A fine piece of belly pork.

I sliced the fat with a sharp blade, rubbed salt pepper and lemon thyme into the creases. 30 minutes at 230ºC, then an hour or so at 180º. It didn't need an extra blast at the heat, the crackling was done to perfection.

A mexican ragu (via Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Meat Book). Olives and raisins and all things nice. Try it as a refreshing change to a tomato-rich herby bolognese.

250g minced beef
250g minced pork
1 tablespoon wine or cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped red pepper
1 or 2 fresh chillies
50g raisins
50g stoned green olives (pimento-stuffed for preference), finely chopped
250ml beef stock
135ml chopped tomatoes or a tube of tomato puree



Put the meats in a large bowl and season with the vinegar, salt, sugar and pepper, mixing well together. Leave to stand.



Heat the oil in a large pan and sweat the onion, garlic, red (or orange) pepper and chilli for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft and lightly browned.

Add the meat to the pan and cook hard until well browned all over.

Add the rest of the ingredients (and 50g flaked almonds, if you wish) and mix well. Bring to a very gentle simmer and cook, partly covered, for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Add a little water if mixture is looking dry, but don't let it be too saucy.

Be sure to make enough that you have some to put aside for a day or so and gently reheat. Serve with whatever you fancy .. soft tortillas, guacamole, salsa, sour cream and grated cheese or rice, or potatoes or pasta or bread and butter; it is all good.

I made these: Bittersweet Biscotti (or so i named them) with walnut, spice & white chocolate. They are gluten-free, which makes them a little crumbly but the chilli hit is slow and luscious in combination with the darkest, bitterest chocolate that i had in the cupboard.

The original recipe came from here, but i adjusted with a little less gluten-free flour, walnuts instead of almonds and a majority of dark 70% chocolate, with white chocolate chips for contrast.





Oh, and i also made this: Rick Stein's Fennel Sausages with lemony potatoes and bay. Delicious.

Browsing in my local bookshop in the few minutes before it shut tonight i found a Tamasin Day-Lewis cook book that i didn't already have on my bookshelf. Her cooking style suits me; sophisticated enough to be a challenge but never fiddly, it is the sort of food i would like to put on my table every day.

I particularly like Tamasin's use of more unorthodox vegetables. I am not silly enough to try the curried cream of artichoke soup (well, maybe), but the spicy celeriac and coconut milk soup is high on my list to try, along with celeriac, thyme and potato gratin, once the winter vegetables start appearing in my veg box.

My reminder list, for slightly cooler evenings:

• Sweet-sour roasted parsnips with sweet potatoes.
• Veal ragu
• Parsley and horseradish dumplings
• Beef Daube, flavoured with Rum

For some time, very soon:

• Summer Lemon and Raspberry cake
• Blondie (date brownies)
• A gluten-free almond and blood orange cake
• Lemon Devil's Food cake.

First of all i am set to try an alternative to my poached ham; a Baked Gammon with Parsley Sauce, for the boys' supper tomorrow.

I also browsed some unknown cook names, and spotted an idea i have to try: Rocky Road made with turkish delight and pistachios.


The Juiciest Meatballs



500g minced pork, a little finely chopped bacon, a crushed garlic clove, grated zest of a lemon and a handful of torn basil leaves; blend with your fingers and roll into walnut-sized balls. Flatten slightly as you cook them briskly in a pan with a little heated oil. Make sure they colour well to a crisp and caramelised finish - cook for 2 or 3 minutes on each side and check one to see they are juicy but not pink.

The children and i eat a great deal of gluten-free meals together but sometimes they need a dish that will stick to their ribs. Even in the summer they will eat Toad in the Hole (adapted from Nigel Slater's Real Food); a dish of perfectly puffed, crispy batter above dense, satisfactory pancake, studded with pork and herb sausages. I don't have to cook potatoes to go along side - they will fill up on a glory of stodge.

Mix 2 eggs, 125g plain flour, 1 tablespoon grain mustard, 150ml milk and 150ml water with a whisk or wand blender until the consistency of double cream. Leave (to allow the gluten in the flour to swell) for about 15 minutes.

Heat 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil (goose fat or lard is preferable, if to hand) in a oven proof pan. Add 6/8 sausages and allow to brown for 10 minutes in a very hot oven (220ºC). When the fat is smoking pour the batter around the sausages in the pan and put straight back in the oven for 25 minutes 'til golden brown.

For mummy, a quick and simple salad; a fistful of green beans cooked as you like them and drained well. Finely chop half a garlic clove and 3 fresh mint leaves. Add to a bowl with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and mix until well combined. Put beans in the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Crumble 70g of firm goat's cheese over the beans, and add 2 tablespoons of pine kernels (first toasted in a dry frying pan).

From Buonissimo! by Gino D'Acampo.

For supper i have the remains of yesterday's roast chicken which became a paella with plenty of green pepper, fine beans and chorizo sausage. i used the dark, sticky gravy saved from the roasting pan for stock - the stripped chicken carcass simmered to make another stock for tomorrow.

Last night's supper, eaten with jersey royal potatoes and buttered marrow.

Dusting bookshelves this morning i noticed that my husband is removing cookbooks. There are odd gaps in lines that used to be packed tight; the bookshelves bulged fit to burst with 500 volumes, but now spines sag crookedly. This dissolving of the household is inevitable, but i am determined not to fight over possessions, particularly when books are so replaceable. It does, however, encourage me to explore some of the titles that i don't usually pick up.

It is hard to read these books and see my husband's writing - he always made notes about recipes in the margin of books, and often added whether i enjoyed the dish.



I found a little volume of Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking ("a plump wife and a big barn never did any man harm"), full of recipes which are characteristically short and often sweet. There is a recipe for Rivel (crumb) pie, with 3 simple ingredients of flour, sugar and fat, also Sand Tarts and Flannel Cakes. I am tempted to try Spaetzle, which i recognise from my time as a swiss housewife.

From Lindsey Bareham's Just One Pot; Aromatic lamb curry with spinach (with personal adjustments).

For a marinade; 5 tablespoons of plain yoghurt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin and 3 cloves of garlic and a finger of fresh ginger (5cm), peeled and finely chopped. Add 500g of diced lamb steak and stir.





Peel and chop a large onion. Cook on a high heat for a couple of minutes, then sprinkle with a little salt, another 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1 tsp of ground coriander, a big pinch of chilli powder, a bay leaf, 4 cloves, seeds from 4 cardamon pods. Stir well and cook gently for 10 minutes.





Increase the heat, add the meat and marinade. Cook briskly to brown the meat; the sauce will thicken. Sprinkle with a pinch of sweet paprika and add a tin of chopped tomatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes. Just before serving add a bunch of chopped and blanched spinach and heat.

You are at home with just a few roots vegetables and some feta in the fridge; do not despair. This is a favourite dish of mine and beautifully simple to put together, even while chatting enthusiastically with a friend. Just remember to switch on the oven if you want lunch to be on time ..

Peter Gordon's potato, celeriac and leek gratin with sage and feta. It uses the excellent celeriac root, which i love for its delicate aniseed flavour, and the whole dish is cooked to succulent, salty, creamy goodness with just the addition of a little boiling water - no heavy cream overload.

If, however, you have forgotten to turn the oven on .. try Peter Gordon's curried pumpkin and swede soup with feta and caramelized red onion (also from his book Vegetables) instead for a quick alternative, or for supper later. I have been eating bowlfuls, and varieties of, all week, and can't get enough of the cheerful heat and comforting silky texture.

If i am in a hurry i forgo the garnish (try a spritz of balsamic vinegar instead) and blitz to a puree rather than letting the vegetables disintegrate to a melting softness. In extremis, (like tonight, arriving home cold and tired to a half-full tureen) i added a spoonful of cottage cheese instead of feta.

Tonight will, most probably, be the last night that a child of mine will sleep in the wooden cot upstairs. My youngest is suddenly too long, his toes absurdly tucked into the end of the bed with the blankets. Tomorrow i must move him to the bottom bunk under his brother; a nursery no longer.

A chopped onion browned sweetly sticky in a pan, then added to a bowl of ground lamb, plenty of chopped mint and parsley and ground pepper. I always add a grated apple to my burgers because i can't use breadcrumbs for bulk, and also because the fruit adds sweetness and moisture (and the pectin helps to keep their shape although i also added an egg today). I might have added pinenuts, too, if i had thought about it at the time.

I use my fingers to mix and squidge, and then little patties are dropped back into the shiny pan that the onions were softened in. Briefly browned, then the whole pan goes into a hot oven for 10 minutes to finish them off. Served with new potatoes and green beans.

Try these: caramel ripple brownies. A combination of dense, bittersweet chocolate brownie rippled with veins of sweet vanilla-scented baked cheesecake.

This is one of those useful recipes which uses only a small amount of flour and converts superbly to gluten-free. I swapped 50g of plain flour with 40g of all-purpose gluten free flour (i like Dove Farm's version), and there was no difference from the straight version i had previously made. A small piece is all you need as it is stunningly intense, although it worked very well as the second course of a lazy lunch, following this glorious gratin by Peter Gordon.

As much as i adore potato dauphinoise, i can't contemplate eating much of the rich cream bake. As an alternative, i prefer a gratin made with layers of potato, celeriac and leek with a salty note of feta and sage, cooked with only a small amount of water in a carefully sealed parcel. Light, and gloriously moreish without that sinking feeling.

Roast chicken with roast potatoes and parsnips, carrots.

Blackberry and apple crumble for pudding

Nigella Lawson's Beef with anchovies and thyme, mashed potato, savoy cabbage and carrots.

Gluten free brownies with chocolate angel delight, cream and raspberries.

Yes, a special tea time today.

Risi e Bisi, but made with asparagus, not peas. (sophie grigson)

no pudding today - they had chocolate earlier.

Pasta bows with a sauce of chopped onion, bacon, a large plum tomato and some juice, and a tin of flaked tuna, with added sweetcorn. Lots of parmesan.

yoghurts.

Sausages (Farmer black's gluten-free), roasted with 2 large overblown courgettes, carrots, green beans, mashed potato.

can't remember whether we had pudding.

Swimming night, so needed to be quick and filling.

Oven chips, bacon and a fried egg, baked beans. Sweetcorn nobs with butter.

Raspberry angel delight