nigel slater's roasted courgettes with thai-style minced chilli and lime pork

 nigel slater's roasted courgettes with thai-style minced chilli and lime pork

Apart from charcuterie, pork doesn't have much of a place in my kitchen, for no other reason that I just don't think it tastes of an awful lot. However, occasionally pork mince gets a workout in meatballs and recently in burgers for the barbecue. I had a little mince left over and was looking for an idea of how to use it up.

So when in doubt and looking for a little bit of inspiration, as ever I turn to Nigel Slater. This time to Tender, Volume 1, since I also have a glut of courgettes to use up. Since Tender is organised by vegetable, it was only a matter of minutes, page 290 and "baked marrow, minced pork" that I had my recipe.

nigel slater's baked tomatoes (and a few baked sweet peppers) with fragrant spices and coconut

Nigel Slater's baked peppers with tomatoes, spices and coconut

tomatoes, spices and coconut
(it shouldn't work but it does)

Nigel Slater's recipes are often seductive in their simplicity. The Kitchen Diaries II recipe simply entitled tomatoes, spices, coconut is the perfect case in point. Although I have to confess to being a teensy bit perplexed by his addendum ("shouldn't work but it does").

Why shouldn't it work? Is it because Nigel has stuffed tomatoes with well, yet more tomatoes?

It can't be because of a gorgeous combination of onions, garlic, fresh ginger, mustard seeds, peppers, cherry and vine tomatoes, red chilli, turmeric and coconut milk? Can it? No, of course not!

a sort of shaggy dog story - saint nigel bounds to the rescue again! braised neck of lamb with apricots and cinnamon

Nigel Slater's braised neck of lamb with apricots and cinnamon

If this blog post was a song title it would be stormy weather because yet again the capricious British climate strikes again. (Of course if this blog post was a "type" of literature, the less kind might describe it as a shaggy dog story!)

hallelujah! nigel slater's chicken pho soup and bit of a roast chicken revelation!

Nigel Slater's chicken pho soup

You may have been aware of my recent tribulations when my taste buds took a bit of an involuntary sabbatical. I was beside myself, they hadn't even left a forwarding address. I'm not entirely sure where they went nor what they did. Curses!

I can only hope that they had better have enjoyed themselves and that it was all worth it; (perhaps with the taste bud equivalent of louche living and dancing on the tables) because god knows I was miserable without them!

sticky demerara orange and almond loaf cake

sticky demerera orange
and almond cake

I seem to be obsessed with citrus fruit at the moment. It probably isn't that surprising since apart from stores of apples and pears, British fruit isn't in season. But I am more than happy to satisfy my need for fruit by eating some that is in season somewhere else. Which doesn't strictly adhere to my intention to only cook seasonally and locally. But I've always liked bending the rules, particularly when they are my own.

So in the past few weeks, apart from gloating over my haul of citron beldi (like a fat, scaly dragon covetously protecting her precious hoard), I seem to return home every day with yet more citrus fruit, from blood oranges to minneolas. The blood oranges have to be a given really because their magic is in the secret lurking under their skin - a beautiful deep pink flesh and juice. Truly glorious stuff.

nigel slater's carrot and coriander fritters

nigel slater's carrot and coriander fritters

For years, I didn't much care for the herb coriander. The spice? Yes. The herb? Definitely not. The simple reason is because I am one of some ten per cent of the world's population that can taste the aldehydes in coriander, which also appear in soap. So what tastes like a slightly citrusy and aromatic herb to you, tastes of lemon-scented soapy washing up liquid to me. I think you'll agree that this isn't very appetising at all!

on a frosty january morning: nigel slater's almond, marzipan and berry cakes

Nigel Slater's almond, marzipan and berry cakes

I awoke to a frosty morning. Looking through my kitchen window, I could see that my garden had a light coating of snow, dusting the few trees and bushes in my back garden. The stone paths and wooden furniture had a patina of sparkling frost that shimmered in the early light. "It'll be mud by noon."; I thought to myself prosaically and turned my mind to the more pressing of the day's engagements. "What should I bake today?"

The gentle frost and muted colours of my garden made me think of a beautiful photograph by Jonathan Lovekin in Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries II, for almond, marzipan and berry cakes. The recipe is on page 44 and the photograph on the facing page of Kitchen Diaries II.

nigel slater's mustardy baked onions

Nigel Slater's mustardy baked onions

If in doubt as to what to cook or in need of inspiration, it is always worth turning to Nigel Slater. I had planned to bake some stuffed onions as an accompaniment to Sunday lunch but then half way through the morning decided that my Sunday was just too short to spend stuffing vegetables. Nigel's mustardy baked onions from Tender I were a good old-fashioned side dish to go with my tarragon roast chicken, although it would be perfect with roast pork or gammon too.

a case of culinary serendipity: jerusalem artichoke and creamed spinach soup

jerusalem artichoke soup with
creamed spinach

The English language is a treasure chest of beautiful words and not just because our ancestors pillaged the globe absconding with words from other languages that suited their purposes. English is a glorious hodgepodge of Germanic roots and a liberal sprinkling of Latin, Ancient Greek, Norman French as well as bits of Old Norse, Dutch, Hindi and Urdu. Such is the flexibility of English, it is able to assimilate all sorts of foreign words as well as nonsense words. One of my favourite words is a made-up one: Serendipity - the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. Not only does it have such a lovely meaning, but like a small child happily babbling nonsense, it seems to bubble with happiness . . . which brings me on to my soup.

to warm the cockles of your soul: spicy parsnip soup

spicy parsnip and ginger soup

You may not have known your soul's cockles needed warming, but even if they don't, this spicy soup (adapted from Nigel Slater's Tender I) will definitely give them a bit of a tune-up and put a zing in your step on a chilly day.

Last weekend I hiked up to Birmingham, to attend the BBC GoodFood Show (more of this tomorrow) and to stay with an old friend of mine from days of yore.

killer chocolate brownies

killer chocolate brownies

Grown men have wept for these chocolate morsels. They have fought over them. Wrestled with Tupperware containers and tried to hide the last crumbs. I have had duels conducted to force me to release the secrets of this chocolate heaven (though never successfully) and more offers of first-born children than I know what to do with. Thank god I am not the vengeful, sacrificing kind.

But the time has come to put this recipe for killer chocolate brownies out there. Not double chocolate, not triple chocolate. This is chocolate four-ways (quadruple doesn't really roll off the tongue). These brownies are, to my mind, perfection - dense, moist and intensely chocolate-y, unadulterated by nuts, just total chocolate.

chicken with chilli, lemon and mint

chicken with chilli, lemon and mint

This Easter weekend in April was so warm it felt like summer. Ah, the joys of English weather. Not surprisingly a barbecue party was in order. It was perfect weather and I had good friends who are more than happy to let me do the food.
The first thing I prepared was some grilled chicken. This is one of my favourite barbecue dishes. But it is equally easy to do under the grill and while it is infinitely nicer served warm, but it also works well at ambient temperature; the flavours are strong yet subtle enough to fill your mouth with glorious Moroccan flavours.

demerara, almond and lemon drizzle cake (another winning Nigel Slater recipe)

Nigel Slater's Demerara Lemon Cake

As I have previously mentioned, I am not much of a baker. However, I am slowly improving and I do learn from my (numerous) mistakes. This is probably one of the easiest of cakes I have ever baked, so long as I remember that baking is a science and not a case of wetting my finger, putting it in the air, seeing which way the wind is blowing and hoping for the best. Although sometimes when all else fails that seems to work as well.

I always have a strong idea of what I want either my food or my photographs to look like. It is clear in my imagination. Sadly, the reality is very different. What I wanted was something a bit like Dom at Belleau Kitchen’s gorgeous Lemon and Marmalade cake, but with added lemon. (Can you feel my envy oozing out of this post?) Good, that was the intention.

this being a tale of a quest for lemon perfection

I freely admit that I am not, and never have been, a baker. I've never really tried; something to do with being a little underwhelmed by anything sweet. This you may feel is something of a hindrance in the cake department, which, on balance, tends to be full of sweet things.
But I'm British for god's sake. Our cuisine may have been notorious around the world, our cooking ridiculed, but our cakes and pudding are renowned, and in a good way. So I decided that I needed to stand up and be counted; I hadn’t baked a cake since the dreaded Home Ec classes of my early teenage years (which put me off cooking until I was in my 20s) but I thought this might be a good challenge to take on. Besides, I had 22 lemons kicking around the kitchen after my Pancake Day party and I needed some satisfying ideas for a cold, damp day in March.

cheesy potato loveliness. . . oh my still beating heart!

This indulgent gratin of creamy potatoes layered with mushrooms, Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses is the perfect antidote to a grey winter's day. This is adapted from Nigel Slater's Real Food, of which he says that it is better described as "garlic mushrooms and melting cheese in a Parmesan mashed potato crust" . . . and who am I to disagree?

This is a perfect vegetarian main course, served with a green salad or Nigel's suggestion of buttered spinach. It also makes a very satisfying accompaniment to a Sunday roast.