this courgette and olive pasta was a quick and easy fridge-bottom meal. i was home alone, hungover and in need of a stodgy lunch to get me feeling normal again. going to the shops was not part of the plan.

the fridge was bare and amongst the few vegetables we had in were a leek and a courgette. these were slow-cooked with some smoked pancetta, garlic and chilli flakes. when they had softened (while the pasta was cooking) i mixed in some chopped olives and capers, a splash of cream, a handful of grated parmesan and seasoned with salt and pepper.

this is a much richer than the pasta dishes i usually make but it hit the spot and got me back on track.

if i hadn’t blogged about the slow-roast pork with fennel rub before i got to eat it for real (i did test it, of course!) then i’d have included this epicurious recipe for these beautiful pink yucatan pickled onions. they were delicious with all the latino food i cooked last weekend but went particularly well with the pork. i also liked them with the cheesy pumpkin quesadillas we had to finish up leftovers, and think they’d be great on top of a juicy beef burger.

i made vast quantities of empanadas for our latino party. i used the smitten kitchen recipe for empanada pastry which was, as deb says, very easy to work with. it’s an interesting pastry as it contains vinegar, which i’ve not come across before, and which is slightly confusing as you smell hints of it when working with the pastry. it’s also a deliciously light and flaky pastry which would, i think, be good for lots of pasty recipes.

i made two fillings. one was deb’s chicken olive and chorizo mix, the other a cheese and pumpkin combination. both worked really well but, as my pumpkin was huge (a wonderfully textured and flavoured crown prince – if you find orange pumpkins bland and watery give this grey-green variety a try) i had lots leftover which we used to make quesadillas with.

this was my first foray into the world of quesadillas and i was surprised how easy it was and how filling they were – two each and both david and i were full. we also found the leftover chilli sweetcorn and courgette bake to be a good quesadilla filling. 

well, it's definitely heading in the right direction!

i’ve been using a mix of wholewheat, white and rye flours to feed my starter and used strong white flour for the bread itself in an attempt to lighten things up. the second loaf wasn’t much lighter than my first attempt but yesterday’s loaf, number three, was much improved. i made a wetter dough – it had to prove in a bowl as it didn’t hold its shape – and this has really helped.

the mexican cooking technique of frying chillies in a dry pan so they soften and char, which i used to make a very wonderful smokey salsa, is also used in this dish which is based on a thomasina miers recipe for  roasted chilli sweetcorn.

i made this as part of the latin buffet we had last weekend and we ate leftovers as a filling for quesadillas which worked very well. you do need to be a fan of sweetcorn though as it flavour of the vegetables really shines through.

our latin party was great fun and i was so lucky with the recipes i chose – with two exceptions all of the ten different dishes i did were absolutely delicious. often this was the result of a mix n match approach to the recipes i found or a bit of gentle tweaking.

my favourite component was this smokey salsa. i used a few thomasina miers recipes as the base for dishes including her recipe for roasted tomato salsa. she talks about the classic mexican technique of frying chillies in a dry pan so they soften and char. in her salsa recipe she adds garlic and red onions to the charring-pan.

she also calls for tomatoes but that didn’t really work so i roasted half the tomatoes on a baking tray – maximum oven temperature and no seasoning or oil for the tomatoes. both processes result in a lot of smoke, smells and burnt-looking vegetables. these get blitzed with enough fresh tomatoes (this is where i differ from the source recipe which calls for all tomatoes to be roasted) to bring back a hint of freshness which is lifted with coriander, lime and red wine vinegar.

i have never had a salsa with such depth of flavour and really recommend you try this. a fresh tomato salsa has nothing on it. 

last year i inadvertently ordered two boneless pork shoulders and have been trying to work out what to do with them as part of my freezer-defrosting project.

one has been called into service for the latin-themed party we’re having at the weekend. i used a fennel, garlic and herb (rosemary, sage and lemon thyme) rub that i found on sidewalk shoes. i then cooked the pork, which was just under 2kg in weight, at 170c for 3 hours, adding a glass of water to the tray and covering tightly with foil so the meat would stay moist. when the meat was cooked i whacked the heat up to max and cooked the top layer of fat for an extra 15 minutes to create a wonderful slab of crackling.

the pork has been shredded, will be dressed with the juices from the bottom of the tray, and used to top tacos along with various other bits. i can’t wait!

my first loaf of sour dough was not a success. the texture is too dense for my liking and there isn't much flavour. i think i'm going to try a mix of rye and wholewheat flour for my starter and make a much wetter dough next time. i'll also use white flour rather than wholemeal for the loaf itself.

the crust was good though and the slits i cut on the top opened evenly as it cooked which means it was evenly kneaded.

sorry things are quiet on here – i’m trying to empty the freezer as it desperately needs defrosting, which means we are eating lots of things which i’ve already blogged about. things such as my mustardy mackerel fishcakes, vegetable shepherd’s pie, chilli and lentil ragu.

there has also been a couple of packs of pastry which needed using, one of which was turned into this chocolate pecan tart. i used a full 100g of chocolate and chose a bar that contained cocoa nibs and coffee which added an extra layer of flavour.

my bread-making adventures continue. having made my sour dough starter on 4 january it has been tricky getting it going. i fed it on day 2 but it then stopped fermenting and separated so there was a thin layer of water on top of the flour/water mix. stirring it up didn’t help so i took heed of a tip which said that starters benefit from being thrown into the food processor for a good blitz every few weeks. i mixed my unruly starter for 5 mins using a hand blender and since then it has been fine.

as you can see in the above picture it is producing gas bubbles. it has smelt quite revolting all week until last night – day 8 – when, instead of smelling like stale wine the morning after, it  began to smell of bread yeasts.

i’ve been feeding it every two days and will continue to do so until friday when i will scoop out some starter to make my first sour dough. i’m very excited as i need to be able to turn out something decent the following weekend when we have friends staying.