Kerala

I didn't really make a systematic purchase, more like a smash and grab. Various fish, various styles. They all taste milder and lighter than the usual UK supermarket brands, and the texture of the flesh is less compressed. It tastes less... denatured. I liked the subtle herb and spice additions in the cans of Pinhais. I was so pleased the tomato sauce was not the thick slurry I expected. This is definitely the start of another regular indulgence.

Happily working my way through my tinned fish haul from my recent trip to Portugal. Sim9le pleeasures.

From a few days ago,roast lamb with a sticky glaze from a Gary Rhodes cookbook. And the cut surface...

Getting my vegetables in. Store-bought mixed leaf salad, with added tiny tomatoes and radish, dressed with a honey, EVOO, apple cider vinegar vinaigrette and some crushed peanuts. Part-baked (then baked!) ciabatta roll, air fried chicken.

First Brussels of the year. Duck, tomatoes, roast baby potatoes.

When the stars align... You couldn't plan that, but I would definitely bite into that!

Lamb curry with the shoulder, served with rice and yoghurt. Quite mild, but the flavour was good. The family all liked it. There's a bit of room to increase the heat. Quite pleased.

Love smoked duck. A bit of a luxury here. So, i guess, when I do get it, it's a real luxury.

The other two sardines in the picante Pinhais tin. As someone has noted, the level of spicy heat is very gentle, just a subtle warmth with a hint of herbal nose. Perfect for breakfast.

Air fryer chicken in a quick ginger/garlic marinade with salt and pepper, olive oil. Store bought salad with a dressing of olive oil, honey and white wine vinegar, topped with a little grated pecorino.

Shepherd's pie. Loads of mash!

Gently heated. In a baked potato with the oil instead of butter. Partial cross-post on lunch.

Warm for November but still wet and miserable. Just squeeze a bit of Portuguese sunshine into a microwaved British spud. Nice.

Sunday brunch. Although there will surely be lunch later!

Salmon in the air fryer (7 minutes at 200C) in a bun with mayo and chilli/garlic oil.

Sometimes eggs break, but you don't have to make an omelette.

@farcego I was just on holiday in Portugal and these were bought at an Apolonia supermarket. I live in the UK.

Roast chicken, usual fixings. The unsightly aggregation at top left is stuffing with sage from the garden.

Vaguely a Keralan chicken curry, but modified to suit the mild palates of my family. One daughter is away at Uni, another is off travelling (Maldives at present) so I thought I'd try a curry again. It still needed to be mild for my Nepalese mother-in-law, wife and remaining teen daughter. I started with mustard seeds crackled in hot sunflower/coconut oil, then added garlic and ginger, swiftly followed by 2 chopped onions and chilis. I split and de-seeded 2 green chillis, something I've never done before in my life- I would normally have used 5 or 6 chopped chillis for a kilogram of chicken. Once the onions were soft and off-white, I added 2 teaspoons of Keralan chicken curry powder and let that fry a little. I would have added a spoonful of chilli powder plus a spoon of Kashmiri chilli powder for colour with a garam masala or whole spices instead of chicken curry powder. A dash of white vinegar to deglaze before adding 900g of chopped chicken drumsticks and 2 chopped tomatoes. I let all that cook for about half an hour while I made the rice. At the end I added a tadka of a handful of curry leaves and a crushed cardamom pod in sunflower oil. It was medium hot- still a little hot for the family but providing some satiety for me. The recipe above is not really strictly Keralan, incorporating some Nepalese steps, also some concessions to time. However, I made a satisfying curry which my family enjoyed, so I'm happy with that. They do like my biriyani, but that's a 3 hour project, whereas this took me one hour from stepping in the kitchen.

I had 2 slices of toast for breakfast. The first was spread with butter and marmalade, then topped with a good grind of pepper and a tiny pinch of grey sea salt. Not pictured. For the second slice, I splashed a little of the tadka from last night, sunflower oil in which I'd fried some curry leaves and cardamom. Prosciutto on top. So shoot me for my sins, but I'll die happy!

Chicken curry and rice.

M Mackarel, I think. Rocket, sun-dried tomatoes, pecorino Romano, some honey drizzled over the leaves. I'm trying to introduce some healthy dietary traits after a couple of weeks of holiday excesses.

Starting with the Paiola. Sliver by sliver but it's going down fast!

Ha, ha, @blue_dolphin I literally did ponder the Victoria's Secret shop to mitigate the damage, but there are so many ways that could have gone wrong!

In non-tinned-fish news: