The Irish Stew of my childhood was just ok. It was warming on a winter's night, and you certainly weren't going to starve, but it didn't have a lot of flavour. So last night, when I wagged swimming training because it was just too cold to get wet, I had time to have a play with an Irish base and a few spices. The result was delicious! Ingredients 1.5kg forequarter lamb chops - halved with the bone in (ask your butcher to do it!) 1 tbs ground paprika 1 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp

I made lasagne on the weekend and we ate it on Tuesday night. As usual it was more passiccio (mess) than your store bought lasagne that offers a tidy tower of layers, but the flavours were delicious. I've some ideas to try to firm the next one up, so this recipe is a combination of what I did and what I think I should have done (and will be doing next time). Ingredients For the ragout: Good lug of olive oil Salt Pepper 2 tsp dried oregano 500g veal mince (pork is ok as well)

So good on a cold winter night. Last night while the potatoes were in the oven I whipped this up. By the time we were finished eating it was ready to be blended, so tonight, when I'm out Noel has dinner at home waiting for him (and I have something delicious for lunch). I love soups because they are easy and make great leftovers for midweek lunches. You can also put almost anything in - depending what's in the fridge. Ingredients Olive oil 1 whole Butternut pumpkin (you can u