A perfect spring evening, a cat who things he's a leopard, some rye schnitzel

Clearly, our cat Roscoe thinks he's a leopard. He then fell out of the tree, proving he's not. A slow walk around the garden at 7.30 in slanting evening rays, daffs on the wane, fritillaries (sp? boy do I have a lot of garden knowledge to glean) in their glory - note to self, plant at least 200 more this autumn. For supper, half an old, dried up sourdough rye loaf ground into crumbs provided spectacular, tangy notes to a pork schnitzel, with sweet potatoes roasted with chilli flakes, garlic and rosemary, accompanied by a flowering leaf salad dragged from the chaos of the bolting contents of the greenhouse.

Sorry about the pics being all over the place, they won't do as I tell them



ooh, just look at the state of that greenhouse (below)

Homemade truffles to wow any dinner party

Dinner parties make me nervous - not hosting them, when you can hide in the kitchen, but being a guest, when you have to sing for your supper. What to take, when you can't get to a shop for some fancy chocs or a pretty posy of flowers? A simple transformation of a leftover chocolate Easter bunny into tangy, scented, blackcurrant and rose truffles did the trick. As the photo above, but dusted in cocoa, and wrapped in pink tissue with a ribbon. The truffles came out beautifully but my conversational skills could definitely do with some work:

Blackcurrant and rose truffles

200g dark chocolate, broken up
100g double cream
10g butter
1 tablespoon rosewater
2 tablespoons blackcurrant jam
cocoa, for dusting

Line a small tin with greaseproof paper. Melt together the chocolate, cream and butter over a very low heat, stirring until smooth (you could do this over a double boiler but I don't find it necessary), then stir in the jam and rosewater. Spread into the tin with a spatula, I like the layer to be about 1.5cm in depth, but you could make them deeper and therefore bigger. Put in the fridge for 1 hour to set. Cut into squares, or if you like, make curls of chocolate with a spoon. Put some cocoa into a bag and add the chocolates, shaking carefully to coat. Dust off the excess, and wrap beautifully.

Supersonically delicious and nutritious granola

By and large, the food we eat at home is natural and healthy but it's generally taste, rather than nutrition-led. I am trying hard to incorporate more super foods. In a food culture that is currently obsessed with cutting things out (wheat, dairy, yawn), I'm more interested in what you can put in. Never so true as with this unbelievably nutrient-packed and utterly delicious salted olive oil granola. Unfortunately, I am the only one who eats it.

Makes 8-10 portions

1 cup jumbo rolled oats
1 cup flaked quinoa
1/2 cup sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds (photo shows pine nuts, I've run out of the others)
1/2 cup almonds or hazelnuts
1 cup dried fruits of choice (I like sour cherries, goji berries and large sultanas)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 pinch himalayan or sea salt, finely ground

Preheat the oven to 180. Beat together vigorously the olive oil and maple syrup until blended, and then mix into the dried ingredients, leaving out the dried fruit for now. It is easiest to do this with your hands as you want it to be thoroughly coated. You will get sticky. Scrape into a large baking tray and smooth out evenly. If you want to double the volumes, use 2 roasting trays, otherwise the cereal will steam rather than toast. Bake for 10 minutes, turning once halfway through, then reduce the oven to 120 and continue to bake for a further 20-30 minutes, turning and mixing around every 10 minutes so that the ingredients can toast evenly, taking care to scrape inwards from the edges, which cook fastest. When all is golden and crispy, remove from oven and allow to cool. Mix through the dried fruit and store in an airtight container. Will keep for at least a month.

Cooking For the WI

There are few more daunting and delightful things to do than cook for the ladies of the Women's Institute. Today, a lunch for the 65 from the Wiltshire Federation. On the menu, all from Cooking For Real Life: elderflower poached rhubarb with buffalo mozzarella and parma ham, crostini with better beans, lentils with chorizo in lager, farfalle with broad beans, feta and dill, sausagemeat with chilli, fennel and purple sprouting broccoli, scented eton mess and eastern trifle. For us, for supper? Leftovers.

Putain, puttanesca!

There's a necessary breathiness to a puttanesca sauce that comes from the immediacy of all those punchy ingredients, and a trick to making it taste fresh and vigorous: don't cook the garlic, add it raw, finely chopped at the end. Here's how, for two: chop a small onion and fry, along with 5 or so anchovies, in olive oil till the onion is translucent and the anchovies disintegrating. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a generous tablespoon of capers and a pinch of dried chilli flakes. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the sauce is fairly thick and reduced and the tomatoes have shed their tinny flavour. Finally, add a clove for finely chopped garlic and tear in a small handful of basil leaves (I didn't have any, it didn't matter). Toss with al dente pasta, grate over Parmesan if you like - I simmered some defrosted turkey meatballs we needed to eat in the sauce for a few minutes, and yes, bizarrely, it worked beautifully.

Ramping it up

Sometimes Americans really get things right. They freeze glasses to drink root beer from. They knew about salt and caramel first. They call wild garlic 'ramps'. Love that. We have a fair jungle of it in the garden, which is hard to ignore, even if I wanted to. Today's 'healthy' lunch (Ed and I have both put on half a stone over this all-too-long winter) is quinoa-based. Not the world's most inspiring, but it takes other flavours well. Cooked up with wilted ramps (the name works, right?) and very tender shrimp, I can live with that.

Take a mug each of quinoa and water, and a teaspoon of Marigold bouillon powder and bring to the boil in a pan. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add a large handful of frozen North Atlantic prawns and a large handful of just picked wild garlic, roughly chopped. Mix through, continue to simmer for another minute, then cover, switch off the heat and allow the rest of the moisture to absorb for 5 or so minutes. Eat warm, or later, cold as a salad, with a swirl of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and sea salt to taste.