I'm back... with lentils, yes, you did read it right - lentils

I have decided to embrace the pulse. Having hated beans, chickpeas and the like ever since I became aware of Heinz's most popular blue-tinned product, I thought I would never see the day when I would actually like eating pulses. However, I'm trying to learn to like them and with this in mind, made a lentil salad today. Olive magazine landed on my doorstep this morning with a big thud and as I idly flicked through the pages of a mini-Italian recipes supplement, a salad caught my eye. Usually I'd see 'lentils' in the ingredients and immediately move on, but this time I decided to try it. It's a really easy recipe - green lentils from a tin, drained and rinsed (they flop out of the tin like rotten catfood), mixed with a quick salsa verde, a bit of chopped chorizo, roughly chopped charcoal-grilled artichoke hearts, and sprinkled with crumbled feta, cherry tomatoes and a drizzle more salsa verde. Easy. It was a bit too garlicky, and I can't pretend I love lentils yet, but pretty good. And it would make a nice extra for a picnic, if the torrential rain ever lets up.

I've not blogged for the past few months and I have missed it. I just needed a break - and I started a new job where I work pretty long hours so I haven't had the inclination or the energy to open my computer when I get home. I hope to keep it up though - I've missed documenting my meals. And I've just come back from Glastonbury, where a friend said I should have photographed my meals (mostly good, some very good, some bland or rubbish) and I realised the thought hadn't even crossed my mind - what a shame and what a wasted opportunity. Maybe next year.

Christmas Eve super-salad supper

Ok, so this isn't our usual Christmas Eve supper, but as we had a big lunch my Dad made one of his warm super-salads in the evening. As it's Christmas, we followed it with cheese, of course. There's barely a meal around Christmas without cheese in this house, execpt maybe breakfast. This warm salad had toulouse sausage and chorizo (cooked with onions, peppers, mushrooms, courgettes and cherry tomatoes) marinated garlics, sundried tomatoes, and probably lots of other things from the fridge and larder. The only thing is, I'm not used to waking up feeling hungry on Christmas morning after our traditional gammon feast the night before... maybe that's why I can't sleep.

Warming chorizo pasta

This was my late lunch on Friday. Hungover again (damn this Christmas party season), we had had Christmas champagne at work about 11 o'clock, and by the time I reached my parents' house at about 3.00pm I was starving and needed something big. I made myself a pasta dish - penne pasta, chunky chorizo sausage, onion, red pepper and my mum's homemade tomato sauce from the freezer. It was just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. My mum asked me what I thought of the tomato sauce - I was honest and said it was delicious but very lemony (surprising as it only had a dash of lemon juice in it, I suppose to add a bit of a fresh tang) so I don't think chorizo was the best match for it. With prawns it would be fab. Great!

Warm chorizo salad, full of my favourite flavours

And this was today's lunch, lovingly constructed by my dad while I made tomato and apple chutney in my parents' kitchen and my boyfriend did some work. He fried chorizo, onions, peppers and a tomato in a non-stick pan and served it warm over mixed dark green leaves and herbs, with delcious extras like marinated garlic cloves, sundried tomatoes and finely sliced cornichons. We had it with brown bread and butter - a flavourful Monday lunch to celebrate my last day off work before Christmas.

The Barnsbury, 209-11 Liverpool Road, N1 1LX

12/10/06

I have eaten here a few times before from the lighter bites section of the menu and it has been consistently fantastic. Twice I've had a stack of moist aubergine, mozzarella, beef tomato and portobello mushroom drizzled with pesto and garnished with a few sprigs of basil (it was so tasty the first time I couldn't wait to have it again) and I've also shared a crayfish pasta in a creamy sauce and some crunchy, perfect chips - all can be thoroughly recommended. As can the good value bar snack of 'chorizo al inferno' (two skewers of chorizo lapped with flames from booze in a dish underneath, accompanied by a couple of chunks of bread), although it would be helped if the liquor was more palatable than the paint-stripping, toxic variety which looks much nicer swirled with the chorizo juices than it tastes. Anyway, I went back again last night on a bit of a whim. Aware that I salivate regularly as I remember the aubergine stack, when I saw the 'turkish-style aubergine' starter on the menu I couldn't resist. And I'm glad I didn't. It was just lovely - a substantial slice of aubergine cooked to a squidgy texture, topped with a portobello mushroom and a mix of spices, tomato and unidentifiable veg, set on a plate prettily decorated with dabs of creamy sauce and chutney. We shared it and it didn't last long. While my boyfriend chose the scallop starter as a main course with chips (well presented and perfectly cooked), I decided on the herb-encrusted, English (local - woo-hoo!!) rump of lamb with fine green beans and sweet potato mash. I asked for it as rare as they would let me have it, and that's how it came. Wow. Beautifully tender, sliced halfway through to show the pink meat contrasting with the crispy exterior - just how I like it - on a pile of beans surrounded with a dark and rich balsamic sauce, it looked great and tasted even better. The sweet potato mash was a little too thin and smooth for my liking, but the flavour melded with the lamb, sauce and beans very nicely. All in all, it was delicious. I was seriously full and couldn't even finish my boyfriend's chips... unusually for me. And we had a fresh and fruity bottle of Sauvignon Blanc which went down well, particularly with the scallops, and wasn't too budget-busting at around £14. The only annoying thing was that our section of the restaurant was too dark to really see the food (or photograph it successfully - we only had a 2 megapixal camera phone with us). But I won't let that stop me going back. The Barnsbury is not cheap, but it serves top gastro-pub food with charming and friendly service. Mmmmm. Yum, yum.