14: Haddock with crumbs and tarragon, p315

Fish and chips!!

Have come to the conclusion that it's pretty much safe to assume that Nigel's recipes make enough for twice the number of people he says - I didn't have two 200g pieces of haddock fillet, but I did have one 220g piece of haddock fillet that definitely looked like it would feed two - and it did! Halved the rest of the quantities as a result and used up some more of the seemingly-small-bunch-which-actually-turns-out-to-be-an-endless-supply-of-fresh-tarragon...

Can't say the tarragony-anchovy flavour of the crumbs came through that strongly, but the crumbs were nice and light and went pleasingly crispy with only a tiny smidge of oil in the pan (oops, missed the oil/butter combo for frying in the recipe).

Served with homemade oven chips (heat a tbsp oil in a pan in the oven, c.180degC fan oven, add potatoes chopped into chunky chips, sprinkle with paprika, shake to cover, and bake for c.30mins, shaking once or twice during cooking) and steamed green beans.

And now relaxing with a glass of Shiraz and the DVD of 'Sideways'. Good times.

11: Pork burgers with lime leaves and coriander, p81

Ooooh, we are diiiiining finely this year!! Scrummy scrummy fiery little munchkins these. Lots of garlic, lots of chilli, lots of ginger... Easy peasy. I used the food processor as in the recipe, but I think next time I'd just use the handheld chopper as the whole mix doesn't go in (spice paste made first, then the bacon - no pancetta I'm afraid - whizzed up separately, and then the whole lot mixed up by hand in a bowl).

Even did the lettuce dressed with lime, coriander, mint, and salt, as in the intro, but baked some paprikay wedges in the oven instead of rice (T's request, two nights of rice in a row seemed a bit much for him).