The message I had for this evening was that it would only be the son and me that needed food and I was free to cook what I liked. The son expressed no particular preference so I went down to the supermarket with an open mind.

I felt like some spice and the need for bread instead of potatoes or rice. I half had in mind a recipe from one of the Moro books for spiced lamb with hummus but wasn’t sure how well it would go down.

In the end I bought some minced lamb and made spiced lamb koftas from the Persianna book.

A pound of lamb was mixed with a finely chopped onion, a mixture of herbs, a very large bunch of minced parsley (with some garlic) and an egg. I spent some time squishing it through my fingers until I was left with a dark green gloopy mass I could shape into golf ball sized squashed lumps ready for frying.

We had them with hummus, salad, yogurt and pitta bread listening again to the John Grant live album.