Flaming Nora

This spring I was given a courgette plant. "Ooh," I thought. "I've never grown a courgette before. And I quite like them, so it'll be nice when it's grown and I can cook it and that." I know. In my defence, all I can say is I had no idea. I really did believe there would be just one courgette to a plant. And instead, there are hundreds of them, or at least it seems that way.  Over the last few weeks my one plant has produced enough courgettes for me to have eaten them baked, grilled, fried, raw in salad and cooked in soup. And they still keep coming. Today I turned to Sir Nigel of Slater to see what he had to say.  This afternoon I've baked his Courgette and Lancashire cheese crumble ( recipe here ) and judging by the wonderful smells drifting in from the kitchen as it cooks, it's going to be good.  I think it's the one recipe that could put the Cor! into courgette. Next year I'm growing carrots instead. ______ I'm on ...

Yesterday I bought a Le Crueset lasagne dish and today I thought I'd make a lasagne to go in it. It's a lasagne I've made before, Nigel Slater's spinach and mushroom lasagne, which has alwys worked a treat. And as well as making a lasagne in my new lasagne dish, I thought I'd do something I've never done before - blog as I cook.  So here we go with lots of lovely pictures all adding up to what was truly a lovely lasagne I've just had for tea.  Well, not all of it, you understand, most of it will go in the freezer, but you know what I mean.  If you want the recipe it's here with some pictures of someone else making it too. Here's my ingredients.  You'll see a red pepper, olive and a bottle of red wine, none of which are on the list in Nigel's book but which I add to my lasagne, and why the devil not? Here's my pan of spinach. Don't get too excited. Here's our home grown chillis, another ingredient not on Nigel's ...

I've blogged about Nigel Slater before and I'm about to blog about him again.  His spinach and mushroom lasagne has proved to be a dream, easy to make and delicious to eat. And for someone like me who isn't that great in the kitchen, he even tells you when to expect black smoke to billow from the pan so you know you're actually not doing something wrong, the food's supposed to do exactly that.  Nigel Slater, eh? If he didn't already exist, you'd have to create him.

  Having made Nigel Slater's carrot and coriander soup the other week I was asked for the recipe by friends but couldn't find it online. I've therefore scanned it in and am happy to share the link. Just click on the picture above to enlarge it.

Nigel Slater should be given a knighthood for his services to my kitchenery and baking skills. Here's his sexy yeast focaccia straight out of the oven this afternoon. It's absolutely gorgeous and the recipe's online here .

At Christmas, and indeed throughout the year, I swear on the Book. I hold it in my hands and read its words with hushed reverence. It guides me through difficult times. It inspires and gives me hope. Yes, I'm talking about Nigel Slater's Real Food. Give the man a knighthood, if only for his ginger cake with clementine frosting which is sitting, already half-eaten, in our fridge now. Our New Year's Eve feast included the cake along with Nigel's recipe for smoked haddock fishcakes, which were well worth having the kitchen stinking of fish on the first day of the year. The man is a genius and if I knew where he lived, I'd go round and wash his feet.