15.10.08: Quorn cutlets with tomato and veggie sauce

She masterly pan-fried two lemon-pepper quorn fillets. At the same time, She grilled a green and yellow pepper, spring onions and aubergine, then mixed it all up with a jar of Lloyd Grossman's chili-tomato sauce, shaved off some parmesan, and voila, tonite's dinner! A fig, physalis, pear, beetroot, watercress, spinach and rocket salad patiently stood by the side of the stage ready to perform.

SHE SAYS: Sauce was def. improved by a few slugs of wine, but I missed the fat, silky slices of regular onion. A quorn patty is like the best big chicken nugget ever, so just go from there in your imaginative assessment. Unlike Him, I was beginning to find our salad combo a little tiresome, but it was still v good by any normal dinner standard.

HE SAYS: Its been a little while since we had this culinary creation. The quorn was ever so crunchy and the sauce, mamma-mia! it was awfully tasty (I think the added red wine gives it a distinctly rich depth of flava). I didn't mind the spring onions replacing the regular variety She usually puts in the sauce and the peppers brought a sweet note and crunchy texture to the plate. I'm not yet tired of the figs or for that matter, sweetfire beetroot, in the salad and the pear was a nice touch too.

14.10.08: Red prawn and mango curry

Five days, aaaand we're back: He stirred up the red prawn and mango curry from Nigella, already, pairing it with a brown and wild rice mix. A heartily varied salad of avo, figs, radishes, sweetfire beetroot, spinach and watercress did its best to upstage the bowl, aided and abetted by leftover wasabi-lime.

HE SAYS: I think I put in the right amount of fish sauce this time around. Also, the shrimp were cooked just enough - instead of turning rubbery, they were fresh tasting and delish. Agree with Her about the rice not being cooked enough, I added more water but it just wasn't enough. The salad was a cornucopia of freshness, hitting sweet and savoury notes. The dressing added the peppery tang we luv and after the last bite and the washing-up, it was all over until tomorrow.

SHE SAYS: Really perfect balance of coconut milk to curry paste (heat!) and fish sauce (quite a bit less than recent versions). Rice could have used a little more cooking time for the wild rice to soften up some more, but it's a small quibble. Salad was a sweet-tart delight made zingy with the dressing, but do prefer fewer types of veg in the salad in general or it becomes a kitchen sink kind of thing.

13.10.08: Pollo alla cacciatora

Together again: We sat down to Her latest batch of what is quickly becoming the top Nigella fave rave, plus a flamboyant salad of avo, fig, spinach and watercress with a side of wasabi-lime.

SHE SAYS: I left out the sugar this time and didn't miss it a bit - I don't think I find tomatoes as sharp as most people do. But then We do have a preference for acidity, with our lemon- and lime-lovin' palates. This was as savoury and tender as ever, though I'd like to up the sauce quotient somehow. I was a little greedy with the wasabi-lime application on my salad serving and had to pinch my nose to avoid complete nasal scorch. But now We know, if we didn't before: fig and wasabi-lime love each other everso.

HE SAYS: It's less then a week since the last time we ate this meal and I don't mind a bit. This latest version stood up to past efforts with lots of rich tastes and textures. I'm still debating which I prefer between spelt pasta vs brown rice for this dish, but since the rest of the week will be heavy on the grain side I applaud Her executive decision to go the spelt penne route. Also, like Her, I didn't miss the sugar either. The ever present figs in the salad have yet to get boring and, coupled with some avo and covered in the wasabi dressing, continue to brighten up my bowl.

11.10.08: Blk bnz with sweetcorn polenta and Austrian gala dinner

Second night on his tod he cooked up the black bnz over some polenta with corn kernels garnished with big slices of avo. A salad of figs, tomato, radishes and sweetfire beetroot tried its best to keep Him company.

HE SAYS: Definitely not as fun to make and eat this one alone but felt better knowing that there was enough leftovers for tomorrow's meal too. This batch o' beans was pretty good but not spectacular. I managed to get the polenta's consistency pretty spot-on and the sweetcorn helped it out by giving it some crunchiness amongst the tasty goop. The salad took a break from fancy dressings and acted as a fresh and zingy closure to the lonely night.


Meanwhile, She sneaked a snap of the main course among five: pictured is the pork filet served in pepper crust and cream sauce with a vegetable bouquet and a healthy helping of spaetzle. Before that She managed to get down her neck some slices of duck breast over Waldorf salad; consomme with a splash of sherry; Rabbit filet served on a puff pastry pillow of juniperjus; and a small scoop of melon sorbet floating in campari. Afterwards, a small square of the prosaically titled chocolate cake managed to find a corner to squeeze into.

SHE SAYS: Thankfully, most portions were smaller than last nite's, and the quality mostly nipped up a notch. The duck and consomme are not much worth commenting on, and if there was sherry in that soup I'll eat my hat. The rabbit filet was actually a kind of rabbit sausage in a few little sections over some sort of thin grilled bread; nice herby flavour, but toughish. The fruity palate cleanser went straight to my head and put me in an expansive mood for the main course, which was rich and satisfying, if a bit bland. (I do love me some spaetzle.) Choccy cake was a thin but rich square of the German variety (I was hoping for sachertorte, but it's just as well this was a little lighter as I was uberstuffed).

09.10.08: Pea, pesto and mushroom risotto

He gathered up the ingredients and proceeded to create this infamous risotto consisting of peas, pesto and mushrooms paired with a salad of rocket, mixed leafs, radishes and figs. All dressed up with a dressing of Her design, consisting of Colman's mustard, a splash of white wine vinegar, Tasmanian leatherwood tree honey ('with a lychee flavour', how innaresting), a pinch salt and pepper.

HE SAYS: Having prepared the risotto earlier in the day it had time for its flavours to mature and strengthen. Was happy with the outcome and enjoyed the severe savouriness of the dish. The parmesan supplied a salty edge, and the basil, a nice freshness to the taste. Her salad dressing was also great and added a hot and sweet mix to the surrounding greenery.

SHE SAYS: It was my nite to cook, but He handily put this together and had it in the fridge for warming when I came home, bless 'im. And it was a fine batch, too, one of the best. The fragrant pesto and intense parmesan (a truly excellent and well-priced Tesco variety) mixed with the mild, humble peas and plain yet meaty mushrooms to play on every tastebud I've got. In a word, yummilicious. My new salad dressing is no wasabi-lime, but the Colman's is almost as nose-wrinkling as the green goodness, and the honey gave it all a gorgeous floral note.

30.09.08: Black bnz and polenta with avo

She ushered September out the door with the now-traditional black bnz ladled over slightly buttered polenta with corn kernels, all topped with generous slices of avo. A sald of figs, rocha pear, radishes and - you guessed it - mixed leaves edged into the frame all fruity and fragrant, awaiting a light drizzle of Nigella's wasabi-lime.

SHE SAYS: Despite having to reduce the cumin by half due to low supply, this batch came out might tasty. Possibly the tbsp of chili powder, added for its cumin content, gave it a spice boost. Silky polenta with crispy corn kernels still makes this a treat of a supper, as opposed to a merely good one. Salad played all its roles - sweet, piquant, salty, crunchy, seedy - with admirable versatility.

HE SAYS: I think this batch was above par in the taste dept., smoky and intensely savoury tasting.The chilli powder seemed to work a treat, adding more depth of flava, and I didn't miss the missing cumin at all. The sweetcorn is really a great touch in the polenta and I would be upset if we suddenly had a corn shortage. Salad was another fruity affair, a little of everything I'd want in a cold dish of various mixtures served with a dressing of my choosing.

28.09.08: Spelt penne with veg and tomato sauce

When Sunday means simple: She stirred up some panetta cubes, shallots, portobellini mushroms, capers, and an orange pepper with some glugs of red wine and a basil-tomato sauce from good ol' Lloyd to coat some spelt penne pasta (it's back in stock!). Shavings of grana padano took top honours, while a salad of figs, toasted sunflower seeds, avo and mixed leaves peered over the edge.

SHE SAYS: Soothing and subtle, nothing you shout about, but something you quietly enjoy and linger over. And it's all the more endearing for being easy and quickish. I do think pancetta cubes are not the world's most exciting seasoning - there's a shallow undercurrent of hamminess, not a smoky or salty surge of it. Capers gave us the most interesting note, as they tend to do. Sunflower seeds held their roasty own against the playfully seed-textured figs and creamy avo.

HE SAYS: Funny, unlike Her I thought the sauce was pretty rich and bold. With the cheese, capers and red wine it was, to my taste, salty and tangy (two flavas I especially enjoy). The spelt penne was lighter in texture, also less glutinous then it's wheat cousin and did a good job of holding and delivering the sauce to me gob. Agree with her that the pancetta did not add too much to the plate and we probably could leave it out next time without forfeiting taste. The inclusion of the figs always brightens up the salad, their appearance reminds me of passion flowers, which are also sort of beautifully alien looking, but figs are probably nicer to nibble.

20.09.08: Roast butternut squash, Middle Eastern spinach, quorn, and fig salad

She broke a longstanding prejudice against dealing with giant gourds (hard to cut, too long to cook, etc) and baked a butternut with butter, maple syrup and ras-al-hanout; tried a tempting recipe for spiced spinach with yoghurt and pine nuts from NYT; flipped some lemon-pepper quorn fillets in the pan; and took advantage of a timely fig sale to sophistimatise a salad in which sweetfire beetroot played a supporting role. Bonus: a sprinkle of toasted squash seeds.

SHE SAYS: The spinach dish was fantastically garlicky, rich in allspice intensity, and silky on the tongue, but 'serves three'? Who are they kidding? We barely had a little blob each! I knew that one bag of spinach would likely shrivel to Borrower-size portions, but I have a bad habit of trusting a recipe first time around. Fun fact: the laughingly simple garlic yoghurt is a dead ringer for ranch dressing, kid ye not. We spooned ample amounts over the quorn and even drizzled it over the salad.

The butternut squash is the real star, though. The Bart brand ras-al-hanout is v nutmeggy, with a touch of rose petal, and undercuts the vegginess of the squash just so. This early crop was so tender we could eat it skin and all. Next time (and there will be many next times), I'll try baking with olive oil to see if we can replicate the luxuriousness with a slightly healthier fat.

The salty, toasted seeds of the squash were less effective in salad than they were when eaten alone out of a handy little bowl (frequently); but the fig and beetroot played nicely together in sweet-tart harmony.

HE SAYS: Mmmmm, the squash was absolutely devine, cooked perfectly; soft, moist, creamy and with the maple syrup, delish. The garlic sauce was also fantastic, very light but very moreish. I wished there was more of the spinach but managed to spread it around the plate enough to combine with mouthfuls of the crunchy quorn and sweet, sweet squash. It was nice to have the figs in attendance once again in the salad (after what seems like a long time) and they worked perfectly paired with my favorite root vegatable of the year, the beetroot.