cfm

I never run out of pasta - because I'm not totally adverse to using little shells for a suace that was meant to be for spaghetti. Catherine

Corn on the cob. Fry-up-onions, peppers and tomatoes-and-then-make-a-nest-in-the-middle-of-the-pan-and-cook-an-egg-in-there. Maybe a slice of cheesecake. Haven't decided yet. Catherine

This happens too if you remove a plum tart baked in a loose-bottomed tart tin from the oven and carry it across the kitchen with your oven-gloved hand only on the base of the tin. The ring which makes up the side of the tin slides down onto your bare fore arm, your other hand has no oven glove with which to offer assistance, and the only way to shake off the hot ring is to shake off the small but perfectly formed plum tart also. I have never done it again. Not with any kind of tart. As well as being funny, this thead is informative. I don't have any pyrex and now I've learnt not to buy any - it's clearly far too dangerous. Catherine MacColl

Beetroot and pancetta risotto. For me, this is a whole dinner. My husband had some pudding, but I just keep going back and back to the risotto pan to "claw the bowl" until it's all gone. If I ever had to dish it all out in the first serving I'd feel completely cheated. Risotto ritual. Catherine

"Recent" -- as in published the day you made the dish? Having gone back and considered this - yes, published the day I made the dish. Which seems quite fortunate, since I'm in Scotland and Nigella is in New York. Or at least the New York Times is in New York. I nearly calculated that it was published later than I cooked it - but this was all a result of a miscalculation on my part. Good spot! Catherine

Last night I made Nigella's "Mellow Lamb Steaks" from a recent New York Times recipe. The idea seemed to be to cook them with garlic and orange in such a way that they didn't taste too garlicky or orangey. This worked out, and they were delicious. Lamb fat is always delicious, really. We had roasted mini-fennel with it. I don't know if it was essential for the fennel to be minature to work as well as it did. When I woke up this morning I had been dreaming that I made the recipe again in some sort of competition and it was delicious, but I was refusing to tell anyone what the ingredients were, as I knew I shouldn't have stolen Nigella's recipe. Catherine MacColl