15 February - kedgeree

As we're off on holiday at the end of the week, I'm really trying to use up the contents of the fridge. We were out at the theatre this evening, so I had a substantial lunch to see me through. I went for kedgeree to use up the rest of the mackerel and the leeks that came in the vegbox. Then it was the last couple of slices of bread as toast before we headed out.

4 February - tuna salad and kedgeree

I had a small chunk of fresh tuna left over from last night, so we had tuna salad for lunch - a vague nicoise, with new potatoes, salad leaves, tomatoes, beetroot and some boiled eggs.

For supper, we weren't sure whether we were going to be in or out, so I just got the ingredients for a simple kedgeree. After a very cold, snowy day, we decided to stay in and felt very brainy after two servings of fish in one day!

19 November - a bad food day

I was feeling particularly uninspired and woolly-headed today and some disappointing food did nothing to lift my mood. We had bacon and avocado sandwiches for lunch, but although the bacon was good, the bread was a bit dry and the avocado not really ripe. Then I fell back on kedgeree for supper, but put in too large a pinch of cayenne to give it a bit of kick and ended up overpowering all the other nice comforting flavours ...

9 October - kedgeree and lamb with quince/apple

After an early start watching the F1 and World Cup rugby, we had an early lunch of kedgeree using the bit of smoked mackerel in the fridge from my lunch in the week. I used my usual kedgeree recipe, but substituted leeks instead of spinach. It amazes me how you can cook the same dish time and again, but each time it comes out slightly differently - today, it was just spot on and absolutely delicious, a perfect brunch with a couple of boiled eggs on the top.

For dinner, I'd planned to try out another Guardian recipe, this time from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for hot lamb and quince salad - using the quince I'd picked up the other day. Sadly, after the lamb had been sitting in its marinade all afternoon, I cut open the quince to find it was all brown and horrible! With the lamb half ready, I decided to plough ahead and to use an apple instead of the quince. Rather than having it as a salad, I wanted it as a main dish with some roasted new potatoes and cavalo nero from the garden. The recipe turned out to be a bit long-winded, messy and stressful as it seemed to involve lots of stuff going on at the same time and juggling lots of dishes and pans. I'd been a bit pissed off about the quince and by the time I'd got the food on the plates, I was feeling a bit hot and hassled. Was it worth it? Well, the lamb was quite nice and I might use a similar marinade again, but the rest of the faff probably wasn't worth the effort. The homegrown cavalo nero was great though!

17 August - double lunch and kedgeree

We have a staff meeting on a Wednesday lunchtime. I knew I wouldn't make it through to after the meeting without something to eat, but I hadn't been organised enough to get anything in for a packed lunch, so I stopped off at Hart's on my way in this morning and picked up a courgette and feta danish. It made the perfect savoury snack just to get me through. It wasn't quite enough to last through the rest of the afternoon though, so after the meeting I went into Chandos Deli for a goats cheese and red onion tart which I had when I finally got home at about 3.

Dinner was another quick favourite, kedgeree with smoked mackerel, spinach and peas. I think I've complained before that my kedgeree hasn't been as good since Sainsbury's changed their smoked mackerel. Tonight, I used some new curry powder though, from Steenbergs, which gave it just the right amount of kick and flavour. I think it went some way to making up for the less flavoursome fish.

1 June - mushroom pasta and kedgeree

With one more portobello mushroom left in the fridge, I couldn't resist baking it again; this time coated in a simple mix of garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and a bit of parsley. I then chopped it up, mixed it with some cream and some lardons and stirred it into some pasta for lunch.

A busy day didn't leave much time for shopping and I nipped into Waitrose feeling completely uninspired about what to cook for dinner, so went for an easy fall-back option of kedgeree.

• Boil enough basmati rice for two (I use a 1/3 measuring cup and fill it twice with rice and three times with water) with some salt and a few cardamom pods.
• Fry a sliced onion in some butter until soft, then stir in a good teaspoon of curry powder. The curry powder I happen to have in the cupboard has a nice flavour but is very mild, so I add a pinch of chilli powder too.
• Add a small bag of spinach and let it wilt down.
• Tip in the cooked rice and stir it until coated and yellow - you need a low-ish heat at this point to stop it sticking.
• Flake in some hot-smoked mackerel fillets, stir in, then add a squeeze of lemon juice.
• Serve with boiled eggs and a scattering of parsley.

I used to cook this with Sainsbury's Taste the Difference smoked mackerel which was absolutely delicious, but sadly, they don't seem to do it anymore. It's never been quite the same with any other brands, but still makes an easy, tasty supper.