With little regard for volume of salt or sugar, but who cares when it tastes so bloody good?

Mirin-glazed salmon, from Nigella Lawson 

I made the whole amount just to feed myself one fillet for this evening, and the rest to serve cold with salad  tomorrow.

60ml mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
50g light brown sugar (or a little less weight of palm sugar)
60ml tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
4 x 125g pieces salmon, cut from the thick part of the fillet so that they are narrow but tall rather than wide and flat
2 x 15ml tbsp rice vinegar
1-2 spring onions, halved and shredded into fine strips

• Mix the mirin, brown sugar and soy sauce in a shallow dish that will take all 4 pieces of salmon, and marinate the salmon in it for 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second. Meanwhile heat a large non-stick frying pan on the hob.
• Cook the salmon in the hot, dry pan for 2 minutes and then turn it over, add the marinade and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Remove the salmon to whatever plate you’re serving it on, add the rice vinegar to the hot pan and warm through.
• Pour the dark, sweet, salty glaze over the salmon and top with the spring onion strips. Serve with rice or noodles as you wish, and consider putting some sushi ginger on the table, too.

Considering that I can now no longer eat either gluten or dairy .. yeh, it's a swine ... this particularly cook book is not an obvious choice; Gino's Pasta. 

My choice has nothing to do with the photos, honestly.

cor. 

His: Spaghetti Poveraccio (Spaghetti with anchovies, breadcrumbs and garlic)

Mine: 'Almost Instant Gratification' pasta

a couple of tablespoons of garlic oil
4 anchovy fillets
teaspoonful of lazy chopped chilli (adjust for your taste)
a slice of (gluten-free) bread, crumbled into a dry frying pan
part of a can of drained tuna

a pan of boiling water, your choice of spaghetti

While the pasta is cooking, melt the anchovy fillets in the oil in a frying pan (about 3 minutes). Put aside. Toast the bread in the dry pan, breaking it up as it crisps. When the pasta is ready, drain and tip into the pan with the anchovy oil, the bread crumbs, the chili and the tuna flakes. Stir together and allow to mingle for a minute or so.

Eat.

It is a good, simple cake; Nigella Lawson's Banana Bread. If you have bananas ripening too fast in the fruit bowl, try it. 

Don't forget to marinate the raisins for an hour or so - I have tried brandy, rum, tia maria, even sloe gin; the quantity is small, and the alcohol is cooked off, but leaves subtle hints of exotica. This time i used a Morris Tokay (a raisin-y dessert liqueur) from Rutherglen, AUS .. i am working my way through his abandoned wine cellar.

Count the number of ways to cook red cabbage; 1 .. 2 .. 3 .. and so forth. The varieties are infinite, delightful and always easy.

I have my favourites.

Red Cabbage with Apple  (perfect with shepherd's pie) 

1 red cabbage 

2 eating apples
2 onions, halved and peeled
2 garlic cloves

nutmeg, cinnamon

3 tablespoons soft brown sugar
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
butter
Shred a red cabbage (I use my new mandolin), a couple of onions and a couple of cored apples. Layer in an ovenproof dish with a couple of cloves of minced garlic, half a grated nutmeg and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of soft brown sugar and the same of white wine vinegar. Dot with a little butter (or a splash of oil), cover with a lid and bake in a low oven (150ºC) for 2 and half hours. Reheat at will. 

Red Cabbage with Orange  (ideal with baked gammon)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red cabbage
1 onion, halved and peeled
1 tablespoon sea salt
3 tablespoons soft light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups red wine
Juice of an orange
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice
2 eating apples

Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole. Finely slice the peeled and halved onion into thin half moons and add to the pan with the salt; this will stop it catching. Fry gently until the onion softens but doesn’t become coloured.

Finely shred the cabbage and stir it into the onion in the pan layering it over the top. Sprinkle the sugar over the cabbage, and then add the wine, orange juice and mixed spice. Peel and core the apples, and then chop them into small pieces. Add these to the pan, and when everything has wilted down a little carefully give the pan a stir.

Cover with a lid and cook very gently at the lowest possible heat for about 2 hours. It really can’t be overcooked and is often better reheated and eaten the next day. Check the seasoning when the cabbage is ready at the end, as the flavors only really come out once the vegetables have cooked down and softened.

And one more .. using the cherry coke stock from Nigella's Cherry Coke Baked Ham. Nothing else needed in the pan and it makes the most divine braised cabbage. 

Carrot Soup with Miso & Sesame (with thanks and credit to Smitten Kitchen)

I use Clear Spring Organic Sweet White Miso, which, in their online blurb, it is recommended to use (sparingly) instead of milk or cream in soups or mashed potatoes. An excellent tip for dairy-free goodness. 

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds carrots, peeled,sliced

2 leeks, chopped and washed - my option - or an 1 onion, chopped
4 cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon (at least) finely chopped or grated ginger
4 cups vegetable stock
1/3 cup white miso paste

Toasted sesame oil

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add carrots, onion, leeks (if using) and garlic sauté until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add broth and ginger. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Puree soup in batches in a blender. In a small bowl, whisk together the miso an a half-cup of the soup. Stir the mixture back into the pot of soup. Taste the soup and season with salt, pepper or additional miso to taste.

Ladle into bowls and garnish each with a drizzle of sesame oil.

(Temple soup: my body is a temple, pure in spirit if not in thought).

                                                                                     

My supper; mashed potato & celeriac, a tin of canned tuna and seasoning - shape into patties and cook in the oven until crispy-hot. I have a thing for tartare sauce.

An antidote to chocolate brownies. Gateau Breton; a traditional cake from Brittany. I haven't yet made it in the original form - with buckwheat or sarrasin, a nutty low-gluten grain - but i shall. With such few ingredients it is best to use the best .. the flavour of good butter with shine. 

Vanilla and sweet butter, with a dense bite (imagine a soft shortbread) and a sophisticated melt in the mouth texture (imagine butterscotch melting in your mouth). 

I like Nigella Lawson's version (of course) but there are many more versions on the 'net. 

25cm spring form cake tin, well greased.

225g plain flour - ideally 00 grade pasta flour - sieved
250g caster sugar - preferably from your store of vanilla sugar.
250g unsalted butter
6 large egg yolks
A glaze of a teaspoon of egg yolk from the 6, and a tablespoon of water (or milk)

Preheat oven to 190C.

If you have a mixer; add the sieved flour, sugar, butter and eggs and mix with a dough hook until combined into a bright yellow dough. 

If you have no mixer; Make a mound of the sieved flour on a worktop, make a well in it and add the sugar, butter and eggs. Knead to mix.

Scoop the dough into the tin and smooth the top with a floured hand. Expect the dough to be very sticky. Brush the gateau with the glaze and mark a lattice design on top.

Bake for 15 mins, then turn the oven down to 180C (350f) and give it another 25 minutes or so until it's golden on top and firm to the touch. Let cool completely before turning out and slicing randomly into diamond shaped tokens.

Nigel Slater's Best Brownies. Heaven in a tin. The fudgy moist centre is the aim. 

300g caster sugar

250g butter

250g chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

3 large eggs plus 1 extra yolk

50g gluten free flour (60g plain wheat flour)

60g cocoa powder

½ tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper. 

Mix the sugar and butter into a fluffy pale cloud. Set aside 50g of the chocolate (chop it up into gravel-sized pieces) and melt the rest - 20 seconds at time in the microwave, stirring after each blast. Meanwhile sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder with a pinch of salt.

Mix the beaten eggs into the sugar and butter fluff, a quarter at a time. Beat fast in between additions. Add the melted chocolate and the broken up chocolate (i used white chocolate in this version) then fold in the flour/cocoa and baking powder mixture as gently as possible. 

Put the mixture into the cake tin and put it into the oven for 25 minutes. The surface should have crusted over, but with a wobble underneath. Check with a skewer - if too much mixture clings then put it back for 3 more minutes, but no longer.