Let baigans be baigans

The more I cook, perhaps the older I get (or is it tireder), the fewer ingredients I want to use in a dish. And the simpler the food I'm making, the more delicious it seems to be.This week it's been a case of taking a vegetable and using that as the starting point for a meal. A little more thinking has had to be applied rather than thoughtlessly going with the usual starchy suspects you reach for on a rapidly darkening Tuesday evening.As if dealing with the sad acceptance that we don't live in an endless Swallows and Amazons summer wasn't enough, now we have to start eating properly again. No more cream teas and cake for the evening meal. Out has gone the pasta, rice and potatoes that form so many daily meals, and in, the sad acceptance that we are no longer inhabiting our 20 year old bodies.But it need not be dull as we slip headlong into turnip season. We are still heavy with aubergines, broccoli, cauliflower, courgettes and sweetcorn among other things. The salads are fading, but my appetite is growing. And as we lose nearly two hours of daylight over September's delicate and gentle colour change, we can start to get bolder and deeper with flavours.This recipe is based on the gloriously named Pushpesh Pant's 'curried aubergine in coconut sauce', which he says is from India's 'coastal region'. So just a small area then. I've added saffron, almond flakes, green chillies and coriander to mine to pep things up a little.Rich and exciting, it's texture is indecently silky, as if Liberty's had opened a dodgy Soho alleyway silk scarf shop. We had it twice this week, the juices mopped up with spiced chickpea flatbreads. I've still got one more aubergine in the fridge from the veg box, so we haven't seen the last of this in our house.Ingredients1 medium-sized aubergine1tsp asafoetida1tsp chilli powder1/2tsp turmeric powder200-240ml coconut milkA sprinkle of flaked almondsA pinch of saffronA small green chilli, sliced thinlyCoriander leaves to garnishSalt and pepper to seasonGroundnut, rapeseed or vegetable oil to fry. And plenty of itMethodMix the spices together in a little dish or ramekin with enough water to make a fairly thick paste.Trim and slice the aubergine into discs roughly 1/2cm thickHeat the oil in a large sauté pan and fry the aubergine in a couple of batches until golden on each side, having seasoned with a generous hand. Set each batch aside on a plate until you have finished.Add the spice paste to the pan and fry for a second or two, stirring well so it breaks up a little. Add the coconut milk and mix well until the spices dissolve into it, giving it a golden amber colour and releasing its aromas.Gently add the aubergines back to the pan and simmer for a few minutes until heated through. Don't cook them for too long or they will collapse.Sprinkle with the green chilli, nuts, saffron and coriander, give a good twist of pepper and serve hot.

Fritter the days away

Now I'm an adult (at least physically and legally) I can choose to eat cold, soggy cheeseburgers and limp fries for breakfast in a bowling alley on a Saturday morning if I like. I didn't really like, but seeing as the 12 children we were taking out for Noah and Maya's birthday party were demolishing an early lunch, I thought it only polite to go down with the ship and tuck in myself.And the other night, exhausted from a full day of more birthday activities and lunch with grandparents, as the mature grown-ups we are, we decided to eat crisps for supper. I'm still thirsty now. Although in my defence, I did make houmous and gucamole from scratch to dip them into (ooh, get me). So the level of gastronomy around these parts hasn't been outstanding recently.I made a frankly quite strange Thai green curry the other night; I put too many bananas in the banana bread I made, turning it into hot banana purée cake which was a mistake I won't be repeating, even though it repeated on us for a while; the chicken, mushroom and natural yoghurt rice dish I made on Saturday was as if a 1980s robot was in charge of the cooking. Everything has been done in a hurry or in desperation. Apart from the kebabs we had, but then it isn't that tricky to cover cubes of chicken in spices and oil, stick them on a skewer with red onion and courgette cubes and char them on the grill, even if you can barely see straight.The stand out dish for me this week was these hot and quick sweetcorn fritters. I used some of the green curry paste I had left over in the mix and we dipped them in Sriracha rather than the more traditional sweet chilli sauce, which I would have preferred. But having run out of it a while ago, and developing a hate-up against it, haven't replaced. It has been over-used. Rather like tinned sweetcorn, which to me is over-used if you open it.The two  legitimate uses I can think of for it are as a pencil pot and for making these fritters. I really am struggling to think of another that isn't disgusting. I suppose sweetcorn relish is fairly acceptable in a burger occasionally if you have a gun pointed at your head and have no choice. Even then I'd possibly rather watch mixed doubles tennis, that's how much I dislike it.We keep a couple of tins in the cupboard for emergency use with the children (to throw at them when they won't get into bed). But even they find it a little sweet and sickly. Not even the addition of butter, which normally makes everything better, really improves it. So that leaves the big guns: deep-frying. The answer to all our problems.This makes a good plateful, and as PT Barnum once said (or perhaps it was Walt Disney) "Wenn's am schönsten ist, soll man gehen."Ingredients1 tin of sweetcorn1 egg2tbsp plain flour1tbsp cornflour1/2tsp baking powder1 spring onion1tbsp Thai green curry paste (if you have any)1 chopped red birdseye chilliA splash of water to make a thick batterA handful of fresh curly parsley leaves, shreddedRapeseed oil or groundnut oil to deep frySalt, limes, red onion, cucumber, parsley or coriander and Sriracha or sweet chilli sauce to serveMethodBlitz together all the ingredients (apart from the oil and the serving extras) until you have a fairly thick and creamy batter. Try not to blitz the corn too much, half puréed and half whole is ideal.Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer or heavy saucepan (about half way up if you're doing it in a pan) to 180c and drop a tablespoon full of the batter at a time into the hot oil. Cook in batches, don't overcrowd the pan. It won't be pleasant, more like a sloppy mess.Cook until golden, flipping in the oil once.Drain on kitchen paper and continue until you've used all the mixture.Serve sprinkled with the extras, a good squeeze of lime juice is essential. I like mine with a lot of chilli heat too, but that's up to you of course.

Don't throw those bloody spears at me.

I'm not sure how at the end of every day the house looks as if we've been running an army field kitchen, the laundry basket has repopulated itself as if the clothes love each other very much. And dust tumbleweeds seem to have blown in from the American Midwest.The children only get home from after school club after five in the evening so that gives them two hours to wreak Armageddon. And that's not even mentioning their ability to remove every single toy, book, pen and loom band from their room in the search for a single piece of Lego or suchlike.And among all this we need to eat. I've been getting back after long days shooting this week, so meals have been as simple as possible. Tuesday was baked potato with cheese and a salad. One evening we had grilled peach, mozzarella and mixed leaves. Another, rare for us, was a horrible Thai takeaway, which was a mistake and reinforced our belief that takeaways are generally disappointing, best avoided and it's much quicker to even just have some spaghetti with butter and cheese. Never again. I'd rather just have ham and egg on toast.The best meal this week was asparagus pasta. Maya and I made fresh tagliatelle on the weekend and there was plenty left over. Obviously, for this to be a quick meal, you need to have the pasta made or bought. Up to you.The asparagus, first blanched then grilled on a skillet, dressed with lemon juice, parsley, good olive oil and toasted almond flakes was tossed through the pasta with shards of Parma ham, cooked until crisp and then shattered. A handful of Parmesan cheese grated over, a twist of pepper, a pinch more of Maldon salt and another drizzle of oil and we eat. As shattered as the ham.Ingredients for twoA bunch of asparagus tipsZest and juice of a lemonAbout 4-6 slices of Parma hamA handful of parsley (flat leaf or curly, up to you)Excellent olive oil (it really does make a difference)A handful of flaked almonds200g fresh tagliatelle (or dry, or other long pasta)MethodBlanch the asparagus for a minute in boiling water then drain and season.Heat the skillet until very hot, dress the asparagus in a little olive oil and char until stripy. Keep warm somewhere.Cook the pasta in boiling, heavily salted water until al dente then drain and dress with more olive oil (It's good for you) in a large bowl. Meanwhile, crisp the ham on the skillet and toast the almonds, perhaps in a dry frying pan if there's no space.Chop the parsley, mix everything together in the bowl, season again to taste and serve.

In the name of the garlic, the chilli and the holy olive oil

The grey and dreary London streets are now exploding with wispy and bedraggled underfunded Christmas lights wrapped around flickering streetlamps. Apart from the showpiece Regent Street lights, most of the decorations elsewhere seem to have been found at the back of a cupboard from the '70s. Still, not one to complain about Christmas cheer, it is now permissible to talk about celebrating it and to start making plans.Two days ago I had my first mince pie of the year. And I had it for breakfast. That's how rock and roll I am. I also managed to burn it slightly, so really it turned into dark pastry holding mincemeat at a temperature approaching that of Krakatoa in full flow. But all this aside, I have also been cooking plenty of festive food for the various shoots I've been involved in over the past fortnight. And to be honest, I need a break from ham, turkey, filo parcels, prawn canapés and the like. And with all this extra cooking, sometimes the only energy I can summon at mealtimes will last the length of time it takes to make an omelette, bake a potato or cook a quick pasta dish.That doesn't mean it should be bleak though. Simplicity is beautiful and the best ingredients don't need a lot doing to them to make something delicious. So this classic pasta dish (usually made with spaghetti, but I prefer linguine) is spot on. And this is where it's worth having great quality pasta and special olive oil. Not the stuff you'd cook with, but the secret, small 250ml bottle you keep on the shelf hidden behind the unappealing tin of mixed beans you kid yourself you'll use one day. Be generous, this is its moment.Ingredients for two200g linguine (use spaghetti if you must)2 cloves of garlicHalf a mild red chilliExcellent quality olive oilSalt and pepperGrated fresh Parmesan to serveMethodBring a huge pan of water to the boil and throw in more salt than the doctor would be happy with.Add the pasta, return to the boil and stir occasionally until cooked al dente. Drain, but not quite fully - it's better if you keep back a tablespoon or two of the starchy cooking water - and return to the pan.While the pasta is boiling grate or mince the garlic, finely slice the chilli and add the olive oil to a saucepan. Heat until the garlic starts to fizz and bubble a little then season and remove from the heat.Add the pasta to the oil, or the other way round if you haven't enough space and mix so all the linguine is coated and silky with oil.Serve immediately with a blizzard of cheese, black pepper and some more of that excellent oil.

Pork Chops with Mustard and Cream

We don't often eat pork chops in my house. We've had the fear put into us by my mother-in-law that we will have a terrible night's sleep if we eat pork in the evening. Also, I've possibly been put off it by years of having to endure eating grey, leathery shoe-sole tasteless meat disguising itself as food. You'd think it was still wartime the way some people still cook it.Make sure you but good quality pork, from well looked after pigs. That's a good place to start. And don't be scared of it being a little pink in the middle. That way, it will be juicy, tender and flavoursome and will, with hope, overcome bad memories of the school lunch hall, chewing interminably and trying to move 'food' around the plate to make it look as though you've polished most of it off and are bloody well grateful, boy. I didn't fight in the trenches surviving on tinned pilchards for you to etc etc.Today's recipe is simple and very quick to make. Pork, creamy mushrooms and mustard is a classic combination and while it may seem to be a little old-fashioned, there's nothing wrong with that; delicious is delicious. The sesame broccoli brings it out of the aspidistra lined 1970's suburbs a little, just don't boil the veg. for four hours.Ingredients for four people4 good thick pork chopsA few handfuls of button of chestnut mushrooms, sliced1/2 a red onion, finely sliced2 sprigs of rosemaryA few large sage leaves300ml double cream1-2tbsp wholegrain mustard (I like Moutarde de Meaux, very tasty and has no sugar or other nonsense)Olive oil for fryingSalt and pepper to seasonEnough broccoli for four people, stems too1tbsp sesame oil1tbsp sesame seeds, toasted if you likeMethodWhile heating a cast iron skillet for the meat, gently soften the onion in a sauté pan in the olive oil until translucent then add the herbs and mushrooms.Season well and cook until the mushrooms are colouring. Add the cream and stir in the mustard. Cook for a few minutes until the cream thickens. Loosen with a little water if it gets too thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning and mustard.Cook the pork chops on a high heat for a few minutes on each side until golden and the fat is rendering and crisping. Hold it down on its fatty edge to achieve this. Leave it to rest and boil the broccoli for about four minutes. I slice the stems and throw them in a minute before the florets. Drain very well, water really gets stuck in all those buds and drizzle over the sesame seeds and oil.Serve the pork with the sauce and broccoli.

Chilli and Garlic Squid with Courgette

Bee has gone out again, leaving me alone to play with my favourite cupboard in the kitchen, The Cabinet of Curiosities. For once, though, I'm not tempted by dried fish souflé with truffle juice and barberry powder. As tempting as that may sound to you, you'll have to write that recipe yourself. Don't fear though, here's a five minute dish that is the epitome of quick, simple cooking with good, fresh ingredients. I don't often eat squid at home, so tonight was the perfect opportunity. The cupboard can wait.Squid, quickly seared and served with a little kick of chilli flakes, salt and pepper is one of my favourite snacks. Even better if it's in a light batter. Batter light than never I always say. The perfect sunshine accompaniment to a cold sparkling drink outside.You could use papardelle pasta if you prefer the carbs, but I was on a low calorie day anyway so held back.Ingredients (for two people)250g small squid1 Courgette2 small cloves of garlic, crushed1 red chilli, as hot as you likeOlive oilSalt and pepperLemon zestShave some ribbons of courgette with a vegetable peeler and sauté them for no longer than a minute with the garlic and a sliced red chilli. Put that on the side, heat the pan to vesuvius levels, throw in a splash of olive oil and cook your well seasoned squid for about a minute each side before mixing with the courgette.Serve with lemon zest, a good twist of pepper and some chilli flakes. Pretty easy really.

Chicken Kebab

I have no idea why it's so hard to buy a single pepper in the supermarket sometimes. I wanted a red one but they only had multicoloured multipacks. Maybe it's the only way to get rid of the orange and yellow ones. No one gets left behind.I only really use red and green ones (a chilli is not a chilli without green pepper), so I thought I'd push the boat out, go crazy and wild and use orange ones with this recipe. And they worked nicely. I didn't have to hold my nose as I ate. They added just a little sweetness against the herbs and cut through with the onion.We had these with as a quick supper with tomato and cucumber salad, some asparagus and a couple of pitta breads.Ingredients for four skewers2 chicken breasts, cubed1 orange pepper, cut into chunks1 large red onion, cut into chunks1 large sprig of rosemary, leaves only, chopped1 large sprig of young thymeSalt and PepperA pinch of chilli flakesOlive oilMethodMix all the ingredients in a large bowl and leave to marinate for about an hour if you can.Thread alternate chicken, pepper and onion on the skewers and then pour over any remaining oil from the bowl.Grill for about five minutes each side until nicely charred. Be careful to not overcook them.Serve with flatbreads and salads