april

Lunch Ate out

Dinner: sautéed celeriac, gorgonzola, green beans, RWS salad

Venison sausages, sauce of mushrooms, stock, wattleseed, cocoa, port, cream; mangetout, new potatoes

You may guess correctly that Tracey had a hand in the sauce

Guineau Fowl, Puy lentils, cherry tomatoes, salad, ciabatta

Brebis "Lou Perac"

Roast aubergine, miso paste, sesame seeds; chard with sesame oil, tamarind, oyster sauce, garlic-chilli-ginger paste; rice

I used 1 heaped teaspoon of miso paste for each half aubergine, but this is too much

Set yoghurt and cream, rhubarb and ginger

2floz cream, 6 floz yoghurt, 1 heaped tsp honey, 1 small leaf gelatine

Thursday 5.04 –

Sunday 8.04

Away for Easter

Dhal and rice, lime pickle

Beetroot, blood orange, pine kernels, mint, creme fraiche with chipotle chilli in raspberry vinegar, vodka, angostura bitters, garlic, oil

Not sure if all the flavours come through – I suppose I was trying to get a hot fruity bittersweetness

Chickpeas in lemon, garlic, chilli, oil; sweet potato slices bolied then fried; feta; salad

Ate out

Waitrose pumpkin and coconut soup (with chilli added)

Tuna steaks, tomatoes, chilli, shallots, cilantro; mushrooms and sweetcorn; new potatoes

Chickpeas, chorizo, tomato, mint, chilli

This was supposed to be poached pears. Really. But the pears were not ripe.

Bighams Wild Alaskan salmon and ginger parcels, pak choi, new potatoes

Lunch: Pasta with leeks

Dinner: Waitrose fig and roquefort tartlets

Lamb Dhansak and rice

Remove the fat from 4 lamb chops, fry meat till brown. Take meat out then soften 1 shallot, 2 cloves garlic, some chilli, some blanched ginger. Add 5 small tomatoes, halved. Toast 1/2 tsp coriander and grind. Fry a pinch of cinnamon, cloves, 1/2 tsp turmeric, and add the spices and meat to the pan with a small pinch of saffron, a large bay leaf, several chopped mint leaves, 2oz red lentils, water to cover, 1/2-1 tsp pomegranate molasses. Simmer gently for 50 mins.

Dinner: Asparagus, Serrano ham, avocado oil

Rabbit saddle, stuffing of giblets, breadcrumbs, pine kernels,nutmeg; risotto with wild garlic leaves; salad of wild garlic leaves

It’s not really stuffing as such; I made the stuffing mix and sat the saddle on top of it, wrapped it in foil. Baked for 20 mins at gas 5 (though this was at the top of the oven, and it may be more like gas 6 up there). This was just right – rabbit is lean and dries out if you cook it took long

The wild garlic entailed a minor expedition. There is a load of the stuff in the woods just beyond Birdlip, but Birdlip is up a huge great hill from Cheltenham. I got loads, but it doesn’t really keep so we had to eat the lot. Colin thinks it tastes of spring onions, I think it is more like leeks. I like it. There were a few leaves left which stank out the fridge and I had them in my sandwich on monday.

Duck breast, rhubarb sauce, petits pois, creamed potatoes.

One big (350g) duck breast feeds 2. Score the skin, then fry skinside for about 10 mins, letting the fat render out; keep draining the pan, and let the skin go crispy. Finish off with a few minutes the other way up, then slice thinly.

I made some ginger syrup and some of it went in this. Used 2 sticks rhubarb, sliced into 1cm chunks, poached 5 mins. Also added raspberry vinegar and Angostura bitters

Pears poached in Poire Williams and butter; the last of those nice amaretti; almonds fried in butter

Salad of Cockleford smoked trout, cherry tomatoes, mint, new potatoes, avocado oil, cos lettuce

Baked rhubarb, cream

Cauliflower florets, avocado oil, lime juice, chilli, mint, toasted almonds

Confit of rabbit legs; butter beans cooked in rabbit stock, ciabatta, cos lettuce

Confit is the best way to do rabbit legs. The cos lettuce doesn't go; round lettuce would be better

Asparagus, potato, cream soup

Not a great success. I had used the woody ends of the last lot of asparagus, pureed and sieved, but I didn't have enough to make a decent flavour

Beefburgers, gorgonzola sauce, sugar snaps, rice

Ate out

Lunch: pasta, cauli, cream, smoked cheese

Dinner: Waitrose chevre and red onion tarts, rocket

Cod, tomatoes, peppers, chorizo, white wine, new potatoes

Lunch: pasta, cauli, gorgonzola

Dinner: Avocado, sauce of tomatoes, chilli, cilantro

Lamb chops with savoy cabbage and porcini, new potatoes

Sweet potato and red lentil soup with tomatoes, lime juice, cilantro, avacado oil

1 1/4 lb sweet potato, 4oz red lentils, 2 tbs sesmae seeds, piece of chipotle, 1 tsp smoked paprika, pinch cumin, oinin, garlic, a little stock. I served half this today - it serves 2 generously

Mushrooms "Lomo Saltado", red quinoa with oregano and cream

Onion, garlic, chilli, one red pepper, 6 large mushrooms, a few ovendried tomatoes

Aspargus risotto

Superlative asparagus from the Elgie's, Hilter Fruit farm, Newent

Rhubarb, preserved ginger, cream

Sweet potato and lentil soup, with smoked cheese

Black pudding, chorizo, savoy cabbage, potatoes

Salad of aubergine, bacon, avocado, rocket; ciabatta

Raspberries with Cointreau, cream, shortbread

Yorkshire soup co. summer veg soup

Chicken with orange and cream, peas, gnocchi

used 1/4 orange juice

Lunch: savoy cabbage with bacon, and toast

Dinner: John

Pasta with chicken chorizo red peppers tomatoes paprika chilli. Salad of wild garlic and round lettuce

Jointed a whole chicken and poached it. We had the breasts today, the legs monday

Stinking bishop - Swaledale goat - petit Langres

Lunch: Pasta with cream, peas, wild garlic

Dinner:Prawns, mushrooms, chilli, rice

Aubergine slices with anchovy and cinnamon; fennel with tomato; ciabatta

Chicken legs with sauce of olives, tomato, herbs, roast garlic; courgettes; bulghar wheat with olive oil and garlic

Dried figs poached with sichwan pepper, balsamic, chipotle, bay; greek yoghurt and honey

The figs were very good. I reduced the syrup