I was making a chicken curry and a vegetable curry and somehow ended up making a mushroom one and a potato one as well. I think the potato one was the best of the bunch, followed by the mushroom. Here’s how I made it.

• 4 large potatoes
• 1 tsp mustard powder (recipe called for seeds but I didn’t have any)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, minced or finely chopped
• half a tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• chopped fresh coriander to garnish

Peel and chop the potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Parboil for a few minutes. Don’t let them turn to mash.

Fry the mustard and cumin seeds in some hot vegetable oil. You’ll know when they’re done because the seeds will start popping and you’ll start to choke. Add the chilli powder and ginger and stir vigorously for 1 minute. Then add the drained potatoes, tomatoes, sugar and water. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked through, then stir in the cumin and coriander powder and serve with a sprinkling of fresh chopped coriander on top. Rather hot, and great as a side dish with any curry.

This is a great, easy, delicious stew – just fry some onions and sage in a casserole, bung in some diced stewing beef, root vegetables (I use parsnips, swede, carrots, potatoes), red wine and beef stock. Cook for an hour ar 160C, then leave in the oven for a few hours on a low heat, say just over 100C. Melty meat, warms the soul. I make a veggie version too – replace the meat with some beans, and the beef stock with veggie stock.

There are about 23,000 different best ways of cooking chips on t’internet, but I especially enjoyed the article on the Observer Food Monthly blog, which is a wonderful paean to the deep-fat fryer, and the discussions at PistonHeads.

Today I cooked a 3 course Valentine’s supper for @gwithiansunset. This was the menu:

On arrival
Filthy large Plymouth Gin & Tonic
ice, lime, Angostura bitters

Starter
Spicy prawn cocktail

Taittinger Champagne

Main course
Grilled sardines and real chips

Pudding
Chocolate mousse with brandy, grated white chocolate & whipped cream

Here’s the thinking. First up, the prawn cocktail. I really had a hankering for a prawn cocktail the other day, so I decided to satisfy the yearning. I shredded iceberg lettuce in a large glass, soused in lime juice. I then tossed the prawns in the dressing Nigella uses on crab in the Valentine’s Day chapter of Feast – fresh ginger, lime juice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, wasabi, a few drops of sesame oil. I didn’t use enough ginger or wasabi – will put that right next time. I then dusted the prawns with cayenne pepper. I used tail-on prawns – so she had to get her fingers all sticky. More sensuous, see?

The main course of sardines & chips doesn’t sound that romantic, but it’s one of her favourite meals, a throwback to summers in Portugal before the kids were born. I par-boiled the chips for about 5 minutes, and deep-fried them at 180c for about another 5. They were certainly cooked but could have been crisper. I think I should have fried them for longer at a higher temperature. The kids, however, loved them and said they tasted like “real chips” – unlike the home-made oven chips we usually do.

The chocolate mousse pudding was from the BBC web site – it was lovely. I used brandy – not enough as it turned out, and I grated Green & Blacks white organic chocolate over the mousse and under the whipped cream. Couldn’t taste the brandy. Something else to put right next time. More wasabi, crispier chips – and more brandy. They did taste like proper chips, though.

bouquet from You Don’t Bring Me Flowers

• Half a dozen small potatoes, chopped
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 leaf of curly kale
• small wedge of pumpkin, chopped
• 600ml chicken stock (or veg if you must)
• stick of celery, sliced

Fry the onion in a bit of olive oil, then add the veg and fry until starting to go soft. Add the stock, some salt and plenty of black pepper. Simmer for about 40 minutes and blitz with a hand-blender or in a Magimix. Serve with freshly-baked soda bread.

It all went. William had thirds – though I may have been a bit economical with the truth when it came to the ingredients…

Lancashire Hotpot is traditionally made with lamb, but this hotpot variation calls for beef.

- Some diced stewing steak. About 500g.
- Potatoes – loads.
- One onion.
- Half a pint of red wine.
- Veggie stock cube (optional).

Preheat the oven to 170c.

Peel the spuds and cut them into chunks about the same size as the pieces of your meat.

Coarsely chop the onion.

Throw the meat, potatoes and onion into a large pot.

Pour in the wine and top up with boiling water. Add the stock cube if you want.

Put the lid on the pot and leave in the oven for three hours. I usually take it out and give it a stir once an hour, but there’s really no need to!

Serve while piping hot. You can garnish with beetroot, and it’s also really good with some biscuits of shortcrust pastry to help mop up the juice.

I think it’s a great dish for this time of year. It’s lovely to put on before going to see a fireworks display. When you come back home the delicious smell will meet you at the front door, and the meal will warm you all up again. If there are any left-overs it’s just as good reheated in a saucepan the next day!

This has evolved from a recipe on the side of a packet of Marmite stock cubes. I don’t think you can get Marmite stock cubes any more – it probably dawned on people that you could just use ordinary Marmite in cooking instead. It’s a basic vegetable stew, made with whatever we have to hand.

• Lots of root vegetables – potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots etc
• celery
• garlic
• olive oil
• large onion
• tin of tomatoes
• tin of mixed beans – kidney beans, borlotti beans etc
• mushrooms, if you have them
• tomato puree
• slug of red wine
• teaspoon of Marmite
• dried mixed herbs
• bay leaf
• 2 handfulls of small pasta (such as ditali lisci no. 58)
• teaspoon of vegetable stock powder such as Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon.

Fry the onion and garlic in some olive oil. When well-cooked add the roughly chopped celery and root vegetables. Fry for a few minutes and add all the other ingredients, topping up with water as needed to cover the veg. Simmer on the stove or in the oven for an hour or so.