Mustard Chops [#63]

This is a nice, simple treatment for chops - pork, in our case, rather than the lamb that Nigel suggested - what is Nigel's obsession with lamb? He does eat a lot of it, and there are around 16 recipes using it in the book, as opposed to just 2 for beef! Anyway, can't find a recipe online, but dead easy. Crush garlic - lots. Mix with grain mustard - lots, but probably not as much as Nigel suggests (1 heaped teaspoon, rather than a tablespoon - yes, a tablespoon!). Add the juice of a lemon and a good splosh of olive oil, and lots of salt and pepper. Mix, and pour over 2 large, fat pork chops. Leave for an hour or so, and then grill, basting with the marinade, until crustily brown but still juicy in the middle. Lovely served with spring greens and plump grilled mushrooms.

Orange and Lemon Cheesecake [#62]

This cheesecake has the smoothest texture, thanks to Nigel's technique of baking it in a bain-marie. It doesn't have a deeply citrus flavour, however, so I served it with slices of juicy navel orange. I also virtually halved the ingredients, and used reduced-fat versions of Mascarpone and Cream Cheese to try to keep us both out of the local cardio-thoracic ward. This is my fifth Nigel recipe from The Diaries this weekend - I need help!

Slow-cooked Duck with Star Anise and Ginger [#61]

After pouncing on a bargain reduced free-range duck (dead, of course) at Waitrose yesterday, I took advantage of a recipe from the November section of the Diaries, and that has tempted me for a long time. I jointed the duck and made a stock with the carcase which went into this aromatic braise instead of chicken stock. After chilling overnight, the fat was skimmed off the surface. Absolutely yummy treatment for duck, served with fragrant Basmati rice and sprouting broccoli. The leftovers will be shredded into the remaining duck stock tomorrow with ramen noodles, spring greens, mushrooms and peppers, so a bargain indeed! We drank a most delicious Riesling Spatlese from Hochheim (Germany) with the duck.

Taramosalata and Flatbreads [#59 & 60]

Two recipes knocked off the list tonight (and another two to follow, see the next entries) so a veritable Nigel-fest this weekend. This is so much better than the awful 'pantie-pink' versions of taramosalata that one gets in the supermarket - the natural pinkiness was supplied by marvellous quality lobes of smoked cod's roe, supplied by the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse that I have written of several times. Deeply flavoured, smoky and rich, you really don't need much - 100g is plenty for 4 people. The flatbreads were good too, with so much more texture and character than bog-standard pitta breads. Accompanied by splendid cocktails called 'Cablegrams' - smoky Scotch, fresh lemon juice and ginger ale, served on-the-rocks.

Chicken with Vermouth and Tarragon [#58]

I have made chicken with a creamy tarragon sauce so many times. Nigel's was a good variation in that he adds a touch of tarragon vinegar and lemon juice which lifts the flavours. Comfort food at its best, chicken in a creamy sauce (though not as much cream and butter as Nigel, naturally!) with garlicky sauteed potatoes and lovely purple sprouting broccoli. Washed down with a very nice 'garage' white from Laithwaite's special collection, a blend of Chardonnay and Viognier. To be followed by a fresh pineapple, passionfruit and rum granita (not a Nigel recipe), so a very nice supper indeed!

Green Curry of Prawns and Thai Aubergines [#57]

No Thai aubergines to be found in Oxford, I'm afraid (or pea aubergines - really, Nigel!) so a nice, ordinary one, chopped into dice about half-an-inch square, worked perfectly well. As we had rice last night, I served this with slippery udon noodles - a cultural and national hybrid, I know, Japan meets Thailand, but it was a diplomatic success! Great quick recipe, gorgeous colours and full of layers of flavour from kaffir lime leaves, chilli, basil, coriander, lime - an acceptable way of eating prawns, which we rarely consume, for some reason!

Chicken Wings with Lemon and Cracked Pepper [#56]

Sorry, didn't use chicken wings - I've mentioned before about not liking my plate to look like a charnel house of bones, and all that skin - no thanks. So, used chicken thighs again, lovely meaty organic ones that I skinned and bashed out a little between sheets of clingfilm. I also added a touch of honey to offset the sharpness of the lemon, along with a wee bit of red chilli. Delicious flavours, which went really well with some egg-fried rice with vegetables. Whatever piece of the chicken you use, it will be lip-smackin' good! Here's the recipe from Nigel.

Roast Lamb with Cumin and Mint [#55]

I leapt forward to the June section of the Diaires for this lovely recipe - much more subtle than the title might suggest. It turned a bog-standard boned leg of New Zealand lamb into a rich, savoury dish. We started with bruschetta topped with pesto and roast tomato for a little taste of summer to come, and will finish with a granita of blood orange and Campari. Delicious dinner, resolutely looking forward to the warmer weather. Can't find a recipe online, which is surprising, but it is basically a rub of crushed garlic, a bit of ground cumin, lemon juice, chopped mint and olive oil. Leave it on the lamb for an hour or two, then roast for 30 mins per kilo. Deglaze the pan with wine (either red or white) and more chopped mint.

Demerara Lemon Cake [#54]

Phew! Bit of a Nigel marathon today, with a lamb recipe for later too, and this morning's breakfast brioche. Nigel is certainly a good baker, and this moist, tangy cake is a good example of his skills. We had a surfeit of limes in the house, so I used them instead of lemons, and they worked beautifully. One quibble - the thinly sliced limes for the topping were a bit chewy, despite being cooked in a sugar syrup as Nigel recommended. Next time, I might simmer them just in a little water until soft and then add sugar, as I think cooking them in a syrup stops them from softening. Other than that, lovely for afternoon tea, and once again, lucky colleagues will get the rest!

Toasted Brioche with Chocolate [#53]

An indulgent little number, greedily consumed this morning and completely undoing our healthy start of a platter of fresh citrus fruit and pineapple, and Greek Yoghurt. Scrummy and easy, and infinitely better than ready-made pain au chocolat. Like Nigel, I got my brioche loaf from Waitrose. I'm sorry, but as part of the Challenge I do have to cook everything, you know! (btw, this is a stock photo so didn't eat cream with it, just to reassure you! Otherwise it looked pretty similar) photo courtesy of http://www.thefoodsection.com/

Chicken with Mustard Seeds and Coconut [#52]

Another example of Nigel's mastery of Indian and Asian flavours. I followed the recipe to the letter, but then added spinach and chickpeas to make it more substantial, and served it with naan bread. We have enough left over for work lunch on Monday. Instead of chicken on the bone, which always depresses me (I don't like my plate to look like a charnel house at the end of the meal), I used some big, meaty organic boneless chicken thighs, which worked a treat. Creamy and satisfying (even using half-fat coconut milk) this another one to make again.

An English Cheese Salad [#51]

Scarcely a recipe, this, and indeed I can't find a link on the web, so will sketch the picture for you. A warm Spring day, crisp green salad leaves, thin slivers of sharp Mrs Butler's Lancashire Cheese (the cheese was sharp, not Mrs Butler!), toasted walnuts, and a mild and mellow dressing made with lemon juice, walnut oil and seasoning. This made for a supper of pleasing textures, to follow a non-Nigel brothy soup of Chorizo and Butterbeans, with chunks of olive foccacia. Very nice indeed! We haven't had any of Nigel's salads this year, because the weather wasn't right, but today, it seemed very appropriate.

Mushroom Pappardelle - 50th recipe!

Well, OK, so I didn't have any pappardelle, so used chunky rigatoni instead. As usual with Nigel, I halved the butter! (sorry, but 75g is way too much!) The parsley at the end is an essential addition. Nice, easy pasta supper. This recipe marks my 50th in the challenge, over a quarter of the way through!

Chocolate Almond Cake

This was a pleasant recipe to put together on a sunny Sunday morning. It rose beautifully, and didn't sink as much as I thought it would on cooling. We will have thin slices of it after our Sunday dinner of trout pate to start and marvellous sirloin steaks from the excellent Donald Russell online butchers. This is a big cake and way too much for the two of us, even over the next couple of days, so my colleagues at work are in for a treat for their morning coffee tomorrow!

A Fiery Way with Lamb

I have never really been a huge fan of lamb chops, which always seemed to have too much fat and bone to meat ratio. Also, by the time the fat is cooked to an edible stage, the meat is often dry and tough. So, this idea of Nigel's (more of an idea than a recipe in the book) of marinading them and grilling them in a spicy thick tomato sauce sounded very appealing. And indeed, it was delicious. I decided to use ground coriander and cumin rather than whole seeds (but did leave the fennel and mustard seeds whole), and also blitzed the onion, chilli, garlic, ginger and fresh tomato into a kind of masala paste. The resulting 'slurry' for want of a better word is then fried and reduced to thicken even more, and when cooled, the chops are then marinated in it (with fresh coriander leaf added when cool). Ten minutes under a hot grill, with lots of the paste still adhering, and we had juicy, fragrant chops with a crisp frill of fat - lovely! Served them with Nigel's spiced potatoes (see the February entry for the recipe) and plain broccoli as a contrast. Really nice, with a hearty Californian Petite Syrah from Lodi. Hubby wants me to say that it would be a really good marinade for chicken too, perhaps for a whole spatchcocked one, or for whole quail if one is feeling decadent! I agree and will make it again photo courtesy of Cook-the-books

Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce and Ginger

A dead simple recipe, this, though not entirely to my taste - I can't get over the obvious fishiness in the sauce, and feel about it the way I do about nam pla - hold your nose whilst eating. Still, hardly Nigel's fault and the recipe is sound. The copious ginger and garlic was very nice, so next time I might make it with soy and honey. We used lovely fresh purple sprouting broccoli instead of Chinese broccoli. Nigel's tip of serving plain Basmati with chopped coriander leaves through it was lovely, and one I'll use again, definitely.

Orange Jelly with Lemon and Cardamom

Lovely light jelly after a rich main course of Rabbit and Chorizo stew (Not a Nigel recipe, shock-horror!). Fat free too, and only a tablespoonful of sugar. Very nice recipe and the cardamom gave a wonderful flavour. I used a blend of oranges, including some gorgeous, rich blood oranges, so the finished jelly ended up with a glorious colour. Sorry there is no pic of the dish but look at the lovely fruit!

This is my 46th recipe in the challenge, and we are nearly at the quarter-of-the-book stage!

Aubergine and Tomato Curry with Lemongrass

I know, I know, another recipe with lemongrass, but Nigel has a lot of recipes with it in at this time of year - and boy, was this a good one! Another fine example of Nigel's brilliance with Asian flavours, this curry had the most wonderful 'gravy' which we mopped up with coriander and garlic naan bread - unconventional, I know, but it was sooo good. One difference from the recipe - I sauteed the aubergines and mushrooms first, rather than bung them in with the sauce raw.

We also served more of the delectable pork and lime leaf patties that I had stashed in the freezer from when I made them in January - check out the blog for that recipe. A truly marvellous supper, to accompany Madama Butterfly on Radio 3 - I know, we should have eaten Japanese, but this Thai-inspired meal was near enough ;o) - by the way, we drink dryish cider with our curries rather than lager - try it, the slight sweetness goes wonderfully well, and has no hint of the slight bitterness that lager sometimes has, unwelcome I think with these flavours.

Stir-fried Chicken with Mushrooms and Lemongrass

Nigel seems to have a lot of lemongrass in his food at this time of year, and that's fine by us, its astringent, sprightly flavours bring a zestiness to late winter suppers. This was a zippy, flavour-packed stir-fry and we followed the recipe fairly religiously, only adding tiny sprigs of broccoli to get our greens, and cutting back on the nam pla which I find too smelly for words - the recipe does need some, though, to balance the sweet/chilli/lime/ginger aromatics. Now we are 2 months into the challenge, and I feel I am getting to know Nigel a little and how he ticks - he certainly does Asian food brilliantly

Stir-fried Mushrooms, Spring Leaves and Lemongrass

OK, so I might have taken some liberties with this recipe! I had all the basics from the recipe, but added loads - a pepper, left-over duck, noodles, lime leaves and mint. I think I have stayed true to the spirit of the recipe - it is just that we are greedy and wanted more! A nice, satisfying, healthy supper.

Bramley Apple Shortcake

Can't find an online recipe for this, so I'm afraid you'll have to consult a copy of the book in a bookstore or - better still - buy it so you can cook all of Nigel's lovely recipes! This is basically a VERY buttery, tender shortcake crust, top and bottom, stuffed full of cooked Bramley and Royal Gala apples. Simple and unfussy, with no cinnamon, lemon or dried fruit, and all the better for it, in my opinion! This rounded off a very indulgent meal of little bread croutes topped with warm Morecambe Bay shrimps, then a classic roast Duck a L'Orange made with Seville oranges, washed down by a lovely slightly sweet Vouvray. We are greedy pigs, but there you go.