Taking a short hiatus from my USA road trip saga, back in the UK, I have been under the weather, again and so Himself has taken over. I am not really complaining, but at about 8 am, he will say, so what am I cooking for dinner tonight? it is 8am, I can’t think about dinner!

It reminds me of my friend who now lives in New Zealand, she of the icy road trip fame. She also would ask, whenever she stayed with m, or the other way round. What are we having for dinner?

Unless I am cooking for a special occasion, a dinner party, birthday or a festive occasion, I rarely plan that far ahead. My refrigerator always has what I consider basics, lettuce, tomatoes, chillies, celery, onions, potatoes, cheese, butter and eggs, to mention a few. Then my freezers are stocked, one for fish and odds and sods and the other for meat, bread cheese and a meal or two when I have over produced a meal.

Consequently, I usually play the invention game with myself, I open the door of the refrigerator and freezers and peruse what I have and then decide what is going to be for dinner.

The other night I removed from the freezer and informed himself that we were going to have lamb fillet with a mustard crust. This gave him an ideal opportunity to play with the Sous Vide machine. There was too much meat for one night and so the surplus, after sous viding was refrigerated and so this became our source for dinner the following night.

This recipe comes from the northwest of China, bordering on Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan, whose cuisines often blend into each other, so this appears more curry like than one would expect for chinese foods.

1. 3 onions cut into chunks
2. 2 or 3 peppers also cut into chunks
3. 4 cloves of garlic smushed
4. 500 grms lamb fillet
5. 400 grms can of chopped tomatoes
6. 500 grms egg noodles  ( or rice if you would prefer)
7. 2 tsp ground cumin
8. 2 tsp all spice
9. 1 tabsp curry powder
10. some oil for frying

Cut the meat into strips. Heat a Wok, or a deep wide saucepan over a high heat. and saute the meat just for about 5 mins, as it is already cooked, but this will give it some colour. Remove and put to one side. Saute the onions and peppers and then add the garlic. Add the spices and then the tomatoes. Finally add the meat and simmer all together for about 5 mins. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the noodles in boiling water, these are very quick to cook. Spoon the lamb over the top , garnish with some plain yoghurt and some coriander leaves .

Another very simple meal, which I am sure you have all cooked is chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. Actually I prefer it wrapped in Parma ham, but none was to hand on this particular day.

Again, it was pre-cooked in the sous vide machine, which takes about an hour. It is then removed from the packaging, patted dry on paper towels, slit open in the middle, stuffed with cheese, ( boursin or something similar is best flavour wise) and wrapped in Ham or bacon and sautéed just long enough to crisp the bacon. This method of cooking chicken gives an unbeleivable moist chicken. Serve with some simple potatoes and some green salad.