I think something went wrong with the meal planning this week. I seemed to spend most evenings cooking, right up until I went to bed. this is partly due to a desire to keep up with autumn gluts of courgettes and apples, and partly bad planning. The slow cooker was much used this week – tomato sauce for meatballs and a courgette parmigiana and a lamb curry. The success this week, however, was eating together as a family most nights, and almost always eating the same thing. E demanded a full-sized piece of pizza rather than her carefully cut-up squares, and has enjoyed picking up big (~5 cm) meatballs for more than one dinner.

Recipes:

• Lamb Nihani – Slow Cooked – served with an aubergine and tomato curry from the same book
• Plum and apple pie – inspired by Smitten Kitchen via Nigel Slater, but actually with a Jane Grigson English Food recipe
• Courgette parmigiana – inspired by this NYT recipe from Martha Rose Shulman, but more closely resembling a Cranks recipe, with a crème fraiche topping to the whole thing.
• Ginger Beer Scones – The Five O’Clock Apron

Without a recipe:

• Chicken and ham pie with a puff pastry top
• Chicken stir fry with red peppers, served with stir-fried peas and beans
• Pizza topped with courgettes and shredded ham hock

Reading:

• A couple of good podcasts from The Sporkful, one on kids and their original and unusual ways to combine foods; another on the history of the Belgian waffle in America
• Jamie Oliver’s new Superfood series is good. This piece on busting nutrition myths is great.
• A nice animated piece by the RSA to go with a talk by Michael Pollan.
• I missed the Cookbook Confidential festival on the Southbank last weekend, but this piece by Diana Henry on writing a cookbook gives a flavour of what was on offer
• If you’re on Pinterest, you’ve probably come across Martha Stewart’s one pan pasta dish – put the sauce ingredients, pasta and water all in the same pan, and cook the pasta by absorption. Food52 brings us the story behind where this idea came from, as well as some other variations on the same idea.