15 March - chickpea salad and pasta with salmon

Along with some leftover couscous from last night, I made up some chickpea and pepper salad for lunch with a bit of soft goats cheese on the side.

Tris often says that we don't have much pasta for supper, mainly because it tends to be one of my lunchtime staples. So this evening I consciously went for a pasta dish - smoked salmon and leeks in a cream sauce.

18 July - a warm tomato salad and chorizo & broad bean "paella"

There was another handful of tomatoes ready to pick today, so I used them in a favourite warm tomato and basil salad. I have to admit that the home-grown tomatoes have been slightly less impressive than the other veg, with slightly thick skins and not quite as flavoursome as I'd hoped. This treatment just softened them slightly and brought out their sweetness perfectly. I warmed a good pool of extra virgin olive oil in a small pan and gently fried a couple of chopped spring onions (I usually use a shallot, but didn't have any), with some thinly sliced garlic. Then I added a squeeze of lemon juice, a splash of vinegar (I used raspberry vinegar today) and a pinch of salt, followed by the tomatoes - chopped in half - and a few shredded basil leaves. Just stir them around for a minute or so and then tip onto a plate with a few new potatoes and some mozzarella - yum!

For dinner, I cooked up some chorizo and broad beans with paella rice. Just a chopped onion and a couple of cloves of sliced garlic fried gently with some sliced cooking chorizo so it releases its red-orange juices, then a cup of paella rice stirred in with a few threads of saffron. I gradually added chicken stock until the rice was cooked, adding a few peas and chopped green beans (literally just a couple from the garden), then a nice big pile of broad beans and some chopped parsley. Simple, tasty and comforting on another damp evening.

12 July - chickpea salad and a fruity chilli

Lunch today was a chickpea salad with goats cheese. I mixed half a tin of chickpeas with a grilled pepper cut into thin strips and a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic and chopped parsley ... oh yes, and a few more tomatoes from the garden.

For dinner I was going to try out a recipe I saw on a TV cookery programme the other day. It was a version of chilli con carne on Channel 5's Mexican Food Made Simple. I checked the Channel 5 website - I found the episode which included the recipe, but not a list of exact ingredients or quantities. So when I went out to the supermarket, I dropped into Smiths and found the book to go with the series by Thomasina Miers. I had a flick through, but rather oddly, it contains a completely different chilli con carne recipe. Anyway, I gave it a go roughly based on the programme with a few changes:

• Roast a couple of whole tomatoes, a whole green chilli and a chopped onion, then whizz them together in a blender to make the base of the sauce.
• Brown about 100g each of beef and pork mince in a pan, then add the sauce.
• Stir in a teaspoon of cumin and a pinch of cinnamon, plus some fresh chopped oregano.
• Add about 250ml chicken stock, then throw in a chopped banana (yes, a banana!) and the corn from a fresh corn cob.
• Simmer for 20 mins, then add a teaspoon of smoked paprika and a little chilli powder (it could have done with a bit more).
• Simmer a bit longer, season and serve with rice.

The result was quite good, with some nice flavours, but not enough kick for a chilli.