This recipe was inspired by a very good friend who was generous enough to provide us with recipe tips for this tofu based frittata. I suppose it would have only been a matter of time before I came across a recipe similar to this one, but it is all the more special knowing that it was informed by someone who is inspiring in his own right. Recipes, like food, are best when shared.

While leafing through some cookbooks in search of inspiration for another evening's supper, I came across Madhur Jaffrey's recipe for Chana Dal (in Curry Easy Vegetarian). It is a nice one-pot dish (we love those) and the idea of including some greens and other vegetables in the dal to enhance the nutritional hit it offers is a winner.

The recipe for this week is a super easy, super quick and very refreshing salad that is a perfect lunch on a hot summer's day. Green papaya salad reminds me of a good friend, who was for a very long time obsessed with it. It is perhaps the memory of his fondness for this salad that brings a smile to my face. That smile is made even wider by the memory of Little Boy Green helping me prepare it.

Another take on a childhood favourite is this recipe for lentil sloppy joes. The memories of this comforting sandwich hark back to my elementary school days in Damascus where Sloppy Joes* were made and sold by the good ladies of the PTA out of a little library window.

For my take on beetroot ravioli, I decided to revisit some older posts which made this super easy, especially since I had some leftover raw kale pesto. Once the filling was made, and because the recipe calls for raw beetroot, all that I really had to do was to assemble the plate, albeit with some practice and patience.

Mrs Green is a big fan of this recipe, and requests it regularly. Sometimes we serve it up with some sauted courgette, at other times the pasta and the sauce do not want to share the bowl with others. Yesterday we had the spaghetti mixed in with raw courgette spaghetti.

Little Boy Green adores polenta and is fortunate enough to be in Friuli in Northern Italy where polenta is like baguette to a Parisian. Here it is often served grilled to accompany a selection of barbecued meats. Since we are not fans of the traditional accompaniment, we decided to serve the polenta with Little Boy Green’s perennial favourite, beans.

Bruschetta is generally served in the guise of tomatoes and basil on bread, but there are many other toppings that sit nicely on toasted or grilled ciabatta, such as the peperonata we are suggesting. To all the purists out there - I am completely aware that I am perhaps not following strictly traditional protocol in the preparation of these bruschette, but I have a little leeway as a straniero, foreigner. That said, I do believe that most Italians would find these quite tasty. More importantly, they have been happily accepted by Little Boy Green, senza prosecco, of course.