28 February - a chilli wrap and chicken with mushrooms

For lunch today I used up the leftover mince from the bolognese and some borlotti beans from last night to make a quick chilli:

• I fried up some onion, garlic and yellow pepper.
• Added the beef mince + a pinch of allspice, cumin, chilli and a stub of cinnamon stick
• Once browned, I tipped in some tinned tomatoes, the borlotti beans and a bit of fresh coriander

I made it up into a wrap with a few spinach leaves and a dollop of yoghurt - great lunch!

This evening, I just had a fancy for a basic "meat and two veg" type supper. I pan-fried a couple of chicken breasts and then in the same pan made a creamy mushroom and tarragon sauce to pour over them. Served with some new potatoes and cabbage, it was just what I'd been after.

29 July - a new butchers and a pork chop

Over the past few days, I've been watching as a new shop was fitted out just across the road and today I was very excited to venture into a new local butchers for the first time. It's called Ruby & White and it's a very classy-looking outfit - all Farrow & Ball woodwork and cool branding. It has a very impressive main meat counter, with just about everything from the usual pork, beef, lamb and chicken to venison, veal and pigeon. Then there's a deli counter with cold meats and cheese (although not a huge range), a bit of wine and things like marinades, spices and sauces. I've been losing interest in supermarket meat for some time and the other nearby butchers are neither very nearby nor often seem to have what I'm looking for. So this is quite an exciting development.

I was so overwhelmed by the choice, not to mention all the staff who were a bit overeager to tell me all about what they were doing, I played it safe with just a couple of pork loin chops to start off - all nicely wrapped in classy waxed paper - okay, so I'm a sucker for some nice packaging, esp. when it doesn't involve nasty plastic trays!

I fried them up with some chestnut mushrooms, took the pork out of the pan (to a warm oven) and added a good glug of pear cider, followed by some cream to make a sauce. Served with baby leeks and new potatoes, not only was the sauce tasty, but the flavour of the pork really shone through. A very promising start.

1 July - peach and mozzarella salad and a pork chop

The peaches still don't feel wonderfully ripe, but are at least a bit softer, so I go for that peach and mozzarella salad. I try a slightly sweeter dressing this time; oil with raspberry vinegar (home made by popping a handful of fresh raspberries into a small bottle of white wine vinegar), which works better. It looks so lovely, I can't resist another picture and it tastes pretty good too, even with slightly crunchy peaches.

Tris is out for the evening, so I have an easy pork chop with some creamy mushroom sauce and a big pile of fresh veg; homegrown mangetout and peas, broad beans and new potatoes from today's organic vegbox. Still can't get over how amazing the homegrown mangetout taste!

15 May - pork with creamy mushroom sauce

To finish a meaty weekend, I cooked pork loin steaks with a creamy mushroom sauce. I fried the pork, slightly coated in flour, in a bit of oil and butter. When just about cooked, I transferred it to the oven to keep warm, then fried sliced mushrooms and some sliced garlic in the same pan, added a good slurp of Marsala, let it bubble down, then added half a small pot of single cream. Not forgetting to add the juices collected in the dish the pork was warming in at the last minute. It's a favourite sauce combination and as usual, it was really tasty. Served with some new potatoes, asparagus and the last of the spring greens.