This week our book was The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji López-Alt. It is a great book with masses of techniques and tips and cracking recipes. First up was a couple of side dishes both in a similar vein: Roasted Brussell Sprouts and Roasted Broccoli with Garlic Anchovy Bread Crumbs. We did a maple syrup glazed Brussels sprouts a few weeks ago and they were better than these which were really tasty (roasted with balsamic vinegar and shallots). Next up was Traditional Lasagna Bolognese which contained The ultimate bolognese. I have to admit the ragu was pretty good. I couldn’t get hold of chicken livers so that was the only thing I missed out. The ultimate bolognese is a mixture of lamb pork and veal mince and uses milk in the mixture (Anthony Bourdain’s recipe sow something similar). It was a really great lasagne.

Next up was Teriyaki glazed roast chicken this was a quick roast chicken where you butterfly the chicken and then roast with a mixture of garlic and ginger and glaze with a teriyaki sauce which you then serve on the side. It’s a great way to have a roast chicken mid week. Butterflying means that it cooks in about 45 mins.

Last up was Merguez-Style Lamb Sausage. These were delicious ans were the dish of the week by some way. You mince lamb and pork belly with fennel, sumac, garlic, salt and pepper. I then split the mixture and added harissa to half (we weren’t sure the kids would like it too spicey). The sausages are then free formed (no skins) and cooked. They were delicious and each type (with or without harissa) tasted quite different. The food lab is a great book and one I think I’ll go back to. Next week Massimo Bottura!