Tarte tatin

Preparing a tarte tatin. I started by making a caramel with unsalted butter and caster sugar, and adding halved apples.

After 20 minutes of cooking on the hob, topped with a rich, short pastry, and in the oven for 30 minutes.

Upturned, and cooled for 5 minutes.

Served in slices with double cream.

Asparagus treat

Boiling duck eggs and asparagus

I served the duck eggs with a drop of cider vinegar, butter and salt, and dipped in the asparagus. A little iberico ham on the side.

Sandwiches

Sandwiches for lunch; chorizo & goats' cheese, and St Agur and lomo. Both with plenty of olive oil.

Civilised weekend breakfast

Grapefruit, segmented, then topped with brown sugar and grilled

Full roast

Roast chicken, potatoes, courgettes, bread sauce, gravy and redcurrent jelly.

One of the many meals where the whole really is more than just the sum of the parts. I'd be reluctant to eat bread sauce alone, but adding it to the rest completes the whole plate.

A new risotto

It's asparagus season, so a new recipe. The river cafe take on asparagus risotto. The predictable complex recipe involves splittling the asparagus stalk into three sections, and treating each differently. Here the middle section is pulsed with chicken stock

The outcome was well worth it. An intense summary flavour rewarded all the work and washing up needed!

Friday night curry

Thai green chicken curry

With mange touts and baby corn. I used chicken thighs, which I know is a tad kermodian, but they are much better than breasts - tenderer and more flavourful

Gnocchi

Gnocchi baked with a cheese sauce, mozzarella, tomatoes and parmesan

Gazpacho

Accompanying sprinkles

Gazpacho, made with tomatoes, red pepper, green pepper, cucumber, breadcrumbs, chilli, red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt

Very refreshing

Sunny summer lunch

A very satisfying burger and chips with friends

Homemade sushi

An enthusiastic, if vaguely amateurish, sushi making session

Fresh salmon and prawns from the coast, tuna from Tesco

I like the shape wasabi makes

Sunday evening

A much better dinner at The Crown and Castle in Orford on Sunday evening. Started with a really good carpaccio of salmon and tuna

Followed by a gratifyingly good sirloin steak, with chips, green beans and a garlic butter

Cake

A lemon and poppy seed cake. Excellent, and purportedly easy to make - a recipe from anyone?

The Lighthouse

Saturday night dinner at the Lighthouse in Aldeburgh. Started with a crab salad

Followed by steak. The food was good, but not great. The steak in particular was slightly poorly thought out - served with a gravy and a herb butter, and also with spinach and a green dressed salad. Quite a lot of flavours mingling on the plate, distracted from a competent fillet steak.

To Suffolk for the bank holiday weekend. Friday night was an excellent fish restaurant in Orford. Extreme fish restaurant - only white wine on the menu, no meat dishes, and no green veg - just lots of excellent and extremely fresh fish.

Started with a nice mussels dish

Also local oysters with lemon or Tabasco

Main course was two small grilled Dover soles, with new potatoes and a glass of Chablis

Dessert was sticky toffee pudding, with a glass of Australian dessert wine

Mushroom lasagne

Lots of chopped mushrooms

Building it up. A layer of bechamel, followed by sliced chestnut mushrooms, sliced summer truffle, soaked porcini, parma ham, layers of parmesan

Layered up a few times, and then topped with grated parmesan

Baked in the oven for about half an hour