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.

12 November - tapas and a huge pork steak

It was Saturday lunchtime tapas at the Lido again today - humus, squash and feta salad and some posh ham - a great relaxed start to the weekend.

For dinner I got some pork steaks from Ruby & White, which turned out to be absolutely huge. I did some cream and tarragon sauce and we had them with a small splodge of potato and parsnip mash and some spinach. As I was cooking them, and struggling to squeeze them both in a large frying pan, there was talk of leaving some meat to have cold tomorrow, but somehow we managed to clear our plates after all!

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!