Falafel fun times.

Falafel. Did you just think doner? Avoiding or joining (dirty) the kebab queue 2am Sunday morning? No. Well yes. But don't rule out this quick and tasty street food. Street food's very on trend... Yup.

Yes I cheated. It is very easy to make falafels from scratch (as Nigel will show you) but I like this mix. It's probably as close as I get to putting a plastic container of spaghetti carbonara in the microwave. It's also very cheap which is awesome.

Served with parsley and tomato cous-cous (not "coos-coos" Delia), cucumber, yoghurt and lemon.

Season dry cous-cous, just cover with boiling water and leave to stand until the water is absorbed. When cool (-er/-ish) fluff with a fork, add chopped parsley, fresh tomato and a little olive oil.

Make your falafels a la Nigel or as per the box. Add lemon juice and S&P to taste to plain yoghurt and use for dipping.

Falafel goodness. Not just for the early hours of the morning.

The Elephant Garlic.

As well as our venison sausages, the farmers market also provided us with THE BIGGEST CLOVE OF GARLIC I'VE EVER SEEN. A whole 60p bought me one clove of elephant garlic from the Isle of Wight.

Fancy food for a fancy clove of garlic. Lemon and garlic baked chicken on gnocchi with leeks and cheese. Odd? Well yes. But good.

The chicken thighs were baked with a quartered lemon, the whole MASSIVE garlic clove, S&P and olive oil.

Cook sliced leeks and two (normal sized) garlic cloves with a little olive oil and a splash of water until soft. When the chicken is pretty much cooked (juices running clear), boil the gnocchi for 2 mins (they will float to the top of the water) and mix with the soft leeks and (optional) strong cheese of your choice. Season to taste and serve.

Ok so it was quite garlicky.

Actually very garlicky.

Which was fine for me but poor Dr W did struggle a bit with the garlic burn so omit the garlic from the leeks if you think it might be too much for you. Chicken.

Dr W can cook.

I have been treated this week. Dr W, who works about an hour away from home compared to my ten minutes, has managed to get home before me and start cooking.

I realise that I do take over in the kitchen. I am aware of this. And it's a bit silly because Dr W is a very good cook but for practical reasons I generally cook because I get home first.

But this week has been lovely. When Dr W and I were first together and when I used to work irregular late shifts he would cook me toad in the hole for when I got home. Nice man.

Dr W's Toad. Cook the sausages with a little oil and make a batter using the following- 110g plain flour, 290ml milk, 2 eggs, salt and mustard powder.  Chill the batter for as long as possible and when the sausages are starting to brown, turn the oven up and pour the batter over them and cook until risen and crispy. We use a deep dish so that you get a crispy Yorkshire pudding top and a nice doughy underneath. Use a wide, shallow dish if you want crispy all over!

We've also had pork meatballs (minced pork, egg, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce, S&P) with fried mushrooms and potatoes cooked in a delicious veg stock (made with end of veg box onion, carrots & leeks).

Meat and three veg. Excellent venison sausages (same as the toad, 2 packs for £5!) with savoy cabbage, very carrotty carrots and mashed swede. With red onion gravy.

Cook the sausages in the oven, boil and mash the swede with butter, S&P, steam/boil the carrots & cabbage. Cook the thickly sliced onion in olive oil until soft then add water from the carrots, a good stock cube, a splash of sherry vinegar and a sprinkle of mustard powder.

We had eaten very well this week. All thanks to Dr W.

AmSam misses...

...Lyon's Maid Zoom ice lollies.

This is not a Zoom. This is a generic rocket lolly. Very different in all but shape and not a patch on the original.

The original had layers of blackcurrant and raspberry ice with a curious love-it-or-hate-it creamy banana layer. All in suitably luminous colours of course.

For me, a Zoom lolly is school holidays in the Channel Islands, rockpools, blow up dinghys and slightly sandy salad cream egg sandwiches. Bring the Zoom back please. Colourings, additives, sugar and all.