1 March - courgette pasta

Sometimes the simplest, made-up dishes are the best and today's lunchtime pasta was one of those. Courgette, bacon and a small blob of cream stirred into some penne pasta ... yum!

This evening, I was out with friends at the Lounge. I went for the chicken and chorizo salad, mainly because it's usually not very salady - chicken, chorizo, peppers and potatoes. It was clearly a different chef on tonight though because it arrived as a huge dish of rocket (which I hate!) with a few bits of chicken and chorizo on the top - very disappointing :(

25 July - hot chicken salad and plum tart

Dinner tonight's a Spanish-inspired hot salad; red onion, butter beans, green beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn, new potatoes, a bit of chopped chorizo and some hot chicken.

We got some lovely English plums in Friday's vegbox that I didn't get round to cooking over the weekend, so I make them into a favourite tart - another Nigel Slater recipe, from Appetite, and one of the very few times I ever make pastry.

• For the pastry put 90g butter and 150g plain flour in a food processor and whizz to 'breadcrumbs'. Add an egg yolk, 2tbsp sugar and just enough water to make a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and pop in the fridge.
• Make a caramel with 50g butter and 4 tbsp flour in a small ovenproof frying pan. Push the plums, cut in half and stoned, cut-side-up into the caramel.

• Roll out the pastry and lay over the plums, roughly tucking in the edges. Bake at 190C for about 45 mins.
• Leave to cool a bit in the pan before turning out.

It's sweet and naughty and even better served with a bit of cream!