Meal Plan w/c Monday 10th November

Monday: Tonight's dinner will be minestrone soup with carrots, bell peppers, courgettes, cavolo nero and ripe Italian tomatoes. We won't need any bread because there will be pinto beans and pasta in the soup. I'll serve some green olives on the side and top the soup with Parmesan shavings.

Tuesday: I'm going to buy a chicken and see how many meals we can get out of it during the week. For the first day, I'm going to joint it and use the legs/thighs in a jalfrezi. This will be served with basmati rice and naan bread when we get home from the quiz.

Wednesday: Continuing with the chicken theme, I'm going to roast the breasts in a lemon and coriander marinade and serve them with a mixture of roasted Mediterranean vegetable. The side dish with either be giant cous cous or creamy mashed potatoe with truffle oil.

Thursday: I'm going to boil up whatever is left of the chicken carcass with whatever vegetable peelings I've accumulated during the week and make a stock. I might make a chicken consommé and serve it with some fresh homemade bread.

Friday: As a treat, I'm going to make homemade beer battered fish and chips, which we'll have with minted pea purée, gherkins and a tangy tartare sauce. I may even whip up a batch of curry sauce if I'm feeling particularly indulgent!

Saturday: We usually have oily fish tonight, but may feel like something different after the Friday night fish and chips. If that's the case, I'll make a beef Bibambap, with courgettes, carrots, red onion, beansprouts and sticky rice, with a hot sauce on the side and topped with a soft fried egg.

Sunday: I recently read somewhere that pheasant which has been covered in bacon before roasting is delicious,map so I'm going to test that theory this weekend. We'll have that with some goose fat roast potatoes and a variety of vegetables - cabbage is great this time of year. For dessert, I'm thinking of baking a plum, orange and almond cobbler with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side. The contrast of hot and cold is wonderful.

Meal Plan w/c Monday 3rd November

Monday: Tonight's dinner will be minestrone soup with pinto beans, kale, courgettes, bell peppers and lots of other delicious veg. Perfect meal after a weekend of excess. We're cutting down on carbs so I'm not making any bread, but the soup is so filling that it doesn't need anything else anyway.

Tuesday: It's my birthday, so we will have a special meal tonight. Shellfish linguine with scallops, king prawns and clams, washed down with champagne and followed a delicious dessert. Happy birthday to me!

Wednesday: It's Guy Fawkes Night and we will most likely be going to a fireworks display. I'm going to make a lamb and date tagine that can be put in the slow cooker so it is ready to serve as soon as we arrive home. This will be served with a pomegranate and mint cous cous.

Thursday: We should go meat free today, so I'm going to make a ratatouille with courgettes, aubergines and peppers and I'll add in some lentils for a protein boost.

Friday: Depending on how we feel, I'm going to make either fish and chips or bulgogi beef Bibambap. Both are a great choice for a cosy Friday night dinner.

Saturday: Oily fish night! We'll have our weekly dose of omega 3 with some mackerel and I'll serve it with steamed samphire and garlic and herb baby potatoes. 

Sunday: I'm going to try and order some fresh suet from the butchers early on in the week so that I can make a steak and kidney pudding. This will be followed by a chocolate and fig tart with an orange blossom cream. 

Meal Plan w/c Monday 20th October 2014

Monday: Soup day! Quite fancy a nice minestrone soup to boost my veg levels. Last weeks rye bread was a bit of a disaster - I'll either be brave and give it another go, or wimp out and revert back to my faithful wheaten bread recipe.

Tuesday: I'm trying to eat less meat during the week, so I'm going to make a nice ratatouille with courgettes, aubergines, red onions and whatever other veg takes my fancy. 

Wednesday: I'm going to try making falafels for the first time! This will take some organising as the chickpeas and broad beans have to be soaked the night before so that they're soft enough to cook with the following day. I'm going to serve this with a Middle Eastern inspired salad and some homemade tortilla bread. Recipe up soon!

Thursday: I'm really craving meatballs and although they seem like quite a low maintainence meal by the time you've made your own pasta and tomato sauce a whole day has gone by in the kitchen. I might try and source a crate of tomatoes on Monday and spend a few hours batch making tomato sauce to freeze for later use. I'll also make the pasta the night before as well.

Friday: I'm going to make a pork Bimbambap tonight which will be washed down with some Breton cider before a trip to the cinema.

Saturday: Fish night! Last week I had mackerel, so this Saturday will either be rainbow trout, or else I'll make my famous seafood linguine, which goes wonderfully well with our weekly bottle of champagne.

Sunday: Thinking of doing a mock Christmas dinner with game birds, chestnut stuffing, Brussels sprouts with pancetta and a delicious dessert.

Meal Plan w/c Monday 13th October

Monday: Today I'm boiling up the carcasses of last night's partridges and pheasant to make a stock for our game soup. I'm going to be serving that with a homemade rye bread - the first one I've ever made!

Tuesday: Quiz night tonight, so I'm going to do an easy slow cooker curry which will be ready for us to eat when we come home slightly tipsy and high on winning. We'll stop off at Tiffin Express on the way home to pick up some rice and naan bread.

Wednesday: We're trying to eat more oily fish, so tonight we'll have some smoked mackerel with green beans, baby potatoes and puy lentils.

Thursday: Tonight I'm going to make a lamb, date and fig tagine which will be served with pomegranate and mint cous cous. Recipe up soon!

Friday:  We might go to the cinema if there's something good on. I'll either make a beef bulgogi Bibambap or we'll go to Sông Quê on our way out.

Saturday: Tonight we'll have a salt baked fish (maybe red snapper or sea bass) with a homemade basil mayonnaise and some garlic potatoes.

Sunday: We're planning to go for a long cycle today, if the weather is nice. I want to make something that can be prepared in advance and then bunged in the oven when we come home, so I'm thinking of making a venison and fig pie with a rough puff pastry top, with some buttered greens and truffle mash. 

Bulgogi Beef Bibambap

Bibambap is officially my new favourite meal. It's a popular Korean dish and basically translates to "mixed vegetables with rice and meat". It's packed full of goodness and is tasty too. Be careful though- it's addictive!

Ingredients (Serves 2, generously)

2 medium carrots, julienned 

1 red onion, sliced thinly 

150g mushrooms, sliced

1 large courgette, julienned

200g beansprouts 

200g short grain rice (I used arborio rice! which worked well)

2 large eggs

300g beef sirloin, sliced as thinly as possible

100ml bulgogi marinade 

Sesame oil, to fry

Salt and Pepper

For the sauce

4 tbsp gochulang (a Korean chilli paste, available at Oriental supermarkets)

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar, but any one will do)

1 tbsp sesame seeds

p.s, if you have difficulty finding the gochulang, just buy a hot chilli sauce and use this instead of making your own. I did this the first time and it still tasted great.

Method

1. Marinade your beef for as long as you possibly can. Place it in a bowl with the bulgogi marinade and massage it in with your hands until it is evenly coated. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

2.Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and have two large serving bowls nearby. Heat a few tablespoons of the sesame oil in a frying pan and start cooking your vegetables separately. They should only take a few minutes each. After cooking each batch of vegetables, divide them up between the two bowls and place in the oven to keep warm whilst you cook the others.

3. Cook your rice by placing it in saucepan and adding 700ml of water. When the water has evaporated take the pan off the heat and place a lid on it, leaving it for at least 15 minutes to make sure the rice is nice and fluffy.

4. Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl. Keep it at room temperature.

5. Add more sesame oil to your pan and fry the beef. It should be rare and tender so should only take a few minutes. Take the bowls out of the oven, and add the rice and the beef.

6. Fry the eggs until soft- try not to let the yolks harden too much. Season with salt and pepper if you wish. Place the eggs in the bowl.

When eating, mix the Bibambap thoroughly with a spoon, enabling the egg to coat the rest of the ingredients. Add the sauce generously and enjoy. 

Meal Plan w/c 29th September 2014

Monday: We have a Guinea fowl carcass left over from last night and some leg meat, so I'm going to make a game soup and serve it with some wheaten bread. I'll also be making some yummy juice using beetroot, celery, ginger and apples.

Tuesday: My Bibambap was a resounding success on Saturday night (recipe up soon) and I've been craving it ever since I finished the last mouthful, so I'm going to make it again, but this time with a homemade sauce as I stumbled upon a Korean supermarket on Sunday that's just round the corner from me.

Wednesday: I feel like having smoked mackerel, but I'm not yet sure of how I'm going to incorporate into a dish. Might make a green salad to go with it and serve it with some quinoa or baby potatoes.

Thursday: Now that autumn is finally upon us, I can start making tagines again. Dates are in season and looking fabulous so they'll go in there along with some lamb and giant cous cous.

Friday: We'll probably go to the cinema tonight, so will stop off for a Vietnamese on the way. We allllways order the same thing, so maybe we'll try something different (though I doubt it).

Saturday: I quite fancy trying a different fish this weekend. We usually have trout or mackerel, but might try halibut or red mullet.

Sunday: We're embracing game season at the moment, so I'll pop down to Borough Market this weekend and see what looks good. While I'm there, I'll pick up some juicy figs to make a chocolate a fig tart which I'll serve with a raspberry coulis and Chantilly cream. Love this time of year!

Meal Plan w/c 22nd September

Monday: Tonight is soup night, and we're having my favourite soup- country vegetable. This will be served with some rye bread and parsnip crisps.

Tuesday: We haven't had a stir fry in ages so I'm going to make one to have with some hoisin salmon and coriander rice.

Wednesday: Tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, so I'll be trying out some traditional Jewish recipes. According to tradition, having fish on the table is an omen for blessings in the year to come. The fish should also be served with the head on, based on the Deuteronomy verse "May we be heads not tails" or in other words, leaders not followers. So, fish will be on the menu, most likely a salt baked sea bass. I also want to have a go at making challah- a sweet, yeasty bread which looks quite laborious but delicious. 

Thursday: I haven't used my pasta machine in a while, which is a shame as I've finally cracked the pasta making. I'm thinking of making some ravioli. Butternut squash is in season, so I'm going to use this as the filling with some pine nuts and a rosemary sauce.

Friday: I keep saying that I'm going to make my own Bibambap and tonight I'm definitely going to do it. There are so many components of the dish to get right- the beef needs to be well marinated and tender, and the rice needs to be sticky but not stodgy. If all goes wrong we can just go back to our local Korean restaurant!

Saturday: We've been having mackerel for a while, so I'm going to try and get some rainbow trout this weekend. I'm going to serve it with a beurre blanc (we had some in Normany and it was delicious) samphire, and garlic potatoes. 

Sunday: Game is finally trickling down into the shops. Last week we had a delicious venison casserole and I'm going to go to Borough Market to see if I can get some guinea fowl. I'm loving all the seasonal veg at the moment, so we'll have lots of that with some goose fat roast potatoes. We're also making the most of the wonderful fruit at the moment in out desserts. So far we've had plum, pears and figs. Apples are great this time of year, so I'm going to make a dessert based on them- maybe an apple and clove pie with custard... Mmmm!

Meal Plan w/c 25th August 2014

Bank Holiday Monday: We were supposed to go to Notting Hill Carnival today, but were put off by the torrential rain. Instead, we had a cosy day in and had afternoon tea of Irish coffees and courgette and walnut cake. Dinner was the leftover barbecued jerk chicken from Sunday with rice and peas (so at least we had a bit of carnival atmosphere!). 

Tuesday: The weather is still decidedly bleak so we are having chunky bacon and lentil soup with a homemade malted and seeded loaf on the side to warm us up.

Wednesday: Tonight will have a Turkish theme- I'm thinking lamb koftes, homemade pitta breads, baba ganoush and a selection of other mezzes. This may or may not be a thinly veiled excuse to break out the baklava...

Thursday: We will have a fresh, vibrant salad with some prawn pil pil and a potato salad on the side.

Friday: Inspired by our new favourite Korean restaurant, we're going to have a go at making our own Bibambap. I'll get some nice beef from the butchers which will combined with colourful vegetables, a sticky rice and a hot, spicy dressing.

Saturday: Last week we salt baked a sea bass and were very impressed by the results. The fish was wonderfully succulent and perfectly cooked. We will have another go this weekend, with a different fish.

Sunday: The main course hasn't been decided yet, but for dessert I'm going to make a pear and frangipane tart, accompanied by a warm chocolate sauce. Can't wait!