Maple pork ribs

I had the meaty pork ribs in the freezer and so decided to give this a go.  Eagle-eyed readers will see the absence of tomato chutney - I’ve cut tomatoes out of my diet recently in an effort to heal my ills from within, so left the chutney out.  I’ve got to say I didn’t miss it.  With all the other ingredients these ribs were so delicately and perfectly flavoured that tomatoes were not required.  I really felt as I was making and eating them that I was eating Chinese ribs - possibly the inclusion of the star anise giving that illusion.  I’d definitely make this again. 

Braised steak, sake and shallots

• To be correct here, I substituted sherry in for sake as per Nigel’s suggestion, as I had sherry in.   This is one of the missing March recipes - I will finish this book!!      I haven’t made anything new for so long and really miss it so feel like I may be about to get my cooking mojo back.  This dish so was so easy to make and really delivered a wow factor - it felt like I was in a restaurant.  I would make this again but think I’d substitute for a different cut of beef - something more substantial than braising steak.
  

Pork with blackberries

Casting my eye back to August which I have still shamefully not started, let alone completed, I used this as my Sunday lunch meat dish. As the others in my regular household are either vegetarian or vegan, it’s a real treat when my boyf’s son comes to stay and we can have a meat fest.  This was incredible - the meat beautifully tender and delicately flavoured but the gravy was out of this world, really make the dish work as a whole.  I’d recommend this recipe to anyone - it’s a real showstopper.

Summer cake

It won't escape anyone's notice that it is now firmly autumn, but today felt like an early summers day, with sunshine and a light breeze and as I was in a baking mood I cast my eye back to July and gave this a go.  For a simple almondy cake, this really delivers on complex flavour and is wonderfully moist.  Luckily it worked out as the temperature wasn't included in the recipe and so was anybody's guess.  I thought of it as a technical challenge on the Bake Off and as I already had the oven on 160 for 3 hours making pig cheeks (Nigel's recipe, with apples and cider), I bobbed the cake in alongside and hoped for the best. 

Salmon and courgette cakes

The best I can honestly say about this is that it was alright.  I would never actively choose to make myself (or even choose to eat in a restaurant etc) a fishcake - it's just not my bag.  This was such a faff to make too, taking the best part of 2 hours all told (obviously with resting time included) and so was just not worth it and I wouldn't make again.  Let me make clear though that there was nothing intrinsically wrong with it, just not for me.  You can't win them all Nigel.

Fideuà

Again, I've deviated from Nigel's original recipe by not using fresh seafood to make this, mainly because my fishmonger doesn't open on Mondays and I really wanted this for lunch - I'm also cooking just for me rather than for 6 and didn't want loads of expensive seafood to go to waste.  My pasta was the thinnest I could find but was clearly not thin enough as you can see in the photo, but all of this mattered not a jot as this baby was all about the flavour.  It was so delicious that every mouthful was a total joy.  Well done Nigel!

Gooseberry ice cream

Blink and you miss them is the case with gooseberries so I got straight on the case when I saw them in the shops today.  Oh, and this ice cream is top notch!  Really flavourful and the natural sourness of the gooseberries make it fantastically refreshing.