John Burton Race Chicken and Spinach Balti and Ruth Watson New York-style Baked Vanilla Cheesecake

We fancied curry but went for something mild as we have my brother staying ahead of his participation in the Beverley 10k tomorrow and I didn't want to be responsible for a Paula Radcliffe type mishap. The curry recipe was from the TV series Take on The Takeaway which saw top chefs cooking in people's homes in a competition against their local curry house, Chinese, chippy or whatever. It really is a super dish and extremely easy to vary the quantities according to taste and however many you happen to have around the table. As I used frozen garlic and ginger from the Waitrose Cooks' Ingredients range, I had the marinade done in about five minutes and because you only have to chop a bit of onion and tomato for the sauce, the whole dish comes together very quickly.

Kasper loved it and it was a great way of getting a bit of spinach, not something we have often, into him.

It being a Saturday, I also decided to do a pud. Packets of Philadelphia were on a half-price deal at Tesco, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make Ruth's Watson's amazing cheesecake from her Something for the Weekend book. And I still have a mountain of poppy seeds leftover in the packet I bought the first time I made it. Plus the recipe is so simple, there are plenty of opportunities for Kasper to help out (especially when it came to bashing up the biscuits for the base). Breaking the eggs caused a few tears though, he was quite alarmed when the shell broke through, sending the egg everywhere. Twice.

Ok, it was for none of the above reasons that I made this cheesecake. I made it because this is one of the finest desserts I have ever had the delight to eat. Trust me, I've been to Carneige Deli in New York itself and honestly, this little cheesecake that you can whip up in your own kitchen is better. It's rich, indulgent, creamy and fresh thanks to the vanilla. But if you do make it, please do not omit the poppy seeds, they really are an important factor. Also, make sure to chill thoroughly before serving. And don't be put off by the slightly odd looking brown crust, this is home-cooking at its very, very best.