The New Mrs P

The need to be organised

2011-09-05T09:28:00.000+01:00

My great resolve to meal plan at the beginning of the week didn't get off the ground last week, nor the week before I don't think.

This week, and next, I will be flitting between home and my parents house, juggling dogs, hens and work, wasting time gazing into the fridge, rooting through the freezer, tramping the aisles in the supermarket is just going to annoy me.

Have just done a quick stock check and can base our evening meals around the following and compile a list for the lovely Ocado man to bring to me.

Monday - Ribs, using the best ever rib marinade baked potato and salad.

Tuesday - I have some diced rose veal, not really sure what I am going to do with it but have a vague idea based around either a Nigella lawson or Nigel Slater recipe I have seen for coq au riesling. We are in September now so those heartier meals can start to sneak in.

Wednesday - Duck legs, think I will use the harrisa marinade from the chicken the other week.

Thursday - I am sure by Thursday the courgette plants will need relieving of some produce so will grate them with some pasta

Friday - Plaice.

Nothing earth shattering or ground breaking in there, I am looking forward to seeing how the veal turns out though.

Friday Falldowns

2011-09-02T13:19:00.001+01:00

A spectacular falldown today.

After posting yesterday about struggling for nice lunches whilst being office bound I came up with this.

The almost fluorescent stuff is actually feta cheese!

Greek salad, or my version anyway. A few salad leaves, sliced red onion, baby plum tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese and chopped mint. I dressed the leaves with some balsamic vinegar mixed with olive oil. Something not quite traditional were the strips of courgette I added, two little baby ones shaved with a horseshoe peeler. Lovely, fresh, tasty and filling.

Kept up the good work with tea. Venison steak, low in fat, sweet potato wedges and salad.

The venison was a bargain from asda of all places, half price.

Having been against sweet potato I now love them along with butternut squash, cut into wedges, tossed with some olive oil and seasoning (I had some BBQ seasoning left over in the cupboard) and roasted in the oven for about 40 mins.

This morning I was good. I had to be in the office early and really didn't fancy breakfast at 6:30. A couple of handfuls of this mixed with some low fat natural yogurt is delicious. Probably not as healthy as it would like to make out but surely better than having nothing, or a few lumps of cheese.

Then things went down hill. Not only did I have to be in the office early (I hate early) I am stuck in the office all day on my todd, can't get out, can't get to the shop, what is a girl to do?! Well she could turn to the other half of the bag of leaves, the red onion, the tomatoes, the feta.

OR she could get jealous that her accountant has buggered off for a slap up Chinese lunch that she could have gone to, if she could get out of the office, she could get busy with google and click, click, click she could end up with a lovely little man knocking on the door bearing this

Well it is Friday!!

Other lovely men that have knocked on the door today have been the John Lewis man bearing gifts for my Friends new baby boy, some moisturiser that the Mothership wants before her holiday tomorrow and the Ocado man with this weekends shopping.

Breakfast Breakthrough

2011-09-01T12:46:00.000+01:00

Doesn't look that appetising does it! Actually it was very nice. Mushrooms fried in a little olive oil, some philadelphia light, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and chopped parsley.

I am useless with breakfasts, anything more than a couple of chunks of mature cheddar hacked off a block and it's too much effort.
As much as I love milk cereal makes me feel, well a bit sick really. You can't have a fry up every morning, well you can if you are on the go all day, but as I am not and nor do I want to be the size of a house, I cannot.

Mornings are not my best time. I even have a mug stating how much I love them, I just wish they came later in the day. So breakfast usually loses out to that extra 10 mins in bed. But it has to stop.

My eating habits have got quite appalling, the lack of fruit and veg in my diet is shocking as is the state of my waistline. It's time that post wedding binge stopped.

So back to breakfasts it is. The above was very nice, the picture of what appears to be brown sludge on toast does not do it justice. Next time I would add a little liquid to give a more creamy sauce though. This mornings quick knock up was scrambled egg with a dollop of philli, black pepper and cayenne pepper. When I used to be very virtuous I started the day with a blueberry and raspberry smoothie, just a good handful of each topped up with skimmed milk and blitzed, so am going to stock up and get a couple of those in each week.

Lunches definitely need an overhaul. My favourite has become this. I have discovered Warburtons square wraps. They are a bit thicker than the circular tortilla type wraps, and to be honest I am not sure I would want one 'uncooked' so to speak but toasted they are heavenly, much nicer than bread. I like to put some prosciutto and cheese on one half, fold over, and lay across the toastie maker (it does span most of the thing) and then serve with a huge dollop of guacamole. Can you see where the extra inches are coming from!!

So thinks like that have to go, or a least become a rare indulgent treat rather than an everyday staple.

Yesterday I had the left overs of the previous nights tea.

A kind of fried rice

I always keep packets of frozen basmati rice in the freezer. I am useless at cooking rice so having these always on hand is great. You boil or microwave them for two mins, or in this case sling into some oil in a frying pan.

I also keep a packet of frozen stir fry veg in the freezer so that gets added too. I do add some chopped coriander or parsley. Fresh if I have it if not I also have those little frozen squares of both in the freezer.

So it's a really quick, knock together tea that a can offer at any time. I do add some spring onions and some whisked up egg, then some other form of protein, either left over chicken, some prawns, some pancetta, chorizo. In this case we had some of our bacon left over from the weekend. The local slaughterhouse make it for us, and this last batch has been beautiful. Obviously fattier than your average bacon but that's what you get with proper outdoor reared Old Spot pigs. However what you put in the pan or under the grill is virtually what you get out, there is very little shrinkage and none of that manky white stuff leeching out.

Am now sat here wondering what might take my fancy in asda. At least the sun is out so I can have a walk down. Office lunches are always so uninspiring when all you have at your disposal is a microwave, kettle and toastie maker. Well they are when you are trying to be healthy.

This is what happens when you sleep...

2011-08-31T10:55:00.000+01:00

Your courgettes get bored and decide to impersonate marrows!

The main reason I grow courgettes is for their flowers. One of the biggest treats for me are courgette flowers stuffed with a lemony, ricotta, chilli and parmesan cream, dipped in tempura batter and fried, served with plenty of maldon salt and lemon juice.

Each year when I am sowing the seeds I worry nothing will happen and I will be left flowerless, as a result I always end up with too many courgette plants = too many courgettes to get through = courgettes mutating into marrow like forms the size of a toddlers leg.

Our favourite way to get through the courgette glut at the moment is to give them away! However when we can't foist them onto unsuspecting visitors grating them and mixing with pasta and some sort of eggs sauce is lovely and quick. Courgette Carbonara & Trout & Courgette Linguine

What to do with these that would help to disguise the fact I had been negligent.

Bung one in a cake.

I remembered seeing a recipe on The Butcher, The Baker and to be honest I can not remember whether I originally did get round to making it or not. Anyway I had all the ingredients in, other than pistachios, the only nuts I had were plain cashews so they had to suffice.

Courgette & Pistachio Cake

140ml vegetable oil or rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing - I used groundnut oil
2 eggs
200g muscovado sugar
300g grated courgettes - even then it didn't use up a whole one
100g raisins - mine were a bit old looking so soaked them in some rum
70g unsalted pistachios, chopped (optional) - cashews for us
180g self-raising flour
tiny pinch of salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg or mace
½ tsp mixed spice

Preheat oven to 150°c. Line 2lb cake tin with liners or lightly grease

In a large bowl beat the egg, then add the oil, sugar, courgette and pistachios. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined

Fill the tin with the cake mix. Bake for 75 min, or until cake is risen and cooked through.

Jules ices with Lime Cheesecake icing, however as MrP gets some form of cake each week to see him though the working week, icing is only for special occasions in our house:-

50g cream cheese, chilled (full fat works best)
50g butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g icing sugar, sifted
1 lime, zest only

Beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, lime zest and butter then gradually add the icing sugar. The icing sugar will stiffen the icing the more you put in, but taste as you go along to make sure you don’t make it too sweet. Once the icing is ready, spread onto cake and leave for a few hours for the icing to harden slightly.

And obviously her photographic skills are much better than mine!

My over enthusiastic courgette plants. It's no wonder they can sneak up to the size they do!

The runner beans getting ready. I was late planting them this year so they aren't as high as they could be.

In fact I was late or completely amiss with veg planting this year. Wedding planning does tend to take over things no matter how determined you are not to let it.

This weekend I am intending to sow some pak choi, fennel and have a sort through the other seed packets to see what might stand a chance this late in the year.

This was my little haul from the weekend. Carrots, including some random purple ones. Courgettes of a more manageable size. Peas and broad beans.

The Thing That Lurks At The Back

2011-08-30T13:07:00.000+01:00

Everyone has something that lurks at the back of the cupboard. That thing, that big bulky thing, the gadget, the bowl, the thing that never gets used because to get it out means getting down onto your hands and knees, emptying the cupboard to get to the thing, dragging it out and putting everything back in the cupboard.

Then you use the thing, you wash or clean it, and then it sits there for a week or so because you can't face getting back down on your hands and knees, emptying the cupboard, putting the thing back and refilling the cupboard.

My "thing" is a pasta machine. I love pasta, couldn't live without it, I love homemade proper fresh pasta, I even find making it quite therapeutic as opposed to a faff. It's just that to make it I have to go through the rigmarole of getting the pasta machine out, then having to look at it sat there reproachfully for days till I summon up the inclination to put it away again.

Anyway the effort was worth it. I use Jamie Olivers method of bunging it all in a food processor and then bringing it together by hand then kneading.

1 egg to every 100g of type 00 flour.

After making the dough I did suddenly spy that the best before date on the packet of flour was sometime in 2010 though. Which shows how long it takes me to work up to unearthing the pasta machine! And as I'd used the last three eggs in the house I just hastily shoved the packet back in the cupboard and forgot all about it! We are still here this morning, I did check to see if there were any little eebie jeebies.

Sausage & Fennel Sauce - From TasteItalia

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 Italian sausages, skin removed - I just used our ordinary pork sausages, just under 1lb
1 tbsp thyme leaves, chopped
100ml red wine
400g tin chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper
grated parmesan to serve

Using a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic and fennel seeds with a pinch of salt.

Heat the oil and cook the onion for a few minutes over a low heat to soften. Turn the heat up and add the sausages, breaking them up and lightly browning.

Add the garlic, fennel and thyme and season, remembering there is already some salt in there. Because I was just using plain pork sausages I added some dried oregano too.

Add the wine and allow to reduce slightly then add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 mins. My sauce was quite thick so I added some of the pasta water. I also stirred in some fresh parsley

The recipe says to serve with rigatoni but obviously we had it with the pasta above, cooked for about 3 mins.

Men at Work!

2011-08-29T13:14:00.000+01:00

This is where I turn into a smug married! My wonderful husband, not a phrase that trips easily out of my mouth yet, or will ever at all I don't think! ..... So... The very clever MrP has made this

Our new Hen House, complete with sunbathing deck!

The strips of wood running the length of the roof are so we can grow a 'living roof' similar to that on Pigton.

This is Pigton with it's growing roof

* Disclaimer the pigs you see are not real, nor do they represent any real life pigs *

Honestly we do not condone pigs running feral, climbing on rooves, it's just irresponsible

He is currently outside constructing the run. So now we have the big decision of which hens to get. My original 3 ex-bats have sadly all gone. The three replacement witches - Darth Vader (the broody Blackrock) Ginger (a fiery, sulky Columbian Black Tail) and not so snow white ( an adopted, troublesome light Sussex) are with my parents.

Questions have been asked, books have been ordered. We ideally want hens for egg laying, chicks to rear for the table and guinea fowl that isn't as battered, as bruised and as tough as the poor thing we tried to eat this weekend that waitrose delivered.

So it was only fair that I kept up my side of the marriage and provide something to keep him going.

We had breakfast. I'll rephrase, he had his mountain of cereal and then came in for lunch.

Some of our own bacon with home made ricotta cakes and poached egg. The picture with the egg is mine, he likes his eggs absolutely bastardised. And when it comes to poached eggs he likes them done in those horrible little poach pods till they could bounce.

Ricotta Cakes - From Good Food Eat Outdoors

100g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
200g Ricotta Cheese
2 tsp Chopped Thyme
1tsp English Mustard Powder
100ml Milk

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, the mix in the ricotta, egg yolks, thyme and mustard powder.

Slowly drizzle in the milk and beat to make a smooth mixture. Season well with salt and lots of black pepper.

Whisk the egg white until stiff and forming soft peaks, then fold into the ricotta mixture, in batches, with a large metal spoon. Don't batter it and knock out all the air and lightness.

Melt some butter in a frying pan.

Now the recipe says to dollop 2 tbsp for each cake, I did this with the first one and it spread and spread across my pan, so I got out the fried egg rings.

They take about 2mins each side, don't have the heat too high as they do colour quite easily.

The recipe says they can be frozen. We had some yesterday morning, I froze two to see how it would work out this morning. Wrapped the frozen cakes in foil and put in a 160 fan oven for 20 mins, then because MrP was still outside working on his run construction they had to stay in the oven turned down to about 80 for another 20mins. They were edible, nowhere near as nice as the freshly cooked ones, but that could have been down to trying to keep them warm.

The original recipe had them served with bacon, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and creme fraiche mixed with wholegrain mustard.

In future I would swap the thyme for parsley, but at the moment I am really off thyme, it's just too stuffy. Funny how tastes change from month to month!

D is for Disaster!

2011-08-28T11:13:00.000+01:00

Yes another Delicious disater, my cut backs on only buying one magazine a month has resulted in two virtually inedible meals, at least we have saved on dog food though!

In the week I made the three cheese vegetable bake from the magazine. Whilst assembling the dish I did wonder how the vegetables - potatoes, courgettes, peppers, fennel - were going to cook with absolutely no liquid, but as the recipe said cover with foil I vaguely hoped that the water from the veg would be enough. I read and re-read the recipe to check I wasn't missing something, and even on writing this I have just dug out the magazine and checked again. Anyway it wasn't enough. I should have followed my instincts and added some chicken stock.

If you are at a loss of how to get rid of some veg, cheese and ham, save yourself the time and electricity and just launch them in the bin.

Faith is restored

2011-08-18T09:34:00.000+01:00

If things were running to plan then last night should have been the turkey koftas, I think. But meal plans can be flexible, as can recipes.

One of the features in Delicious Magazine was a 60 minute menu. We don't do three course meals on a weekday, ha, and of course we do at the weekends, as if!

The main course on this was Sticky harissa chicken with green couscous. I had some chicken breasts in the freezer (another one bites the dust) although mine were skinless whereas the recipe calls for skin on, I think it actually tuned out better with the skinless than it would have with skin on.  And as I was toying with the idea of doing this for a lunch I had all the other ingredients in, with the exception of couscous, but I prefer the Bulgar wheat I had anyway.

For 4 people

4 chicken breasts, skin on (or off)
2 tbsp harissa paste (they used belazu, I used barts)
2 tbsp clear honey
finely grated zest of a lemon
Salt & black pepper

Mix all the marinade ingredients together add the chicken and leave for at least 10 mins. The recipe tells you to fry on an ovenproof griddle, skin side down for 3-4 mins, turn over and cook in the oven for 10-12 mins at fan 180. I just used my griddle pan for the whole thing.  Start off on a fairly high heat to get the lovely griddle marks but then turn down otherwise the honey will burn. I kept smearing with more of the marinade as I turned them.

Served with some Bulgar wheat, I always add a chicken stock cube to the water it's cooked in. Drain, add some olive oil the juice of a lemon and fresh basil, parsley, coriander.

Mix some greek yogurt with chopped mint and serve up.

My camera is still playing up but my lovely husband (still feels odd to say that MrP is much easier) took a picture with his new beloved iphone.  Yes no sooner I got married I became and iphone widow. Have just realised that's not a very appropriate joke the week the poor bride lost her new husband in a shark attack off the Seychelles on their honeymoon. So sad, I cannot imagine what she is going through.

Anyway, not the best picture I'm afraid, but not that my photography skills are up to much either!

D is for Don't Bother

2011-08-17T11:57:00.000+01:00

Although this weeks meal plan didn't get off to the best of starts I am still trying to cling to some sort of hope to be organised and I suppose prove to myself that meal planning can also be flexible.

MrP's rumbling gall stones meant that last night we needed something lower in fat than the 3 cheese vegetable bake I had planned, so I swapped it for the Pork, sage and feta back from this months Delicious Magazine.

Very quick and easy to do, but very dry and unexciting to eat. All in all not something I would bother with again which is rather disappointing, but I suppose you can't win them all. It wasn't a million miles off the chicken bake I do, or the same version with sausages but I put in tomatoes and either some stock or white wine. Anyway you can't win them all.

So we'll see if tonights turkey kofta recipe is any better. I can't actually remember what it is supposed to be served with but I have half a kohlrabi in the fridge and another the size of a football still in the veg bed, so am thinking of some sort of coleslaw.

Best Laid Plans

2011-08-15T16:06:00.001+01:00

In an attempt to be more organised, make less trips to the shop, spend less, waste less I have vowed to go back to meal planning for each week.

Fantastic idea, how could it fail!

It's already floundering and we are only on Monday!

The plan was

Sunday - guinea fowl having picked up a half price bird on Friday night
Monday - out with friends for dinner but get some quiche out of the freezer for MrP
Tuesday - The 3 cheese veg bake from Delicious, need to remember to get the ham hock out tonight.
Wed - The turkey kofta jobbies from Delicious, get turkey out of freezer too
Thurs - Pork sage and feta bake from Delicious, whilst I'm in there may as well locate the frozen pork fillets
Fri - fish cakes

Sorted!

No not really

Saturday MrP wakes up with a migraine, migraine wears off enough for him to manage bacon and egg for lunch, followed by two toasted muffins. In the evening we had the trout admittedly I did serve up enough to feed 3 people amply, so after his portion and half of mine he was suitably stuffed, but then went on to yogurt and some of the foccacia with a load of marmalade.

So surprise, surprise when an already run down MrP wakes up Sunday morning with his gall stones rattling around like a carnival.

So the guinea fowl is now in the freezer, so much for more coming out than going in. I still roasted the chicken I was intending for lunches and we had some of that with some salad, even his gall stones couldn't take too much offence to that.

The chicken was lovely, I tried out Marco's suggestion of mushing up a knorr chicken stock cube with olive oil, added some paprika and smeared all over the chicken, with some black pepper. It gave it quite a salty crispy skin, so thankfully I hadn't used any extra salt. Worth a try.

So Sunday's plan was out and there is no way the pastry and cheese in the quiche is going to do him much good. There is a chicken leg and more salad though.

Meanwhile I have the problem of choosing what to order at The Bulls Head

The Trout's Out

2011-08-15T09:00:00.002+01:00

A few weeks ago a friend of MrP gave us a beautiful river trout he had caught. Was obviously more than just a few weeks as it was before the wedding when I was in a barely cooking phase. The friend had only just got back from his fishing trip and put his spoils straight into the freezer so our trout went from his freezer into ours.

It was a beautiful rainbow trout, a big beautiful rainbow trout. Not this exact one, obviously. My camera is still playing up. But to be honest, and I have no need for the "fishermans exaggeration" as I didn't catch it, it was probably as big.

So even without it's head it was a rather awkward addition to the freezer. Requiring constant repositioning every time I wanted something in or out of the freezer.

I am still trying to stick to fish friday and for the last three the trout was on the menu, only to escape. So last Friday morning I was determined and the trout was out.

Once defrosted it was even more lovely than I thought, the flesh really firm and fresh, the skin bright and doing it's name justice.

We both love fish and although I don't mind too much the effort of picking through the bones, it does test MrP's patience and detract from the enjoyment. So I set about filleting our trout, and to be fair didn't too a bad job. I then sandwiched the two fillets back together with a filling of chives, parsley, lemon slices and knobs of butter. Tied up with string, slit the skin, rubbed with oil and a generous sprinkling of maldon salt and grilled.

Served with some garlic roasted potatoes it was a feast, and a shame MrP didn't get back from the pub till 11 o'clock.

This meant there was rather a lot of our trout left and it would have been a crying shame for him to go to waste, and just rather rude.

Fishcakes were dismissed. Having done them with fresh and tinned salmon, tinned always works better. Salad too easy. A while ago I did a salmon pasta jobbie so thought something like that would be nice.

Enough linguine for 2
Left over trout
1 courgette - grated
1 shallot - chopped
A good handfull of grated parmesan cheese
About 1/2 a tub of philadelphia light
Juice of a lemon
A small handfull of chopped parsley
salt and pepper.

About 5 mins before the pasta is ready sweat the shallot off in some olive oil, add the grated courgette. Before draining the pasta scoop out about half a mug full of the water. Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the courgettes in, off the heat now. Put the pasta water back into the pasta pan, add the philadelphia and let it bubble for a bit to thicken up, add lots of black pepper and a little salt. Put the parmesan, parsley and lemon juice in with the pasta, pour over the 'sauce' and mix it all together.

Lovely. I piled a good handfull of spinach and watercress on top and some rather nice foccacia I'd made earlier in the day. A recipe from a new book I wasn't meant to buy.

Where to start......again!

2011-08-14T12:10:00.000+01:00

It's been a while little blog, long time no see and all that, well now I'm back, back as the new Mrs P!

Yes we managed to pull the wedding off! Had the most fantastic day despite dress shops closing down, the venue burning down (well not quite) one of the bridesmaids getting stuck in her house on the morning, just to mention a few highlights, but the day itself was pretty perfect.

And now it's back to reality, no more excuses for shop bought sandwhiches for lunch, even those shoved in the office toastie maker in a vain attempt to make the best of a bad job, whether they are poshed up in a cardboard triangle or in a plastic triangle they are still one of the most depressing excuses for a lunch.

No more excuses for take aways as "I just don't have time to cook". No more excuses for just frying some meat, slicing and dumping ontop of a quickly opened bag of salad due to the "getting into the dress diet", washed down with a bottle of wine who was I trying to kid!

So back to meal planning, back to being organised, not just speedily hurling random things at a trolley and hoping they'll convert to enough combinations to feed for the week, knowing full well I'd be lucky to get two days, then spending another fortune on more randoms to top up through the week, before throwing half of it away at the end off the week as it's gone off.

And no more buying every food magazine on the shelves throughout the month, only to cook nothing out of it, stuff it in a pile, then about 12 months later go through them ripping the pages out of recipes I "must keep", and then putting them all in a pile. I cannot buy another magazine until I have made at least three recipes out of the last one. Sounds like a good plan.

I have already bought this months delicious, so the job now is to read it and pick.

Whether it's beginner luck I don't know but there are a few definates I want to try:-

Three cheese summer veg bake - looks quick and tasty, plus it will help use up some of the courgettes. The recipe says to use torn ham slices, I have a ham hock in the freezer and I want to make this soup so will use some of the meat for the bake.

Pork sage and feta bake - we have a load of pork fillets in the freezer, and I am on a mission to start eating things in the freezer rather than just adding things to it.

Devilled turkey koftas - lurking in the freezer are some free range turkey steaks which were on offer, so it will also give me a chance to play with my new mincer (a wedding present)

So there is the three, I also fancy:-

Sticky chicken with harissa and green cous cous - would make a lovely lunch

Tamarind tempeh with sesame noodles and shredded greens - would go for prawns though rather than tempeh or tofu. I would have divorce proceedings filed against me before the meal had even gone cold if I tried to serve up tofu in this house.

Grilled chorizo and plantain - have never had plantain and with this if it turns out I don't like it at least I have the consolation of the chorizo.

Salty crispy chicken - I always love the sound of Ching-He Huang's food but have never got round to making any of them.

Spicy fillet steaks - the sauce looks lovely, and although steak doesn't need to much messing with it's nice to have a change.

Shoulder of lamb with aubergine jam - this looks lovely, but obviously far too much for 2 and I am not really a fan of cold lamb. Was wondering about mincing the leftover and turning into shepherds pie.

Onto sweet things the doughnut recipe is definitely a cut out and keep, one for a Sunday afternoon play. The amaretto tart looks good too.

So all in all a good one to start with.

Wedding Whinges

2011-04-05T15:22:00.000+01:00

I now absolutely, completely understand. The culmination of the last few weeks/months/however long it has been has meant I am now a signed up member of the bridezilla club. Something before now I really just could not comprehend, how sad that I now can.

Before I get too dragged into this neurotic, crazed, obsessed cult, whilst I still only have foot in and one foot faltering on rational ground can I get in some last words.

It is absolutely not the fault of the bride to be, she doesn't want to be like this, it's not that she gets possessed by some wedding deamon. Organising a big party is actually quite easy, quite easy if you take all the bloody demanding people out of the equation.

It's these that turn us to the dark side, the people that are determined to criticise, piss on our chips, demand things, think they should be the most important people, think the whole bloody shooting match should revolve around them.

The first thing I learnt as a bride to be:-

No matter how long you have known a friend, no matter what you have been though together in life, you really, REALLY, don't know a girl properly until you have asked her to be your bridesmaid/maid of honour/whatever title they want to give themselves.

Let it be known, apparently, the title is all important and they will all assume they have been appointed "Chief" bridesmaid. If like me you are lucky enough that your two bridesmaids don't yet know each other -fantastic, they can appoint themselves with whatever title they want and no one is any the wiser, for now!

I do suspect this stance may backfire but it's something they can sort out between themselves.

The Ultimate Rib Recipe

2011-04-04T11:51:00.001+01:00

I think so anyway, certainly for homemade ribs. It's a recipe that amazingly enough comes from my brother and tweaked a bit. Incredibly easy, very quick and so tasty.

The sauce did about 10 ribs.

3-4 shallots finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds pounded up
1 good tsp Chinese five spice
100g dark sugar
Soy sauce
Tomato ketchup
Worcestershire sauce
onion salt
garlic salt
black pepper
olive oil.

Coat the ribs in a little oil, out in a baking tray, cover with foil and cook for about 30 mins at 140ish (mine's a fan oven)

Meanwhile sweat off the onions and garlic in some oil, add the fennel seeds, then the five spice powder and the sugar. Let the sugar melt and start bubbling then add about a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of ketchup and a splash of worcestershire sauce, some onion and garlic salt and black pepper. Taste and add more soy or ketchup or both.

Pour sauce over the ribs and cook covered with foil for 20 mins, then uncovered for another 20 mins.

The house is filled with the most amazing smell and the ribs come out with a lovely sticky coating, messy but definitely worth grubby fingers.

Not quite a cake

2011-04-02T11:04:00.001+01:00

In my quest to get better at baking I ploughed through some more recipe books last weekend. I had intended to do a raspberry and almond tray bake I had seen on another blog but on closer reading there was a lot of coconut. I really don't like coconut. At the same time my mind is also turning towards picnics as the first point to point isn't too far off. Out came "The Great British Picnic Guide" by Mark Price or 'The Chubby Grocer' He has a recipe for Blueberry, lime and coconut slice. I had no blueberries, no limes and I hate coconut. What I did have was raspberries, lemons and almonds and a much bigger tin than he specifies so the following is my version.

Raspberry, Lemon and Almond Slice

Odd measurements due to scaling up for my tin

375g Unsalted butter (250g)
338g Caster sugar (225g)
412g Plain flour (275g)
113g Ground almonds (75g)
225g Raspberries (150g)
3 Large eggs (2)
75g Self raising flour (50g)
Grated zest of 2 lemons and the juice of one.
Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 200/180fan and grease a 9 inch sq (6.5 x 7.5 for original recipe) baking tin and line with greaseproof paper that comes 3cm above the top of the tin.

Place 188g (125g) of the sugar in a food processor with the butter, plain flour and ground almonds. Pulse to combine then press into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 mins until golden. Allow to cool completely.

Spread the raspberries over the shortbread base and reduce the oven temp to 170/150fan.

To make the sponge, beat the eggs with the remaining 150g (100g) of sugar until thick and pale. Stir in the self raising flour with the lemon zest and juice.

Top the fruit and shortbread with the sponge mix and bake for 40-45 mins until risen and golden. Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar.

Mine didn't make it long enough to get to the dusting with icing sugar stage. They were lovely, the difference in texture between the shortbread base and the sponge top, the almonds, lemon and raspberries worked really well together. It definitely passes the would do again test.

Fish Friday

2011-04-02T10:20:00.001+01:00

Fish Friday is still going strong, but as most weeks it's simply been some variety of fish - cod, haddock, plaice (although the plaice really wasn't very nice and I have since found out it's not really the right time of year for it) dusted with seasoned flour and pan fried, served with salad there didn't seem much point posting.

The last few weeks the mothership has been lovely and has added our fish to her Friday shop. This week she got us some monk fish. After weighing up these creatures and deciding the bone needed to come out, then a debate on whether the membrane thingy needed to come off, then soon realising it didn't want to come off, it was then a decision on how to cook it.

Most recipes were to bake in the oven, but the main criteria of tea on a Friday is that it has to be quick. In the end I wrapped them in prosciuto and pan fried.

Made a sauce very much based on Sauce Vierge sweated off chopped shallot, baby plum tomaotes, roasted red peppers (the little jar of chopped ones from asda are great if you usually end up with half a jar lurking at the back of the fridge) and capers in oilve oil, then added some white wine, lemon juice and parsley.

Restaurant Rage

2011-02-20T10:19:00.000Z

Well rage is a bit over the top really! But why do some places think they can get away with serving up food which is blatantly bad?

The best example I've come across was a few years ago in a local bar and grill type restaurant, not a particularly cheap place. Meals there are usually on me and usually with my parents. For two people that never normally go the whole hog when eating out when we are there and I'm paying we have the bread, dips and olives, followed by starters - usually the prawns or something similarly at the top end of the pricing scale, then mains - think lobster or steak, then more often or not pudding, coffee and liqueurs. Nothing like someone else picking up the bill! Don't get me wrong my parents are by no means freeloaders, they are incredibly generous people, it just amuses me that on these outings they go through the card.

On one trip both me and the mothership had ordered half a lobster. Both halves came out with rather charred shells, shrunken overcooked tail meat and no claws at all as they'd apparently been burnt so they just took them off. Really what we were served was quarter of a lobster and that was inedible. Obviously these were sent back and two new ones brought out. In fairness to the restaurant they took both meals off the bill. So rather than burn one, throw it, start again and charge for the meal, they'd thought they could get away with it, cooked 4 meals and not taken money for any, rather than cook 4 and at least get paid for 2.

Last week I went out for dinner with some friends. A place we have been may times before and the food is usually pretty good. They have a selection of pizzas on the menu, lovely thin crispy, not overloaded, just a few good quality ingredients, have had them before and they've always been lovely. Last week mine came out as the most anemic, soggy specimen I have seen for a long while. It was that soggy that cutting from the centre out snagged and crumpled the base. Obviously sent back. After a while, as everyone else was almost finishing their meals, the waitress that had taken the offending pizza back walked out of the kitchen, caught sight of us and shot back into the kitchen, my pizza having clearly been forgotten. Out it came. I swear she had just bunged it in the microwave, it was a hotter more soggy version of the original. I could see this was going nowhere. Very politely I asked her to take it back and just take it off the bill, no thank you I don't want anything else, no thank you I don't want a salad, no really I'm fine just take it off the bill.

Obviously to do this she had to approach the manager, all of about 12 bless him, who scuttled over to the table to enquire exactly what the problem was. Whilst trying to explain he was looking a bit black, unfortunately in trying to expand and give a more detailed explanation the only way I could think to describe it was "just rather flaccid really" wine was spat across the table by my companions, the poor boy went bright red and in his flustered state offered us all free deserts.

Then there is just appalling service. A restaurant in China town at new year, okay it was after the theatre so it was late but this place was open till midnight. There were 5 of us, one who is a very fussy eater and doesn't eat much anyway. Dim sum platter was ordered for 4, fussy eater didn't want any. Half a crispy duck was ordered, although who I presume to be the manager loitering in the back ground shouted for a whole one. Then we ordered 3 mains and rice for 3, again she piped up that we needed 5.

Dim sums came and where shoved on the table, half way through the half crispy duck was dumped on the table, a plate picked up that had a spare rib bone, the bone hurled into the middle of the table and the plate put back down. Then the main courses and rice crammed onto the table. Then they had the nerve to put 12% service charge on the bill and question when we didn't pay the full amount.

Back to Baking

2011-02-15T12:02:00.000Z

When I was much younger, much, much younger I used to do loads of baking, every weekend Mum would let me make some sort of cake on a Saturday. That slowly died a death as Saturday afternoon activities went more towards hanging round town and then developed into getting ready for a night on the town and now it's all come full circle.

One of my new years resolutions was to get better at baking. It's something I lost confidence in, you have to follow a recipe and just hope for the best, I have no idea from looking at a recipe whether it will work or not, whereas with savoury/non baking recipes I have much more idea how the end result will be and more often than not will change the recipe to steer it the way I want it. This has not been helped by all the Nigella baking disasters - the Christmas cake cupcake things, the hot cross buns both of which could have been used as weapons, there were others too.

Last months Good Food magazine had a baking section in it amongst which was a recipe for lemon drizzle cake, if the measure of a recipes success is how many times it gets repeated the fact we are now on the 4th lemon drizzle cake may give some idea! It was only on making the last one that I realised it was a Mary Berry recipe.

For the cake

225g butter
225g caster sugar
275g self raising flour
2tsp baking powder
4 eggs
4 tbsp milk
Zest of 2 lemons

For the crunchy topping
Juice of 2 lemons
175g granulated sugar

Cut a rectangle of non-stick baking parchment to fit the base and sides of a 30 x 23 x 4 cm roasting tin. I use a 9 inch square tin Grease the tin and line with the paper, pushing it neatly into the corners of the tin. Preheat the oven to 160C/gas 2. 140 fan

2. Measure all the ingredients for the tray bake into a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes, until well blended. This scares me, I blend the butter and sugar first, mix the milk with the eggs, beat in some egg with a spoonfull of flour, till it's all in then add the lemon zest.

3. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin, scraping the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula to remove all of the mixture. Level the top gently with the back of the spatula.

4. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and is beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Due to the dimensions of my tin the cake is a bit thicker so I give it 40-45 mins.

5. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes then lift it out of the tin while still in its lining paper. Carefully remove the paper and put the tray bake onto a wire rack placed over a tray.

6. To make the crunchy topping, mix the lemon juice and granulated sugar in a small bowl to give a runny consistency. Spoon this mixture evenly over the tray bake whilst it is still just warm. Cut into squares when cold and store in an airtight tin.

Spiedini

2011-02-13T11:01:00.000Z

The last few weeks have been pretty inspirational food wise and despite good intentions to find something different to cook it has been a big fail. Nothing has really caught my eye or got my stomach rumbling and then this was posted on a foodie forum Spiedini

For sometime I have been meaning to have a go at beef olives but then it's something I forget about and this isn't a million miles away. Really easy to make and really tasty.

I dipped the little rolls in egg and then into breadcrumbs rather than using more butter, the butter on the inside really helps the cheesey stuffing to stick and not fall out. I think next time I'd add some grated lemon zest to the stuffing, less breadcrumb coating and cook a little less, I only did a minute aside but they take very little cooking. They weren't as tender as I thought they'd be so hopefully less cooking would rectify this. They will definitely get a repeat performance though, infact there are a couple leftover in the fridge which are calling me and I'm guessing they are just as good cold, could be this years new picnic food.

Bill's Balls

2011-01-12T15:13:00.000Z

It's no secret I have a compulsion to buying recipe books and in the determination to use them more Saturday was no exception. I had already randomly picked a book - Bill Granger's Feed Me Now! - a book I've had for well over 12 months and cooked nothing from. It has lots of paperclips marking the pages with recipes of interest, as do many of my books!, but that's as far as I'd got with it. It's the only book of his I have, I can't say he's at the top of my favourites list, but to be fair he seems a lovely bloke, a bit too smiley, happy, cool floaty linen for me, but you can't hold that against someone really can you.

Being just after the festive period I thought something a bit light/fresh/fragrant might be in order but also something quite tasty and filling, it's still winter afterall. The recipe for meatballs in a tomato and tamarind sauce stood out mainly because of the tamarind element.

Bill Grangers Baked Meatballs with Tomato and Tamarind Sauce

Serves 4
500g minced beef or lamb (I used veal for a lighter version)
1 small onion grated
55g fresh white breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
5 tablespoons chopped coriander
1 medium egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil

For the sauce

2 tablespoons extra virgin Olive oil
1 onion finely diced
2 garlic cloves sliced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon tamarind pulp
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 200 fan.

Combine the mince, onion, breadcrumbs, parsley, coriander, egg, cumin, paprika, chilli and plenty of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix with your hands and shape into little balls. Toss the meatballs in the olive oil and bake for 10-15 mins.

For the sauce, heat the Olive oil in a large pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 5 mins. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin and turmeric and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the tamarind pulp, tomatoes, sugar, 1 tsp salt and some black pepper. Cook stirring frequently for about 10 minutes.

Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

He recommends serving it with mint sambal, spinach raita and pilaf. I fried off some sliced onions, added some basmati rice, topped with water and cooked till done, and then mixed some fat free yogurt with mint and chopped red onion. Finished off with some chopped coriander.

I froze half the meatballs without the sauce, the remaining meatballs and the sauce did three good portions. It will definitely get another go and the veal mince worked really well, a really nice twist on classic meatballs in sauce.

Friday Fish

2011-01-09T12:52:00.001Z

I have a ridiculous amount of recipe books, probably more books than shoes if I'm honest, now that is an admission! Ontop of this I also buy the food magazines. So how is it I seem to end up cooking the same dishes, or a slight variation on the same dishes over and over again. They are easy I suppose, I know exactly what ingredients I need, I can just crack on and cook. However in order to justify my addiction to cook books and mags another aim for this year is to cook more new things.

I think we don't really eat enough fish, Friday has always traditionally been a fish day, and tea on a Friday is always something that has to be done pretty quick in order not to be eating at daft o'clock, so fish on a Friday makes perfect sense.

The online shopping plan worked beautifully, the nice lady from ocado (actually she was a bit miserable if truth be known) arrived, the bags went straight into the boot and shopping for the weekend was done. I have realised though that this plan might have a flaw come summer, when I wont be able to leave food in the boot for a couple of hours but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

This months Good Food had a nice looking, fast looking recipe for sea bass and I have to say I really couldn't complain about the fish counter ones in the delivery.

Grilled Bass with sauce vierge

The recipe is for 4, but it was just the two of us, although I still did almost the same amount of sauce.

50g butter, melted
4 sea bass fillets (just 2)
Sauce
100g cherry tomatoes
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tsp capers
juice 1/2 lemon
100ml extra virgin olive oil
handful of torn basil leaves and chopped chives
to garnish (I forgot the chives)

Line a grill pan with foil and brush with butter. Brush the fish with butter and season, lay skin side up on the foil.

Put the tomatoes, shallot, capers, lemon juice and oil in a pan and season.

Grill the bass for 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile warm the sauce through for 2 mins (don't leave it for too long or it starts to bubble and go thick) stir in some of the basil. Serve the fish with the sauce spooned over and the remaining basil leaves.

Would definitely do this again, quick (on the table in the time it takes to cook some potatoes) simple, tasty and pretty health (olive oil doesn't really count, does it!)

Different year Different diet!

2011-01-07T16:17:00.000Z

Let's face it, it wouldn't be new year without starting a new diet! Although this year I have more reason to see it through than any other, at some point, hopefully I will have to get myself into a wedding dress and not look like a marshmallow on pictures!

I toyed with the idea of going back to weight watchers, especially now they have changed their programme but to be honest the old version suited me, when I stuck to it! So it's back to what I know, which is more of a healthy eating plan rather than a set in stone 'diet' If in a few weeks it's not working, and time is of the essence here, then back to WW it is.

Part of this plan is to get back exercising more whether that be walking, flailing around to DVD's or back at the gym or pool, and make the odd attempt at riding, my poor boy must think he's an orphan. It also looks like the odd Zumba session might be on the cards, so more flailing around!

This week lunches have consisted of pastrami wraps with mustard, tomatoes, cucumber, red onions and lettuce, an old WW lunch favourite which if memory serves came to about 5 points in old money. Another favourite is spaghetti with clams (although this can be swapped for tuna too) chopped onions, garlic, anchovies and chilli fried off in a little olive oil, a tin of tomatoes, mixed herbs and black pepper. Just before serving add a tin of clams, rinsed, and a good helping of capers, rinsed. From memory, again - I do need to check all this! this used to come to about 5-6 points.

The other main aim for this year is to be more organised with the veg beds, although to be fair the random, lets see what happens, plantings we made last year were surprisingly successful especially as we started so late in the year. Although the potatoes not such a success.

The biggest surprise was the fennel, which previous years attempts had come to nothing but this year we got 4 decent whacking big ones.

It was a funny year, I never expected to finish it with 2 hens and a ring on my finger, but then it's had more than it's down points too. Would be nice if 2011 could give us all a bit of a break?!

New Year - New Start - again!!

2011-01-04T14:21:00.001Z

Over two months! How did that happen? The last few months seem to have flashed by in a blur with nothing of real note I suppose.

Bonfire night has been and gone with it's compulsory mulled wine, or mullered wine, and burnt offerings masquerading as sausages and burgers.

A trip to Vinopolis with Dad was taken. He must be the hardest person ever to buy presents for so this seemed like a good idea, he loves London anyway, and something we could do together. Amazing how being reminded of someones mortality makes you want to do things differently. For November the weather was uncharacteristically warm, so much so that we were able to sit outside the restaurant on the banks of the Thames. I have been to The Real Greek a couple of times before so it was a pretty safe bet, but it was definitely improved by being able to sit out and watch the world pass by. A notorious complainer when it comes to food, Dad really enjoyed it to. Lots of dippy and picky things which to be honest most of the time I prefer to one big meal. And he loved wandering round Borough Market.

Vinopolis itself started off promising, the 20 min talk they give is quite informative but then you are just left to roam and randomly pick various wines to try, no real guidance and no real point of reference to compare anything to. All in all not something I would spend money on again.

Christmas has been and gone. Went for a different theme with the table this year which unfortunately the pictures don't really do justice to.

Starter we went for a cheat and bought in M&S dressed lobsters which were unfortunately nice from far but far from nice.

So onto 2011!!! and a promise to myself to blog more!

Tapas Frenzy

2010-10-10T13:10:00.000+01:00

Have just got back from 5 days away in the sun with some friends. It was the holiday that looked like it was never going to happen, it was originally booked for June but then everyones lives got turned upside down and all had to be put on hold. So by the time it came round we were all more than in need of

a few days break.

The say a change is as good as a rest and I can't really say it was the most restfull of holidays, but if you judge it on how much your cheeks ache from laughing then it was a great holiday. The food even better!

We landed fairly late, and hungry so stopped off at the local tapas bar on the way to the apartment. Four of us, two bottles of wine, two vodkas and orange, more food than we could fit on the table, less than 20€ each.

The main discovery was their 'Russian Salad' a potato salad with mayonnaise, peas, carrots, sometimes tuna, sometimes prawns, the other one was the fried cheese, not that I haven't had breadcrumbed fried cheese before, just not for a while. As it turned out we had this rather a lot over the five days!

Another enlightenment was the all you can eat wok buffet. Now left to my own devices the food snob in me would have turned my nose up at the 'all you can eat' 'buffet' and if that isn't enough the neon lights and dinner set out, plastic seats etc. - lesson to self don't knock it till you've tried it. I think to be fair I have been prejudiced by the all you can eat Chinese buffets in over here, congealed, gelatinous mush sitting under heat lamps. This place everything was fresh, well just fresh!

There was a 'starter island' with soup, dim sum, crispy duck, this was probably my least favourite, but was still all good. Then there was the teppinyakki island, skewers of raw prawns, marinaded beef, squid, oyster mushrooms and so much more, including frogs legs. You load you plate up and take it to the chefs who cook it on a hot plate infront of you. Then repeat for the wok island, choose your veg, meat, fish, etc. then take it to the wok chefs, choose your sauce and watch it being cooked, then there is the 'Argentinian Grill' outside where there are ribs, steaks and other slabs of meat. Tell the chef how you want your steak cooking and how much you want and slices of perfectly cooked, tender meat appear on your plate. Didn't bother with the pudding island. All for less than 13€. Cheap and cheerful - yes, surprisingly good - definitely.

Then of course there were the lucky lucky men, who on arrival at the beach our host had absolutely forbid us to engage in any eye contact let alone conversation, two bags, a beach cover up, purse and singing donkey later (and that was just me) she realised she'd lost control! That's before we got onto obese and anorexic pandoras.

New Discoveries

2010-09-26T12:32:00.001+01:00

Polenta, nothing shocking or ground breaking but I'd never had it before. I had an open packet in the cupboard but why is anyones guess!

It was whilst looking for inspiration for something to do with a chicken that I stumbled across a Valentine Warner recipe for polenta with mushrooms which caught my interest. I also remembered the mothership telling me about a spatchcocked chicken she'd got from M&S which they really enjoyed, so I decided to take on the chicken.

Spatchcoking really wasn't as difficult as I though, a lot of googled instructions just said to cut out the backbone and flatten but this left bits of ribs etc. so I went a step further and removed these and the cartilage of the breast bone.

Then left soaking in a bath of lemon juice, thyme, paprika and olive oil for the afternoon.

I ended up making the decision to leave it in the dish and the marinade to roast, occasionally spooning over the thickening sauce. Then adding some white wine about 10 mins before the end of cooking, overall 50 mins.

For the polenta

50g grated parmesan cheese

250ml water

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 bay leaf

50g polenta - I had doubts about this as the instructions on the packet didn't match these measurements, but I stuck with Valentine.

40g butter

Put the water, salt and bay leaf in a pan and bring to the boil. Add the polenta and cook for 3 minutes, stirring and being spat at!

Remove the bay leaf, stir in the parmesan and butter. Then pour into a cling film lined loaf tin so it's about 1.5cm deep. Allow to cool and set. I put it in the fridge.

Turn out, trim off the edges and cut into 4 triangles. Heat some oil in a frying pan and for for about 5 minutes a side, watching that they don't burn but do colour and crisp up.

Keep warm whilst frying the mushrooms, girolles, off with some extra butter, stir in the parsley and serve ontop of the polenta.

I would have been quite happy with more of this rather than the chicken, although the chicken was very nice. The polenta was crisp on the outside and lovely and soft on the inside. I am going to experiment as to whether the set polenta will freeze, in which case I can have a stock of it made up in the freezer ready to fry off.

2010-09-17T13:18:00.000+01:00

Still celebrating the arrival of autumn it had to be guinea fowl. I love guinea fowl, like chicken with flavour! A little unfair to chicken I know.

This is definitely my favourite way to serve it. Stuffed with chunks of orange and herbs, browned in a pan and then roasted. It usually takes about an hour. Half way through roasting I chuck into the bottom of the tin some beans, usually cannelini, chopped skinned tomatoes, some fried onion and garlic and some chunks of either smoked sausage or chorizo, just before serving mix some chopped fresh herbs though the beans and that's it.

You just can't help some people!

2010-09-16T16:15:00.000+01:00

Really you can't. This is food related as it occured this weekend during my weekly trip to Booths.

We are lucky enough to just about fall in their area as I think ours is the most southerly branch. Even despite Waitrose making it's vallant trip oop north I still think Booths is by far the best supermarket. The staff are always very friendly, even if some of the customers are anything but!

MrP's guts still weren't really up for anything particularly challenging so Saturdays visit was purely for some plaice and potatoes. The pak choi to go with it still being in the ground at home! (although we were soon to discover that pak choi as it gets older takes on a cabbagey taste)

The car parking system works that you put 30p in the machine, get you ticket, eventually, it's not the quickest draw machine, there is a tear off bit which if you present at the check out the 30p gets taken off your bill - simples!

Coming out of Booths it started raining, an oldish couple had just parked in the space next to me and knowing the ticket machine not that close, it was raining and my ticket had at least an hour and a half left on it I offered them mine.

Nice? Thoughtfull?

Apparently not!

"No thank you" filthy look like I'm trying to steal their pension "it hasn't got the bit so we can get 30p off the bill"

Me: "I'm not asking for money for it, you can have it save you having to walk to the machine and back in the rain"

"Yes but you don't understand. We won't be able to get our 30p back"

Me: "but you're not spending 30p in the first place"

"she doesn't understand does she!?" to her husband who shakes his head at my folly.

I still don't understand, you just can't help some people!

Each to their own. They were no worse off financially, they'd have put their 30p in and got it knocked off their bill, they'd have just been a bit wetter than they needed to be.

A nice change

2010-09-13T11:51:00.000+01:00

Isn't it nice not to be disappointed for a change! We used to eat out quite regularly, in fact Friday nights would pretty much always find us heading to the pub for tea, and at least once a fortnight we'd go for something to eat at another local pub after finishing late at the stables. Not huge splash out meals, just decent, good pub food.

This routine ground to a halt, there were several contributing factors but the main one was that we didn't want to actually eat in these places, the food just wasn't that nice. It used to be but staff change, enthusiasm and standards slide, until you find yourself sat there looking at the menu unable to make your mind up, not because you are spoilt for choice but because you don't want to eat anything on there. I'm not talking about huge pub chains but small country pubs, the type where you'd hope the fishcake would be lovely fluffy mash and plenty of smoked haddock or salmon, not "Mum's gone to Iceland" neon orange breadcrumbed clad smash and fishier than fish mush.

We've recently discovered The Egerton Arms just outside Chelford. We've eaten there a few times now, and if anything is a good indication of a place we've taken my parents there a few times now!! I think I may have quoted the Mothership's first opinion on the place somewhere else in this blog she couldn't find anything to offend her!!

I went there last night with them and by pure good fortune we caught the last day of pie week! There was easily 8 different pies to chose from, I should have paid more attention but didn't get past the Moo Blue pie, steak, ale, stilton and red wine. I like a good pie but they are not something I ever order when out as they always, always disappoint, but being pie week it would have been rude not to and a gut instinct told me it would be okay, it was, delicious. Dad went with steak and ale pie, it was also local beer week with the three beers from Tatton Brewery, I didn't know there was one! and the Mothership had pork belly which despite the size of it (I swear we'd left smaller whole pigs running around the field) she devoured.

So a good night and a nice change.

Autumn

2010-09-12T10:57:00.000+01:00

Autumn is most definitely in the air, and what better way to mark it's arrival than getting the damson gin on the go. I love damsons, it must run in the family, the mothership loves damson gin, her Grandma loves damsons in any form so much she had a damson tree put into the garden, the only person who didn't get them was Nana, she stayed on in the family home and all through my childhood I can remember her complaining about the damson tree until in the end she had it cut down.

The revelation of damson gin came one morning whilst out cubbing (or autumn hunting as it's more politically correctly referred to now) some people may think 9o'clock is a bit too early to be swigging gin, fruit flavoured or not, but when you have already been up 5 hours, riding for nearly 2, the only way out of the field you are in is over a hedge and your horse doesn't really do hedges, special dispensation applies.

It has since occurred to me to wonder how anyone would have damson gin in September. You make it when damsons are in season, Septemberish, it's ready by Christmas and no matter how much I make it's always gone by February/March with no possibility of making more.

Still if it was available all year round it wouldn't be such a treat, nectar.

Quantities are quite flexible to say the least, I get a 2litre plastic bottle (the volvic ones work well) a bag full of damsons, some people prick them with a fork, I get a knife and cut round the stone in a cross, pop into the bottle and repeat until the bottle is about half full. Pour in caster sugar until it comes just about to the top of the fruit, pour in a litre of gin, sometimes more. Lid on tip up and down till the sugar is more or less dissolved and leave on it's side until Christmas, turning the bottle every now and again. The idea has always been to decant some of it into pretty little bottles for gifts but it turns out I'm just too selfish!!

I always intend to do something with the gin soaked fruit but as it's always Christmas time there is so much going on it never happens. Maybe this year! Although I'm not quite sure what I'd do with it?!

Yesterday I acquired another bag of damsons so am planning on a first attempt at damson jam. Also on the list to do over the next week or so is crab apple jelly, elderberry cordial and an alcoholic redcurrant cordial the recipe for which has been passed on to me.

Oink

2010-09-07T11:30:00.000+01:00

It's amazing the things you get up to when you have time on your hands. Baking is not something I ever really get round to, the necessity to follow recipes to the letter kind of takes the fun out of things, and even more so when things don't turn out as you'd like. But with time off I thought it would be rude not to at least make some attempt at baking.

The recipe is from the humming bird bakery cookbook

Sugar Cookies

Makes about 20 - They must have bigger cookie cutters than me.

200 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
280 g caster sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
400 g plain flour
a pinch of salt
½ teaspoon cream of tartar - substitutes with 1.5tsp of lemon juice

Royal Icing

1 egg white
½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
310 g icing sugar, sifted
food colouring, optional
shaped biscuit cutters

4 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.

2. Put the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and cream until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

3. Add the flour, salt and cream of tartar and mix well, but don’t overmix. The dough should be light, soft and easy to handle.

4. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Cut out shapes with your choice of biscuit cutters.

5. Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Check them regularly to make sure they are not burning. The cookies should be very light golden on the outer edges and paler in the centre.

6. When you are happy that they are cooked through, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

7. For the royal icing: Beat the egg white and lemon juice together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk). Gradually start adding the icing sugar, mixing well after each addition to ensure all sugar is incorporated. Whisk until you get stiff peaks. If the icing is too runny, add a little more sugar.

8. Stir in a couple of drops of food colouring, if using, and decorate the cookies.

I obviously didn't bother with the icing but am wondering next time (well if there is a next time!) whether adding some little blobs of chocolate before cooking would work to make them look like our old spots.

Luscious Lunches

2010-09-04T09:55:00.000+01:00

A pleasant realisation of having a week off (well nearly, a full week would have been too much to hope for) and nothing particularly planned is that you can treat yourself to long lunches and make more of an effort, try out new things.

We had some figs lying around desperately needing using, some lovely foodies pointed me in the direction of Jamies Sexiest Salad for once I was faced with a recipe that would use up an ingredient I wanted shot of and included others that were already in the fridge.

For me the dressing with the honey was too sweet with the already sweet figs. I think it would go much better with just a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Although looking back at the picture on his link there does appear to be something suspiciously looking like balsamic vinegar on there.

Yesterday I thought it was time the fridge had a bit of a muck out and discovered an unopened pack of halloumi. I had previously being eyeing up Delia's recipe but had never had the time or opportunity to get round to it, and again had all the right ingredients! Well almost, no white wine vinegar so I used extra lime juice, I also added some spring onions and a chopped up anchovy, oh and dijon mustard instead of grain mustard.

Have not really had much experience with halloumi but this was definitely a great induction.

None particularly diet friendly, more indulgent, and there's always next week back at work to repent.

Trimmed Down Tea

2010-09-03T12:24:00.003+01:00

Being off this week I've had more time to potter and plan so meals haven't been as rushed. This week has been a real Indian summer, I was sure my one week off for years would be accompanied by torrential rain. There is a real autumn feeling going on though so I though something like a moussaka would go down well. Mediterranean enough to be summery but not too flimsy either.

I have always been a fan of Dame Delia's Moussaka although I do change it slightly and keep the aubergine in slices to layer although this isn't particularly diet friendly and MrP is still feeling the aftermath of a gall stone attack so fat needs to be kept to a minimum. Lamb mince is usually pretty fatty anyway and I always drain the excess off but to the mince out and make it less meat heavy I added a chopped red pepper and some courgettes (another way to do away with a couple!)

The topping was the next bit needing an overhaul and memories cast back to a weight watchers recipe long since lost that used 0% fat greek yogurt mixed with egg. I used one of the small tubs mixed with one large and one small beaten egg, next time it could probably do with out the small egg as it did set quite hard. Sprinkled with grated parmesan, in the oven for about 30 mins, the topping went a lovely golden colour and ouffed up.

It was lovely, much lighter but still satisfying and didn't lose any of the flavour, much quicker as well than making the original topping.

A quick nip round the back to the veg beds and a lovely plot to plate salad. An absolute must for anyone growing their own salad stuff is a salad spinner. I had always scoffed at these previously, they were the whiteish, yellowy plastic things that lurked in our Nana's pantries. Actually not mine she preferred the tea towel wrapped helicopter method. They are much more modern looking now and I am a convert, I went for a Zyliss one.

TheRe's an R back in the month

2010-09-02T10:39:00.002+01:00

and it's almost a year since I started this blog, admitedly I haven't been as attentive as I'd have liked. It hasn't been the best year for various reasons but there have been some real highlights - the Rosemary Shrager course, gorging on oysters and lobster in Portugal, pulling off the Halle picnic.

I still weigh exactly the same as I did when I started this blog, although looking back through posts I wasn't exactly trying too hard!

All that must change though as the next year by food will very much revolve around a wedding...... MINE!!! MrP has proposed and of course I have accepted and there is no way I am walking down any aisle looking like the marshmallow man from ghostbusters! Well I'm not quite those proportions but this stone has to go.

I also need to work out where to start, not with losing weight, I can do that I just need to get on with it, where to start with the planning. Do you pick your guests first and then a venue to fit them and then a date they can fit you in, do you pick a venue you like and fit the guests to that, pick a date first? The questions are endless but It'll all come together, if there is one thing I can do it's organise things.

The first big thing is ofcourse the ring. Not as simple as we thought! I mentioned to my friend Saturday morning we were going ring shopping, we all went out for dinner that evening and ofcourse her first question was "well?" obviously there was no ring, we got baffled by cuts, clarity, carats, colour, platinum, white gold, you see something you like and it costs £10k + so start again. The friend in question laughed, I didn't realise it was going to be so complicated, she clearly did, it turns out her brother in law took 3 months researching rings for her sister. I'm not convinced it's that complicated and nor am I waiting till Christmas.

So obviously it's back to smoothies for breakfast rather than a couple of biscuits. The favourite is half a pack of blueberries and half a pack of raspberries, pour in an actimel, top up with skimmed milk and blitz.

Luckily the veg beds are still heaving with salad leaves.

A favourite low fat, quick meal for me is squid.

This squid started off with a coating of flour and five spice powder believe it or not but decided to shed this in the pan.

A couple of slices of prosciutto crisped up and crumbled over and a dressing of balsamic vinegar with a little olive oil.

Swapsies

2010-08-31T12:36:00.001+01:00

A revelation of this veg growing lark is the trades that come with it, it's great! Over the last few weeks we've managed to off load some marrow proportion courgettes, salad leaves, raddishes, spinach and pak choi in return for more dainty courgettes, peppers, tomatoes that have ripened rather than our stubbournly green ones, chillis, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, onions, beetroot chocolate cake.

Another revelation, one which actually came a few years ago when I started getting a veg box delivered, is basing meals around what veg we have rather than basing meals on meat and fish with token veg on the side.

We were given the lovely little haul above this weekend and along with a little purple aubergine screaming to be picked and the little squash which arrived in last weeks veg box roasted veg was the way to go. Rattatouille was another option but I am not it's biggest fan.

Everything other than the little cherry tomatoes got roasted and then along with the tomatoes and some spring onions and herbs stirred into cous cous.

I had left a pork tenderloin languishing in a bath of soy sauce, honey, ginger and garlic - I was actually in a bit of a rush and had no ginger so it was more ground ginger and garlic salt (the soy sauce was reduced salt) The pork was fried as a whole piece, then the marinade poured into the pan to bubble and this was the result.

Very little effort, quick, easy but so tasty.

It doesn't really show up in the picture but the pork was still slightly pink in the middle. I cannot stand dry cardboard pork. Unfortunately this wasn't from our own pigs but from The Cheshire Smokehouse who do really good quality meat. It's not the type of place I go too often as I don't think I've ever escaped from there any less than £40 poorer!

Homegrown

2010-08-30T14:34:00.001+01:00

Well not entirely, the chicken was bought, I think Twiggy and Cindy might be a bit on the tough side! It was home butchered though. Somewhere I had a detailed guide on how to joint a chicken so you had supremes, but of course I couldn't find it, saying that the end result wasn't the disaster it could have been.

For the chicken I picked an assortment of herbs - tarragon, chives, parsley, basil and some lemon verbena. Blitzed these up with some lemon zest, parmesan and just enough olive oil to form a paste. Carefully make a pocket between the skin and flesh and then fill with the herb paste, squishing it around to spread out.

These were then pan fried in some olive oil and butter. Didn't have any unsalted butter so by the time the chicken was done the fat had too many black specs to use for a sauce. Instead wiped out the pan, bubbled down some white wine, stirred in a couple of chunks of cold butter and some more fresh herbs.

Served with salad picked from the veg beds just half an hour before tea. Having veg on tap is fantastic, MrP has to take the credit for it as he built the veg beds but it really does add an extra pleasure to eating.

There is something about...

2010-08-15T09:47:00.004+01:00

..breadcrumbed fried meat, or breadcrumbed fried anything really be it chicken, pork, veal, fish, potato, cheese it always pleases and has the added bonus that any left overs are acceptable cold.

Lurking in the fridge were some pork steaks that needed using up, a packet of prosciutto, and a ball of mozzarella, left in the bread bin was a ciabatta roll. The combination was crying out and even better something that could be put together in the morning ready for one of the fastest Friday teas going.

Batter out the steaks a little, top with some slices of mozzarella (not buffalo this time, it's too watery and soggy breadcrumbs don't go) wrap the steaks and cheese with slices of prosciutto, lightly flour, dip in egg and then into the breadcrumbs (toast the ciabatta and blitz with some parsley and black pepper)

Leave in the fridge safe in the knowledge tea is sorted.

They started off being pan fried, however I was a bit overenthusiastic with the heat and was worried they were going a bit too quick, burnt breadcrumbs and raw meat doesn't work, so they finished off in the oven.

Served with just some salad leaves and tomatoes.

More Fridge Bottom Meals

2010-08-12T12:18:00.006+01:00

Actually that really isn't strictly correct. MrP is getting very good at coming home with bags of veg that people have given him from their gardens. A few weeks ago it was a cabbage which made a fantastic Friday night tea fried up with some potatoes, onions and pancetta, I have a feeling I lobbed some buffalo mozzarella in there too just before serving. Hopefully it proved to him that cabbage can be nice, it's doesn't have to be that over boiled mush served up at school.

The other weekend he came back with some potatoes and a cauliflower. It was the Sunday after the big Tatton Picnic so the fridge was pretty bare to say the least. With lovely fresh veg though I think it's only fair to let it take the lead for a change rather than just being a bit of a token gesture to accompany meat or fish. Saying that I'm not sure I'd get away with serving up a solely vegetable dish and luckily enough, as always, there was a tub of pancetta in the fridge.

Diced pancetta is an absolute must, I can sleep sound (or at least when I'm lying awake unable to sleep I'm not worrying about the lack of pancetta) knowing there is a tub in the fridge. That and eggs, with eggs and pancetta you are never lost.

Cauliflower and Potato Bake

This is what resulted. There is no real recipe, just dice and parboil the potatoes, remove from the water and then tip in the cauliflower florets and simmer for a minute or so. If you are not going to keep an eye on it then I'd skip this bit as there is nothing worse than greying overbuggered cauliflower.

Fry the pancetta, remove to some kitchen roll and then fry the potatoes, sprinkling with some paprika, I did think of using smoked paprika but didn't want to overpower the dish. I also sprinkled over some ground cumin which I think goes well with cauliflower.

Tip a tin of chopped tomatoes into the bottom of an oven proof dish, add the potatoes, pancetta and cauliflower. Top with some grated cheddar and then some grated parmesan mixed with breadcrumbs and bake for about half an hour.

A really simple but such a tasty dish, I was quite chuffed with myself. With the potatoes it made it a pretty substantial dish but thinking on it if you wanted to bulk it out even more you could add some sort of beans, canellini, and also add other veg such as the cavalo nero that's popping up in the veg beds.

What goes around

2010-08-05T14:50:00.002+01:00

keeps going round and round.

I have just been sorting through some files on my computer and came accross this, it's something that has done the rounds on various foodie forums and I must have copied and pasted it to amend it ready to post my version, however finding that would be virtually impossible so thought I'd post it here.

The Omnivore's 100

1. Venison – possibly my favourite meat.

2. Nettle tea – can’t say it’s ever appealed, I’m sure I remember making some concoction as a child which left in the tree house for a day of two just reeked of stagnant mush.

3. Huevos rancheros – something I keep meaning to treat myself to for breakfast one morning

4. Steak tartare – lovely but rarely do I trust a restaurant to serve it fresh enough

5. Crocodile – can’t say I’ve ever had the chance

6. Black pudding – love it, one of my first food memories is trying some of my Mum’s black pudding in a restaurant, I must have been about 3-4 and have been hooked ever since. It’s something I always think about trying to make when we send the pigs of, but then I think of the potential mess!

7. Cheese fondue - glorious

8. Carp – again never been presented with the opportunity and to be honest not something I’d seek out.

9. Borscht – the aftermath of making this still haunts me and is probably what puts me off making black pudding.

10. Baba ghanoush – nice enough, not going to set the world on fire though

11. Calamari – love it, one of my favourite tapas if done right.

12. Pho– would love to

13. PB&J sandwich – I’m assuming this is what I think it is and no, have never felt the urge

14. Aloo gobi – nice enough, my father loves it for lunch

15. Hot dog from a street cart – there used to be a fantastic one in St Annes Square but that was at least 14 years ago

16. Epoisses – yes but despite it’s reputation it hasn’t left a lasting impression, it always reminds me of one of Catherine Alliot’s books

17. Black truffle – if the amount I had counts

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes – we made some orange stuff in school, if they were trying to put us off wine they very nearly succeeded.

19. Steamed pork buns – on the to do list, or to try list!

20. Pistachio ice cream – mistakenly pointed at it as a child in spain thinking it was mint

21. Heirloom tomatoes – something to look into

22. Fresh wild berries – have had several near misses with the ground whilst trying to lean over and pick the odd berry from the hedgerows whilst riding along, after 14 years you’d think my horse knew by now it’s me after a quick pluck rather than a monster coming to get him. Will be on the job with the elderberries again this year.

23. Foie gras – against my moral judgement, glad to report I don’t get what all the fuss us about.

24. Rice and beans – not an authentic version though

25. Brawn or head cheese - no

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper – no thanks

27. Dulce de leche – enough to set my teeth on edge

28. Oysters – every day if I could

29. Baklava – not a fan

30. Bagna cauda –not sure how authentic it can claim to be though.

31. Wasabi peas – strangely addicitve

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl – sounds worth a go

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut – could take it or leave it

35. Root beer float – root beer tastes like medicine and anything with ice cream ontop is wrong

36. Cognac with a fat cigar – would have been rude to refuse

37. Clotted cream tea – I’m English

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O – that’s what it was!

39. Gumbo - lovely

40. Oxtail – has to be in the winter though

41. Curried goat – nor goat

42. Whole insects – if I won’t put it in my hand I won’t put it in my mouth although saying that I suppose whilst out riding I've swallowed more than the odd fly

43. Phaal - ???

44. Goat’s milk – and donkey milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more – unfortunately wasted on me

46. Fugu – think I’d pass

47. Chicken tikka masala – hasn’t everyone

48. Eel – wouldn’t rush back

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - never caught my eye

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal – I’m a quarter pounder with cheese girl

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini – must have another

58. Beer above 8% ABV – not sure!

59. Poutine – think I’ll stick with cheesy chips

60. Carob chips – if carob cake counts

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin – plastered it on horses as a poultice

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs – don’t think I could

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis – be rude not to bring some back from Scotland

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost – seen it but never fancied it

75. Roadkill – MrP usually nails it to the bird table

76. Baijiu or shaojiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini - the Moss Nook wouldn't be the same without it

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky – never seen or heard of it

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant – not yet, one day....

85. Kobe beef – can’t justify the price

86. Hare – would pass next time

87. Goulash

88. Flowers – the only reason I grow courgettes

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam – was brought up on it

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox – never knew it was called that

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta – still not.

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Fridge Bottom Meals

2010-08-05T11:44:00.004+01:00

Some of the best meals I've concocted have been the result of a bare fridge. With the only options being a limited and restricted choice of ingredients it makes you think differently, be more imaginative.

The first most recent case was the other week, a monday night, there was a left over steak in the fridge which needed eating but none of the usual accompaniments. I was fancying something along a thai theme so adapted my already adapted version of pad thai noodles.

Firstly I marinated the steak in a mix of soy, ginger and garlic. Then flash fried it, I put it back to rest in the marinade ingredients which I know will have some people screaming cross contamination but for dishes like this I like my steaks so rare it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway!

I then fried some sliced red onion, garlic and chilli. Added some bean sprouts, cooked rice noodles and the juice of one lime, some sweet chilli sauce and a couple of tablespoons of fish sauce, along with the marinade liquid.

Just before serving, slice the steak and mix into the noodles with some chopped coriander (no matter how empty the fridge there always seems to be coriander) and a bit more lime juice if needed.

Flowering Fancies

2010-08-03T12:11:00.007+01:00

There are nothing like flowers to pick you up. There is a flower for every occasion - weddings, funerals, births, birthdays, Christmas, Easter, anniversaries, we all have our favourites. And then there are some we get to eat which makes them even more great.

I openly admit that the only reason I grow courgettes is for the flowers. I think I must be one of the few people who very rarely experiences the problem of a courgette mutating into marrow type proportions overnight. Most of mine get picked whilst quite tiny, say the size of a chubby finger, with a lovely bright yellow flower attached. I do of course still pick the fruitless male flowers too, and the odd little leaf.

It is much easier to have these for lunch as the flowers are still open when you pick them, if you pick them in the evening they have closed up and require more delicate persuasion to get in. Either way the stamen needs to come out.

I make a mix of ricotta, finely chopped chilli, salt, black pepper, parmesan cheese and lemon juice. The ricotta can be very rich, especially with the parmesan so the lemon juice needs to be added along with regular tasting till the mixture is right.

It then gets loaded into a plastic food bag, the corner snipped off and then piped into the flowers. I did overstuff these slightly, an error made last year but obviously forgotten over the passing of time.

The stuffed flowers, some with little courgettes attached, some not, the little leaves get dipped into a hastily made tempura type batter. My measurements are never exact, some self raising flour is tipped into a bowl along with a sprinkling of maldon salt, then some soda water quickly mixed in until it looks about right. Don't over mix it and don't worry about the odd lump.

Dip the flowers in and then into a pan of hot oil (groundnut oil is my preferred choice, flavourless and reaches a high temperature)

Serve with another squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkling of decent salt.

The tiny courgettes taste amazing battered and fried and then the gooey stuffing in the flowers is something else.

These are such a treat.

And I wonder

2010-07-29T16:56:00.007+01:00

I wonder why I don't lose weight! Actually I don't and reading this blog is enough to make it glaringly obvious to anyone why that last stone won't shift.

Saturday night was the perfect example. The cat's away so the mouse will stuff her face!

We were invited to a BBQ, that's MrP and I, however it was obvious MrP had reservations about me going without saying outright clearly thought the best place for me was confined to the setee. To be fair he probably wasn't far wrong.

So what do you eat when you are confined to barraks, in the grips of the time of the month munchies and there is only the greediest dog in the world to whitness your gluttony.

It has to be obscene amounts of cheese.

To start the filthiest of cheese and bacon potato skins with a load of sour cream. I did not make these, I took them out of a packet (being rather restrained and stopping at two) put them in the oven and got on with the main course.

Enchilada/fajita type things.

Well my version, which consists of putting a steak in a bowl and opening a sachet of old el paso fajita spice stuff, tipping over and making sure it's covered top and bottom.

Meanwhile slice an onion and red pepper and fry till softish.

Warm about half a tin of old el paso refried beans (I still think this brand is the best) and mix with a good dollop from a jar of oep salsa.

Heat a frying pan, add a bit of oil and sear the steak on both sides. leave to rest for a minute or two and then slice. It's going into the oven so you don't need to bugger it too much in the pan. Well some of it makes it into the oven, the other bit's feed my vampire tendancies.

Spread some of the bean stuff onto a tortilla, top with some of the steak, onions and pepper, roll up and put in an oven proof dish. Repeat with another one.

Top with more o el p salsa from a jar, then cheese and bake in the oven for about 20 mins.

In the mean time I did bother to actually make my own guacamole, which to be quite honest was a let down as the avocados weren't nearly ripe enough. Served it with this and another huge helping of sour cream.

I luckily can't give a picture of the final assembly piled high with even more fat and calories as my camera got the shakes again but suffice to say it's definitely why one reason why the scales are stuck!

Mr Perfect

2010-07-28T13:56:00.010+01:00

Well he is sometimes!

But MrP has certainly earned himself a windfall of brownie points in the last few weeks as not only did he get round to clearing half of the yard but we now have two fantastic raised beds complete with herb garden and gravel flooring, so no tramping around in mud either.

The first bed gets put into place

A little red legged partridge obviously wasn't informed of the programme of works! The second bed has to wait.

Bed number two in place, herb garden in place and planted up - parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil, chives, tarragon, lemon balm, salad burnet, wormwood, mint, oregano and marjoram.

We are now awaiting turnips, MrP is having a turnip growing thing with one of his sons. The turnips are doing really well as the two nearest rows show, however I am not sure he's safe to be let lose with turnip seeds/seedlings as we now seem to have rouge turnips popping up all over the place. Other than that we have planted various salad leaves, spinach, pak choi and carrots.

Next year will be much more organised! But for now it's great seeing everything popping up. The second bed has since been planted up and we now have the emergings of radishes and kale, still to make an appearance are beetroot, fennel, the late peas and beans are trying and some potatoes have just gone in. It is probably too late in the year for some things but the weather at the moment is so warm and damp it will hopefully give things a fighting chance.

So a big thank you to the clever MrP xx

Picnic Panic

2010-07-28T12:43:00.006+01:00

It always seems like a good idea at the time!

Lets throw a big staff party at the Halle concert, Tatton Park, and I know all do all the catering! There was month to plan and arrange everything back in March, now there are 3 days and around 20 people to feed and water.

In my more organised moments I did jot down a few ideas and even got round to trying out a few of them.

Mini frittata type things being one (actually the only one!)

The first batch were fish ones using smoked salmon to line a mini muffin tin, a few little brown shrimps then filled with a mix of egg and creme fraiche with chives. They were nice but the shrimps made them a bit too fishy.

The second batch were a bit of a mish mash, some had a parma ham casing filled again with egg and creme fraiche and some sunblush tomatoes. The others were had no casing and varied from asparagus, cheese and tomato, roasted pepper. To be fair they turned out quite well, they will never set the world on fire but were perfectly acceptable and might yet make an appearance on Saturday.

So being woefully unprepared I have fallen back on good old M&S and put in an order for sandwiches (easy enough to make I know but time consuming non the less) greek salad, coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad, a couple of cheese boards, mini cakes and tarts. All which could have been done by yours truly but I've run out of time and due to everything else that's been going on run out of enthusiasm too.

What I will be making myself is one of my quiches - the tried, tested and loved meaty one

and will also adapt the recipe for a cheese, onion and tomato one.

I will also be putting together some sort of meat platter - our GOS sausages, cured meats, ham, bits of chicken, possibly the little parma ham clad tartlet jobbies and asparagus wrapped in parma ham (otherwise there will be a complaint)

The a fish platter - smoked salmon, poached salmon, prawns, smoked salmon and cream cheese rolls.

And then maybe some arancini as these went down really well last year, and chocolate dipped strawberries.

Drink wise still to be finalised and will probably leave until Saturday as otherwise I might have supped the lot by then!

The Pleasure Pain Theory

2010-07-19T11:12:00.003+01:00

I have decided does carry some weight and most definitely when it comes to batter. Actually maybe a warning should be headed from the very name 'batter' as come bedtime on Friday night my guts certainly felt like they were taking a battering.

River cobbler seems to be popping up all over the place at the moment and on Friday my usual search for a quick tea was on, it was however subject to what the local asda could offer. The asda near my office is quite an experience, one I have become quite numb to over the ten years I have been going in there but even so it rarely fails to disappoint on entertainment value - think auditions for Jeremy Kyle!

The only 'normal' thing about it was the food, however over the years even this has changed. It's the only big supermarket I know where you can't buy fresh herbs, no basil, no parsley, very occasionally some coriander other than that no, nothing. Nor can you buy any free range chicken, they have set up a halal butchers counter and stacked the shelves with cheap water pumped chicken breasts and huge value packs of wings. Venturing into the freezer section you really never know what you might find, anything from a local child sat in one of the cabinets counting peas to king prawn flavoured tails that look like some mutant sea abomination.

So on Friday finding a pack of river cobbler was quite a shock, what was even more shocking was finding a pack of lovely looking cod and sustainable cod at that, so in order to encourage them to keep stocking such things I bought both.

I am still non the wiser as to river cobbler as Friday night we went with beer battered cod.

The recipe I found was for 225g of self raising flour, salt and pepper and 300ml of cold beer.

Roll the fish in some seasoned flour, into the batter and then into the hot fat.

What came out was to be fair a lovely crispy battered fish which did taste very nice, I was quite impressed! MrP picked most of his batter off and just went with the fish, apparently he doesn't like batter - the things you learn after 8 years!

What I have learnt after 32 years however is that eating this an hour or so before you go to bed is not a good idea! I felt like I'd drunk a pint of concrete! Looking in the pan I'd fried the fish in it was rather worrying how much fat had been in there to start with and how much wasn't in there afterwards. Lying in bed I just felt horribly uncomfortable and I'd only had watercress as an accompaniment to mine! I felt like a beached walrus, not the most alluring bed companion!

So although there was a moment of pleasure and appreciation whilst stuffing my face the after effects were just not worth it so I'm afraid beer battered fish is one to go on the transfer list.

Summer Slurps and Bottoms Up!

2010-07-13T15:58:00.007+01:00

The summer and a raise in temperature, for the two don't often go hand in hand, definitely brings about a different taste in drinks. Things that would just be inappropriate and scoffed at in the winter suddenly become more than acceptable.

Our office can easily hit 30 degrees and more on just an averagely warm summers day. Some people swear by tea in hot weather, I can't think of anything worse. Ice cold water or something orangey and fizzy, or sparkling water with a dousing of lime juice - proper lime juice not the toilet cleaner style cordial stuff. After flushing through my insides far too many times with vodka, lime and lemonade in my late teens that fluorescent green stuff has been put on the banned list.

Although to be fair to the drain flush lime cordial it could not in it's wildest dreams match up to the gut stripping mad dog 20:20 stuff we used to buy from the shop opposite the local football ground. Never mind trying to light farts (not that I ever had) but belching whilst under the influence of that stuff could quite easily be used as a fire breathing dragon party trick.

Then there was the bright spark who came up with the idea that vodka and orange made with a shot of orange cordial was cheaper than paying for decent orange, it was definitely cheaper but why non of us thought to ask for a splash of free soda water or even tap water I am not sure, from memory drinking neat orange cordial only diluted by a double vodka was not the most pleasant beverage.

Since then times and tastes have moved on and the summer heralds the start of the pimms season. Since embracing pimms as part of the seasonal calendar I have learnt that it is much, much nicer made up with canada dry rather than lemonade, and a slash of extra gin never goes amiss either.

Then there is the classic gin and tonic, bombay sapphire being preferable to gordons, lime to lemon.

I went through a sangria phase after one particular holiday and with the advice from a friend that a bottle of red mixed with a bottle of lambrini made a very good sangria impersonation it was a favourite for a while, as long as no one clocked me in the shop brandishing a bottle of lambrini!

Then of course you can't beat a lovely chilled chablis, but then I wouldn't turn that down on the most miserable of days either.

This year has seen two new additions both courtesy of the challenges on the foodie forum.

The first

Rosemary Gin Fizz Adapted from Food & Wine, December 2002

Ingredients:

1/4 cup gin
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Rosemary Syrup (see below)
Ice cubes
Cold club soda - soda water to you and me.
1 rosemary sprig and fresh red currants, for garnish

Preparation:

1. In a tall glass, stir the gin, lemon juice and Rosemary Syrup.

2. Fill the glass halfway with ice; top with club soda. Garnish with the rosemary and currants and serve.

Rosemary Syrup:

Ingredients:
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
4 rosemary sprigs, rinsed

Preparation:

Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer over moderately low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain the syrup and chill. (The syrup can be prepared and chilled for up to 1 week.)

I made this a couple of weeks back on an absolutely scorching Sunday afternoon, it was lovely, really refreshing and those that took it without the gin enjoyed it just as much. The rosemary syrup is so easy to make it's worth having a bottle sat around for a week.

Secondly, and as I won the above challenge (to be honest I was the only one who did it!) I got to choose the new challenge. For a couple of years I've been wanting to make a tomato, vodka thing I saw Jamie Oliver make so thought this would be the ideal time to get round to doing it. It's from his Jamie at Home series and book:-

Jamie Oliver's Tomato Consomme
Serves 6

Large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks reserved
2KG ripe tomatoes
1 x 5cm piece of fresh horseradish peeled and roughly chopped, or 2-3 tsp grated horseradish from a jar (not the creamed stuff)
1/2 clove garlic, peeled
1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
A couple of shots of vodka
1 slice of beetroot
salt and black pepper

Pick out the tiny basil leaves and keep in a bowl in the fridge.

Put all the toms, basil leaves and stalks, horseradish, garlic, vinegar, vodka, beetroot and a good pinch of salt and pepper into a food processor or blender, may need to do this in batches, and whiz until you have a slush, you may need to add more horseradish.

Line a big mixing bowl with a double layer of muslin or a clean tea-towel and pour the pulp into it. Gather up the corners of the muslin and knot them together, hang above the bowl to collect the juice.

It will take about 5-7 hours or you can gently push the muslin to force the juice out and then let it drip for an hour or so but it wont be as clear.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt only, other wise there will be black bits from the pepper. Be confident, now is not the time for blandness (Jamie's words not mine!) One of the background tastes should be a subtly acidity from the vinegar, add more if needed and more vodka if desired.

Chill in the fridge and serve with the little basil leaves.

Half way through making this MrP asked me where I was planning to hang the muslin clad tomato mush. My vague plan involved a mop or broom, luck in locating some string and the bath, I hadn't really thought through the finer details of this plan but luckily he had a better idea in the form of a drill and a hook which was up and fixed in seconds.

Although it's billed as a consomme it's definitely more of a drink, although one is definitely enough. It's lovely but one of those funny things where I can't quite decide how lovely it is. I am glad I made it and would definitely make it again. it's a fantastic way to use up tomatoes that have evaded being used for some time and whose skins have gone a bit wrinkly.

Saturday's Sanctuary

2010-06-27T11:33:00.005+01:00

The continuing heat, some devestating news, hayfever and womens things more or less wiped yesterday out, or more or less wiped me out to be more accurate. Getting out of bed and making bacon and egg for MrP and a boiled egg for me which I promptly dropped on the floor proved so much effort I then spent 3 hours asleep on the setee.

Venturing the the shop proved that the best place for me was to stay holed up. Some raving banshee, the type that can obviously fall out with themselves looking in a mirror had a pop at me for not falling at her feet with gratitude for the privaledge of getting out of her way. She asked me to move, I moved, she went off on one, go figure! Obviously I wasn't the only one having a bad day, either that of she's just a daft bint, the look on her friends face suggested the latter.

I had decided that tea was going to be something similar to Wednesday night, little bits full of flavour. I was also fancying something along the comfort line of cheese, ham and softness. The last time we went for tapas we had some lovely ham croquettes which I thought would definitely hit the spot.

Several googles later I had decided on a mish mash of recipes.

Ham and Cheese Croquettes - a work in progress!!

8 tablespoons of olive oil

107g plain flour

350ml milk

100ml chicken stock

Pinch grated nutmeg

1 bacon chop - cooked and diced into small chunks

1 large shallot, chopped and sweated off

A handfull of grated mature cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

Put the oil and flour into a saucepan and stir together over a medium heat, when it starts to bubble cook on a low heat for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.

Gradually add the milk and chicken stock. The oil and flour mix looks far too thin to start with but as soon as you start adding the liquid it thickens up. Once it's all in let the paste like goo cook for a few minutes, add the nutmeg, salt and pepper, cheese, ham and onion. Mix all in together then tip into a bowl, allow to cool down a bit then leave to stiffen up in the fridge for a few hours.

Bring out and shape into croquette type shapes, that's the techinical term for the not very croquette shaped things I ended up with. I got 10.

Roll in some flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs. Chill in the fridge for a bit longer.

Heat some groundnut oil in a deep sided frying pan and then fry the croquettes in batches for 3-4 minutes. I then put them onto a tray in the oven to keep warm.

I served with some watercress and a squeeze of lemon juice.

They were good for a first attempt. Next time I think I'd add some potato, as although I liked the creamy smooth texture they did need just a bit more substance.

The remaining ones I've frozen on a tray and then packed into a freezer bag.

They were much more filling than anticipated and as they were starting to go a bit too squidgy left in the oven we had them as a 'starter' after two each we just followed it up with a big bowl of garlic prawns and a salad of tomatoes, red onions, mozzarella, roasted peppers and basil.

Summer Suppers

2010-06-27T10:28:00.006+01:00

I hate the term "supper" in my life there is breakfast (well sometimes), lunch and tea. Supper is something you have before you go to bed, a crumpet (which at times when running late can be tea!) dinner is something we go out for or something we invite people over for.

This week has been incredibly hot, from melting at Cheshire Show on Tuesday the week got hotter and hotter. I am not good with the heat, it renders me completely useless most of the time, useless and usually incredibly grumpy. Along with any enthusiasm my appetite also pretty much disappears and instead I much prefer to eat lighter, picky type meals. The mediteranean countries have got it pretty spot on with simple, bold flavours in smallish quantities, tapas, antipasta, mezzes, but then they have had more time to perfect the art of summer food.

So this type of food was exactly what we had on Wednesday.

Having made a dent on the aubergine supply I still have the problem with the red peppers. My Mum used to make this Delia recipe quite often and it suddenly sprung to mind, the flavours are fantastic, bread is absolutely essential to mop up all the olive oil. I didn't cook mine for as long as she does though.
Second was the pea and broad bean bruschettas. This originated from a Jamie Oliver recipe, the actual recipe I have never actually seen. My version pods the peas and beans, pours boiling water over the broad beans and then remove their tough shells. There are no exact measurements but a couple of handfulls of each. A handfull of grated parmesan, salt and pepper and blitz in a food processor. Stir in a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche and some lemon juice, taste and go from there as to what more it needs. I then crisp some prosciutto in a dry griddle pan. I find this intensifies the flavour but also when you bite into the bruschetta your teeth cut through the ham rather than drag it off bringing half the pea and bean topping with it. Toast some sort of nice bread, top with a slice of ham, the pea and bean mixture some blobs of buffalo mozzarella and another slice of ham.
Third - garlicky beans. This is a Rosemary Shrager recipe but I didn't have the actual recipe to hand so improvised. Fried a chopped shallot and 4 cloves of garlic, fried is the wrong term really as you don't want to colour anything. Added to this about 5 skinned, deseeded and chopped tomatoes and a tin of cannellini beans, a generous dosing of black pepper. Rosemary's recipe uses sage I think but I had some fresh oregano which needed using up. As with all bean type dishes I salt at the end, I have heard that salting earlier on can toughen them up and no one wants a tough bean.
Some cured meats and lambs lettuce and we had the perfect summer tea. Washed down with some rose it all got snaffled.
The garlicky beans made twice the amount we needed so that was lunch for the next two days sorted. The beans with some roasted peppers out of a jar, bread, watercress and some prosciutto a great easy office lunch, especially as I have worked out you can used a sandwich toaster to crisp up the ham.

Honey Buns

2010-06-23T11:28:00.008+01:00

Saturday mornings I like to spend pottering about with Saturday Kitchen on in the background. The pottering usually involves some sort of kitchen activity.

I have been meaning to make these for a while now but it's one of those that everytime I think about getting round to them I don't have the right ingredients and then I forget about them for a while.

Saturday I was organised and prepared, well minus the electric mixer to make the batter so much hand beating had to be done.

Valentine Warner's - Orange Honey Buns

Ingredients

For the buns
4 tsp caster sugar
150g/5½oz plain flour
½ tsp sea salt flakes
1 x 7g/¼oz sachet easy-blend dried yeast
3 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
75g/2¾oz butter, slightly softened, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing

For the syrup
500g/1lb 2oz caster sugar
1 orange, rind only, rind cut into 4 long strips
500ml/17fl oz cold water
100g/3½oz clear honey
4 tbsp orange liqueur
½ tsp orange-flower water (optional)

Whipped cream, to serve

Preparation method

Grease the wells of a 12-hole muffin tray with butter.

Mix together the sugar, flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl until well combined. Add half of the beaten eggs, then whisk using an electric whisk until the mixture is well combined and forms a sticky paste.

Gradually whisk in a little of the remaining beaten egg. When the egg is fully incorporated into the mixture, add 1-2 butter cubes and whisk in until fully incorporated into the mixture.

Whisk the remaining beaten egg and remaining butter cubes into the mixture in alternate turns, until the mixture comes together as a soft dough. Using a wooden spoon, beat the dough until smooth.

Divide the dough mixture equally among the wells in the prepared muffin tray. Set aside in a warm place for about an hour, or until the portions of dough have proved (ie. doubled in size and filled the wells in the tray).

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

When the dough has proved, bake the buns in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until well risen and pale golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, for the syrup, heat the sugar, orange rind and cold water in a pan over a low heat, stirring well. When the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil and continue to boil for three minutes, or until the mixture has thickened and resembles syrup.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the honey, orange liqueur and orange-flower water, if using, until well combined. Set aside until cooled slightly.

Dip six of the buns into the cooled syrup and serve straightaway on serving plates with a spoonful of whipped cream.

Pack the remaining buns into a 1 litre/1¾ pints sterilised jar. Pour in the remaining syrup and set aside for 20 minutes, then cover the jar and seal tightly. The buns can be kept in the fridge for up to one month.

I didn't have a heart shaped bun tin like valentine so used the silicone sphere shaped trays I bought a few christmases ago to make chocolate amaretto balls. I found the texture quite grainy, not sure if it's supposed to be like that or was caused my the absence of an electric whisk and the substitution of my feeble beating attempts.

Still I would make them again, they are pretty fuss free and as they keep so well nice to have hanging around.

Horsing About

2010-06-21T16:12:00.006+01:00

Now I am back riding again (it's our first county show on Tuesday for four years!) the weekends are getting shorter and shorter. I really don't remember running out of time like I seem to be at the moment. How on earth I used to have him on DIY livery and still have time for everything else I dont know, but I definitely seemed to have more time then than I do now. Maybe it's a trick that the memory plays on us I dont know, I do remember though riding after work and then we'd all go to the pub for tea, now if I ride in the week it's gone 8 by the time I've finished!

Saturday I did start out late, how I'm not sure?! My long looked forward to lie in on Saturday morning didn't happen, through no fault of anyones other than my own, waking up at daft o'clock and then being wide awake. Why when you don't have to get up is it so hard to stay in bed. Anyway cleaning and kitchen pottering was done. Valentine Warner's orange honey buns were made, as were a batch of fishcakes for the freezer, but that's another post.

Saturday mornings I like to treat myself to a proper breakfast and any breakfast wouldn't be proper without an egg it is pretty much always egg based. You can't beat just a soft boiled egg with soldiers but a poached egg makes a nice change. A toasted muffin, a healthy spreading of butter (by healthy I am not talking in the artery friendly interpretation) a few slices of smoked salmon and a soft squidgy poached egg. I managed to get some wild alaskan smoked salmon. Whenever I can get the wild alternative to the flabby farmed stuff I always do particularly after studying the nutritional values of each. Your flabby farmed stuff can have around 4.6g of saturated fat per 100g compared to around 1.8g of saturated fat for the wild stuff, a big difference!! When I was doing weight watchers I worked out that an ordinary salmon fillet clocking up 6points could be swapped for the same size only wiping out 3 points, that's a glass and a bit of wine!

Breakfast and pottering done a BBQ was decided on. I have worked out that on nice days it's better to go to the shop on the way to the stables rather than on the way back when the meat pickings are getting scant. The best way to do this is to be organised with a freezer bag and some ice packs which means I get the meat we want, don't have to double back on myself to get it home and into the fridge but I also get a couple of hours grace of it in the car.

The organisation went down hill from there and I didn't get home till 8. So whilst MrP lit the BBQ it was a quick fix kitchen job to get the 'bits' done. Some jersey royals (again) swimming in butter and parsley with a bowl of sliced big beef tomato, red onion, manchego cheese, basil, oilve oil, salt and pepper - simple but to be honest I could quite happily eat a bowl of that with some bread and be happy. To go with it we had beef kebabs, minty lamb chops and smoky bbq king ribs. Have never heard of king ribs before but basically they are like slices of belly pork, belly pork works great slow cooked so all the fat melts away, done on the bbq they come off still far to fatty so wont be bothering with these again.

There was a bit of a panic on saturday when my camera threw a complete wobbler, quite literally! Every time I switched it on the whole thing started to vibrate. I know things like that are replaceable but it was a Christmas present from Dad a few years ago and with everything that he's got going on health wise at the moment it was a not something I wanted to have to replace. Anyway a few hours rest and all seems well, so fingers crossed it was just a one off wobbler.

Sunday was another horsey day, even though it was Father's day I still managed to sneak a ride to the pub and back, although my estimated time 12o'clock finishing was slightly optimistic as it was nearer half two by the time I was done. Still it was a lovely ride, and the pub call was essential standing still training prior to the show! What was not so lovely was me underestimating the sun and getting more than a little frazzled but this is a lesson I am clearly never going to learn. Year after year I come home with shoulders beaming.

Aubergines, Aubergines, Aubergines

2010-06-21T11:59:00.009+01:00

and still more aubergines!!!

The weekend before last amongst all the gardening I ended up at the garden centre, I also ended up coming away with a lot more than I went for, and indeed without what I actually went for - some dome things for the sweet peas. I did find myself in posession of an aubergine plant and a pepper plant complete with 5 aubergines, 4 red peppers and 1 green pepper. This combined with the red pepper and aubergine already in the fridge and the red pepper and aubergine that came in the veg box meant there were a lot of aubergines and red peppers!

Rattatouille an obvious choice but I'm not a great fan.

I do a really nice kind of take on mousakka, it originated from a weight watchers recipe and has lots of aubergines, red peppers and courgettes mixed in with the mince to bulk it out, but I didn't have any mince and couldn't really be bothered, nor did I have the greek yogurt which gets mixed with egg to form the topping.

We'd had loads of griddled veg over the last couple of weeks with bbq's and I needed something that was going to use up more than one.

Just before leaving the office I'd had a quick scout round Delia's website to see if there was anything quick and easy.

In the end I roasted two trays of diced aubergines and tomatoes.

First off I got some pasta sauce on the go, losely following this recipe Sicilian pasta with roasted tomatoes and aubergines she says to salt the aubergines but I didn't bother. Nor did I skin the tomatoes first, I find it easier to slice in half cutting through the stalky bit, then cut the stalk out in a little v, this makes it a doddle to skin them after they've been roasted, and they don't stick to the tray like skinned tomatoes do. I did brush them with some olive oil though. Delia also says to roast the aubergines and tomatoes on seperate trays but I've done this before and find the cubes of aubergine can go like bullets, whereas if done with the tomatoes as the liquid is released from them it stops the other going hard.

I then fried some chopped onion, garlic and chorizo, added about half a glass of white wine, this is not a strict measure it's what was in the glass at the time. Let this bubble away for a bit before adding the tomatoes (about 6-8 good sized medium ones) and the aubergine. Some salt and pepper and some fresh oregano, another plant which also found it's way back from the garden centre. Stirred through some linguine and topped with parmesan it was definitely a keeper.

The second tray of aubergines and 4 tomatoes got made into Tunisian aubergine salad I followed this recipe pretty much to the letter with the exception of using ground allspice as that's all I had. I had this for lunch on Friday with some toasted pitta and the prosciutto left over from the previous salad lunches. It was nice and made a nice change, served with 0% fat greek yogurt so diet friendly too. It will be a more of a one off/occasional recipe though rather than going straight into the firm favourites, although I had under seasoned it which didn't help.

Writing this up though has just reminded me that the other half of the pot of yogurt is in the boot of my car and has been since leaving the office on Friday afternoon! Saturday wasn't so bad but yesterday was sunny and hot enough for me to manage to burn myself in the couple of hours I was out riding so I think the sooner the yogurt is evicted the better, like right now!

Full of Beans

2010-06-21T11:38:00.003+01:00

Well not really but by the Wednesday I was feeling much better and fancying something healthy and virtuous for lunch so this is what I came up with

Every other Wednesday I get my Able and Cole veg box, some weeks it's great, other weeks not so. I do still like the idea of having random, organic, seasonal veg delivered to my door though. My only real criticism would be the lifespan of a lot of the stuff, some items you only really get a day or two to eat them before they wither/wilt or whatever is the preferred going off method of that particular vegetable.

In last weeks veg box amongst other things were spinach, courgettes, some lovely big tomatoes and spring onions so these along with some feta, oilves, prosciutto ham and half a tin of mixed beans were dressed with some oilve oil, lemon juice and black pepper, then sprinkled with the onion crispy things I have developed an addiction to. Other than the fact I have now decided I'm not particularly fond of cold beans, canellini beans can escape this though, the lunch was lovely. Fresh, healthy and filling.

Thursday I repeated the whole process but used the other 1/2 can of mixed beans to line the bin, wastefull I know but less faff than sorting them to the side of my plate before launching into the bin.

Enough now

2010-06-17T16:11:00.009+01:00

It appears I have a chronic case of Mondayitus, quite seriously, the last two Mondays I have been more than a bit ill. On both occasions with some sort of stomach/gastric thing, the first one blamed on my friend (possibly unfairly but more than a coincidence), the second one from a variety of culprits ranging from oysters to chicken and virtually everything in between.

Last week was a little stressful to say the least and Friday saw the Mothership out of hospital and back in residence. My original plans for the roast chicken were swept aside and it was plaice all round, absolutely lovely. The only problem was, if this really counts as a problem, the fish themselves were so big they had to be shunted around the pan in sections to cook them as they were far to big for even our largest frying pan to accomodate. Added to this the logistics of one pan, three fish and trying to get everyone to eat together-ish is not that easy. I think with fresh, pan fried fish it really needs to be served straight from the pan rather than left to keep warm whilst it's friends catch up.

Saturday the weather forecast was good so a BBQ was on the cards. My parents bbq's are always quite different from the ones we have. The meat is always amazing and pleantiful (well it is at our too!) - sausages, chicken legs, ribs, kebabs, usually a bowl of new potatoes and one of the Motherships iceberg, tomato and cucumber salads, a bowfull of tastelessness if ever there was one. However I was incharge, well up to the point of man-fire-cook thing.

We started with a big plate to share of scallops (soaked in lemon juice, splash of white wine, olive oil and coriander) wrapped in pancetta - I skewer about three of these using two skewers so they are easier to turn on the bbq, otherwise when you pick them up they just wang round to the side that was cooking before. Some huge shell on prawns just bbq'd as they were, and I managed to get some fresh oysters. Last year in Portugal we had a platter of both cooked and raw oysters so decided to try them on the bbq still in their closed shells as an experiment, rounded side down so any juices wouldn't escape. Prised open, doused with lemon juice they were amazing, gone was the texture that so many object to. Oh and MrP's favourite - asparagus wrapped in parma ham and griddled.

Then came the meat, as above, accompanied by griddled ribbons of courgettes, aubergines, red peppers and fennel, some olive oil, lemon juice, fresh basil leaves and feta. A big bowl of little Cornish potatoes (these definitely can give Jersey Royals a run for their money) drowning in parsley and mint butter.

Followed by my first attempt at homemade ice-cream!! My ice cream maker arrived at the weekend. I have been eyeing one up for a while now and decided as I had abstained from kitchen purchases for over a month it was permissable. After much deliberation I went for the Cuisinart ICE40BCU Ice Cream Maker Duo mainly because I trust the Cuisinart make and it allows you to make two different things at once. First attempt was a basic vanilla ice cream and a mixed berry frozen yogurt. Both turned out really well, was especially pleased with the frozen yogurt as it was made with fat free yogurt which means it's not going to offend MrP's gallstones. I think I went slightly wrong in giving it more than 20 minutes in the machine as the instructions say you should have a soft set after this time, I went back to it after 40 minutes and it was quite runny so possibly the frozen tubs had started to thaw taking the soft set with it. Not that it mattered as an hour in tubs in the freezer and all was well.

Much gardening was done over Saturday and Sunday in the form of planting up pots of bedding plants, pots of veg plants, pots of hanging baskets, posts of everything. I think as a relaxation and pleasant mind numbing activity gardening is definitely up there, but still behind, pottering in the kitchen.

Sunday was roast lamb. A relatively smallish leg but as there was only three of us more than adequate, even by my overcatering standards. I cannot abide dry meant and so was slightly worried as there really wasn't much fat surrounding it at all, this was completely unfounded. A generous massage with olive oil, sprinkling of maldon salt and black pepper, the whole lot sat ontop of some sliced onions, fresh rosemary and oregano, covered and put into a high oven for ten minutes then turned down to moderate for just under an hour, lid removed and given another 10-15 mins. Taken out removed from the tin and covered with foil to rest gave a lovely pink, juicy tender joint which we all, even me not a huge lamb roast fan, enjoyed. The BBQ had left over quite a lot of potatoes which were too nice to just donate to some form of bin, be it plastic or living, breathing, so these got thrown into a cast iron pan with hot oil, chunks of onion and red pepper, maldon salt, black pepper and smoked paprika, not the Motherships traditional mash and roast combination but got approval, and a bowl of green beans and asparagus with the usual healthy (or not so) dressing of butter.

After all this lovely food I woke up on Monday morning pretty much like I had the week before, once in a blue moon is enough, twice in seven days just isn't fair. Whether it was something from the BBQ I'm not sure but I would have thought that would have kicked in quicker. The lamb? unlikely, and noone else was ill. I did have a leftover chicken thigh on Sunday or it could have been something I picked up from spening most of the weekend with my hands burried in pots of soil, will never know.

I do know that Monday's diet consisted of nothing other than water and some ginger ale.

Tuesday's diet consisted of roughly about the same but by late afternoon I was starting to want something to eat. It always amazes me that when the body is recovering from something it screams at you what it wants, mine wanted brown rice and tinned tuna!

Not the most exciting meal in the world, I added some chopped parsley as it's supposed to be good for your digestion system, don't know if it's because I was still feeling delicate, or because I hadn't eaten for 48 hours but the taste of parsley was very noticable.
It seemed to do the trick though!

Salad Days abandoned!!

2010-06-11T12:28:00.004+01:00

Well that challenge worked! This week has not been the best of weeks however and looking back it was never going to happen, not that it really matters as the goal of losing some weight intime for going to Spain on Sunday has evaporated. Bummer that it is having the holiday cancelled it pales into insignificance really with so many people possibly being so seriously ill, talk about reality check!

Any week that starts with a Monday being wiped out due to some sort of poisoning is quite possibly not going to be the best ever. Yet again I fell foul of my friends cooking, the 4:00 vomiting kicked in. Chicken again. This is the fourth time now! What the hell do you do (or more to the point what the hell does she do!) but how do you tell someone that virtually everytime you eat at their house you are ill? She'd be mortified, although as MrP pointed out I'm not exactly leaping for joy at 4am when the realisation kicks in that I'm up for another glorious night on the bathroom floor.

But how? I know exactly where she buys her meat from, a well known cheap, bulk buy type place, not somewhere I would ever consider buying meat from, but nor do I think they continually sell dodgy meat. If it were 100% down to her cooking then surely her and her OH would be ill on a fairly regular basis? Or maybe the effects she gets from her 'wheat allergy' aren't anything to do with wheat at all? The bout of poisoning this time round excelled all other attempts. Now I am not a feeble wimp with an overly delicate constitution. I do not live in a ridiculously spotless, clinical environment, chance would be a fine thing - 50+ pigs, 2 dogs, 3 hens, horses etc. there is no hope. So I would expect my bug tolerance level to be above average. Last time I blamed the milk, I can't stomach full fat milk, let a cup of tea or coffee go cold and look at it! This time I even took my own skimmed milk, obviously it's not the milk. I have no idea, the next possible culprit is the chilled water/ice dispenser on the fridge, my theory is if it hasn't been flushed out maybe, just maybe bugs have built up in there, slow enough for them to develop a resistance, but enough to have a similar affect on me as drinking out of the River Nile might.

So that was Monday wiped out, Tuesday still feeling decidedly dodgy the Mothership had to go in for her operation, que lots of running round, visiting etc. on top of it all Dad got a letter containing news of a real health scare, the accuracy of which we wont know until next week, and the holiday is off because my friends husband has had similar news. Oh and my hairdresser thinks I have an iron deficiency.

So although after this week I could most definitely do with five days in the sun, in the great scheme of things does it matter.

No wonder the green leaves didn't get a look in. On the other hand no one has starved. faced with situations like this week I tend to go into full on practical mode, I realised the fact a long time ago I am not particularly good with the emotional support, but faced with a bit of a crisis I promise you no one will starve on my watch. Various chicken appendages have been cooked, sausages, quiches, cooked breakfasts all round every morning. I have noticed as I've got older the washing machine shares some of the burden too, poor thing has been on three times a day.

So the mothership is out and back in residence today, fish has been requested, I had planned on roast chicken (was even prepared to attempt dry roast chicken in her honour) but no fish it is.

Here's hoping that next week will be better, much better. Some people work on the 'things can only get better' theory, to me that's just tempting things to get worse and from where I'm standing right now next week has the potential to be worse, lets hope not I've run out of things to wash.

Asparagus Appreciation

2010-06-06T12:31:00.007+01:00

and not just for the asparagus itself but for the lovely man who stopped off on the way home yesterday to bring me some spankingly freshly picked asparagus, and then apologised because it was only the thin stuff! Thick, thin, who cares when you can still see the fresh goo seeping out of the cut ends!

The big decision of what to do with it, or more the responsibility of what to do with it!

We had planned on a BBQ, so I thought rather than do it as a side dish and let it get lost amongst everything else I'd do it as a starter we could eat whilst the meat was cooking. MrP, and me, love aspargus wrapped in parma ham, or equivalent, and then griddled, this is lovely served straight away but also makes a great picnic dish served at room temp. It does work better with the thicker aspargus but it's so good it doesn't really matter. This was lovely but in a way a shame as the parma ham did detract slightly from the just picked freshness.

I love asparagus, it's my favourite vegetable, although not so much when I go to the loo, it can go through me in as little as 10minutes, far too much information I know. Although thinking on it last nights didn't!? The shop bought stuff I love, a couple of years ago MrP was doing some work at the local asparagus farm and came home with a couple of bunches the farmer had gone and picked right infront of him - WOW!! the difference is unbelievable, I still love all asparagus but the fresher than fresh stuff would have to be on the last supper menu.

To this end I also steamed some and just drowned it in butter - perfect, there are no other words.

The rest of the BBQ consisted of some beef kebabs, lamb kebabs bought in from booths, usually very nice but these were rather tough. Luckily I'd marinaded some lamb chops in lemon juice, oilve oil, smoked paprika, garlic and rosemary, these were delicious. Served with slices of griddled aubergine, red pepper and feta.

I know a lot of people are into BBQing the veg, the if having a BBQ everything must be done on the BBQ, personally I prefer to do sides like griddled veg, tabouleh, the asparagus wrapped in parma ham in advance, in the kitchen as they are all best at room temp and mean it's all just a matter of what order to put the meat on.

All followed by a big bowl of strawberries.

I suppose it was slightly distasteful that as we were sat round the dying embers of the bbq we were looking at the pigs mooching around, dicussing the possibility of doing hog roasts and working out which pigs would feed 10, 20, 30, I don't think they heard.

Pics weren't going to happen last night as soon as the butter had melted on the asparagus there was no way I was fannying around with a camera when I could be eating it. There are some I made earlier though. One is an experiment with the addition of filo pastry, not to be done again. It was a good idea but something that would have to be served hot, straight away, at room temp the parma ham goes a bit soggy and the asparagus a bit sweaty, not a good combination.

WARNING! What follows is pure asparagus porn! I have no idea how the picture ended up so phallic but it made me giggle, and it did taste good!

Any drinkers will note that in the absence of having egg cups I use the spirit measures that come with various schwepps mixers, at least they get used for something, it is certainly never going to be the accurate measure of gin in this house!

Friday Flash

2010-06-06T12:15:00.005+01:00

As usual Friday night was a rush job. Even more so due to BT knocking out the phone line which monitors our alarm, que not being able to even set the alarm, why do these things always happen on a Friday night!

I had three courgettes arrive in the veg box and for a while have been thinking of doing the courgette spaghetti that did the rounds last year, I was also fancying carbonara, triggered by the growing basket of eggs. Some time ago I remember watching a Jamie at home episode where in my mind anyway he bastardised a carbonara with courgette but decided to take the don't knock it till you've tried it stance.

The wonderful thing about carbonara is that it's ready in the time it takes to cook the pasta, adding in the grating of a couple of courgettes is not going to throw this of schedule. So whilst the pasta was cooking I put the pancetta into a cold pan and put on the heat, I can never resist picking one out of the pan, uaually burning my fingers whilst doing so. Added the grated courgette and then a slug of white wine. When the spaghetti was done, drained and put back into it's pan, added the pancetta, courgette mix, a couple of handfulls of grated parmesan and two beaten eggs and of course black pepper. I also added some lemon juice but to be honest think it can do without that next time, despite my original scorn there will be a next time. Carbonara it is not and should not be refered to as such but as a completely stand alone dish.

The salads resume

2010-06-06T11:52:00.006+01:00

Tuesday back at work lunch ended up being soup, but determined to keep with the salads tea was chicken salad. Roasted a whole chicken and served the breast meat with a ceasar salad, avocado and griddled asparagus. Normally I am an absolute purist about ceasar salad and think the only allowable additions are chicken, bacon or silver slivers of little fresh anchovies, but things needed using up.

Wednesday lunch was a cheat salad, and I'm not sure if it really counts, it was an asda thai noddle thing, but did contain raw veg and leaves so I'm counting it. It was actually quite nice and as an immediate quick fix office lunch I would definitely have it again.

Thursday was back to Gino's book to a recipe, or more picture which caught my eye. A mile away from anything I'd normally consider not least as it involved fruit. The fruit and savoury combination, unless on a cheese board, is not something I am in support of, but how offensive can watermelon be really? His version didn't have the leaves, but the day before the veg box arrived with a bag of mixed leaves, nuked some green beans in the microwave, I also added some tomato, the feta cheese as prescribed but swapped the basil for mint as that's what I had. The dressing was 3 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar and 1 part lemon juice and a generous grinding of black pepper. I'm not going to say it was my favourite ever salad but it was nice and I would do it again.

Show Day

2010-06-06T11:16:00.005+01:00

Last Monday, the last bank jollyday now for three months, was show day, the first show day for four years. Some time ago when the nights were still dark and snow was on the ground we realised that my boy was now eligible for the veteran classes! A class which means the minor lumps and bumps which retired him from the show ring don't matter. It seemed a great idea back then but not so much as I was dragging myself out of bed at 6am on a bank holiday monday.

My boy loved it and went absolutely lovely, although he didn't really get standing up infront of the judge and standing still!! Shame as we did get pushed down the line for it but still qualified for the regional finals which was the main thing.

Food at these things tends to take very much a back seat, wine on the other hand is absolutely essential, and the magic water bottle vital! What food there is usually comes in the form of a dirty death burger, plastic cheese, onions, ketchup and that yellow stuff. I have to say though after a long morning they do tend to deliver a certain satisfaction - always too much bread though.

I'd forgotten how shattering these days are and when I finally got home wanted something fairly easy but after a weekend of barely cooking a bit of relaxation with a G&T and the hob produced a lovely tomato sauce for pasta

Sweated a chopped onion and some garlic, added in some chopped chorizo and some bits of bacon that were left over and a couple of chopped anchovies. The fridge seemed to have accumulated various shapes and sizes of tomatoes over the last couple of weeks, the larger ones got skinned the smaller ones chopped in half and lobbed in, a glug of white wine and a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and plenty of pepper, some dried mixed herbs, covered and simmered for as long as it took me to have a bath. Back in the kitchen I spent a mind numbingly soothing few minuted picking out the skins from the smaller tomatoes, served with some little pasta parcels filled with salami and whatever else, asda's extra special and were actually quite nice. The sauce was lovely, not often I bother to make it with 'proper' tomatoes rather than tinned but definitely worth the occasional effort.

Easy Food Weekend Cont.

2010-06-05T12:01:00.005+01:00

The pig and egg theme continued into saturday.

Saturday's routine tends to go as follows:-

Some early hour - MrP gets up, gets at least 4 cereal packets out of the cupboard, tips various breakfast confection into a bowl, turns on TV, usually emmerdale omnibus, eats breakfast. Goes back for second breakfast.

A bit later - MrP makes a brew, brings on in to me, still in bed, goes out to feed the animals and then either he is working in which case I force myself to stay in bed for a lie in whilst listening to various machines being fired up and a neurotic rottie charging around yapping like a yorkie on speed, until he leaves, in which case the rottie charges upstairs, stands in the bedroom doorway and woofs at me till I get up. Or he's not working. In the case of 'not working' it means he's still actually working doing jobs/building/repairing things, which still tends to involve the firing up of machines etc. but it also usually involves a trip to the local farm supplies shop (absolutely guaranteed, I've started taking bets with myself how long he can go through the morning before he decides a visit is necessary)

Some time around 9:30ish - I start thinking about food and what to cook/potter around with so get up.

10:00 - Jimbo comes on and the next hour or so is spent watching saturday kitchen.

11:30 - time to start really doing things, like get dressed.

12 ish - if MrP is around he is usually getting a bit peckish by now, as am I who will not have actually eaten anything yet so bacon and eggs it is.

And this is how last Saturday went.

Last weekend he also had the lovely idea of taking me to see Sex and the city 2, I had had a bit of a bad week and it had obviously showed, in line with this he also suggested getting the first one on DVD to watch as I'd missed that one.

The only way to watch a film at home is with a bowl of shovel food, the ultimate shovel food is

Leek & Bacon Pasta Bake

This would be a firm contender for my last supper. It originated from Delia, but I now make my own cheese sauce, 25g butter, 25g flour, skimmed milk until it looks right, pinch of english mustard powder, black pepper and extra strong cheddar. This way you use less cheese to get the flavour and cut the fat by using skimmed milk.

Cook some penne pasta and drain.

Whilst the pasta is cooking fry some cubed pancetta and chopped leeks, I do two tubs of asda pancetta and 3-4 leeks.

Mix the pasta and the leeks, bacon together, mix in the cheese sauce, tip into 1 ovenproof bowl for 4, or 2 for 2. Top with slices of mozarella cheese and sprinkle with parmesan, bake in the oven till gold and bubbly.

If I've done two, I freeze one before the topping with mozarella stage.

Perfect shovel food to eat infront of Saturday night TV.

I also picked up a packet of the microwave popcorn. A blast from my childhood memory past, when Dad used to take us to the video shop Saturday afternoons to pick a video, looking back to keep us quite in the other room! But then microwave popcorn came out, although back then everything got microwaved, even empty crisp packets which would shrink and then have a hole drilled in the corner to be used as keyrings (although that must have been on the oven only setting the old microwave had, the setting you don't seem to get anymore it's all combination now) Microwave popcorn wasn't that great then, it was just the novelty value, and it hasn't improved much now. Infact popcorn isn't that great fullstop, it's just one of those things that you have to have and have to eat, a bit like twigletts.

Sunday the morning routine tends to be very similar to Saturday but with something for the weekend instead, although it's only really watchable if you have enough distractions. Last Sunday I was up and out, riding and bathing horses, well one horse, my horse, ready for his venture back into the show ring.

Back intime to get showered and changed to go to the cinema, but a bit pushed if we were going to go out and eat, so......... bacon and eggs it was!!

Easy Food - Friday

2010-06-05T11:14:00.004+01:00

Last weekend seemed to be very much dominated by easy food, it also seems a long time ago despite it being a short week with the last bank holiday.

Friday night I was running even later than usual which meant the normal Friday food dash had to be even more rapid than normal. What it did turn out to be was smugness on a plate and I make no apologies for it! It doesn't look much on a plate (although OH had two sausages) but tucking into sausages from your own 100% free range pigs and eggs from your own, now very bolshy, rescue ex battery hens does give a huge sense of satisfaction. As knowledge of food provenance goes you can't really get much better, the only imposter was the HP sauce, but as you absolutely cannot have sausages without it the HP qualifies for special dispensation.

The sausages, even if I do say so myself, are absolutely fantastic. Made for us by a local butcher, we have plain pork and old english (a bit more herby) as you can see they are huge dobbers, one is enough for me.

For me the whole point of an egg is the runny, runny yolk, has to be. MrP on the otherhand likes his eggs cooked so they bounce, I call them his bastardised eggs.

Having not really eaten eggs since the age of 2, when my body seemed to decide they were extremely offensive and I spent a week in an oxygen tent, going very perculiar colours and being pumped full of phernergan (a drug I'm sure I've read has now been withdrawn!) understandably the mothership steered me well clear of eggs, gradually introducing them in things like cakes where they were well diluted and well cooked. It wasn't till I was 24 that I encountered my first omelet, but for the next few years could only be tempted as long as there was lots of cheese involved, the taste of egg wasn't something I appreciated. It was a salad I had a couple of years ago which had quails eggs that got me liking egginess and then last year it really took hold with fried, poached and dippy boiled eggs. Touch wood no serious repercussions health wise yet! Well other than a few rashy outbreaks if I over do it several days on the trot.

Allergies are funny things though. I used to be desperately allergic to dogs, desperate because all I ever wanted was a dog. My parents had no real objection to having one other than the fact that it would make me ill, and they had obviously witnessed how dramatically I could do the whole allergic reaction thing! They'd take me to see dogs, I'd get a runny nose, then the eyes would swell up, then they'd get even more swollen as I cried, so the closest I got was doing my school project on dogs when I was 8.

That Easter we went for a family walk, on the walk a dog came up to us, an incredibly handsome collie, he did the entire walk with us, stayed for our picnic, had a collar on but no tag. It was time for us to go, we got in the car and the dog started panicing as we drove off, we stopped, the dog ran up to the car, we got out the dog jumped in! I remember much discussion being had about what to do, I wanted to kidnap him there and then, but apparently this wasn't the done thing. We had to hand him in to the police, who then passed him to the RSPCA, who then rang us 28 days later to say noone had claimed him. 24 years ago they weren't so hot on the rehoming job, it was us or curtains. Much begging, ending with a sobbing promise from me that I would never be allergic to dogs "ever, ever again" - the sort of promise you can only get away with when you are about 8. We went to collect Jiff, he recognised us as soon as he was lead though to reception, he threw up in the car all the way home, just the two of us on the back seat, it didn't matter. From that day on, if not really from the day he picked us, we were sole mates, the only time I ever got red puffy eyes was 16 years later. The first man to ever break my heart. From the day we picked him up I have never been allergic to dogs, cats on the other hand!!

Salad Day 3 & 4

2010-06-01T14:30:00.005+01:00

Thursday was salad day 3, I had actually allowed not to have a salad for lunch on this day as I knew I was out with the mothership. There is a garden centre she has always raved about but to which I have never been, so thought it was a good excuse to have a day off work and take her.

I have to say Bents lived up to all she had made it out to be. As usual we didn't make it out of the house to lunch time so on arrival the main priority was food. WOW, definitely not your average overpriced soggy sandwich and rock hard scone. We were drawn towards the deli bar, where basically you pick your main item and then they serve it with salad. I went for a filo basket with goats cheese, sunblush toms and asparagus, Mum went for a smoked salmon parcel filled with a cream cheese moouse and poached salmon.

There was a pie which looked more than tempting but when I get a whiff of goats cheese I'm usually a gonner and nothing else will do. The 'salad' it was served with was like no other I have ever seen, forget a pile of limp lettuce, a few past their best wrinkly skinned tomatoes and some dried out cucumber. This salad consisted of potato salad, some sort of rice salad a pasta version, beetroot, tomato and basil salad, lovely fresh crisp leaves, other items which I cannot recall, all scattered with toasted cashews and parmesan shavings, it was something else AND they are a garden centre which serves wine!! The bill did come to £25 for the two of us, so they hold the common theme of expensive garden centre food but at least it we didn't begrudge paying for it.

The plants were pretty good too.

No seriously they were, bought some tomato plants as I am far to late in getting organised this year. I have optimistically planted some courgette seeds in the hope that they might take pity on me and grow, the stuffed flowers we had last year were too good not to be featured again this year.

I also bought some sweet pea plants, easy enough to grow from seed I know, but after last years disasterous late planting where I got about 3 flowers out of 3 big pot fulls I am not taking the risk.

Friday was salad day 4 - I didn't bother, to be honest I can't remember what I had it made such an impression so by all accounts not really worth abandoning the plan for!

Salad Day 2

2010-05-29T14:04:00.004+01:00

Wednesday was salad day 2. The plan was a watermelon, feat and bean salad out of Gino's book again. However I somehow managed to forget my handbag, not just my purse or phone or keys, my whole handbag. In this bag was a list of ingredients I needed so I decided to go for one I've done before Salmon and bagel salad

The meal wasn't without it's disasters though, but any day that starts with you forgetting your enitre handbag is not going to go without it's hitches. I managed to completely destroy the salmon in the microwave, even a starving cat would have given it the swerve, over nuked salmon does very funny things to itself! Luckly there were two in the packet, as with the bagels, the first of which I cremated in the toaster.

This time round though rather than just mixing the lemon juice with the philli and ending up with a thick blob (not that there is anything particularly wrong with thick blobs) I put them together in a little tupperware tub, lid on and shook which turned out a thinner more pourable dressing.

As with everything else I'd forgotten my camera was also in my handbag so no pics.

4 Birds 1 Stone

2010-05-25T15:37:00.006+01:00

1- I need to shift weight -I have been bleating on about it for long enough and have made several half hearted attempts. I am not doing quite as badly as Cheryl from the Royal Family, I am still clinging to the one off, one on routine. I do have to be on a plane in 18 1/2 days however, the resultant journey will involve swimwear and summerwear, most of which I currently have does not fit.

2 - I have always vowed to use my ever increasing collection of recipe books more - rather than buying, eagerly ploughing though, even paperclipping the pages I want to try out, putting on the shelf and leaving their.

3 - The main reason of starting this blog was 1 & 2 - 1 & 2 have not really come to fruition and my blog has been rather sporadic.

4 - I am an Autumn/Winter girl - in more than just cooking, I am still recovering from the furnace of last weekend. I am definitely a comfort cook (with the exception of picnics & BBQ's which need warmish weather) things like venison sausages braised in red wine, fish pies, toad in the hole with jugfulls of gravy, sausage and mash with the same.

So the challenge I have set myself is a different salad for lunch each day (well each working day) which from this morning worked out at 13 day (12 really as I'm off on Friday).

The overexuberant puppy that is the lovely Gino D'acampo is to blame for this. It has just struck me actually that the puppy description really fits him, puppies are fantastic, time-wasters as a lovely man used to call them, great to have around, you can't help but love them, you'd have to love them to live with them. the phrase 'let sleeping dogs lie' was never more appropriate to the calm that descends when a puppy goes to sleep.

So this morning I picked up Gino's I-Diet, if ever a book was written for me it was one that combined Italian food and losing weight (we'll see!) there are loads of fantastic looking salads.

A slight digression, the dry roast chicken that the mothership does is only rivalled by her salad - iceberg, tomatoes, cucumber and spring onions, that's it, oh sometimes the hardest boiled to buggery egg. There is a Jamie at Home episode which shows him making the same version, then cackling and chucking it in the bin. So decent salads are on my mind.

Todays Salad day 1 was Gino's Courgette with cannellini beans

The recipe is to serve 4

4 courgettes
1 unwaxed lemon - I used half a lemon just for 1 serving1 x 400g tin cannellini beans drained
2 tbsp chopped chives
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley - I used more
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - I used some oak smoked rapeseed oil I had

Slice the courgettes thinly lengthways using a swivel-bladed peeler. (Try not to use too much of the centre of the courgette as it is less tasty.)

Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and cook the strips for 1 minute. Drain and place in a large bowl.

Grate over the zest of half the lemon and squeeze in the juice of the whole lemon. Add the cannellini beans with the chives and parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Pour in the oil and mix well.

Leave to marinate for 2 minutes before serving at room temperature

My great idea of salads for the office stopped in it's tracks pretty quickly.

- I don't have a vegetable peeler - trying to cut a courgette into ribbons with the knife that has been in the office kitchen drawer without seeing a sharpener for 10+ years (the knife I know for a fact has been used to shave a cork piece by piece out of a wine bottle, that can't do them any good?) does not result in the neatest of ribbons.

- There is no hob in the oven to simmer them for 1 minute - we do have a berco boiler, so a bowl full of almost boiling water and a 2 min soak had to do.

- Nor did I have a grater so the lemon zest had to be done without

- I did however have some mint and a tomato that needed using up.

Still no photos, my battery is charging at the side of me as I write, although with the butchered courgette it wouldn't have been very pretty, I have however found a picture of how the original looked on the Daily Mail website.

Tomorrow's salad involves watermelon and feta - It's fruit but not really fruit.

BBQ Season...

2010-05-24T12:46:00.004+01:00

...is most definitely upon us. In this heat sitting around as the temperature drops ever so slightly drinking and eating is about all I am fit for. Heat in this country does not work for me, if it's going to get above 20 I need to be by the sea and have nothing to do. Whingey, Whiney, typical Brit complaining about the weather - yes.

I did manage to drag myself of the setee, after an afternoon nap infront of midsommer murders, to go to the shop. This was made bareable by starting the engine 5 minutes before I got into the car so the air con had turned the oven of a car into a fridge - sorry global warming but you nark me I'll nark you!

The supermarket was like armegeddon had hit. The lights were off, obviously the fridges, chillers and freezers had gone into overdrive to cope with the heat and the effort was too much to support the lights aswell, the shelves had been raided, the fish counter had been piled high with ice. Under all the ice the fishmonger managed to retrieve some king scallops for me, the butchers counter still had some beef kebabs and a couple of chinese pork steaks. The scallops I pulled off the corals which have never done anything for me, put in a jug with the juice of a lime and a lemon, some olive oil, white wine and bashed coriander stalks, left in the fridge for about an hour, then wrapped with strips of pancetta, skewered ready to go - two skewers are much better as otherwise when you (or MrP - man fire etc.!) tries to turn it on the BBQ the scallop just swings merrily round on the skewer and the whole thing gets very frustrating.

Veg wise I griddled some sliced fennel, slices of aubergine, little baby orange peppers and spring onions cut in half lengthways, piled onto a plate, squeezed some lemon juice over and picked the feta cheese out of the olive selection I'd bought. Some jersey royal potatoes drowned in butter, chives and parsley. There was some left over pancetta from the scallops which ended up wrapped round some think asparagus and griddled.

Was a lovely meal, there was a slight hiccup with the scallops when the wooden skewers set alight, I assured MrP I had soaked them first to prevent this, although his response of "what in? Paraffin?" would suggest he wasn't convinced.

Plenty of pimms, wine, G&T's were sunk. The pimms jellies I made didn't really do much for me, they were very sweet, maybe next time (if there is one) I will add less sugar, I also used the cans of pimms which are made with lemonade, whereas for drinking I always use canada dry.

We could here a big party down the road and the night was rounded off by a perfect view of their fireworks.

BBQ's are usually my favourite meal, I love having them at home and the parents do a good one too. Unfortunately so many really aren't that great, more often than not if we are invited to someone elses, especially if it is a big bash I tend to eat before we go, cardboard mum's gone to iceland burgers which come off the BBQ looking more like the charcoal underneath the grill than something you want to actually eat. Why do people come out with the 'oh it's not great meat but it'll be okay for a BBQ' yes everything tends to taste better cooked on a BBQ and eaten al fresco but there is a limit, even the best BBQ can't perform miracles. Which brings me onto the next BBQ crime - gas BBQ's - they are cheating, they are not the same. Our ancient B&Q BBQ died some years ago and the fire pit took over, not strictly a BBQ but MrP prefers it, and once the food is off we can chuck logs on it for extra heat if needed, not that it was on Saturday night.

No pictures, battery had run out on my camera and my heat addled brain forgot to charge it.

The last supper

2010-05-18T13:46:00.003+01:00

well hopefully not!!! The Mothership goes in for her kidney operation today so last night I wanted to cook her something she would really enjoy, but also something that wasn't going to be too heavy, something healthy but tasty at the same time.

What could fit the bill more than a lovely piece of fish. Her favourite is dover sole, but at 5o'clock on a Monday evening in one of the less charming parts of Manchester (my office is in the bit where everyone gets shot, or used to, it's not so bad anymore, touch wood) the chances of getting a spanking fresh, or even manky old, dover sole is rather remote. The big asda, as opposed to the little one nearer the office, has a fish counter, a very nice fish counter as it happens. I ended up choosing a couple of whole rainbow trouts and three plaice fillets, suspecting she'd go for the plaice but knowing having a couple of trouts in the freezer is never a bad thing.

I dusted the fillets with some seasoned flour and fried in a mix of butter and groundnut oil, only for a couple of minutes each side. Served one and a half fillets each with some lovely little potatoes swimming in butter, chives and parsley, and some steamed pak choi.

It was one of those meals that you finish and then wish you could eat all over again.

This was followed a while later, whilst catching up on Midsommer Murders, by a vanilla slice, the custard variety rather than the cream option, which just doesn't work for me. Vanilla slices always remind me of going to Nana's, when we used to go to stay she's always magic one from the pantry at about 8o'clock, usually whilst watching something along the lines of dempsey and makepeace or TJ Hooker, always on a saucer rather than a plate and always with a vegetable knife to slice it so all the custard filling didn't squidge it's way out on the first bite.

Friday Night Food

2010-05-08T12:22:00.006+01:00

Food on a Friday night has to be something that I can get in and get on a plate in 20 mins max. I don't usually get everything done and get in until after 8:30. Friday night TV is usually pretty good around 9ish (ashes to ashes at the moment, although it has gone quite wierd, so much so I stopped watching last night and eneded up reading delicious magazine, then there is Marco on the other side but that will have to be a catch up thing, watching me drooling over his loveliness is not MrP's idea of a good Friday!) How I ever used to manage to finish work, go for wine at the stables and get in in time for us both to go to the pub for tea I have no idea, over the years I seem to have lost an hour between 5:30 and 8:00.

As it happens last night I got in intime to catch the fist half of Corrie, but had already planned a quick and easy tea -

Squid and Chorizo Salad

I cut the squid in half and then scored the inside (I can never remember whether it's the inside or the outside? I think possibly the outside as it didn't produce that nice criss crossy pattern) Seasoned with some maldon salt, black pepper. Afterwards I though garlic salt would have been good and sprinkled a little of that on.

Cut the chorizo (still haven't found anything to rival Asda's) into chunks and put into a cold frying pan, put on the heat and cooked on a medium heat to let the lovely orangey oil run out.

Added a bit of groundnut oil, as not that much came out of the chorizo. Turned the heat up and added the squid to the pan. Fried for a minute or two and tipped over a salad of watercress and rocket.

I made a dressing which did the two of us - 1tsp balsamic vinegar, 3tsp extra virgin olive oil and a good slug of sweet chilli sauce.

Took no time at all. Once finished MrP declared "that was delicious darling" and he's not really a salad man.

As I write this I have a lovely soft ball of buffalo mozarella sat in the oven, wrapped in prosciutto, a perfect Saturday brunch before I put more effort into deciding what to cook for tonight, go and ride and then go and buy whatever I'm cooking tonight.

My Poor Neglected Blog

2010-05-03T12:09:00.007+01:00

It's amazing how fast the time goes, have just realised it's been nearly a month since I have posted anything! Although to be fair the last month seems to have been spent running from here to there and so food has taken a bit of a backstage.

Last weekend did see the tide turning however as a whole weekend to myself thoughts turned to all the time I'd have to cook and eat whatever I wanted. Of course the reality was somewhat different.

Friday night the pigs broke out and kicked off. I am sure they waited until MrP was safely over the Scottish border to wreak havoc. So by the time the pigletts had all repatriated themselves with their own mothers in their own pens, I'd pulled apart the fencing and put it all back together again that long languishing evening I was going to have had all but gone. I was planning spaghetti carbonara anyway which unfortunately came nowhere near the one in my previous post

Saturday I heard of a new kitchen shop which had opened up so it would have been rude not to go along and show some support. I came away with a proper pie mould, a medium sized pudding basin (I find them really handy for all sorts of things), some cute little pastry/cookie cutters a pig, a horse and a duck, a little plastic pan scraper thing, a little silicone sauce whisk, a sugar/oil thermometer (after the disaster at Christmas with the italian merangue) a tomato deseeder jobbie (I hate doing it) and a little wooden chopping board for lemons and limes etc. should be very handy for drinks in the summer!

There is a fantastic fishmonger just round the corner from the new kitchen shop so still undecided what to treat myself to for dinner I popped in looking for inspiration. It was getting lateish in the afternoon so wasn't holding out too much hope, however they did have some clams left. I haven't seen proper, decent fresh clams for ages and so decided another pasta dish was on the cards for the evening.

I would love to rave about how gorgeous it was, but it just wasn't. Onion, garlic and chilli sweated off, a healthy glug of white wine, some chopped fresh tomatoes, then the clams, lid on to steam. Tossed with some cooked linguine, fresh chopped parsley and think that was it. It was horribly sweat. I can't remember whether I put any lemon in but next time will definitely do so. I tried to counteract it by adding a bit of extra salt from the salt and herb grinder, the plastic ones you buy from the supermarket, the plastic one which decided to dump the grinder bit and 1/2 a jar of ungrinded salt and herbs ontop of my tea. So a fair bit of it got launched and I ate the rest. Not the meal I'd hoped for.

So by Sunday I really needed to make some sort of redemption before I sacked myself. The outcome was quesidillas with freshly made guacamole and sour cream. Perfect, even if I do say so myself.

I scooped out the inside of an avocado and mixed with chopped red onion, tomatoes, chilli and coriander then squeezed in the juice of a lime, quantities are difficult as tastes are different. I think next time I'd either add some more chilli or some tabasco to give it more of a kick. The quesidillas were just some proscuitto ham, grated strong cheddar and some refried beans sandwiched between the tortillas and dry fried in a pan, I did have to swap one of the tortillas as it got a bit too toasted. It was all absolutely gorgeous. What really surprised me was how long the guacamole lasted without going that vile browny, greeny sludgy colour. I made it on the Sunday, stored the leftovers in a tupperware container and had with my lunch Monday and Tuesday!

Two out of three 'aint bad

2010-04-06T14:36:00.006+01:00

On Friday, it being Good Friday an' all I decided to have a bash at hot cross buns. What a disaster. The only thing that vaguely resembled them was me - being rather hot and cross, and I suppose bun shaped too.

I decided to use a Nigella recipe, having spied her feast book on the shelf I felt sure there would be one in there and yes there is, not that I would recommend anyone use it. I should have known really, the last time I tried one of Nigellas baking recipes it was for jewelled chiristmas cupcakes, they were more appropriate as munitions too. The dough didn't feel right from the start, but the recipe did say if it's a little dry to add more milk, which I did, then a bit more, then more and still more, the dough was slightly better but still not right however having already added significantly more liquid I wasn't sure about adding more. My thoughts that it just required kneading more proved wrong too. I gave up and bunged it in the airing cupboard where it made a rather feeble attempt at rising. I made it into the 16 buns Nigella instructs, covered and left to not bother rising again. Made a complete mess of the crosses, the only thing sucessfully getting cross was me, baked, glazed and threw in the bin.

Actually that is a lie, we did try one first, infact MrP made a gallant effort and ate a few before admitting defeat renaming them hot cross rock buns and donating them to the pigs. I wasn't going to bother taking a picture, never mind posting one, but they are so so bad it would be a shame not to share!

So my baking success from the carrot cakes the other week was short lived. I did however just about redeem myself on Sunday night with a batch of mini banana loaves and one biggish one. I had planned to ice the smaller ones but didn't get round to it and the are perfectly nice without icing.

I have a feeling this recipe might be a Nigella one to but passed to me by someone else so maybe that broke the curse!

100 g sultanas

75 g dark rum

175 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

0.5 tsp baking soda

0.5 tsp salt

125 g unsalted butter, melted

150 g sugar

2 large eggs

4 small very ripe bananas (about 300 g peeled weight)

60 g walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

Put the sultanas and rum in a small bowl and soak for about an hour.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas.

Stir in the walnuts, rum-soaked sultanas (including rum) and vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.

Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of a pre-heated 180ºC oven for about 1 hour, until an inserted toothpick comes out cleanish.

Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and eat thickly or thinly sliced, as you prefer.

I didn't have rum so used Jack Daniels instead and have used all sorts in the past, morgan spiced works quite well, I have no idea how it arrived in our house but that's where it went, and I used pecans instead of walnuts.

I made one and a half quantities of the recipe to give enough to do the mini ones and a bigger one. Cooked the mini ones for 30mins and the bigger one 40-45 mins.

Thou shall have a fishy on a little dishy......

2010-04-05T09:52:00.007+01:00

thou shall have a fishy when the boat comes in.

The boat came in on Friday, or more accurately I went to the shop. Considering I'd left it till after lunch on Good Friday I was a little dubious of scoring some decent fish, the plan was to go to Booths and then over to the fishmonger, however the fishcounter at Booths was heaving with lovely shiny fishy things. My little haul consisted of two tail ends of smoked haddock, a fabulous plump piece of cod loin, an organic salmon fillet, so little queen scallops and a couple of handfulls of raw tiger prawns. The fishmonger knowingly nodded and announced fish pie!

Fish pie is something I love making and love eating even more, it's one of the dishes I am really quite confident in. It is losely based on Delias recipe but with changes and additions. Firstly I have swapped the fish around and the list above tends to be what I go for.

The fish, other than the scallops and prawns, go in a deep pan with about 200ml of fish stock and 250ml white wine, a couple of bay leaves and some black pepper corns. Lid on and on a highish heat until the liquid starts to boil, take off the heat and leave for 5-10 mins. Take the fish out (keep the liquid) and remove any skin, flake into whatever dish the pie is going to be cooked in. It want's to be in quite big chunks, which is easy enough for the salmon and cod but the haddock can have some sneaky bones lurking.

Arrange the prawns and scallops ontop so they are evenly spaced and everyone gets their fair share. I take the corals of the scallops as I don't like them, even the dog turned his nose up.

It has long been a contentious issue between the mothership and myself with regards to the inclusion of boiled egg in fish pie, I presonally can not see why anyone would have come up with the idea but she thinks it's an absolute must. As the egg stock was rather high I thought I'd give it a try. I was making two fish pies which would more than serve two people so put one egg in each.

The sauce - 60g butter melted in a pan, 60g plain flour gradually stirred in and left to cook on lowest heat for 5-10 mins. Strain the liquid the fish was cooked in and gradually stir in. When all the liquid is in, turn the heat back down and let it cook for about 5 mins. Meanwhile chop up a couple of handfulls of fresh parsley, some spring onions, about a tablespoon of fresh dill and 5-6 baby gerkins, stir into the sauce along with a tsp of dijon mustard and a tablespoon of capers (rinse well or everything can get a bit vinegary) and a tub of creme fraiche, about 200ml I think, grind in some black pepper. Spoon the sauce over the fish in the bowl, it wants to cover all the fish but too much and the end result will be too sloppy.

For the topping I put some boiled potatoes through a ricer, mix in a good handfull of strong cheddar cheese and a couple of spoonfulls of creme fraiche. Spoon over the pie. A Gary Rhodes tip is to start round the outside of the dish with the mash and then work towards the middle so you always have some potato to 'anchor' the stuff you are spooning on to. Top with some grated parmesan mixed with a grated potato (peeled and raw) bake in the oven at about 160-170 fan for 30-40 mins, depending on the size, till golden and bubbling. Always put dish on a baking tray to catch any spillage.

It did not dissapoint or let me down, it was delicious. I can't say the egg really added anything to it, although I can't say it completely ruined it either. I can say I still don't get it, Why?? Why bother putting it in?

I served ours with some samphire - last years discovery - it's absolutely delicious and went really well. I urge everyone to try it, it tastes of the sea. I plunge it into boiling water (no need to salt) for about 30 secs, drain and toss in some butter.

That's the proper, I have time, version, the other version is to mix the raw chunks of fish with creme fraiche, chopped sping onion and parsley, tip into a bowl and top with the potato. I hate to admit it, when really pushed for time I have mixed some bought mash, heated slightly, with cheese and spread over.

Whenever I make the proper version I always make two, it takes the same amount of time and then there is one in the freezer. If using frozen prawns and/or scallops I make sure I've got as much ice off them as possible, pour the sauce over the other fish and let it cool down, then put the frozen shellfish in, top with potato and freeze.

Caveman Food!

2010-04-02T10:55:00.005+01:00

Last night (Thursday) was the start of Easter weekend, so technically Friday night. So although the something quick rules were still in place I did think it warranted something a bit 'more'

Well if we are talking more these veal chops certainly ticked the box. These are proper caveman food. I'm not sure if the picture really quite indicates the scale, but if it helps the plate wont fit in the dishwasher and allow the spinny thing to spin. Actually I have worked out you can just about get two plates in, one at either end where the spinny thing just manages to skim them.

They were unbelievable tender and tasty, even if they did completely smoke the place out. I decided the best way to cook them was to sear them in the cast iron griddle pan, and then finish off in the oven with the roasted veg. The cast iron griddle pan that hasn't been used for some time, I got it searingly hot, oiled the chops, realised only one would fit in at a time so got out a baking tin to transfer them into the oven in, put the first chop in and within seconds I could barely see further than my arm would reach, never mind, chops safely sealed away in the oven, fans on 10 mins later all was well.

More than well when we cut into them, well actually mush less than well, the chops were lovely and rare. Served with roasted veg and a kind of spur of the moment take on salsa verde - a couple of spring onions, parsley, capers, anchovies, olive oil and lemon juice wizzed up.

Needless to say I got nowhere near finishing mine, it's now in the fridge to be knawed at in a bit.

Breakfast this morning was a fresher than fresh boiled egg with muffin soilders. Normally I am a poached or fried egg girl but this morning fancied a dippy egg. It was only whilst the egg was bobbling away in the pan that I realised the complete lack of any egg cups! Improvising with the spirit measures that come on the top of tonic bottles worked a treat though!

I currently have some hot cross bun dough, hopefully, rising. I say hopefully as I'm not sure the texture of the dough was quite right but I had already added more milk than the recipe said. So fingers crossed. It's a Nigella recipe from her Feast book, and I have to say the last time I tried a Nigella baking recipe it went very wrong - her Christmas cupcake things.

Once that is ready to be shaped I'm popping to the shop during it's second proving to get the fish and other bits for a fish pie tonight.

Kitchen Day

2010-03-31T11:15:00.005+01:00

Sunday was most definitely kitchen day. Despite the clocks changing I was still up at what can be classed as a relatively early hour, before "Something for the weekend" anyway!

The main star of the day were the mini carrot cakes. I spied these on the Butcher the Baker Blog I have very limited success with cakes, and given that carrot cake is MrP's favourite I was worried I'd set myself up for a fall. They don't look as pretty as Jules' but they certainly ticked ever other box and even got declared better than his favourite one from the bakery!! They were very quick and easy to make even for me!

Mini Carrot Cakes – adapted from The Best Carrot Cake

Makes around 10 mini cakes

70ml vegetable oil or rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing - I only had groundnut, and used silicone moulds so didn't grease.

1 egg

100g muscovado sugar

150g grated carrots

50g raisins

35g pecans or walnuts, chopped

90g self-raising flour

1 tiny pinch of salt

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg or mace

¼ tsp Mixed spice

Orange cream cheese icing
25g cream cheese, chilled

25g butter, at room temperature

½ tsp vanilla extract

125g icing sugar, sifted

½ orange, zest only

1) Preheat oven to 150°c. Line a fairy cake tin with liners or, like me, set out the silicone fairy cake cases on a baking tray.

2) In a large bowl beat the egg, then add the oil, sugar, carrots and nuts. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.

3) Fill the cases 2/3 full with the mixture. Bake for 30 min, or until cakes are risen and cooked through. Allow to cool before icing.

4) Beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, orange zest and butter then gradually add the icing sugar. The icing sugar will stiffen the icing the more you put in, but taste as you go along to make sure you don’t make it too sweet. Once the icing is ready, spread onto cake and leave for a few hours for the icing to harden slightly.

I also had a second attempt at the sausage and egg pies, and scotch eggs. Other than an initial school boy error where I put all the eggs in the pan to boil (I needed two raw for the pies and one for glazing and getting the crumb to stick to the boiled eggs.) the error was realised, eggs removed and no harm done.

This time I left more of a lip on the pastry to fold over the lid, lined with the sausage meat, tipped in the yolk and then as much white as the well would take, this avoided the overfilling and spillage issue I had last time. Topped with a disc of sausage meat and then the pastry lid. This time I baked them just on a baking tray and the bottoms were much the better for it.

I think I've cracked the scotch egg thing too, the sausage meat has to be straight out of the fridge, make sure the egg has a good coating of flour and when trying to close up the gap in the sausage meat casing dab hands in some flour and then roll scotch egg between two palms, was much less messy and frustrating.

The ribs that I'd marinated the night before were very tasty too, sorry they didn't last long enough for a picture. I'm still a bit hazy on the marinade though. It definitely featured - crushed fennel and coriander seeds, tomato puree, olive oil, black pepper, smoked paprika, worcestershire sauce, I meant to put some star anise in but forgot, likewise with the ginger, I did put maple syrup in, and will have to scan the cupboard for ideas of what else might have gone in. I think I should really have cooked them on a lower heat for longer as they were a little tough, but not bad for a first attempt.

Guinea Fowl

2010-03-28T10:20:00.004+01:00

Last week I ventured into Waitrose. We got our Waitrose about 3 years ago, possibly more, and I have been in all of about 5 times, I much prefer our Northern Booths! Another reason for avoiding Waitrose is that you can fill your trolley, empty your bank account and not really have anything more than one meal and a few 'bits'

I didn't do too bad this time, I came out with a guinea fowl, pork escallops, pork ribs and some chicken legs - all free range, you'd actually struggle to get non free range which makes a nice change - and obviously the compulsory 'bits' that manage to fling themselves off the shelves and into your trolley.

Friday night we had the pork escallop, very nice but most of the crumb fell off in the pan, good for a quick and easy tea but one of those that you eat thinking 'I could have done better'

The ribs are currently languishing in the fridge is some concoction of a marinade, so fingers crossed for them.

The chicken will be rubbed with oil, salt and paprika and roasted at the same time as the ribs for lunches next week.

The guinea fowl we had last night and as usual was delicious. I much prefer guinea fowl to chicken, it's basically like chicken with flavour!!

In the past I've done more elaborate versions such as the following which I think started life as a Jamie Oliver recipe:-

2 pheasants / 1 guinea fowl / 4 poussins

2 Oranges, cut into quarters

2 Cinamon Sticks

about 6 rosemary sprigs plus extra leaves

2 red onions

4 celery sticks

Jar sun dried tomatoes (think the one I used was about 250g jar)

3 glasses of good red wine

Red wine vinegar about 6tablespoons

slices of pancetta

Pine nuts

Stuff the birds with the oranges, cinamon and rosemary.

Use large ovenproof pan, heat a good glug of olive oil and some butter, brown the bird/s, not to high heat, till they are coloured all over.

Remove from pan and set aside.

Discard fat from pan and add more olive oil and butter, fry onions, celery and rosemary leaves till softened.

Put sun dried toms and wine in a food processor and whizz.

Put bird/s back in pan, add vinegar and sun dried tom/wine mix, bubble until liquid reduced a bit, cover and cook in oven at about 180 for about 45mins, turning the birds once.

Remove pan from oven, baste with juice, turn breast side up, lay pancetta over them and cook uncovered for further 10 mins till crisp.

Toast pine nuts and sprinkle on top to serve.

Last night I didn't really feel like all the faffing about so stuffed the cavity of the bird with a quartered orange some sprigs of lemon thyme and oregano. Rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Placed it on a rack in a roasting tray on it's side, roasted at 160fan for 30 mins, turned and roasted for another 30.

Meanwhile I fried some chopped onion and garlic, some chunks of chorizo and chopped lemon thyme and oregano. Tipped in a tin of haricot beans and chicken stock and let this bubble away for about 20 mins, the stock needs to reduce. Then added 4 fresh, skinned, deseeded, chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper and let it simmer quite low for about 10 mins, then stirred in some chopped parsley.

I'd already removed the wish bone before putting the bird in the oven, so once it had rested for 10 mins, carving a hot bird was much easier. Served the breast meat, sliced ontop of the beans and a thigh for OH. The leg meat on guinea fowl isn't the best.

I have the carcass, legs and wings in the fridge wondering whether they will make a stock.

Todays sunday kitchen session involves mini carrot cakes, sausage and egg pies, a request has been put in for scotch eggs so sausage meat everywhere again!! The ribs and the chicken.

Sausages

2010-03-25T12:24:00.006Z

Despite having a freezer full we haven't had sausages for a while and I suddenly got a craving for them.

This concoction is based on the chicken one I posted about a while ago. It was of course made with Pig Paddock Sausages, the herby ones rather than the plain ones. My veg box arrived yesterday and very conveniently contained everything I wanted, bar lemons.

There were some baby salad potatoes which I chopped in half and parboiled for 10 mins.

Heated up an oven proof casserole on the hob and added some oil, briefly fried the sausages to get some colour, then removed. Added a bit more olive oil and the the potatoes, stiring round to brown them a bit, a red pepper chopped into fair size chunks, 2 red onions cut into wedges, a handful of peeled garlic cloves (wasn't in the box) and a fennel, quartered into chunks, stirred in some smoked paprika and dried oregano. Added the sausages back ontop with the tomatoes and chunks of lemon, tucked in some bay leaves and thyme. Poured in a little chicken stock, about 100ml and left in the oven for 30 mins, turning the sausages over half way.

Absolutlely lovely, such an easy and tasty one pot meal. There were a few tomatoes and peppers left over along with some lovely sauce in the bottom so I have saved these and will use for some sort of pasta lunch tomorrow I think, seemed a shame to just bin it.

Lunch today is sandwiches, there are lots of them. The mothership had a hospital appointment yesterday morning and I thought that when they got back she wouldn't much feel like making lunch, so I left them a big platter of sandwhiches, chicken, ham, egg. They stopped off for lunch on the way home!! So we are all on sandwiches today. I am not very good at the sympathy thing when people are ill etc. I am very good at crisis catering though.

Somethings you can never get enough of...

2010-03-24T16:29:00.002Z

for me a plate full of big, plump tiger prawns drowned in garlic, butter and white wine is something I will never have enough of.

Walking past the fish counter in Booths I noticed they had a bowl full of these beauties and just couldn't resist. It was something we used to have as quite a regular treat but somehow got out of the habit - how can that happen?! To be honest I haven't seen them for a while either but I have been going quite lateish on a Saturday. I thought 4 each, we were having the curry from the previous post to follow.

My way of doing them is to melt a decent chunk of butter in a pan with some olive oil, chuck in the prawns and fry on each side for just under a minute, add some chopped garlic, a slosh of white wine and some lemon juice, let this bubble away till it's reduced slightly, stir in some more butter (cold not room temperature so it thickens the sauce a bit) and some chopped fresh parsley. Bread is a must! Fresh and crusty, do not underestimate the amount you will go back for to mop up the juices.

As much as I like chilli, I prefer this dish without.

The last time I had prawns of a decent size they were very disapointing, tasteless and quite nastily mushy. These were lovely, firm and tasty and I want another bowl right now.

Another t'internet special

2010-03-21T14:55:00.004Z

Still in search of the ultimate curry a forum foodie has made this recipe several times so I thought it should be given a go. It also means that my new years resolution to cook at least one new thing a month is well on track!

This is a Merrilees Parker recipe from the BBC website

Beef Rendang

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger

1 tbsp chopped galangal (or another tbsp of the above) - for once I managed to find it

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 lemongrass stalk, tough outer layer removed and roughly chopped

2 tsp turmeric

6 long red dried chillies, soaked in water and roughly chopped - I just used about a tsp of dried chilli flakes

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 cinnamon stick

6 cardamom pods - I ground these up along with some cumin and coriander seeds and added with the onion paste

650g/1lb 7oz braising or stewing steak, cut into 2cm/1inch cubes

4 kaffir lime leaves - Didn't have

zest of a kaffir lime or lime - as I didn't have the above and my limes were small used zest of 2

400ml/14fl oz coconut milk - used low fat

1 tbsp of tamarind puree or juice of a lime - managed to get tamarind too!! would use slightly less next time though

50g/2oz desiccated coconut flakes - left out

coriander sprigs to garnish

I also added a good squirt of chilli tomato puree in with the paste when frying at the beginning.

1. For the rendang paste, place the onion, ginger, galangal, garlic, lemongrass, turmeric and chillies into a food processor. Blend to form a smooth purée. I also added the cardamon and some cumin seeds and coriander seeds

2. Heat a wok and add the oil. Fry the paste over a high heat until the paste turns darker and is highly aromatic.

3. Add the cardamom pods (crush the cardamom pods gently with the back of a spoon before frying) and the cinnamon stick broken in half and cook for another minute then add the meat. Didn't add the cinamon stick until after the cocunut milk, I hate bits of stalky things in my food and could imagine it all breaking up whilst I was frying the meat in the paste.

4. Fry the meat in the paste stirring all the time, until it is well browned. took quite a while

5. Pour over the coconut milk and bring to a gentle simmer, add the kaffir lime leaves and zest.

6. Season with salt, stir well then reduce to a simmer.

7. Cook for between one hour and one hour and a half, stirring frequently during this time. The meat should be really tender and the sauce really reduced and rich. I started it off in the morning, gave it half an hour and then put it back on for 40-45 mins in the evening.

8. Meanwhile toast the coconut flakes in a dry pan. Keep a close eye on this, as it will burn really quickly. It should be a lovely deep brown colour when ready. Blend to a powder in a small blender or pound in a pestle and mortar. When the rendang is ready stir into the mixture making sure it is well mixed in. didn't bother with this, coconut is not my favourite thing, I am just starting to find it acceptable so wasn't going to push it.

The recipe doesn't actually say where or when to add the tamarind/lime juice so I mixed it in about 20 mins before the end. The curry was very nice but I would definitely use less tamarind next time as that flavour really took over everything else.

The recipe also gives a fragrant basmati rice but I always find that a bit much and so just stuck with plain basmati. Boil in the bag as usual to the rescue, I just can't get to grips with any other form of rice.

Overall a nice Saturday evening bowl of shovel food.

But still not the answer to the ultimate curry search.

Run Rabbit Run Rabbit Run Run Run

2010-03-20T13:53:00.003Z

Since Christmas I have had a pack of rabbit casserole bits in the freezer which I have been meaning to turn into some sort of ragu. I remember seeing Jamie Oliver do something similar, however his book is at the motherships, we did something along the lines of what I wanted on the first Rosemary Shrager course but with duck so I blindly set off with a vague idea.

1 onion, chopped

1 cloves garlic, chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped (I like what it adds but don't like any physical evidence it's there)

1 carrot, finely chopped (same rules as for the celery)

Sweated all this in a large frying pan/casserole and then added the pieces of rabbit, once sealed I poured in a glass of wine and let it reduce, then some chicken stock (about 200ml) and a tin of tomatoes. Seasoned, added some chopped fresh thyme, a couple of bay leaves and the grated zest of an orange. Covered and bunged in a low oven, where unfortunately it sat for a bit too long as I got distracted. When I brought it out it had gone rather too thick so added the rest of the chicken stock and another tin of tomatoes and simmered for a bit on the hob.

Mixed in some fresh chopped parsley and served it with some manfredine, a bit like tagliatelle or parpadelle but with crinkled edges and a generous dumping of grated parmesan cheese.

To be honest I wasn't actually looking forward to it and I can't really tell you why but it was much nicer than expected and something I'd definitely do again. I think next time I'd skip the orange zest, the rabbit is 'perfumey' enough and without it I wouldn't have needed the extra tin of tomatoes. I think I'd also try it with fresh tomatoes and oregano instead of thyme.

This is the Rosemary Shrager Duck recipe which I have since found! So I think something more along these lines but with the above adjustments.

Fettucine with Duck

320g Fettucine
4 large duck legs
70g diced carrot, peeled and diced
60g celery, diced
1 leek, thinly sliced
2 shallots, peeled and diced
200ml chicken stock
1 tablespoon tomato puree
100ml dry Marsala
2 tablespoons brandy
1 orange, grated rind and juice
50g large green olives
Sprig of thyme
50ml olive oil
30g butter
Salt and pepper

1. Remove the meat from the duck legs and dice it and most of the fat finely. Soften the shallots, celery, carrot and leek in the oil and butter for 5-6 minutes then add the diced duck meat and fat and brown it all over.

2. Add the thyme leaves and the tomato purée diluted in the brandy and Marsala with 100ml of the chicken stock (use a little more if required).

3. Cover and cook over low heat till tender. Add the orange rind and juice and boil to reduce a little. Cut the olives into thin strips and add to heat through. Taste for seasoning and toss with the boiled fettuccine.

Food to make everything better!

2010-03-19T12:09:00.003Z

Yesterday someone shared their "good news" with me, however one persons good news in this case most definitely fell in the category of bad news on my side. It has well and truly dropped me in it and the consequences I have yet to work out really. So last night found me in a most disagreeable mood and on nights like that there is really only one answer - spaghetti carbonara and a bottle of chablis - this is a meal definitely not for sharing! Although the mood I was in no one would have particularly relished my company anyway!

A quick stop off at asda to by the required wine, without sounding snobby this asda is not in the most salubrious of areas and specialises in the 3 for £10 wines more than the fine french so I should count myself lucky I had the choice of 1.

My version of carbonara is probably enough to make several Italians roll in their graves, but having gone out with an Italian who's idea of an authentic pasta dish was spaghetti with heated up tinned tomatoes and not much else I think a little room for adjustment is allowed. It really is the perfect end to a bad day, it takes just enough time to cook for you to get that first glass of wine down, just enough cooking involvement to help you unwind but far from onerous, and the result is just heaven in a bowl.

My version, gets the spaghetti in a pan of boiling salted water. I chuck in a pack of diced pancetta into a cold frying pan (here I think asda does win, theirs is by far my favourite pancetta) whilst that is starting to fry I chop half an onion and add that to the pan. Whisk on egg and one extra yolk in a jug, (freshly laid that morning, thanks girls) grind in some black pepper and mix in a good handful of grated parmesan, this is where I usually add a desertspoon of creme fraiche (I always use the half fat one) A couple of minutes before the pasta is done I slosh some white wine into the onions and pancetta and let it bubble down (I never used to do this and am not sure when it came in, but I now do it) drain the pasta and return to the pan, add the onion and pancetta, followed by the eggy, cheesy mixture. Toss together, top up the wine and prepare to be cheered up.

It almost makes it worth having a bad day.

Racks of Lamb are Like Busses!

2010-03-17T11:42:00.004Z

As I mentioned in yesterdays post not only was Sunday mothers day it was also mothers birthday. We had arranged to take her to the matinee of Sir Arthur Savilles Crime and then on to her favourite restaurant The Moss Nook.

In view the timing of everything I thought a lateish breakfast/brunch would be a good idea, and with the egg stock rising what better than eggs benedict! I got some lovely ham from Asda, despite me shunning a lot of their own products their had carved ham is always lovely, got the muffins. The girls certainly didn't let the side down and Saturday morning we had our first hat trick, three eggs! The most we've had up till now is two a day.

I started off the hollandaise sauce - 3 yolks whisked in a bowl set over barely simmering water. A small pan with the juice of half a lemon and a desertspoon of white wine vinegar, heated until bubbling, poured into the yolks whilst still whisking, melted 110g butter and gradually poured in whisking all the time. It worked!! It didn't split or whatever hollandaise is supposed to do!! Until that is I changed it onto another ring at the back of the hob whilst I got on with poaching the eggs, the water got too hot and it turned into an oily mess. Start again!!

Toasted the muffins, buttered, put the ham on and then kept in a warm oven until the eggs were done. For the poached eggs I used the three that had been laid that morning. Assembled the whole thing and it went down a storm. Unfortunately so well there was no chance for a picture!

Theatre was lovely, although why they sell packets of sweets which involve individual sweets being unwrapped is beyond me.

At the Moss Nook we went for the surprise menu, canape was a lamb bolognese tartlett, starter was a swiss cheese souffle (we had this last time aswell, but it well worth repeating) Fish course a cod and salmon lattice with a dill sauce, Soup -asparagus - Main - rack of lamb!! When you order the surprise menu they ask if there are any allergies etc. and I very nearly said anything other than lamb, knowing full well that was on the menu for Sunday lunch the next day, but I didn't. The main courses at the Moss Nook are served under a silver dome, which is lifted in synchronisation with everyone elses at the table, so when the dome went up and the lamb was announced luckily I saw the funny side. Having gone for rack of lamb as we hadn't had it for ages we were now going to have it two days running, and talk about having to live up to something, competing with the quality and presentation of the Moss Nook is not the least daunting of tasks. Dessert was apple bread and butter pudding with bread and butter ice cream, followed by coffee and petit fours, although I went for tea, I have found coffee after a big meal makes me feel far to full and uncomfortable. All kicked off with a bellini, washed down with a couple of bottles of premier cru chablis and wrapped up with a cointreau.

Yet again they excelled themselves, I don't know anyone who has been and not come away more than satisfied. The service is always impeccable and the food perfect, shame that such places are now a rarity.

Due to my toad of a brother not being able to drag himself out of the pub all weekend, there was a fair amount of lamb left over which got finished off for tea last night, so racks of lamb really are like busses, none for ages and then three come along!

Mothers Day

2010-03-16T11:52:00.011Z

Yes last Sunday was Mothers day, it also coincided with her motherships birthday, never one to do things by halves, but quite convenient really in other ways!

So of course it's virtually against the law for her to cook on Mothering Sunday (quite a blessing in someways, see the dry roast chicken post!) So I willingly offered.

Starter I was going to do garlic and chilli prawns but couldn't get any decent shell on prawns. I really must try out the fishmonger that's been recommended in Knutsford. So I fell back on my trusty bufallo mozarella wrapped in parma ham. It's something I saw in a Nigel Slater article in Sainsburys magazine years ago and has become an absolute favourite, not only just as a decent starter but fantastic for a lone supper. Basically drain a ball of bufallo mozarella wrap in slices of parma ham or similar, I find it takes about 3, it's easier if the ham is at room temperature and the cheaper stuff is actually easier to do it with as it doesn't tend to split and crack so much. Line a baking tin with some foil, rub round some oil, add the ball and bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve on it's own or with a salad but some decent bread to mop up the salty juices is a must.

Reminds me though in the same article there was a chicken breast, topped with mozarella, grilled and served with a white wine and pesto sauce, I must dig that out and do it again. Have a feeling I added parma ham to that aswell.

Main course was rack of lamb. Originally thought of pork, obviously, but decided we hadn't had rack of lamb for years, that was of course until the night before but will post about that seperately.

The lamb was delicious, I sealed it in a hot pan, then covered with a mixture of fresh herbs, capers, garlic and anchovies, all blitzed in a blender. Put into a hottish oven for 15 minutes, removed, covered with foil and rested for 10 minutes in the top oven which was still warmish. To be honest it could have done with another 5 minutes, that was for an 8 rib rack, but so many of the recipes I looked at were contradictory, cooking times ranging from 10 mins to 45 mins.

Served with potato and fennel boulangere, layered sliced potatoes, onion, gruyere cheese and fennel in my Le Creuset christmas present. Poured in some chicken stock, covered with the lid and baked for 30 minutes. Removed from the oven sprinkled over some parmesan cheese and put back in uncovered for another 30 mins. Was delicious, but then the combination of fennel and parmesan is always a winner for me.

Pudding/desert - a few years ago I bought this as a present for Mum but no-one has ever got round to using it, so inspired by the macaroons on the front cover of this months delicious I thought I'd make them and some cupcakes. I think it's safe to say macaroons are not my forte!! The chocolate ones were so stiff they more than resembled minature shog dites, the mint ones started off green, merged into one on the baking tray and came out beige.

The cupcakes I used the humming bird bakery vanilla cupcake recipe, they tasted lovely but welded themselves to the paper cases, not sure if that was the paper cases fault, my fault or the recipe?

Just as well I'd got MrKipling French Fancies and GU carrot cakes as a back up!

I'd also got a couple of the ice fountain candle/sparkler things, my great idea of assembling it all in another room and then walking in with the cake stand proved slightly challenging with the unexpected pyrotechnic shenanigans which was unleashed! When it says light and retire to at least 1 meter, there is a reason!

My Family and Other Animals

2010-03-09T13:33:00.010Z

Actually most of my family is made up of animals! At least one of which on a daily basis reminds me of how much nicer animals are then most people.

On another note the title is a book we had to read at school - for which it can be safely said it was a book I never actually bothered to read! I do remember bits of it being quite good though, based in Greece I think? Cider with Rosie was another one, wrote many an essay on it and other than a vague recollection of something mildly raunchy that's about it. Northanger Abbey, one of the first books we had to read, remember it featured bath, bought the DVD last week and watched it in the small hours of Sunday morning, loved it. So all of those books have gone on the 'to read' list. The books I was reading instead were mainly Jilly Cooper's, had my exams featured questions on Riders, Rivals, Polo, the rest came later, these were the three books that pretty much shaped my expectations (never mind!) I could have quite happily sat there and answered any question, argued my view point etc.

Back to the animals.....

My beautiful baby boy and his little brother

What I would do without either of them I dont know.

Then we have muppet/balloon/whatever fits at the time, the most cuddly dog you will ever meet, if only he could realise some moments are better for a cuddle than others, sat on a loo with no door is not one of them!

Then the new girls, (still not got the hang of standing still!)

only here just over three weeks but certainly made their presence known, already getting their feathers back, discovering their love for digging and cooked brocolli - apparently cooked is much better than raw, and to date have given us 23 eggs already, 1 short of one a day. Everyone told me they would stop laying after a couple of days and then start up again. There have been 4 soft, no shell ones but give the girls a break, they've been through a lot!

And then we have this weeks arrivals, Lottie's first, Ruby shortly behind and then Martha (hers only a few hours old when snapped), 21 in total