2 March - the first asparagus and roast lamb

After the success of my chilli wrap earlier in the week, I went for another wrap today, this time grilled harissa chicken (just a grilled chicken breast brushed with harissa paste) with avocado, grilled red pepper and mayo. I made the mistake of popping the wrap under the grill to warm, because it was already on, but it just went crispy- d'oh! Thus it didn't actually 'wrap' very well, but still a tasty filling nonetheless.

I went into Ruby & White to get some lamb fillet for supper and while I was there spotted the first English asparagus of the season, from the Wye Valley. It was extortionately expensive, but as we were celebrating (a new work contract), I decided to go for it anyway. It was well worth it too ... a simple plate of lightly boiled asparagus with a bit of melted butter to start with a glass of bubbly was about as perfect as it gets! I used a Nigel Slater recipe from the Kitchen Diaries for the lamb, marinating it in a gloop of fresh mint, garlic, anchovy and olive oil, quickly roasting it whole, then slicing it thickly. We had it with some rosemary roast new potatoes, green beans and the rest of the champagne ... great start to the weekend!

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.

22 June - chilli beans, guacamole and sweetcorn fritters

I ordered a couple of avocado's in last week's vegbox, which have been sat in the fruit bowl for nearly a week and are now rather soft and definitely need eating. So the starting point for dinner is some home-made guacamole:

• Mix together mashed avocado flesh with a good squeeze of lime juice, a crushed clove of garlic, a bit of finely chopped tomato and a good handful of chopped coriander.

To go with it I make up some chilli beans:

• Fry a small red onion, add a pepper (mine was orange today) in chunks and some chopped garlic and fry gently until the pepper has softened.
• Sprinkle in half a tsp of cumin powder, a good pinch each of paprika and cayenne pepper and a bay leaf.
• Add a small tin of drained kidney beans and a tin of chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer (15-20 mins is enough, but can be left to bubble away as long as you want on a low heat).

Then the bit that really makes this meal is the sweetcorn fritters, based on a recipe originally from Waitrose Food Illustrated, but adapted, these are always great:

• Make a batter from 50g plain flour and half a tsp of baking powder beaten together with about 75ml milk and an egg yolk, until smooth.
• Add the sweetcorn cut from one fresh corn cob, a shake of dried chilli flakes, some chopped coriander, a few chopped chives and a pinch of salt.
• Whisk the egg white until fluffy and fold this gently into the batter mixture at the last minute.
• Dollop the batter into a hot non-stick frying pan with a bit of oil to make four big fritters. Fry for about 3 mins on each side, until nice and golden.