Magret

I marinated some duck breasts in pink and black peppercorns, black mustard seeds, juniper berries and sea salt overnight. Then seared them and finished them in the oven.

Served with crushed new potatoes, sprouting broccoli and a red wine and cassis reduction

Good to eat fancy food again after a lot of stews recently

Improvised Gnocchi

Cooking a simple tomato sauce withy onions and basil

PLenty of gnocchi in salted water

Assembled with mozzarella and spinach

And baked for about 20 minutes

Dim sum

Lazy pork and prawn dim sum from the supermarket - a tasty snack

Chorizo stew

A perennial favourite - chorizo, chickpea and sherry stew

Salmon pasta

Some super fresh salmon

Cooked in a creamy dill sauce with some orecchiette

Winter warmer

Cooking sausages with an onion gravy

I tend to cook them all together, and let it cook through, uncovered, in the oven, almost like a casserole

There's plenty of mustard in the gravy, as well as bay, juniper and back peppercorns

Bread and butter pudding

Some leftover brioche, so I made a bread and butter pudding

Added some slightly sharp pink grapefruit marmalade, which worked really well with the eggy custard and sweet brioche

Favourite foods

A very long awaited River Cafe carbonara

With a fresh baby leaf salad

Followed by a sticky toffee pudding

Goulash

A hungarian gopulash with creme fraiche and wild rice

An indulgent salad

Tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, parma ham and basil

Apple crumble

Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream

Game for supper

A brace of pheasants from Waitrose

Pot roasted with celery, wine and bacon

Roasted with the lid on for about 45 minutes

Served with fried potatoes, spinach, and a sauce made from the pan juices

Crispy chicken

An 'all in one pot' favourite. Sliced new potatoes and unpeeled garlic cloves are tossed in hot oil, thyme and black pepper

Browned chicken thighes are rested on top, and then a couple of glasses of Amontillado sherry are added

Into the oven for about 50 minutes - the chicken sits on the potatoes, and is steamed from beneath, and crispy on the top; the potatoes cook in the chicken juices and the sherry

Simple food

Olives, fresh bread and olive oil with balsamic vinegar

Tarte tatin

A tasty tarte tatin

Weekend breakfast

Freshly baked croissants from the local bakery, with homemade raspberry and apricot jam

Dinner at RSJ's

Another birthday dinner at RSJ's on the south bank in London

Started with the lobster, shrimp and chorizo risotto

Followed by an excellent ribeye with crushed potatoes

Finished with a steamed chocolate pudding and ice cream