04.12.08: Spelt penne pesto pasta

He baked a butternut squash beforehand and defrosted some pesto. She cooked it all up with some portobello mushrooms and thus re-created a squash and mushroom, pesto, spelt penne pasta extravaganza. The bnz and hazelnut salad from last night nuzzled up beside it.

SHE SAYS: Meh. It was ok. The squash mushed up in the pan and didn't exactly stir my appetite. To be fair, I had come home and devoured more smoked salmon than was wise, straight out of the pack, so I really wasn't hungry. The pesto was as deeply delightful as always but I could only toy with my fork and look forward to a speshy lunch. The salad was another overnite champion, staying fresh and crunchy, so I added it to my lunchbox for the next day with quiet anticipation.

HE SAYS: Not the prettiest pasta dish She has ever made but pretty tasty nonetheless. The squash was baked with just olive oil and salt n' pepper allowing, the natural sweetness to come thru and mix with the savouriness of the pesto nicely. The spelt pasta was definitely less heavy on my tum then the usual white variety, and, coupled with the bnz salad, made for delish and healthy grub.

15.11.08: Pesto pasta with carrot and pumpkin seed salad

He remembered to defrost the fresh sundried tomato pesto He'd made a few weeks ago and She came up with tonight's dinner plan as well as cookin' and stirrin' the pesto, some spelt penna pasta, grilled portobello mushrooms, grilled butternut squash and parmesan shavings. The salad was a concise affair: julienned carrots and roasted pumpkin seeds on a bed of mixed leaves. The rest of the wasabi dressing stood by to help out.

HE SAYS: She added some white wine to the mix and it helped add a more rounded, intense flavour to the ever so rich and satisfying milieu. The mushrooms were meaty and the squash was an inspired choice with its sweet syrupy deliciousness shining thru. The pesto was a pretty good batch; it freezes well and defrosts in seconds (okay, a few hours). It's miles above the oily stuff available in stores. Roasted pumpkin seeds make any salad better but especially this one. (Paired with its orange cousin, the humble but brilliant carrot, it seemed to try a little harder to impress).

SHE SAYS: I was slightly afraid the butternut would be a bit too heavy with the pasta, but it simply added a nice Thanksgiving-like note to the proceedings. I only salt 'n' peppered the squash this time before roasting, and it was still amazingly sweet, proving the perfect foil for the soy-sauce drizzled mushrooms and mmmworthy tangy, garlicky pesto. (This sounds like too high a pile of flava-flavs, but it all balanced in an autumal savoury way). Would def. pair butternut and mushrooms again. Salad offered a similarly sweet, roasty flavours, but added crunch and bite.

07.10.08: Pollo alla Cacciatora and salad

Once again She cooked up another round of the chicken and bnz firm family fav dish from Nigella (see the video!), but this time paired it with spelt penne pasta. A mixed leaf, avo, sweetfire beetroot and physalis salad decided to join in.

HE SAYS: This dish is always pleasant to come home to; the white wine aroma not only adds to the anticipation but also really bonds all the flavours together and makes it so richly moreish. The capers also help add that certain high note to the bowl. Tonight, there were lots of generous chunks of chicken and the smoked pancetta flavours seemed to cut through more so then the regular variety we have previously used. I thought the spelt pasta worked well and served as a brief intermission from our regular brown rice program. The avo and beetroot once again succeeded in transforming the salad from the mundane to the near spectacular.

SHE SAYS: Agree with Him, the smokey pancetta shone stronger than the plain version, but I still think maybe we need to try this dish without and see if we miss it. (We've one more pack to use up, so that experiment will have to wait.) Methinks spelt pasta is the partner of choice for the pollo; it rivals corn-studded polenta and bnz in the rice-alternative stakes. Capers will lways get big love from me, but I think their fruity teasings piques the tastebuds even more effectively when complemented by tomatoey goodness. He and I diverge slightly in opinion on the salad - for me, it's the tarty physalis that lifts the level, and how.

17.04.08: Quorn parmesan and salad

She managed to roast some peppers and saute some onions and aubergine, smother it all in the sauce, and quickly fry up the quorn lemon pepper cutlets, then refresh last nite's salad with more rocket, pear and some cucumber. She also boiled up a little spelt penne pasta for the Hungry Man.

SHE SAYS: Not bad, perfectly decent filler, and didn't take too much out of me...still feeling poorly.

HE SAYS: The veggie version of veal Parmesan, I likey a lot. The sauce was a little sweeter then usual but still tangy and delish. The pasta added a little bit more bulk to the proceedings and gave the sauce another reason to exist - performing splendid mopping up duties, maybe a crusty French loaf could perform similar wonders next time. The salad from last night was improved upon by the inclusion of the cucumber (which has been quite a rare sight on our nightly salad plates of late), I think it got along famously with all its friends from the fruit bowl.

17. 03. 08: Grilled swordfish and roasted pepper pasta

She conjured up this tasty meal of swordfish grilled with lemon salt and rosemary, coupled with spelt penna pasta in an improvised tomato, grilled peppers, and haricot beans sauce, plus a mixed-leaf avocado salad to finish.

HE SAYS: It's been a while since we ate swordfish. I enjoy the subtle taste with its nice and meaty consistency especially in combination with the delicious pasta sauce. Certainly makes a great breather from salmon steaks which are a little similar.

SHE SAYS: It's the fish that tastes like chicken! The lemon salt gave it a nice tang, but swordfish is so easy to overcook - I'm thinking it might benefit from poaching next time. Piling three home-roasted peppers into the sauce made it more-ish, and the beans made it hearty - I'll definitely try it again, maybe with some aubergine in the mix.