Mint frozen yoghurt

Not sure about this.  I think I went wrong in the instructions and weighed out leaves only rather than leaves and stalks and consequently there are too many leaves in there.  Also, it's too yoghurty for my liking and if I were to give this another go I'd use a custard base for it I think.

Roast duck and apricot salad

Oh, I've been looking forward to this all day! And it did not disappoint.  The apricots, ripe as ripe can be, were the perfect counterpoint to the rich meat and the limey dressing beautifully sharp.  This felt quite special.  Easy to make and really delivering in flavour so it's a definite to make again.

Chicken with new potatoes and sherry vinegar

The recipe in the book is for rabbit with new potatoes and Nigel says 'I daresay you could use chicken' - I did not need telling twice.  As I only cook meat for one these days, the fussy daughter having gone to the fussiest side of food fussiness and gone vegan, and obviously I still have the problem of the chips and cheese eating vegetarian boyf, a rabbit seems a bit of a waste, extremely time consuming in terms of bones and I'm not overly enamoured by the flavour either - it's just alright.  As I get older, and I'm not sure if there is an actual proper reason for this, I like chicken more and more and choose to cook with it more frequently than not.  As with many recipes in this book, those that appear the simplest and least interesting can take you completely by surprise and wow you with every mouthful.  This is the case here.  I am a vinegar lover anyway but the sauce made with the oil, the juices and the sherry vinegar was amazing and the crunch of the cucumber with the chicken meat just worked.  I will most definitely be making this again.

a piquant salad of potato and chicory

And to go with my BBQ (and his mushroom tart) is this lovely offering.  However, I had 2 attempts at the mayonnaise, failing miserably on both occasions - neither thickened to the correct consistency - so I had to resort to shop bought I'm afraid, in this instance a low fat caesar dressing stood in for the failed mayo.  And it worked.  The overriding flavour was a vinegary loveliness from the cornichons and it all just worked.  A good salad (and anyone who knows me will know I don't say those words lightly!).

new garlic and mushroom tarts

On this, what has to be, the hottest day of the year I decide I'm having a barbecue.   I'm very much a Johnny come lately to the barbecue as I've never lived anywhere in my adult life before with the outside space to have one.  When we moved last year to a house with a lovely big garden and patio I put that right, buying a cobined pizza oven/BBQ.  I've not quite mastered pizzas in it though, preferring the barbecue rack.  My vegetarian boyf is obviously not impressed or enthused by a barbie so I made these tarts for him alone for when I'm gnawing on a bone.  I was really pleased that when I handed the plate to him he said in a really impressed sound way 'have you made these?' and he very much seemed to enjoy them, wolfing down two quick smart.