Tomatoes, charred onions and steak

Ooh, so simple yet so tasty - as many in this book are.  It's easy to forget how much flavour a spring onion packs and cooked like this makes the dish. 

Pig and pears

The sweetness of pork chops, the glow of translucent pears.  Nigel's title, not mine.  The fussy daughter was out tonight so I took the opportunity to have a massive pork chop with loads of fat on it - and it was amazing!  I love pork chops, I love pears, I love cider so this was perfect.   If I make it again I'd have mashed potatoes with this and the sauce would make a great gravy.

Root vegetable patties with spiced tomato sauce

And this is what we had alongside the poor man's potatoes.  These cooked quickly and were a really lovely lightly spiced flavour along with the lovely lightly spiced tomato sauce.   As a meat lover  with a vegetarian boyfriend I need to keep things interesting for me or I end up making separate meals but this did the job for both of us.  

Poor man's potatoes

My finished product had a thick rich sauce which Nigel's didn't appear to have, but it was no less delicious I'm sure.  In fact, I think the sauce made it - I almost added a bit of Marsala at the end but then lost confidence and we had it as the recipe dictated. I can see this becoming a regular side dish on my table.  

Sautéed chicken, porcini and Marsala

I've recently come to believe that anything cooked in Marsala tastes like a magician has been playing in the kitchen - I can't get enough of it!  Yet again, as with so many of these recipes in Eat, the simplicity of dishes like this belie the huge  flavours that make you desperate to make it again.  Pure deliciousness.  Once again, though, not the greatest of pictures.

A quick gravy

I could have this gravy with every meal and never tire of it. 

An aubergine and feta toad in the hole

The onion and mushroom version of this beauty has become my most often repeated dishes when I'm cooking for my veggie boyf - I love it!  This version didn't disappoint and will enter the repertoire.  As with all dishes from Eat it is so easy to make you could hardly call it cooking.