choose their curry.

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.

23 August - thai prawn green curry

Another Tuesday and Tris's turn to cook - tonight he did a Thai prawn green curry, with the paste made from scratch. The result was really nice if a bit milder than intended - my fault as I cautioned him to go easy on the chilli.

7 August - vegetable Thai green curry

There's so much veg floating around the kitchen today, it really has to be a vegetarian dinner. Lots of it seems to be green, which by a process of association leads me towards a green curry! I use a Nigel Slater paste as my base, mixing up in a blender:

• a stalk of lemongrass (centre bit chopped)
• a couple of cloves of garlic
• some galangal from a jar in the fridge
• a shallot
• half a green chilli
• a handful of fresh coriander
• a squeeze of lime juice
• a splash of fish sauce

I fry up a chopped courgette and a couple of spring onions, then add the paste, some veg stock and a small tin of coconut cream. Then in go some sugarsnap peas, green beans and some fresh sweetcorn (just to add a bit of yellow). It all comes out as a fairly tasty bowl of flavoursome green stuff and the sauce doesn't overwhelm the individual flavours of the veg.

28 June - Thai green prawn curry with noodles

Tris is working late quite a bit at the moment, so my challenge is to come up with dinners that I can cook and eat at the normal time (before I fade away!), but can then sit happily for him to reheat when he gets in. Last night's pasta worked well and tonight I decided to go for a Thai green curry. The mangetout are growing by the day, so I wanted to include some, but didn't want to overcook them. So I made the curry, adding half of the picked mangetout right at the end. When I served up my half, I fished out all of the cooked mangetout, leaving the remaining uncooked ones in a bowl for Tris to add to the rest when he heated it up. A bit of a palaver, but worth it to appreciate precious home-grown veg at its best!

The recipe I use for the curry is based on one from Nigel Slater's Appetite. When I was buying some of the ingredients for the paste, the girl behind me in the queue commented on what exciting shopping I had. I explained that I was making Thai green curry, to which she exclaimed "What! You make the paste from scratch?!". It's actually really not that difficult, you just bung everything in a blender and I think it tastes so much better than ready-made paste. being a bit of a chilli-wimp, it also means I can control the heat - a bit less chilli, lots of other lovely flavours coming through.

Thai Green Prawn curry
For the paste, blend together:

• two cloves of garlic
• a knob of peeled fresh ginger
• a stick of lemongrass (soft centre bit only)
• some fresh red chilli (I used about 1/3 a big one)
• a big handful of fresh coriander leaves
• a few coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• a little groundnut oil (1-2 tbsp) - enough to make a paste

1. I fry a few chopped spring onions in a little oil in a big wok-like pan, the add the paste and stir it about a bit.
2. Add about 100ml chicken stock and a tin of coconut milk. Simmer gently for about 5 mins.
3. Add a handful of fresh peas - simmer another 5 mins.
4. Cook the noodles (50g per person) in boiling water (according to the packet) and drain under cold water.
5. Add the prawns and the mangetout to the sauce and cook for just a couple of minutes till the prawns turn pink.
6. Season with a squeeze of fresh lime juice, a pinch of salt, a tsp of Thai fish sauce and some fresh mint leaves.
7. I pile the noodles in a deep bowl and pour over the curry.
8. Eat carefully without flicking the sauce because of the bright yellow turmeric!!

10 April - Thai prawn curry

I make variations on several different Thai curry recipes, mostly from Nigel Slater. This one is based on his Thai noodles recipe from Appetite ... but without the noodles!

For the spice paste:
one red chilli
one large clove of garlic
fresh ginger - about the same amount as the garlic
fresh lemongrass - the soft bit in the middle of two stalks
fresh coriander leaves - a good handful
half teaspoon of turmeric
grated lime zest
groundnut oil

shiitake mushrooms
spring onions
raw king prawns
125 ml vegetable stock
coconut milk - most of a tin
lime juice
fish sauce

I chop and whizz all the spice paste ingredients together using a hand blender. Add the spice paste to a hot wok, stir it about and add the chopped shiitake mushrooms and sliced spring onions. Fry for a few minutes adding a little more oil if they look dry.

Next I add the stock and the coconut milk, stir and turn down to a gentle simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the prawns and simmer until they turn pink, just a couple of minutes. Then season with a squeeze of lime juice and a few drops of fish sauce.

Today I served it in dishes with plain steamed basmati rice, plus a bit more fresh coriander and a couple of leaves of Thai basil scattered over the top. It didn't come out very spicy this time, perhaps because it was a rather elderly chilli from the bottom of the fridge, but it was wonderfully fragrant and herby nonetheless.