Oh I do love a recipe box: they take all the thinking and weighing and general hard work off you, leaving you to just cook a new, lovely dish that you would never otherwise have thought of. I've tried a few in my time, and Riverford (the nice people who deliver boxes of organic veg etc to your door) are definitely up there. They're currently doing a limited edition box filled with recipes from star gardener and chef Sarah Raven, and asked if I'd like to try one out*. Of cours

Recently I was lucky enough to be treated to an afternoon with Le Rustique (they of the French cheese in the boxes with the gingham checks) who were keen to showcase their wares in the sumptuous surroundings of The Soho Hotel's penthouse suite. After trying the various brie and camembert at different ages and stages I was presented with an excellent feast of cheesy canapes prepared by the Le Rustique chef, including Camembert, Green Apple & Spiced Pecan Salad, Rosemary Baked

Guess what, it's another PR based 'week' and this time it's National Vegetarian Week's turn. Should you wish to get on board and have a meat-free dinner or two in honour of it - and why not, it's good for you, good for the animals and good for the planet etc. - then you could always give these a go. The great thing about being meat-free from time to time is that there tends to be a few more calories to play around with, should you care about such things. I mostly do, but this

A *little* but late, but better late than never. So, I lasted until an ill-timed end of January trip to Paris in the vegan stakes, but show me a person who can journey to France and resist the lure of steak frites and smelly cheese and I'll show you a liar. You can read more about my adventures as a fully fledged vegan in my giant write up for MailOnline - here. I thought I'd leave you with a few of my favourite genuinely tasty recipes that got me through those dairy-free wee

Recently I was lucky enough to interview Anna Jones (ex-Fifteen, chef, stylist & writer) for The Pool to promote her second book, A Modern Way to Cook - which by the way is excellent. It's packed with really inspiring recipes with vegetables at the forefront without it being faddy health food or offputting to hardened meat eaters. I'm not normally a recipe follower, but there are definitely a few in Anna's book that I've bookmarked to try and this Sticky Green Bean & Chilli P

STILL without kitchen, though the end is in sight. This was a quick lunch dish I scarfed down whilst working the other day - I must say, its absolute heaven to be able to just open the freezer and choose something to eat that's ready in minutes. During my mega cooking sesh, I made two types of dahl and this is one of them. I really love making dahl; in the same way as risotto, its a labour of love in terms of stirring, tweaking and waiting but it really is worth the effort to

The nice people at Dell'Ugo sent me some of their new fresh pumpkin gnocchi to mark its launch into Waitrose, so I thought I'd try and recreate a dish I had at The Spaniard last summer which used lovely heritage tomatoes and a fine balance of lemon, basil and olive oil all set off with goats curd to make a light but satisfying summer lunch. Here's The Spaniard's version: Gnocchi isn't that tricky to make yourself at home - its just cooked potato put through a ricer with flour

The multi-talented Mrs Parmar is back again, and after introducing us to cluster beans last time she's got another mysterious new Indian vegetable up her sleeve: These little things are apparently called 'tindora' and can be found in all Indian grocery shops. They're like a variety of mini squash but are actually a fruit. They can't be eaten raw and take a fair bit of cooking to take away their bitterness. Mrs Parmar used to do hers in a pressure cooker, but she once had them