Lamb with peanuts

After a breakfast of fruit and yoghurt, and emergency food when we got back from the concert (grilled vegetables with feta) we needed something a little hearty for supper.

It came in the form of a lamb stew with peanuts, which falls into the life is wonderful category. The recipe came from epicurious: as I didn't have any jabaneros I used my canned chilis in adobo sauce instead. And I didn't remove them.

Vegetable platter with goat cheese

For lunch we had leftovers from our evening meal in Antwerp: blanquette de veau, beef carbonnade and I cooked up some green beans to go with it. It was a heavy meal, and filling, and we could probably have skipped dinner quite happily.

We didn't. But we kept it light. A vegetable platter with tomato vinegar butter and baked goat cheese.

The goat's cheese is easy: buy the ready sliced rounds, put them on a baking tray and bake at 180C for about 10 minutes till they start browning. At the same time I put in a platter of cherry tomatoes drizzled with oil.

While they baked, I steamed some vegetables of choice: in this case, asparagus and courgettes.

While they steamed, I melted three tablespoons butter in a small pan, and when that was a nutty brown colour, stirred in a tablespoon of tomato vinegar. You could use a champagne or herb vinegar too, or even plain lemon juice. I also fried a couple of mushrooms.

All the vegetables went onto a plate with the cheese, and then I drizzled the butter over them. Delicious!

Shuwarma ex pita

Normally you would expect a shuwarma to be served in pita bread. In fact, one day I must try this cheat in a thick slice of split aubergine. Not today, though. Here, I simply grilled some slices of aubergine sliced lengthwise. These can soak up vast quantities of oil, so I use a mixture of oil and water very successfully.

On top of that you place your fried shuwarma strips, and decorate with chopped lettuce, onion, tomato, sour cream and grated cheese.

Or whatever you takes your fancy.