5 April - pork with mustard sauce

We finished a short week with some nice chunky pork steaks from Ruby & White with a creamy mustard sauce, some baby leeks, beans and new potatoes - simple but delicious.

2 April - goats cheese with figs and porotos granados

Rather inspired by the figs in my salad the other day, I had one of my favourite combinations for lunch today; goats cheese on toast with some fresh figs ... I just never get bored of it!

As I knew I was going to be out early evening today, I actually made up a pot of 'stew' for supper yesterday afternoon that could just be reheated when I got in. I tried another recipe from HFW's River Cottage veg every day - a kind of soupy vegetable stew called porotos granados. It's made up of pinto beans, squash, french beans and sweetcorn, along with stock and flavourings, and as the name suggests, it's South American (Chilean actually) in origin. Well, I'm not sure if perhaps I just didn't put in enough paprika, but I found the result a bit bland. The veg were tasty enough, but it did just taste like a bowl of boiled veg without much else to tie them together - definitely something missing in this one.

1 April - green coriander chicken

I wanted to make a chicken curry this evening, but thought I'd go for a new recipe. I flicked through Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible and settled on a recipe for green coriander chicken. Apparently, it's a Kenyan recipe and it doesn't include any of the traditional curry spices - no ground cumin, coriander or turmeric here - but relies instead on just a basic combination of garlic, ginger, chilli and lots of fresh coriander. It came out wonderfully creamy and absolutely packed with flavour, definitely one to do again.

27 March - pork belly with spicy rhubarb sauce

We had some slightly green rhubarb hanging around that didn't quite feel pink enough for crumble, so I decided to do something savoury with it instead. I googled "pork and rhubarb" and came up with a few recipes - the below is sort of a combination of several:

• Blend two large shallots, 3 cloves garlic, 1/2 inch grated fresh ginger, 2tbsp honey and 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil to a paste.
• Coat c.750g piece of pork belly with the mixture and put it in a roasting dish with c.300ml dry cider and a red chilli just snapped to release its flavour. Cover with foil and cook at 180C for 90 mins (maybe a bit less or a bit cooler as it rather dried out) - check and add more cider if necessary (I ended up using a full 500ml in the end)
  
• Uncover and add c.250g chopped rhubarb and cook for another 15 mins until the rhubarb's tender.
• Remove the pork to rest and discard the chilli. Then bubble the sauce gently on the hob, adding a bit of cold chopped butter to make it smooth.

The resulting sauce was quite stunningly tasty and really had quite a chilli kick. Served on top of the lovely tender pork belly (we only ate about 2/3 of the meat, but all the sauce) along with some spring greens and beans, it was absolutely top!

26 March - lamb's lettuce and chilli

I've had some lamb's lettuce growing under fleece all winter, but with the recent burst of warmth and sun, it's really started flourishing, so I thought I'd better start picking some.

I mixed it into a hot salad of new potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, chorizo and a poached egg.

While I was away over the weekend, Tris had made up a big pot of chilli which meant that I didn't have to worry about shopping and cooking for this evening, which was really nice as I was completely wiped out after my week away and had a load of other stuff to sort out.

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!

29 February - veggie curry

Another veggie dish tonight, this time a Southern Indian vegetable curry from Anjum Anand's Indian Food Made Easy . It had lots of yummy veg - potatoes, carrots, courgette, green beans and cabbage - and plenty of spices, but somehow came out a bit disappointingly bland. At least it felt healthy though ...

9 February - miso lamb and eve's pudding

Along with the recipe for the tuna tataki I tried from Waitrose Kitchen magazine the other day was another for miso-marinated lamb. You marinate the lamb - used leg steaks - in a mix of brown miso paste, sugar, sake and mirin for 24 hours, then you scrape off the marinade and grill them. Rather frustratingly, we've got a bit of a rubbish grill that takes ages to get hot, then keeps cutting out, so things don't cook very well under it. Thus, the lamb didn't get quite as nicely caramelised as it should have done, but it was still quite tasty and worth another try, perhaps in the summer if we can get a little barbecue going on the terrace. We had the lamb with some steamed green beans and pak choi tossed with a bit of soy sauce, lemon juice and a sprinkling of wasabi powder - another good combination.

We followed a relatively light supper with some comforting Eve's pudding. As I was making it up, I wasn't sure if I'd made enough sponge mixture, but it came out spot-on with a blob of creme fraiche on the top - mmm!

23 January - polenta and beef stir-fry

I was at a bit of a loss what to have for lunch today. I'd had eggs and pasta yesterday - two lunchtime staples - and after a late-morning swim, I didn't have time for a jacket potato. I had rice planned for dinner and didn't really fancy couscous, so I settled on a different carb base in polenta. It's not something I've really cooked much, but a dish of simple soft polenta topped with a creamy sauce of mushrooms and bacon actually worked really well. I think it might become part of my lunchtime repertoire.

This evening, I used up the last chunk of the beef fillet, slicing it wafer thin and stir-frying it really quickly with spices (dried chilli and toasted, ground cumin), some soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine, then stirring in some spring onions and lots of fresh coriander at the end (a recipe from Ching-He Huang's Chinese Food Made Easy). There wasn't a huge amount of beef, so I served it with a big pile of rice and some stir-fried green beans with sesame seeds. It was really tasty, especially with the wonderful melt-in-the-mouth beef - just wish there'd been a bit more!

4 January - mushroom soup and kippercakes

More shiitake mushrooms had sprouted and were growing almost by the minute, so lunch was a simple mushroom noodle soup. Annoyingly, I burnt my tongue with my first slurp, so I'm not really sure if it tasted good or not!

Completely out of ideas for supper, I turned to the Kitchen Diaries, starting off with today's date and browsing back and forth. I came across what were described as "kipper patties", but somehow became known as "kippercakes" in the cooking! Really they were just pretty straightforward fishcakes made with kippers, potato and a bit of dill. The recipe suggested serving them with dill mayonnaise, but I had some creme fraiche in the fridge, so used that instead with some dill and a crushed clove of garlic. They were a bit soggy and went a bit squishy in the frying, but the smoky kippercakes with the fresh, cooling creme fraiche were a great combination, along with a pile of steamed leeks, beans and carrots.

3 January - lamb "kedgeree" and salmon teriyaki

I was trying to decide what to do with the last little bit of leftover roast lamb for lunch and after rummaging in the bottom of the fridge, came up with some curried rice - kind of a cross between kedgeree and biryani! I cooked the rice with some cardamom pods, then fried up an onion and some courgette, added some curry powder and stirred in the rice and lamb. Sprinkled with a bit of coriander, it made a really rather yummy plate of lunch.

Tris picked up a bottle of teriyaki sauce while we were in the supermarket the other day, so for dinner I made some salmon teriyaki. I gently heated 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce, a tbsp honey, a clove of chopped garlic and half a tsp ground ginger to make the glaze. I spread it over a couple of salmon fillets to marinade for a few minutes, then popped them in a hot oven for 10 minutes. We got some rather odd green rice for Christmas, so I cooked up some of that along with some steamed pak choi and a few green beans to make a rather oddly green and pink plate of food!

29 December - salmon with coriander pesto

It was another HFW recipe for lunch - chachouka is a mix of slow-cooked onions and peppers with tomatoes and spices, then an egg cracked in the top. I added a few chickpeas that were in the fridge and they went pretty well for a hearty lunch.

When I bought fresh coriander for yesterday's curry, the smaller packets were looking a bit yellowy, so I ended up getting a big bag. To use it up while it was still green and perky, I made up a batch of coriander pesto made with garlic and pistachios. I teamed it up with some plain salmon fillets and a pile of fresh veg; carrots, green beans and tenderstem broccoli. The pesto was really tasty and looked great against the pale pink of the salmon.

1 December - jerusalem artichoke soup and a thai curry

Today the cold is in full force and food is the last thing I feel like. I bought some Jerusalem artichokes yesterday though, so I went ahead and made the soup I'd got planned for lunch. I only discovered Jerusalem artichokes quite recently and I think they've got a lovely nutty, sweet flavour. They're also incredibly simple to make into soup. I just peel and chop them and sweat them in some oil with a chopped onion, a bay leaf and some fresh thyme for about 10 mins. Then I add some chicken stock and bubble for another 10-15 mins, before removing the herbs and blending the whole thing. I stir in a bit of cream at the end and then serve with a drizzle of truffle oil. And today it was that strong truffle flavour that just managed to break through the cold.

Keeping up the theme of strong flavours, for supper I made a Thai chicken curry with plenty of chilli and ginger. Looking for some veg to go in the curry, I made the mistake of getting some green beans from Africa. I usually avoid out-of-season veg imported across the world just on eco principles, but actually taste is a much greater motivation for avoiding it. The beans were rather pale, watery and completely tasteless - absolutely no comparison to the lovely green, silky, melt-in-the-mouth beans I was growing in the summer.

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.

14 September - pork with creamy chanterelle sauce

We're off on holiday at the end of the week, so I'm trying to make the most of the last few veg on the terrace. Lunch was another couscous salad, with some smoked salmon flakes and homegrown beans and tomatoes.

It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so in-between chores, I wandered up to a nice veg shop in Clifton that I'd spotted the other day had lots of wild mushrooms. I came home with a bag of yellow chanterelles and a tall spike of cavalo nero that poked out of the top of my backpack and raised a smile in Ruby & White on my way home getting some pork loin steaks.

I fried the pork steaks until nice and brown on each side, then popped them in the oven to finish off. I then used the same pan to gently fry a shallot, added the chanterelles, followed by a glug of white wine. I bubbled it down a bit, added some double cream, bubbled a bit more and poured the sauce over the pork. With some potatoes and the cavolo nero, it tasted wonderfully autumnal.

10 September - fresh figs and a lamb curry

I got some lovely big, fresh, Turkish figs in the supermarket this morning. So lunch involved some fresh bread from Hart's Bakery (@ Ruby & White) with the figs, some bresaola and a tomato and basil salad.

We fancied a curry, so I flicked through Madhur Jaffrey and cooked up some lamb do piaza with some spicy green beans and rice. As usual, the sauce rather curdled, but it was still tasty.

• Fry one and a half finely sliced onions until starting to brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
• Put a cinnamon stick, 3 cardamom pods and 3 cloves in the same oil.
• Add about 250g cubed lamb to brown, then remove.
• Fry 1/2 finely chopped onion, then add some garlic and ginger paste (made from a couple of cloves of garlic and a lump of ginger, both grated and mixed with a little water).
• Add 1 tsp coriander and 1/2 tsp cumin and stir.
• Gradually add 2 tbsp yoghurt and stir to incorporate. I never manage this without it curdling, even taking the pan off the heat.
• Return the meat with a cup of water, a pinch of cayenne pepper and some salt. Then bubble away gently for an hour or so.
• Return the fried onions and half a tsp of garam masala.

7 September - Moroccan chicken

I had a fantastically tasty salad for lunch today; new potatoes, fried chorizo, homegrown tomatoes and beans, some fresh cooked beetroot, a few strips of roasted pepper and a poached egg. The red chorizo-flavoured oil, mingled with the oozy egg yolk and the purple beetrooty juices all came together in a perfect, vivid puddle in the bottom of the dish to mash the potatoes into!

We had lemony Moroccan chicken for dinner with couscous and some cubes of roasted squash. Tasty, but again a bit rushed and it could've been cooked a bit longer.

27 August - roast chicken

A busy day of marking was rounded off with a good old-fashioned roast chicken, cooked with butter, garlic, a bit of sage and some lemon, the juices boiled up with a glass of wine to make a lovely sharp gravy. We had it with a bit of cabbgae, some little carrots, a handful of beans and some simple boiled potatoes to soak up the gravy. As good as ever.

12 August - frittata and shepherd's pie

After my slightly crumbled attempt at frittata a couple of weeks ago, I had another go today and did it properly this time, cooking the top under the grill, rather than trying to flip it in the pan. I used a couple of cold potatoes, some bits of bacon and a big pile of fresh peas, with a couple of eggs and some mint. Looked much better this time!

I know it's rather unseasonal, but this evening I used up a little bit of leftover mince to make an individual shepherd's pie. I cooked the mince up with some onion, garlic, mushrooms and a bit of diced carrot, plus some beef stock (thickened with a bit of flour), popped it in a mini oven dish with some mash on the top and Bob's your uncle. With some homegrown beans on the side, it was fantastically tasty in a retro sort of way :)

7 August - vegetable Thai green curry

There's so much veg floating around the kitchen today, it really has to be a vegetarian dinner. Lots of it seems to be green, which by a process of association leads me towards a green curry! I use a Nigel Slater paste as my base, mixing up in a blender:

• a stalk of lemongrass (centre bit chopped)
• a couple of cloves of garlic
• some galangal from a jar in the fridge
• a shallot
• half a green chilli
• a handful of fresh coriander
• a squeeze of lime juice
• a splash of fish sauce

I fry up a chopped courgette and a couple of spring onions, then add the paste, some veg stock and a small tin of coconut cream. Then in go some sugarsnap peas, green beans and some fresh sweetcorn (just to add a bit of yellow). It all comes out as a fairly tasty bowl of flavoursome green stuff and the sauce doesn't overwhelm the individual flavours of the veg.