2 October - simple garlic chicken

Having come home to some unexpected late summer sunshine, we went out for lunch at the Lido. We sat outside, enjoying the sun and the atmosphere with cooling glasses of citron presse and a nice selection of tapas: humus, babaganoush, Greek salad and fried chorizo, plus of course, hunks of their delicious fresh bread. A great way to ease back in!

Usually when we've been away, we're craving some kind of food, often vegetables. This time though, we felt like we'd had a bit of everything while we were away and couldn't think of anything obvious that we'd missed. Being particularly tired after almost two days travelling back, I just opted for something simple - chicken thighs slow-cooked with herbs and garlic, with some new potatoes, creamy leeks and a handful of beans still just about going on the terrace.

19 July - gardening and garlicky chicken

After lots of rain, there was a rare patch of sunshine this afternoon, so I spent a bit of time out on the terrace pulling up the mangetout, which had finished doing their thing, and planted some carrots, spring onions and kale in their place. I'm quite getting into this whole veg growing thing now!

After last night's stodgy rice, I decide to go back to a low carb dinner; garlicky chicken with a big pile of leeks and carrots. I pan-cook chicken thighs with some whole cloves of garlic - browning them first, then covering them and turning down the heat to let them cook through slowly for about half an hour. I remove the chicken from the pan and tip out the fat, then add a big handful of parsley, a slosh of white wine and a squeeze of lemon juice to make a sharp, herby sauce to go over the chicken, with the soft, caramelised garlic cloves on the side.

12 May - roast veg salad and garlicky chicken

When I was making the pasta last night, I bunged some bits of pepper and courgette that I wasn't using in the sauce in the oven to roast and I had them as a roast veg salad for lunch today, combined with some cherry tomatoes and served with some new potatoes and a few slices of mozzarella.

For dinner, it was another Nigel Slater favourite; chicken thighs browned in a frying pan with a little butter and some oil, then turned down, covered and cooked very slowly over a low heat for about 30-40 mins with some whole cloves of garlic and some thyme leaves. Then I took out the chicken, poured off most of the fat, put the pan back on a high heat and poured in a good slurp of white wine. I let it bubble, scraping up any bits from the pan and squashing the soft garlic cloves. Usually, I add a bit of butter at the end to make a really rich sauce, but today, still on a health drive, I just added a squeeze of lemon juice and poured it over the chicken - less rich, but lovely and sharp and garlicky. No potatoes tonight either, just a plateful of veg; spring greens (from the vegbox), asparagus and a few green beans.