28 May - chicken in cider

We had the rest of the vegetable tart for lunch with a few sauted new potatoes and a big dollop of mayonnaise - yum!

The recipe for dinner is based on another Nigel Slater, from an old Observer Food Monthly. I browned some chicken thighs in a pan with some oil and butter, until golden then removed them. I fried a handful of button mushrooms in the same pan, then added about 250ml of dry cider, returned the chicken and brought it to the boil. I turned it down, covered the pan and simmered for 30-40 mins. Then at the end, I added about 75ml of cream and a big handful of chopped tarragon. Served with a big pile of spinach cooked with some wet garlic and some asparagus. Really tasty!

8 May - home-grown veg and a creamy chicken curry with a kick

Most of today was spent out on our roof terrace planting up this year's 'crops'! Last year, I made a rather tentative start at growing my own veg, but most things were a bit disappointing, I think partly just because I didn't grow enough of anything to yield enough worth eating. This year I'm being a bit more adventurous with French beans, mange touts, tomatoes, courgettes, spinach and a chilli plant, as well as all the herbs that are already thriving.

I think I'm a bit of a supertaster - that is, stronger flavours strike me as even more intense than for most. So I've never been good with anything very hot. I love 'spicy' Indian food, but I prefer it when I cook it myself and can control the amount of chilli that goes in. Today I cooked one of my favourite Madhur Jaffrey curry recipes which is usually relatively mild, with lots of flavour and just a bit of background hum from some cayenne pepper. A little while ago though, I got a new jar of cayenne pepper which is clearly much punchier than what I'd had before and which I haven't quite got used to yet. So today's gentle-looking creamy chicken curry had a bit more of a kick to it than I'd intended!

Madhur Jaffrey's Chicken with cream

• Sprinkle a couple of chicken breasts cut into chunks with some salt, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp coriander, 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper - less with hindsight! Mix and leave for about an hour.
• Fry the chicken pieces in some vegetable oil to brown, then remove with a slotted spoon.
• In the same pan, fry a chopped onion, then add a paste comprised of two crushed garlic cloves, the same amount of grated fresh ginger and a splash of water.
• Stir in 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1/4 tsp (?) cayenne.
• Add a chopped tomato and stir and mush to a paste.
• Take the pan off the heat to stir in 2 tbsp natural yoghurt - too much heat at this point will make the yoghurt split. Then add 100ml water, some salt and the chicken.
• Bring back to the boil, turn low, cover and simmer for 20 mins.
• Remove the cover, add 1/2 tsp garam masala and 2 tbsp cream and bubble until the sauce is thick and creamy.