Lazy breakfast

Softly scrambled eggs with chives and butter on an English muffin

Sunday lunch

Slow cooked belly pork in chinese spices, with steamed rice and stir fried purple sprouting broccoli

Garlic roasted chicken

Simple all-in-one roast chicken, with garlic, wine, potatoes and thyme

Deli lunch

Saturday lunch from the Italian deli in St Albans - salami, mozzarella, tomato salad, grilled peppers and grilled sourdough

Maze Grill for Steaks

We had great seats - close to the open kitchen, so plenty of theatre

Lots of exciting flames

And generally very busy looking chefs. Gordon was there, but unfortunately we didn't get to chat!

Cocktails to start - very dry Tanquerey martini with a twist and a mojito

'Small Plates' to start - chorizo, tomato and new potatoes

Deep fried soft shelled crab

And then the meats to choose- clockwise from top, Casterbridge grain fed sirloin, Hereford grass fed rib eye, Wagyu '9th grade' gold style rib eye, Aberdeen Angus fillet, Creekstone USDA prime corn fed New York strip
All steaks come on their own chopping board, with steak knife and roasted garlic - the Hereford ribeye

Side orders were plentiful - we ordered fries, onion rings, potrobello mushrooms, salad and a spinach gratin

In the background a nice half bottle of St Emilion

As for sauces, we went for an exemplary bearnaise, a blue cheese sauce and a red wine bordelaise with bone marrow

Frankly the bearnaise was so good it was the only one I'd bother with again


Mine was the New York strip, which was cooked perfectly, with a great flavour, and a texture that combined tenderness and chewiness in exactly the right way

We didn't bother with a dessert, but with free cookies to finish we didn't feel too bad ab out that

Healthy lunch

Roasting butternut squash with sage

Mixing some of the squash into a risotto

Topped with some roasted chunks of squash, and some fried sage leaves

Finished with some healthy pineapple and less healthy banoffee pie

Breakfast eggs

Soft boiled eggs with soldiers

Tuscan beans

Spent the day slowly simmering cannellini beans with rosemary, parsley, tomatoes and pancetta in the slow cooker

As it happened, they tasted disconcertingly like Heinz baked beans

Nice, but somewhat easier to open a can

Scones for afternoon tea

Impromptu scone making

Half an hour later . . .

Tasty, but not as good as I'd like - more bready than cakey. Any ideas or recipes for successful scones?

Using the salmon

Making salmon fishcakes with some of the rest of the poached salmon

I miked the salmon with some mashed King Edward potatoes, capers, parsley, chives, gherkins, mayonnaise, and salt and pepper, then floured them

Four for tea, and three left over to vaccuum pack and then freeze

Fried gently in a little olive oil

Served with a green salad and a light lemon juice dressing

Sept heure gigot

Anthony Bourdain's seven hour leg of lamb

Studded the lamb with garlic, surrounded with veg and sealed tight

After 7 hours in the oven at a low heat it was soft enough to cut with a spoon, but still moist

Served with pommes boulangere, purple sprouting broccoli and carrots in thyme butter

Easter Sunday

Hot cross buns

Poached salmon

A poached salmon

Removing the copious flesh

Served with dauphinoise potatoes, spinach and a beurre blanc