I’m just starting to emerge from a week of being submerged under a cold. The headache is lingering, but I think I’ve turned the corner, and the sunshine today is helping too. Given the shortage of energy around here, this week’s food was anchored by leftover roast pork from Saturday, and a pot of soothing dal cooked midweek.

Dal is a great food to have when you’re feeling under the weather. It’s not very demanding to cook – at least the way I do it. You end up with something as soft and undemanding as mashed potato, but with a bit more flavour (I like to simmer it with turmeric and ginger) and a feeling that it’s doing you some good.

Recipes:

• Roast shoulder of pork – Delicious magazine, March 2016. Served with roast potatoes, parsnips, and…
• Chard wilted with olive oil and lemon – Nigel Slater’s ‘Tender‘
• Malted milk chocolate cake (which sank) – working on the recipe, adapted from one in Nigella’s ‘Feast‘.
• Homemade Bourbon biscuits (with actual bourbon!) – Kate Doran’s ‘Homemade Memories‘ – similar to this earlier version from her blog.
• Pickled carrot sticks – Smitten Kitchen (in an attempt to feel like I’m eating vitamins)

Without a recipe:

• Dal, with sweet potato and chickpea curry from the freezer
• A made-up pasta sauce with leftover roast pork and tomatoes
• Ham hash – leftover roast veg, ham hock, with a fried egg on top, with cime di rapa on the side.
• Weekend pizza
• Pork stir-fry with broccoli and courgette
• Milk bread (recipe coming soon)
• Something between a quesadilla and a taco, with ham hock, caramelised onion, manchego and cime di rapa.
• Foccacia with onions – from leftover pizza dough
• Breaded fish with oven chips

Reading:

• Lots of The Piglet on Food52 -especially this excellent review by Phyllis Grant where she makes 20(!) recipes from each book, and one from Yotam Ottolenghi, where you get a real sense of what makes his books so good.
• Wired asked six food scientists and innovators about the future of food
• A week of waste-free cooking. I’m unlikely to ever go to the lengths of this writer, but this piece made me think twice about peeling vegetables this week, and more than a few of our meals have been using up leftovers from the fridge.
• Bookmarked recipes included: slow roasted chicken soup (In Jennie’s Kitchen); Roasted chicken with croutons (Food52); Caramelised onion and butternut squash tart (Food52); Creamy Green Shakshuka (Pinch of Yum); Swedish meatballs (Eat Like a Girl).