This week, I’ve been mostly eating decent food again. The long Easter weekend and house visitors both motivate:

Lamb kebabs with Tzatziki and pita bread. The breads didn’t rise quite as nicely as Paul Hollywood’s, but I shouldn’t have experimented both with Pita bread and an unknown flour at the same time. I blame the Kamut flour, of course.

Pizza and Pudim Flan for the boys (them), but it turned out that these children are accustomed to bland food and can’t cope with a moderately spicy sausage. Oh well. They were hungry so did a good job eating, and they did manage to eat the puddings.

Tarte Flambe. Lamb chops in a herb crust, served with Skordalia, a Greek potato mash, a fresh cheese filo cigar, artichokes and Swiss chard, concluded with an apple Tarte Tatin. I aimed to impress my visitors on this occasion, but never made or even sampled Skordalia before. It seemed like a nice thing to try out when I saw it on the television, but I didn’t like it. Too heavy, too oily.

Sicilian-style (heavily fennel-infused) meat balls with Spaghetti Pomodoro. This simple dish worked out well, I think.

Salt and pepper squid, served with Guacamole, Sauce Sirene and griddled sourdough bread. Our visitors were out for the night, so we temporarily lifted the an on fish and seafood for the night.

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OK, it’s been a while. I’m pretty sure that posting will be on and off over the next couple of months, but I shall make an effort due to in-house demand at the W7 headquarters. So, let me pick out some of the nicer meals since the time of the last report in the middle of March:

Sirloin steak, fried in rosemary olive oil, served with chipped potatoes, caramelized onions, garlic and herb butter and lambs lettuce. A little Crème Brulee to round off the evening. Ah, so simple, so delicious.

Filet of Venison, served with potato mash and a ragout of leaks. Red meat again, I know, but I can’t resist a venison filet when I can get it. It’s so lean, tasty, tender – just perfect.

Salt and pepper squid with Sauce Sirene and a poached egg. Seared fillet of Sea Bream, served with a roasted fennel paste, fettuccine and clams. Iles Flottantes. This dish ranks very high on my list right now (except that these particular clams weren’t very nice). However, nothing beats this:

A lunch-time Steak Tartare with griddled sourdough bread and a bowl of fresh salad. A meal fit for anyone’s any carnivore’s special day for sure.

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This week, I’ve been mostly eating a small slice of bread in the first half of the week, on account of an upset stomach, a general sense of weakness and a mild fever. Norovirus or not, I’m OK again. So, only a few meals from the second half of this week, but all the heart-warming welcome-home sort:

A pretty complicated and elaborate roasted chicken soup (depicted here, from an earlier occasion).

Pancakes, filled with spicy mince meat, and enjoyed with plenty of green salad.

A dish of quick paella.

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This week, I’ve been mostly eating sandwiches, salads and other in-room meals. Hardly the finest of fine dining, I know. The highlights from my in-room culinary low-lights and the occasional outing to a restaurant or a private invitation are here:

Lemon Chicken with dried cranberries, green beans and lemon rice – nice. Aqui’s Cal-mex cuisine, Willow Glen, a reliable provider of affordable, quick and tasty meals.

A lovely smoked Salmon and crab tartare, followed by so-so seared scallops served with faro and kale. Nick’s Next Door, Los Gatos.

American-sized beef and chicken kebabs – delicious, but each kebab sufficient to feed a family of four. (private invitation)

US-style lunch time salad fit to feed a very hungry man for the remainder of the day – I did not take any other meal in the remainder of that day! (Brewer’s Cob salad at the Rock Bottom Brewery, the Pruneyard, Campbell)

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This week, I’ve been mostly eating home-cooked real food before buggering off to California again.

Farfalle with freshly made italian-esque fennel sausage, cherry tomatoes, roasted courgettes, mushrooms and buffalo Mozzarella – nice, but the old problem with Farfalle doesn’t go away with time: they look nice but are a pain to cook, on account of the fact that the tie knot remains more than al dente, or the wings aren’t al dente enough any more by the time the knot is perfect.

A seared duck breast, served with a parsnip and potato mash and leek ragout, followed by our good old friend, the Pudim Flan.

Lambs’ lettuce, followed by braised lamb shanks with a rich thyme jus, crushed potatoes, and more of the lovely pudim flan.

Over in California, I had the questionable pleasure of steak frites at the Rock Bottom Brewery, Campbell, which “they” called differently and served on a remarkably greasy plate, and the unquestioned pleasure of Pork Pad Kee Mao at Sweet Mango, Willow Glen. En route, an acceptable lasagne, a pretty disagreeable mid-flight hot snack and a laughably tiny breakfast / lunch prior to arrival in San Francisco, courtesy of Virgin Atlantic.

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Life and work remains turbulent, causing cooking to take a back seat. Here are some of the better meals we had this week:

Seared pork filet medallions, served with roasted courgettes, pine kernels, feta cheese and saffron rice. Always a nice, quick and simple yet tasty thing to do.

Home-made Bresola and assorted antipasti, followed by two types of ultra-crisp pizza and a large helping of tiramisu.

The Sunday Night Curry Club enjoyed a lovely Vietnamese meal at Saigon, Saigon in Hammersmith. Lovely.

Soupa Espirito Santo, a plain and simple Portuguese soup from onions, garlic and tomato, served with a poached egg and croutons. Followed by steamed Cod, served with (left-over) saffron rice and salad.

Black pudding and fried egg. This is the ultimate 5 minute bachelor meal, ideal for when it needs to be quick, uncomplicated yet tasty.

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This week, I’ve been mostly eating reasonable nice food:

Seared Sea Bream fillets on a potato and wild mushroom ragout, served with Sauce Sirene. Always nice, even though the wild mushroom are, of course dried ones from a bag, revived in lukewarm milk over hours. Dried ones of course ? Well, read on!

A rare filet of venison with chipped potatoes, sauce Béarnaise and lots of Endive salad (aka winter salad). A culinary orgasm on a plate.

A Gulaschsuppe made from a rich Oxtail stew, with a slice of fresh bread.

A small herb salad starter, complete with lardons and croutons, home made Bresola and fried Goat’s cheese. A seared filet of lamb with potato and mushroom ragout, and toasted fresh King Oyster Mushrooms. A Pudim Flan (which had gotten over-caramelized and slightly bitter. Dammit! That’s what happens when you I rush things.)

Hang on, did I just say home made Bresola and fresh mushrooms? Yes, I did! Bresola turns out to be dead easy to make, and turns out brilliantly even the first time (although both salt and sugar levels need to come down one step). Wonderful, and deep gratitude for Diana Henry’s lovely Salt, Sugar and Smoke. A lovely and very useful book.

Oh, and thanks and hat tip to the Hanwell Greengrocer at The Flower Factory, who is not only friendly, knowledgeable and happy to arrange for my special orders, but also comes back with little finds like these. King Oyster mushroms look like small ceps. They are farmed (thus clean and not glowing in the dark), yet really flavoursome. A superb find at a reasonable price, a lot less than the sensationally overpriced offering at the food specialist (click for a shock).

The picture shows some of last week’s home-made egg fettuccine. I think you can see why I was pretty pleased.

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This week, I’ve been mostly eating nothing cooked or elaborate, on grounds of being out on several occasions, and on grounds of being rather busy with a persistent PC problem. Let me focus on some of the highlights thus:

A goats cheese and roasted asparagus savoury Clafoutis. This is quite lovely and a lot quicker than even a quiche (as you don’t even need to make the base), but I admit that this one, while tasting lovely, was as heavy as a brick.

We had invited to a neighbourhood lunch, with plenty of children and several Germans on Sunday. I made pizza and lasagne for the kids, and German Herring Salad and steamed potatoes for the grown-ups, and bread, and green Frisee salad, and a German cheesecake for afters.

Salt and pepper squid starter with a poached egg. Fresh home-made egg fettuccine with a creamy white wine sauce, roasted courgettes, and seared salmon fillets. Peach Melba mini-cheesecakes.

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This week, I’ve been mostly eating lovely things:

Pancakes with spicy lamb mince filling, served with spiced soured cream and a very large bowl of real Endive salad (some appear to know it as Winter salad). I can’t tell you how happy I was to finally discover a source of this salad. It’s so easy, I just placed a special order with my local greengrocer. I am very happy about this.

Monsieur Hulot mange au bistro: Tarte Flambee. Chevre Chaud w/ Frisee salad (Frisee salad is another one of these lovely discoveries). Confit Canard w/ Pommes Dauphinoise and green beans. Creme Brullee.

Tarte Italien, or as others would call it, yummy crispy pizza. Nom nom nom!

Chicken Fricassee with fragrant rice.

An assortment of roasted vegetables and mushrooms, and seared duck breast, served in a rich Chicken broth.

Smoked Haddock with ragout of lentils, mashed potatoes and a poached egg.

(Picture shows an Italian bread soup, not enjoyed this week (but I still enjoy the photo).)

This is the first real This Week… episode for 2013, so I can pick the highlights of what we cooked so far:

Pan-seared fillet of Sea Bass, served with Sauce Sirene (my maritime version of much-loved Sauce Vierge) and a stir-fry from fennel, celery and artichokes. Slice of bread.

Spiced feta cheese on walnut pesto, served on bite-sized croutons (shown in the photo). Seared scallops with fresh pesto and herb salad. A white fish soup with bits to discover: scallops, Sea Bream, Red Mullet and sweet clams, smoked Haddock, leak pillars, stir-fried artichokes and fennel, mushrooms, croutons, lardons and probably something else. A journey of discovery through flavours and textures. Plating up took so long that everything had cooled down, regardless of my best efforts to pre-heat the plates and be quick about it. I should have poured the soup piping hot, but I feared that it might split. This all followed by a hot dark chocolate fondant with spicy summer fruit jam, selection of cheeses and crackers, etc.

A lovely rich Thai Green Chicken Curry with fragrant rice. I’m sure my version of this dish is not very authentic, given that I have never eaten one anywhere else which comes close in terms of flavour intensity, depth and all around yummieness, so I’m fine with lacking in authenticity.

Confit de Canard with Pommes Dauphinoise and green beans, followed by a vitamin boosting fruit salad. I had made a whole batch of duck confit before Christmas (some of which was thrust on relatives in form of presents), so on that evening, we enjoyed the fruits of such labour with an ultra-quick ultra-delicious meal.

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