Leek and Asparagus Soup [off challenge]

Not from any of the books, but something I wanted to make because the ingredients were to hand. Marks and Sparks have the first of the season's English asparagus (hurrah!) at an amazing £3.00 for 2 trays. I had some left over and also some lovely leeks, so it seemed logical to turn them into a soup, with a little potato to thicken. This will go down nicely for lunch at work.

Rhubarb Crumble [#243]

I know, this is hardly a challenge, but I do love a good crumble and the rhubard is so fab at the moment. I also wanted to share Rachel Allan's topping, which ALWAYS works. Why should something as simple as a crumble topping cause problems? Well, in the past, I've found that various recipes disappoint, primarily because they don't get the proportions of ingredients right and end up doughy and clarty on cooking. Rachel uses 75g each of butter and soft brown sugar, and 150g of plain flour - and that's it. Nothing else, no fancy schmamcy sugars, ground nuts etc and certainly no baking powder. These proportions produce - for me anyway - the perfect crumble topping, short, crisp all the way through, and a delicious accompaniment to the slightly tart rhubarb with orange, and a proper custard. Lovely job!

Tuna and Bean Salad [#242]

An easy lunch dish from Jo Pratt here, which made a nice change from sandwiches. Make a lemony mustardy vinaigrette, with the zest and juice of a lemon, some wholegrain mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Add a tin of drained and rinsed canellini or borlotti beans (we used Cirio brand, simply the best), a very finely sliced red onion, or some spring onion, a diced red pepper and a tin of drained tuna, flaked into chunks. Mix gently, taste and adjust the seasoning, and then add some finely chopped parsley. Scarcely a recipe, really.

Fragrant Persian Chicken Pilaff [#241]

I made chicken biryani recently and wondered if this might not be too similar, but it was a different dish altogether - milder, gentle and very soothing. Brown chicken thighs very well, then sautee an onion in the residual juices in the pan. Add quite a lot of crushed cardamom pods - about 10 - a stick of cinnamon and a few cloves, plenty of black pepper and some salt. Then add part-cooked basmati rice (boiled for about 4 minutes, after soaking in cold water for 2 hours). Also add 2 bay leaves, and a handful each of sultanas and toasted pine nuts. Return the chicken to the rice, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of water in which some saffron has been soaking, then clamp a lid on and cook over a very low heat for 3/4 of an hour. At the end, the rice has fluffed up, and a lovely spiced rice crust will have formed on the bottom of the pan. We'll definitely make this Alastair Hendy recipe again.

Grilled Plaice with Caper, Lemon and Parsley Butter [#240]

Lovely fresh plaice available today, so we adapted a Mitch Tonks' recipe for grilled Dover Sole. Sadly, the budget can't quite run to Dover Sole, and plaice made a very pleasant substitute. Incredibly easy - butter a baking sheet and season, put the fish on the sheet and brush it with melted butter, and season again. Grill under a really hot element for about 5 to 6 minutes until golden brown and the flesh flakes easily. Serve on a hot plate, and spoon over a simple sauce of a little melted butter seasoned with the zest and juice of half a lemon, a dessertspoon of salted capers (rinsed), black pepper and lots of finely chopped parsley. Fluffy mash is essential with this, to soak up all the buttery, lemony juices, and some lovely, seasonal, purple sprouting broccoli added colour and a lovely bitter note to proceedings. I wish we lived by the sea, so we could eat fresh fish every day. Fish is good for the brain too, so I am virtually force-feeding poor old Hubby with the stuff.

Glazed Ham with Fresh Mango Chutney [#239]

Easter Sunday - why do people eat lamb for Easter? (other than for the Passiontide associations with the Paschal Lamb?). The young lambs are really too small at this time of year to have much flavour, so I'd rather save that treat until a bit later. Instead, we had a nice piece of outdoor-reared ham, gently boiled and then baked with a glaze of soy, brown sugar, honey, rum and mustard. This is then served, sliced, with a lovely fresh 'chutney' (really what I would call a salsa) of fresh mango, sweet chilli sauce, lime juice and finely chopped red onion. This was a delicious dish from Bill Granger, bursting with flavour, and the mango would go with lots of things, including a good curry, I imagine.

Before this, we made Bill's little prawn wantons, stuffed with chopped prawn, garlic, ginger and coriander - utterly delicious, but I can only count one dish per featured cook each month!

Bouillabaisse [#238]

After our health scare on Good Friday, hubby (and I) had regained our appetite by Saturday evening - you can't keep a good trencherman (or woman) down! This was just as well as, early on Good Friday, I had bought loads of beautiful fish and shellfish to have a go at Judith Well's low-fat version of Bouillabaisse. So, I was glad to be able to use it up, and we were rewarded with a most delicious, light and appetising fish dinner that we will most certainly make again. I used some sea bass, chunks of cod, prawns and mussels. I know, no mullet, gurnard or rascasse, none of the spiny mediterranean fish that should be in there, but hey, we live in Oxford, not Marseilles! The subtle seasoning of fennel seed, saffron and orange zest sang through, along with the fish stock and tomato. Lots of parsley at the end brought the whole thing together. With some crusty bread, it was food to console and to comfort and to celebrate that we were eating it together.

Potato and Rosemary Fritatta [#237]

So, we had a bit of a drama over Easter, with Hubby being proper poorly on Good Friday. BUT - it takes more than that to get in the way of our food! Before he fell ill, we had a lovely lunch of this simple and wholesome omelette from Marcella Hazan. Being Italian, she calls it a fritatta, but it was perhaps more like a Spanish tortilla. A thinly sliced potato and onion are sauteed gently in olive oil until soft and golden, and stirred into beaten eggs with a fair bit of finely chopped fresh rosemary - about a dessertspoonful. All is gently cooked in a non-stick omelette pan and browned under the grill. Simple and delicious. However, I shall never cook it again, as it is jinxed, as is 'The Sound of Music', but that's another story..............

Zhejiang Mein [#236]

Or 'Mixed Well Sauced Noodles' according to Ching-He Huang. This is a kind of Taiwanese 'Spag Bol', with minced pork (or you could use beef), stir-fried with spring onion, garlic, mushrooms, red pepper and beansprouts, and then simmered in chicken stock, Chinese rice wine, Hoi Sin sauce and red chilli paste until thick and sweet. Toss through some cooked rice or egg noodles along with some coriander, and you have a delicious, sweet/salty/spicy supper. Yum! Just don't put Parmesan on it.........

Lentil and Winter Vegetable Soup [#235]

Well, British Summer Time allegedly started on Sunday - outside, it is cold, dark, wet and with sleet forecast for later in the week! So, what better than a pot of lentilly, vegetably goodness, with tomato and spices? This has the added advantage of being low fat, and is from Judith Wills. Cheap too! Let's hope this will be our last Winter soup of the season though. This time last year, we were about to start the English asparagus season - it has been such a harsh winter this year, that I doubt we'll be eating it until nearer the end of April.

Chorizo, Butternut and Feta Frittata [#234]

So, we were meant to be eating the leftover Asian Ribs tonight. Who was I kidding? So, a lovely baked frittata from Rachel Allan instead, with some crusty bread. I slightly over-baked it, as I was distracted whilst reading about.....food! Delicious though, with a lovely blend of salty, spicy and sweet.

Asian-style Ribs [#233]

A delicious marinade from Donna Hay of Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, masses of grated ginger and a little sugar and five spice powder. However, as with Nigel last year, she suggests marinading raw pork ribs and then roasting them. This would be anathema to most Aisan cooks - I know - my great friend Gi makes a mean pork rib, and she ALWAYS cooks them before hand, in water, for about an hour. The meat is then already tender and much more receptive to the sticky marinade - a final blast in the oven for 20 minutes is enough to have them emerge glistening with the meat dropping off the bone - just delicious, and it is impossible to stop eating them! Do make these, but also, do follow my advice if you want tender succulent meat and a glaze that hasn't burnt.

Chicken Biryani [#232]

Phew! I'm stuffed, if you'll pardon the expression. This Chicken Biryani was an altogether more delicate and elegant version of the dish than you'll ever get at the local take-away - chicken thigh pieces marinated in lemon juice, garam masala and yoghurt, then cooked with masses of pureed onion, garlic and ginger, ground almonds and water until tender, with a thick fragrant 'gravy'. This is then layered with partially cooked rice flavoured with cinnamon and cloves and drizzled with saffron-infused water, covered tightly with foil, and baked for half-an-hour or so. We served this with a spicy vegetable 'sabji' - rich with coriander and chilli - which was a great contrast. The trouble is, we kept going back for just one more spoonful........as I say, stuffed, and a happy Hubby is now slumped, replete, in front of the rugby.

Roast Lamb with Cumin, Mint and Lemon, with Roast Carrots [#231]

Another class recipe from Nigel Slater - although I am enjoying a wide range of recipes from across 12 books this year, I am missing the total immersion in all things Nigel, so it is a treat to cook with him again, using some of his favourite flavours. A lovely half leg of lamb is doused in a slushy rub of grated garlic (lots), finely chopped mint, a little cumin, lots of lemon juice and olive oil, then roasted for 50 minutes or so until juicily pink. Nigel adds carrots to the tin too, to roast in the fragrant juices, and with a pan gravy made with a large glass of white wine, the whole thing sang with flavour. We drank a very fine bottle of New Zealand Marlborough Pinot Noir with this, to celebrate a day when Spring well and truly felt like it was on the way.

Steamed Pak Choi with Sesame and Soy [#230]

Scarcely a recipe, yet I wouldn't have tried it this way if I hadn't come across it in Ching-He Huang's book. You simply steam pak choi, halved if large, for a couple of minutes, remove to a warm plate and drizzle the hot, vividly green veg with toasted sesame oil and light soy. Please be very delicate with both these, you need just a few drops of each sprinkled over the steaming hot vegetables, as too much overwhelms. But, with the right amount of judicious seasoning, this is a delicacy, and flatters the flavour and texture of this vegetable much better than stir-frying, in my opinion.

Stir-fried Chicken with Peppers, Basil and Rosemary [#229]

Or, to give it its Japanese name, Tori to piman no itame ni. This recipe, from Harumi, is a perfect example of why I do the challenge - I would NEVER have chosen it, as the combination of chicken marinated in onion, soy, basil, rosemary and red wine sounded, frankly, a bizarre mix of Asian and Western. But, let me tell you, it was exceedingly delicious. The flavours worked like a dream, and the tender chicken with the crunchy peppers was yummy. We served this with steamed rice, and Ching-Hue's steam pak choi. (Recipe to follow). If this recipe sounds like your cup of tea, send me your email and I'll post it to you - it is so very good, I want you all to try it.

Potted Prawn and Crab Pate[#228]

Yum. I could eat this recipe, from Jo Pratt, every day until I die - which would probably be very soon, with all the butter it contains. Still, as a topping for hot toast to start our dinner, it was a real treat. It stands or falls on the quality of its ingredients - really fresh white crab meat from the Seafood and Eat It company in Cornwall, succulent prawns from Waitrose, mixed with melted butter, lemon zest, chopped dill and cayenne pepper for a bit of zip. Just lovely.

Retro Chilli con Carne [#227]

Alastair Hendy's Chilli is fairly similar to my own 'house' chilli, but he intrigued me by mixing the paprika powder with a tablespoon of vinegar. He also used LOTS of tomato puree as well as tinned tomatoes, which I decided not to do! The end result was a good, trad chilli con carne with an intriguing back note from the vinegar. I also added the grated mozzarella touch that he suggested, which made a nice change. Not sure whether I would forego my own recipe in the future, though. I used kosher minced beef steak, which I mistakenly ordered from Ocado, and the taste was similar to lamb - I wonder why?