Teriyaki salmon

Ingredients (serves 2)
2 salmon fillets
3 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp honey
1 clove garlic, crushed

* mix the soy sauce, mirin, ginger garlic and honey in a flat dish
* add the salmon fillets and leave to marinade for at least half an hour
* heat and lightly oil a griddle pan, then griddle the salmon until cooked through
* while the salmon cooks, heat the left over marinade in a small pan until reduced and thickened and pour over the salmon to serve. 

I served the salmon with egg noodles, which I stir fried with some thinly sliced carrot, courgette, onion and some cashew nuts and seasoned with soy sauce and chilli. Also good are bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, broccoli or water chestnuts. 

Boulangere potatoes

Ingredients
1 or 2 large potato per person
Small onion, sliced
Clove of garlic, crushed
1/2 pint vegetable stock
Salt and pepper

* Heat oven to 200C
* thinly slice potatoes. I use a mandolin
* Place a layer of potato slices in the base of a lightly greased casserole dish and top with some onion and garlic, and season
* Repeat layering, finishing with a final potato layer
* Pour over the vegetable stick until it comes about half way up the potato layers
* Bake for around 40 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through. Cover with foil if the top is getting too crispy

As a variation, I sometimes mix in sliced swede, parsnip or turnip with the potatoes.

Eggy bread/French toast

Never understood the name 'french toast' considering you fry it, and it's always been called eggy bread in my family.

The rest of my family always insist this should be a savoury dish and they eat it with plenty of ketchup. I think they're wrong and always have it sweet. Maybe this is because I worked at a summer camp in the US when I was 19 and we had French toast with maple syrup for breakfast a couple of times a week.

Ingredients (serves 1)

1 egg

Splash of milk

Large pinch of cinnamon

1 1/2 slices bread

* crack the egg into a flattish dish, add the milk and cinnamon and beat together

* place the bread into the egg mix and let it soak in, turning when necessary

* heat a little oil in a frying pan and cook the bread until golden brown

I like it with golden syrup and sliced banana. Mmm...

Carbonara

This has been a favourite 'home alone' lunch for years. I think I first got the recipe from one of my student cookbooks.

Ingredients (serves 1)
75g tagliatelle or spaghetti
1 egg, beaten and seasoned
1 rasher bacon, sliced
3 mushrooms, sliced
1 spring onion, sliced
Cheese, grated (as much as you want)
Sweetcorn (optional)

* Cook pasta to packet instructions, adding sweetcorn if wanted
* Meanwhile, fry bacon, onion and mushroom together
* Drain the pasta, return to the pan then add the bacon etc, beaten egg and cheese
* Stir well. The heat of the pasta will cook the egg. Finish with a generous amount of black pepper. 

Don't be tempted to put the pan back on the heat or you might end up with scrambled egg!