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.

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.

24.06.08: Green risotto with broiled portobello mushrooms

She pulled out the stops on a Tuesday nite and tried the really green risotto in the latest Waitrose free mag, subs-ing spelt grains for risotto rice and topping it off with grilled portobello mushrooms instead of the suggested roast chicken. He swabbed the mushies with balsamic, salt'n'pepa, and Her ho-made rose harissa (yep, new variety - comment to ask for exclusive recipe!). Noting pretty food photography in recent Observer Food mag, She left the breakfast radishes whole in the salad, which was also fortified with Sweetfire beetroot.

HE SAYS: Fantastico! this must be a strong contender for risotto of the week. This green pile of delight was minty fresh and packed with flava. The molasses-like consistency of the vegetable stock from M&S seemed to add another depth of yum while the white wine reduction only helped intensify an already tasty plate. The mushrooms were meaty, beaty, big and bouncy, okay maybe not bouncy, but intensely satisfying. After all the soft food, it was nice to put my teeth back in and crunch into my one of my fave vegetables, the humble radish. Oh, and the beetroot was ever so good, to boot.

SHE SAYS: Very fresh-tastingand more-ish, though I don't think the spelt pack's claim of 'great for risotto!' really holds true. As I suspected it might, the spelt cooked up like barley - springy, though soft, but not creamy. It did have far less intrusive flavour than barley. It didn't subtract from my great enjoyment of the risotto, though - it was like a decadent mint pesto thingy. Mushrooms added meaty texture and depth of flavour (with just a hint of rose, lots of garlic, and mischievous chili bite). Liked the whole radishes - don't know why it makes a difference, but biting off as much as you want vs daintily chewing slices is utterly satisfying.

24.04.08: Pesto pasta with prawns and mushrooms

A random combination: She whizzed up some pesto from lots of basil and sundried tomatoes; sauteed fresh green garlic, portobello and chestnut mushrooms, rocket and two kinds of M&S prawns; and combined it all with some trofie pasta dug out of the cupboard. Boiled chantenay carrots modestly filled out the plate, while the salad He threw together from the remains of all the week's salad fixings looked on.

HE SAYS: Luv the pesto pasta, luv you long time. The trofie may have been a little south of aldenté but it didn't spoil the luxuriously fragrant and tasty ho-made pesto, and what with the sweet sundried tomatoes, what's not to like? Enjoyed the mushroom selectsheeun cooked with dark soy sauce - a hint from Helois, they taste better for it, any dish, any time. Carrots acted as a fresh and uncomplicated companion to the rest of the the plate, no thrills or bells and whistles, just good plain carrots goddamn it. Salad was a veritable mix of all things vegetable (no fruit action tonite) but the fancy olive oil she picked up on sale put it in another league, uh-huh.

SHE SAYS: I rather overcooked the pasta - it's tricky to get right - but the sharp, fresh pesto flavours rescued it somewhat from being a complete bland state of mush. The mushroo-prawn mix was v. tasty, and who knew fresh garlic was so tender and almost milky? V. nice, indeed. The carrots made surprisingly easy eatin' and did not languish on the plate til the end as I feared they might. Salad did its job of refreshing and filling.

08.04.08: Mustard chops, spinach and mash

She's keeping it simple: lamb chops marinated in mustard, olive oil, garlic and lemon a la Nigel Slater's Food Diaries; charlotte potatoes mashed with milk and marge, finished with slices of dark soy-basted portobello mushrooms (grilled a couple of nites ago 'just because'), and spinach shallow-boiled with a touch of nutmeg. The salad is the decadent bit tonite, with grapes, avo, and feta peeking thru the mixed rocket leaves.

HE SAYS: Definitely a Hungry-Man meal. Enjoyed the mustardy chops immensely, and the nutmeg in the spinach was a dee-licious surprise. Salad was elevated to greater tasty heights with the inclusion of the not-so-goaty feta and sweet, sweet grapes. Thumbs up all 'round!

SHE SAYS: 'Proper food' was the phrase that came to mind when I surveyed my plate this evening. Chops had just enough tangy singedness to the edges and were nice and pink inside - suppose the larger chops could have done with another couple minutes on each side, but it's better than being too tough. Spinach was light and suprisingly filling, needing nothing more than its nutmeg wink to satisfy. The hearty mash found a very decent partner in the mushroom slices, which had a nice gravy effect.

01.02.08: Scallop and bacon pasta

An improvised Friday nite special: He topped the trofie pasta with scallops, a lone piece of bacon from the fridge, portobello mushrooms, canned chopped tomatoes, butter beans, some sun-dried tomato puree, and fresh parsely.

HE SAYS: Pasta was a little overcooked, but the sauce was very satisfying. Agree with Her that the scallops didn't add that much, think I'll stick to prawns for this dish. A very quick and easy meal to make on a Friday nite.

SHE SAYS: Tasty and satisfying, nice intensity of flavour in the sauce. Could have done without the formerly frozen scallops - not bad, just not great. It was good to try them, but I think with scallops fresh is distinctly better. I like the trofie pasta a lot.