Girolles and hazelnuts are just the most glorious combination - both sweet, nutty and earthy, they complement each other well. The lobster was actually just a vehicle for the girolles, and it could just as easily have been baked squash I made last week, or any number of roasted vegetables. 
In January I found myself tucking into a braised ox-cheek, in the middle of a horrific snow storm. We were in Cheltenham to shoot, a shoot which would subsequently be called off due to 5ft snow drifts. We'd lunched at the fabulous Le Champignon Sauvage and were supposed to have an early dinner in the dining room at the Ellenborough hotel. With the storm raging around us however, the chef had abandoned us in a fit of pique - apparently he had set up for a conference of two hundred people, and the whole thing had been cancelled at the last moment.
It must be autumn, I'm craving all manner of autumnal veg, from pumpkin to sweetcorn, and every variety of squash and mushroom I can find. I genuinely think we eat too much meat in our diets, and there is no reason not to have a delicious warm lunch, where the star is the vegetable.
All bow to Mary Berry, the queen of baking. And it's true, if I'm looking for a traditional bake, I'll usually look at her recipe first and then move on to check out any variations. In this case we've never moved beyond Mary's recipe, and it's the cake the children ask for most. If made using the all-in-one method in a food processor, it literally can be in the oven in five minutes... C'mon - who doesn't have time for a five minute cake???
The sun is coming out, and so it's time to eat 'cleaner' food. I'm a huge fan of Japanese cuisine, but there's something very appealing in Asian salads from all over the continent. This Cambodian salad, from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey, really hits my buttons.
The girls are always asking me for lemon drizzle cake - it seems that the school makes a fabulous one for snack time. Of course I couldn't go with a standard version, and wanted to incorporate a couple of different ideas. As well as lemons, I wanted to use blood oranges for a fuller scent load, and a pink icing. And given my recent obsession with frangipane and nut flours, I also wanted to include a little ground almond into the cake, though I suspect you could probably swap that for polenta too.
I'm going to shamelessly copy an article
I happened to have some smoked salmon which needed using up - you know, like you do - and I wanted a new blini recipe. The problem with blini is that by about the third, you're feeling their leaden grip in your stomach. They stop being a vehicle for the topping and become a hindrance. I'd had my eye on Felicity Cloake's recipe for a while now, as it's a variation on Richard Bertinet's, and I think we all know I love Richard's gallic charm (and his excellent online baking shop).
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My favourite Saturday lunch, always made by Hubby, is this incredibly simple but very aromatic soup. The lemon zest clears your jaded palate and sets you up for the weekend...
You may have realised, by now, that I'm catching up on all the recipes I intended to cook in December! A combination of gas leaks, children's flu etc, has somewhat disrupted my schedule. One thing I really wanted to cook for my annual quiz night were Andy Bates' chorizo and fennel seed sausage rolls...
I came across this great little recipe by Angela Hartnett, in the Guardian... Angela comes form an Italian family, and often talks about the dishes she learnt at her Nonna's side... As well as running Murano's, she is working with Luke Holder, Head Chef at Limewood Hotel on a new venture showcasing New Forest produce.
After the best part of a year waiting for their return, blood oranges are finally back in season. I've made them into sorbet in the past, but sometimes when something is this seasonal it's nice to enjoy them in a very simple recipe. So - this one is not really a hardship - no waiting for dough to prove - no hanging around!
Amongst other things, one of my very dear friends gave me a doughnut pan for my birthday (because that's what dear friends do, when you're an obsessive baker)! The books have been read, the pictures poured over, but the unused pan has remained in my kitchen drawer - silent - mysterious - resolute. "Try me", it cries, when I open the drawer, "let's make doughnuts"...
