Pizza, a winter salad dressed with cinnamon, and a nectarine tart

Thursday 7.15pm

I am very lucky in that I only work four days a week. It is another luxury that I know other people do not have and although I have worked hard to get where I am today I do know how fortunate I am. So Thursday I am usually off and so cook the tea. Tonight it Nicola's choice - pizza. Feta, pepper, courgette, mushroom and olives for us, pepperoni for two boys and a bought in meat feast type of thing for the eldest who does not like my pizza anymore (c'est la vie). Midwinter just now so my body asks for raw vegetables as well, so a sort of winter salad as accompaniment - mesclun, spinach, celery, mushrooms along with some walnuts and pumpkin and sunflower seeds that I found in the larder and toasted. It being winter, spices also appeal to me at the moment so I dressed the salad with a cinnamon dressing, made by warming some oil and a knob of butter till sizzling, popping in half a stick on cinnamon, taking it off the heat to allow the cinnamon to flavour the butter then after a few minutes pour it into the juice of a couple of lemons with salt and pepper. Beautifull - rich and lemony with the cinnamon coming in subtle and warming in the background. Earlier on I had an hour before needing to cook the pizzas, and as the oven was going on anyway, I made a pudding - Nigel Slaters fig, honey and marscapone tart made with nectarines instead of figs and using yoghurt for the custard because I had no creme fraiche. Oh, and no honey, I thought the nectarines (and all that sugar) would be sweet enough. The proper recipe can be found in Real Cooking . All in all very delicious, mind you I was cooking so although I listen to requests I mostly cook what I fancy myself !