I couldn't sleep last night. I drifted off to uneasy, bad-dream-filled naps in between bouts of tossing and turning with a feeling of dread and anxiety in my stomach. I'm not even entirely sure why. I am aware that I am worrying about this week's lectures, but that is foolishness because A. they are both only an hour long which is nothing so the time will fly, B. one is on a subject I have already taught this semester and it went well, and C. the other is about a subject that is surely inherent to all of my research (documentary analysis). I have a bunch of other deadlines this week but again, all of this is manageable and shouldn't be freaking me out. For some reason it is. I wonder why some weeks make me immobile with terror and others I'm capable of just powering through. Is foolishness but there seems to be no remedy.
Of course, one remedy might be not to piss away half my day on the internet, yes most certainly. And yet, I am apparently incapable of turning the damn broadband connection off. And so I sit, torn between stomach-turning anxiety about it all, and mindless time wastage. Useless.
Also, I have cooked nothing of interest lately. The lad has decided to try and stop eating so much sugar (which actually is probably a good thing because I think me and my baked goods might have been responsible for him putting on some weight lately and that's not nice for him since he feels bad about it) but that means there's no point in getting all creative in the kitchen because it would basically mean forcing him to eat things that he's really trying hard to avoid and that seems border line abusive! Death by baking. I am yearning for more vanilla fudge myself, but as I have done nothing to deserve treats, I cannot let myself make it.
I suspect I am also fretting about my appointment at the Home Office this week. My temporary visa is about to expire so I'm applying to stay here permanently which I'm perfectly allowed to do and which shouldn't be a problem at all. But for some reason I'm worried that they won't accept that A and I are still a couple and that our 11 year relationship has not been just a ruse to get me into the country. I have passed my 'life in the UK test' and have all the necessary documentation (including a seriously unfortunate passport-sized photo...) so it should all be fine, but there's always just that shred of worry in you which says 'what if they don't accept your application and you have to leave the country forever come December 31 and then you lose your job and all hell breaks loose??!'. I must stop these thoughts...they're giving me a horrible headache.
But, the upside to all this grim introspective ranting is that, once I get through this week, next week is filled largely with only meetings and Christmas parties (one of which is black tie and I now have the cutest Mad-Men vibed dress with which I plan to do the full on 1960s glam thing - elbow length black gloves, pearls and possibly even getting my hair put up) and then I'm off on annual leave until next year. And during the pre-Christmas leave, I will be baking and things will be festive and merry. Roll on the 20th! Ho ho ho.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Friday, 3 December 2010
Larger than Life
Haribo Gold Bears, eat your tiny (but delicious) hearts out. I have a new friend. Or at least, I lust after a new gummi-friend.
Check it out: http://www.firebox.com/product/2560/Giant-Gummi-Bears
I cannot stop thinking about this. It's so very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (original not creepy J-Depp version). Imagine gnawing on that delicious hunk of candy? Mm. I can feel the sugar shakes now!
What else would be great in giant form? I think all candy appeals (to me at least!) in giant form. I remember going to this amazing chocolate shop with my dear reader in Melbourne (Koko, I believe was the name?) and seeing those enormous bricks of chocolate and thinking, my but it would be good to just get stuck into the whopping great wedge of cocoa. I don't really find the idea of fast food in giant form appealing (giant gross burger anyone? Face-sized slice of pizza? Ooh, though, a giant french fry has some merits...) but a massive Twistee could be interesting. Perhaps this is just a pipe dream best confined to gummi treats.
Clearly Friday-itis has set in.
Check it out: http://www.firebox.com/product/2560/Giant-Gummi-Bears
I cannot stop thinking about this. It's so very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (original not creepy J-Depp version). Imagine gnawing on that delicious hunk of candy? Mm. I can feel the sugar shakes now!
What else would be great in giant form? I think all candy appeals (to me at least!) in giant form. I remember going to this amazing chocolate shop with my dear reader in Melbourne (Koko, I believe was the name?) and seeing those enormous bricks of chocolate and thinking, my but it would be good to just get stuck into the whopping great wedge of cocoa. I don't really find the idea of fast food in giant form appealing (giant gross burger anyone? Face-sized slice of pizza? Ooh, though, a giant french fry has some merits...) but a massive Twistee could be interesting. Perhaps this is just a pipe dream best confined to gummi treats.
Clearly Friday-itis has set in.
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Tarka Dahl and other things
Toaster sports a number of pubs (really quite a few for such a small hamlet) and a rather good curry restaurant. Every time I go there I order the vege thali which is basically a selection of vege dishes plus pilau rice and a naan. This suits me because it saves me having to actually make a menu decision (I simply cannot ever make a firm restaurant ordering decision. It's one of my most annoying flaws I think! I also suffer from horrible ordering envy once the meals actually arrive. A sampler dish saves me much trouble), but it is inevitably miles too much food. And when it arrives and I start nibbling, I almost always realise that the last time I ordered this, I really only liked the dahl they served and had meant to just order that by itself. Sigh. Slow learner this one.
Anyhoo, today I felt like curry and naan for dinner so I thought I'd give tarka dahl a shot - from what I've learnt online and from my various recipe books, tarka dahl is much like your average dahl except that it has lots of garlic in it and it is made from yellow split peas, rather than lentils. I also made a different chicken curry for Andrew (he not really being one with the legume unfortunately).
Here's what I did:
Soaked about 200g yellow split peas half a day in cold water. This wasn't really sufficient to soften them but we'll get back to that point later.
Finely chopped half an onion and then very gently cooked it in 3 tbsp vegetable oil for about 10 mins. While that was happily sweating away I minced about 5 cloves of garlic and then added it to the onion. Various recipes were a bit vague on the required spices so I sort of threw things in as I fancied. The only thing I knew should be in there were black mustard seeds because the local restaurant version has these in it and I like the tapioca-like texture they add to the mushy peas. I added about a tsp of those. My version also included: 1/2 tsp (ish) ground cumin, about the same of tumeric and ground coriander and a healthy pinch of red chilli flakes. I cooked the spices with the onion and garlic for another 5 mins until the spices had darkened then I added the drained and rinsed split peas, stirred them about for a bit and covered them with 600mls or so of water. Basically then you bung the lid on and simmer until they are done. If you've soaked your peas properly (ie. overnight) then they should probably only take about 30-40 mins. I was both disorganised and impatient so when it looked like A's curry was ready and mine was still a wee way away, I realised some cheating would be necessary. I threw in about 1/2 tsp of baking soda, stirred the now fizzy mixture and let it simmer another 5 mins (while I cooked the naan - which were, may I just say, one of the best batches I've made. Their making did end up killing half a dozen rare-breed, organic, free-range eggs which made me momentarily bawl at the sadness of it all and then have to clean half a dozen broken eggs off the kitchen floor. Ever tried to sweep/scoop/mop up egg? Not easy! And they were such beautiful eggs. I really was looking forward to them for brekkie tomorrow). Anyway, I digress. The baking soda did achieve the required 'cheat' of disintegrating the split peas but it had the unfortunate side effect of turning the whole mixture a rather unappetising baby-shit brown colour. But, the proof after all is in the taste (and really, when do pulses ever look truly beautiful?) and the taste was pretty damn great actually. Every bit as good as the restaurant's version and exactly what I'd been hoping for. Success!
The naan, by the way, was the recipe I've got elsewhere on the page. No idea why they were so particularly delish today, but they really were. And yay - there's lots of spare dough in the fridge. I reckon they'd make a decent lunch-time pizza-base substitute tomorrow...
The curry I made for Andrew was basically this: http://www.curryhouse.co.uk/rsc/pasanda.htm
It was pretty good although I think it needed a tsp or so of sugar which I think I'd add next time. I also think I'd probably stir through another tbsp yoghurt at the end to add a bit more creaminess. But otherwise it was pretty good (oh, and I didn't bother frying the chicken before adding it to the sauce. Seemed like that step was just designed to make more dishes while adding very little in the way of flavour! It tasted fine without being fried first).
Ooh, and on an unrelated note, I bought some vanilla bean paste at the supermarket today and it smells divine. I'm dying to bake something incredibly vanilla-y with it tomorrow, so tune in later...
Anyhoo, today I felt like curry and naan for dinner so I thought I'd give tarka dahl a shot - from what I've learnt online and from my various recipe books, tarka dahl is much like your average dahl except that it has lots of garlic in it and it is made from yellow split peas, rather than lentils. I also made a different chicken curry for Andrew (he not really being one with the legume unfortunately).
Here's what I did:
Soaked about 200g yellow split peas half a day in cold water. This wasn't really sufficient to soften them but we'll get back to that point later.
Finely chopped half an onion and then very gently cooked it in 3 tbsp vegetable oil for about 10 mins. While that was happily sweating away I minced about 5 cloves of garlic and then added it to the onion. Various recipes were a bit vague on the required spices so I sort of threw things in as I fancied. The only thing I knew should be in there were black mustard seeds because the local restaurant version has these in it and I like the tapioca-like texture they add to the mushy peas. I added about a tsp of those. My version also included: 1/2 tsp (ish) ground cumin, about the same of tumeric and ground coriander and a healthy pinch of red chilli flakes. I cooked the spices with the onion and garlic for another 5 mins until the spices had darkened then I added the drained and rinsed split peas, stirred them about for a bit and covered them with 600mls or so of water. Basically then you bung the lid on and simmer until they are done. If you've soaked your peas properly (ie. overnight) then they should probably only take about 30-40 mins. I was both disorganised and impatient so when it looked like A's curry was ready and mine was still a wee way away, I realised some cheating would be necessary. I threw in about 1/2 tsp of baking soda, stirred the now fizzy mixture and let it simmer another 5 mins (while I cooked the naan - which were, may I just say, one of the best batches I've made. Their making did end up killing half a dozen rare-breed, organic, free-range eggs which made me momentarily bawl at the sadness of it all and then have to clean half a dozen broken eggs off the kitchen floor. Ever tried to sweep/scoop/mop up egg? Not easy! And they were such beautiful eggs. I really was looking forward to them for brekkie tomorrow). Anyway, I digress. The baking soda did achieve the required 'cheat' of disintegrating the split peas but it had the unfortunate side effect of turning the whole mixture a rather unappetising baby-shit brown colour. But, the proof after all is in the taste (and really, when do pulses ever look truly beautiful?) and the taste was pretty damn great actually. Every bit as good as the restaurant's version and exactly what I'd been hoping for. Success!
The naan, by the way, was the recipe I've got elsewhere on the page. No idea why they were so particularly delish today, but they really were. And yay - there's lots of spare dough in the fridge. I reckon they'd make a decent lunch-time pizza-base substitute tomorrow...
The curry I made for Andrew was basically this: http://www.curryhouse.co.uk/rsc/pasanda.htm
It was pretty good although I think it needed a tsp or so of sugar which I think I'd add next time. I also think I'd probably stir through another tbsp yoghurt at the end to add a bit more creaminess. But otherwise it was pretty good (oh, and I didn't bother frying the chicken before adding it to the sauce. Seemed like that step was just designed to make more dishes while adding very little in the way of flavour! It tasted fine without being fried first).
Ooh, and on an unrelated note, I bought some vanilla bean paste at the supermarket today and it smells divine. I'm dying to bake something incredibly vanilla-y with it tomorrow, so tune in later...
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Hey Fishie Fishie
A year or so ago (gosh, could it really be closer to two years ago? Man time flies) I had a traumatising experience with some fresh trout from a less-than-impressive fishmonger (I'd include the link to the previous blog posting, but for the life of me I can't work out how to do that on these damn blogs). Such was the trauma of said fishie incident that I haven't considered the idea of whole fish since...until today (dum dum dum).
I was ordering the groceries online yesterday and none of the salmon options appealed so I thought I'd be brave and order some fresh whole trout. The website assured me that the fishies were gutted, scaled and otherwise cleaned (phew), so I did it. And you know what? What a bloody revelation. So lovely and fresh, incredibly cheap (really - under half the price of two scrawny white fish fillets and much less than the price of two salmon fillets) and actually very simple to prepare. All I did was pop some chopped garlic, sliced lemons and a bunch of random herbs (rosemary, lemon thyme, parsley) and some salt inside, then rubbed the outside with olive oil, salt and some chopped herbs. Threw them in a hot oven and 15 minutes later, hey fishie fishie. Yum! With the fishes we had new potatoes, roasted cherry tomatoes and green beans. All in all, pretty damn tasty.
I will say, though, that the fishies were quite bony and I did manage to get one of the tiny wee bones lodged in my throat (of course). I'd read somewhere that a quick swig of vinegar is an old Chinese remedy for swallowing fish bones and, rather impressively, it does actually work. Burns like bejesus going down and gives you the sensation of having recently thrown up (you know that acid burn feeling?) but it does seem to dissolve the fish bone.
I was ordering the groceries online yesterday and none of the salmon options appealed so I thought I'd be brave and order some fresh whole trout. The website assured me that the fishies were gutted, scaled and otherwise cleaned (phew), so I did it. And you know what? What a bloody revelation. So lovely and fresh, incredibly cheap (really - under half the price of two scrawny white fish fillets and much less than the price of two salmon fillets) and actually very simple to prepare. All I did was pop some chopped garlic, sliced lemons and a bunch of random herbs (rosemary, lemon thyme, parsley) and some salt inside, then rubbed the outside with olive oil, salt and some chopped herbs. Threw them in a hot oven and 15 minutes later, hey fishie fishie. Yum! With the fishes we had new potatoes, roasted cherry tomatoes and green beans. All in all, pretty damn tasty.
 |
| Fishies before their firing |
Monday, 22 November 2010
Not raindrops nor roses, but these are a few of my current (not favourite) 'things'...
Thoughts for the day:
1. Diet cola and paprika flavoured Pringles are probably not the best food to help one get over a rapidly brewing cold. I wonder if Friday's leftover pizza will help?
2. I know I shouldn't laugh, but sometimes the mistakes my foreign-language students make in their essays are funny (repeatedly confusing speculators with spectaculars, for eg.)
3. They are predicting snow on Thursday. I am not sure I'm emotionally (or satorially) prepared for the complete onslaught of winter in all its icy glory. I do, though, have a massive stock-pile of dried pulses, so should a wintery apocalypse arrive, we'll live. We may not be best pleased about it come day 4 or 5, but we'd live.
4. I need a new fridge rather desperately. My FRACKING P.O.S fridge keeps freezing things and it is driving me completely mad. It has frozen an entire pumpkin for god's sake (which would be impressive if it weren't so damn annoying). But the damn thing is so fickle about what it's freezing so there's no real way of knowing its next target. The jug of filtered water (which surely has a pretty high water count) remains liquid yet the container of pre-cooked and previously frozen chicken which I'd defrosted has been refrozen (meaning I've had to throw it out or risk killing us both with salmonella). Cheese appears to be unfreezable (though I know cheese does actually freeze rather well since I always have some in my freezer for unexpected cheese-related emergencies), yet creme fraiche and yoghurt are susceptible. My vege have to be kept stuffed together on the top shelf as this is a lower risk area, and the condiments are on the bottom shelf (mayo also appears disinclined to freeze) - it's total madness and something Must Be Done.
5. I am trying desperately to eat healthily (in a manner that will actually result in weight loss - try to avoid mocking point no. 1 when you read this!) and am aware that my cooking repetoire is not really low-fat, low-sugar, low-carb. It is actually fairly high-fat, high-sugar and all about the carbs. I thus find myself rather torn...is there any way one can eat high fat, sugary, carb-loaded foods and still lose weight? Apparently excessive exercise results in bupkiss in the way of weight loss without food adjustments too. DAMNIT. I don't want to relinquish my Pringles or creme fraiche...DON'T MAKE ME DO IT.......
6. I really rather fancy a curry as soon as I start talking about cutting back. Mmm, garlic naan and dahl and bhajis. How ridiculous to have so little control over your own mind and body.
7. One of the things I've taught this semester has been 'constructions of the body', and in particular Shilling's theory of the body as a project/process. Thus, in addition to feeling frustrated about my own lack of control over my mind/body, I'm also filled with faint scholarly disgust and awareness of my own preoccupation with controlling and constructing my body at the moment. Oh the irony. And oh to be ignorant and uncaring.
8. In addition to the above, I find myself fixated with the story of the NZ miners and despite my wishes for a positive outcome (especially since two good family friends have loved ones trapped in the mine) I can't help but be filled with dread that this is not going to be a happily resolved story that Hollywood will want to tell.
Thus endeth today's odd collection of rambling thoughts.
1. Diet cola and paprika flavoured Pringles are probably not the best food to help one get over a rapidly brewing cold. I wonder if Friday's leftover pizza will help?
2. I know I shouldn't laugh, but sometimes the mistakes my foreign-language students make in their essays are funny (repeatedly confusing speculators with spectaculars, for eg.)
3. They are predicting snow on Thursday. I am not sure I'm emotionally (or satorially) prepared for the complete onslaught of winter in all its icy glory. I do, though, have a massive stock-pile of dried pulses, so should a wintery apocalypse arrive, we'll live. We may not be best pleased about it come day 4 or 5, but we'd live.
4. I need a new fridge rather desperately. My FRACKING P.O.S fridge keeps freezing things and it is driving me completely mad. It has frozen an entire pumpkin for god's sake (which would be impressive if it weren't so damn annoying). But the damn thing is so fickle about what it's freezing so there's no real way of knowing its next target. The jug of filtered water (which surely has a pretty high water count) remains liquid yet the container of pre-cooked and previously frozen chicken which I'd defrosted has been refrozen (meaning I've had to throw it out or risk killing us both with salmonella). Cheese appears to be unfreezable (though I know cheese does actually freeze rather well since I always have some in my freezer for unexpected cheese-related emergencies), yet creme fraiche and yoghurt are susceptible. My vege have to be kept stuffed together on the top shelf as this is a lower risk area, and the condiments are on the bottom shelf (mayo also appears disinclined to freeze) - it's total madness and something Must Be Done.
5. I am trying desperately to eat healthily (in a manner that will actually result in weight loss - try to avoid mocking point no. 1 when you read this!) and am aware that my cooking repetoire is not really low-fat, low-sugar, low-carb. It is actually fairly high-fat, high-sugar and all about the carbs. I thus find myself rather torn...is there any way one can eat high fat, sugary, carb-loaded foods and still lose weight? Apparently excessive exercise results in bupkiss in the way of weight loss without food adjustments too. DAMNIT. I don't want to relinquish my Pringles or creme fraiche...DON'T MAKE ME DO IT.......
6. I really rather fancy a curry as soon as I start talking about cutting back. Mmm, garlic naan and dahl and bhajis. How ridiculous to have so little control over your own mind and body.
7. One of the things I've taught this semester has been 'constructions of the body', and in particular Shilling's theory of the body as a project/process. Thus, in addition to feeling frustrated about my own lack of control over my mind/body, I'm also filled with faint scholarly disgust and awareness of my own preoccupation with controlling and constructing my body at the moment. Oh the irony. And oh to be ignorant and uncaring.
8. In addition to the above, I find myself fixated with the story of the NZ miners and despite my wishes for a positive outcome (especially since two good family friends have loved ones trapped in the mine) I can't help but be filled with dread that this is not going to be a happily resolved story that Hollywood will want to tell.
Thus endeth today's odd collection of rambling thoughts.
Friday, 19 November 2010
In which my brain refuses to function
I can't decide if I'm tired or just useless. I don't know what it is about Fridays. I just have the hardest trouble doing anything productive at all on a Friday. It's as if my brain decides that a four-day week is perfectly sufficient and we'll just take Friday off thanks very much. The problem with that of course is that I actually have things to do on Fridays - work and otherwise. Apparently though, I have no ability to will myself to do things come Friday. All motivation has been exhausted Monday through Thursday and it's all I can do to haul my carcass off the sofa on the fifth day. Mind you, it doesn't help one's enthusiasm to wake up to the messiest kitchen in history (cleaning up after dinner on thursday night was clearly another step much too far). We've been trying really hard to get the sodding dishes done each night before bed because I just cannot cope with the idea of cooking at 8pm when I come home to find last night's dishes, but last night...well.
I have a two week gap in lectures which I think might be why I'm feeling so grey and fuzzy today - when the daunting task of teaching and writing lectures week to week started early October, I had this date in my mind as a period of respite to aim for. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the lectures and the interactions with students, really, but lecturing is a very draining process. I find it to be really adrenal (not sure if that's a word, but it's the closest I can come to describing the feeling...it's akin to going on stage for a play I think, and the buzz and exhaustion that you get when the curtain drops). So having a two week break, particularly as I'm also writing all my lectures on the hoof, is something me and my body have been looking forward to.
Friday is meant to me one of my 'research days' where I don't do anything bar my own research work, and I think that might also have something to do with the uselessness that seems to set in each week on this day (seeing as I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring out just what direction I want to take with my research life). Ah maybe I'm just tired. I guess it's ok to be tired given I'm still adjusting to actually having a proper grown up job (for the first time in my life. Sad given I'm nearly 30, but I was doing productive things until now, honest). And I did go to the gym this morning, so I can at least feel mildly smug about that. So. Perhaps for the rest of the day, I'll aim to just get the house resembling something other than a poorly kept house of ill repute and won't beat myself about achieving nothing more. Frankly the Friday self-flaggelations are a bit tiring too.
Thank god there's a nice bottle of pinot grigio in the fridge and Ben & Jerry's in the freezer. When all else fails, ice-cream and booze will get us through.
I have a two week gap in lectures which I think might be why I'm feeling so grey and fuzzy today - when the daunting task of teaching and writing lectures week to week started early October, I had this date in my mind as a period of respite to aim for. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the lectures and the interactions with students, really, but lecturing is a very draining process. I find it to be really adrenal (not sure if that's a word, but it's the closest I can come to describing the feeling...it's akin to going on stage for a play I think, and the buzz and exhaustion that you get when the curtain drops). So having a two week break, particularly as I'm also writing all my lectures on the hoof, is something me and my body have been looking forward to.
Friday is meant to me one of my 'research days' where I don't do anything bar my own research work, and I think that might also have something to do with the uselessness that seems to set in each week on this day (seeing as I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring out just what direction I want to take with my research life). Ah maybe I'm just tired. I guess it's ok to be tired given I'm still adjusting to actually having a proper grown up job (for the first time in my life. Sad given I'm nearly 30, but I was doing productive things until now, honest). And I did go to the gym this morning, so I can at least feel mildly smug about that. So. Perhaps for the rest of the day, I'll aim to just get the house resembling something other than a poorly kept house of ill repute and won't beat myself about achieving nothing more. Frankly the Friday self-flaggelations are a bit tiring too.
Thank god there's a nice bottle of pinot grigio in the fridge and Ben & Jerry's in the freezer. When all else fails, ice-cream and booze will get us through.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Cold Stuff
My currently moustachioed man was last night kidnapped by the F1 faeries who employ him - he didn't make it home until 10pm (which even for him is pretty late). As a result he missed dinner and although I did save it for him, really, eating beef, vege and noodle stirfry with cashews at 10pm seems unnecessary (so he ate toast). This meant that for my lunch today, I had yummy noodly leftovers. Mmm, leftovers. I go through phases - sometimes I loathe the very sight of leftovers lurking in the fridge and would rather have anything but anything else (I'm a creature of diversity, you see. I bore very easily and that includes with food). Other times, though, I love leftovers - and today was one of those days.
I really really love cold noodles. I think the Japanese would support me on this front, but others think I'm mad. I also love cold pizza (because, really, is microwaved reheated pizza ever any good? No. Not even with the elaborate steam dispersal method to stop sogginess employed by my other half. Go cold I say!) and I looove cold pasta. Not in pasta salad form but rather, the bits that you really couldn't bring yourself to dish up into the already piled-high bowls for dinner. I can routinely be found hiding in the kitchen during a tv ad-break, scoffing clumps of cold, sauceless pasta from the pot it was cooked in. Mmm. I do have some limits - I'm not typically a cold rice fan, or a cold potato fan, but otherwise, bring it on.
What do you prefer to eat cold - or are you a 'if it's meant to be warm then warm it' person?
I really really love cold noodles. I think the Japanese would support me on this front, but others think I'm mad. I also love cold pizza (because, really, is microwaved reheated pizza ever any good? No. Not even with the elaborate steam dispersal method to stop sogginess employed by my other half. Go cold I say!) and I looove cold pasta. Not in pasta salad form but rather, the bits that you really couldn't bring yourself to dish up into the already piled-high bowls for dinner. I can routinely be found hiding in the kitchen during a tv ad-break, scoffing clumps of cold, sauceless pasta from the pot it was cooked in. Mmm. I do have some limits - I'm not typically a cold rice fan, or a cold potato fan, but otherwise, bring it on.
What do you prefer to eat cold - or are you a 'if it's meant to be warm then warm it' person?
Monday, 15 November 2010
Catching pots and what-not
As is my normal activity in winter, I've been making soup today so that I'll have delicious lunches for the week and won't have to rely on campus catering facilities. But once again, my damn soup has caught to the bottom of the pot. This happens a lot and it really bugs me! I'm using my lovely Le Creuset, have the temp turned down as low as it can go and have plenty of liquid in the soup. Does anyone know how to stop things sticking/catching to the bottom of the pot?? I'm a fan of char-grilled flavour, for sure, but I wasn't really going for a char-grilled soup flavour. I'm not convinced it'll work...
Friday, 12 November 2010
Whispers of nothing
I have cooked nothing of interest this week despite being in possession of two new cookbooks (the aforementioned Nigella and Delia's genius tome which includes several pages devoted to the art of boiling an egg. Love it!). My monthly foodie magazine is all Christmassy at the moment which is a pain because A. I don't get to cook anything at Christmas since we spend it at relatives' houses and B. I get a bit Grinch-like if Christmassing starts too soon. So I find myself once again lacking in anything interesting to write about. You'd almost start to wonder why I have what claims to be a 'food blog' in the first place wouldn't you?!
Hm. What food related stuffs can I write about instead? Let's see...I was nearly run off the road by a piece of peanut-butter and banana topped toast (my fault, not the toast's). I ate (or rather, took one bite of and decided against any more) some seriously dubious 'bean salad' at work this week. Oh and some god-awful beige gloop mascarading as mushroom soup. I really need to get organised and start taking my own lunch because the pickings at work are seriously slim (unless you like sandwiches which most of Britain seems to. I, on the other hand, am not a fan at all - stale bread, mangy filling, slightly soggy, triangular packaging - no. Just no.). Ooh, mushroom soup though! That's what I feel like. Yay - inspiration, from a distinctly unlikely source. Must add mushrooms to my grocery delivery order...
And I am embracing my inner carnivore this weekend with some pork ribs to gnaw on while i watch the final F1 race of the season. Total cave-person in me, I admit. And unlikely to be appealing to the vegetarians among us, but I'm afraid I'm a strict omnivore. And they are organic free range pork ribs if it helps. Better that all of the animal is eaten and enjoyed than just the posh bits, surely?!
Are you cooking anything exciting this weekend and can you inspire me beyond my thoughts of fungus and bones?
Hm. What food related stuffs can I write about instead? Let's see...I was nearly run off the road by a piece of peanut-butter and banana topped toast (my fault, not the toast's). I ate (or rather, took one bite of and decided against any more) some seriously dubious 'bean salad' at work this week. Oh and some god-awful beige gloop mascarading as mushroom soup. I really need to get organised and start taking my own lunch because the pickings at work are seriously slim (unless you like sandwiches which most of Britain seems to. I, on the other hand, am not a fan at all - stale bread, mangy filling, slightly soggy, triangular packaging - no. Just no.). Ooh, mushroom soup though! That's what I feel like. Yay - inspiration, from a distinctly unlikely source. Must add mushrooms to my grocery delivery order...
And I am embracing my inner carnivore this weekend with some pork ribs to gnaw on while i watch the final F1 race of the season. Total cave-person in me, I admit. And unlikely to be appealing to the vegetarians among us, but I'm afraid I'm a strict omnivore. And they are organic free range pork ribs if it helps. Better that all of the animal is eaten and enjoyed than just the posh bits, surely?!
Are you cooking anything exciting this weekend and can you inspire me beyond my thoughts of fungus and bones?
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
From the barley to the ridiculous
I dreamt about Twistees the other night.* The weird thing was that the bag of snacks in my dream was actually the bag for Burger Rings** (ie. orange) and the name of the snack was Cheese Balls***, but they actually resembled Cheezels****. Yet I knew them to be Twistees. Weird.
You can't get anything vaguely resembling Twistees here in the UK. They sell things called Cheese puffs but they are singularly revolting and similar to Twistees only in the sense that they are orange. Every now and then (well, to be honest, there are more of the nows than the thens) I get a distinct hankering for Twistees. I suppose that's why I'm dreaming about them. It does seem a distinctly mundane thing to dream about, but there you go. My mind cares not for great philosophies or poetry...for me and my subsconscious, it's all about the fluro-orange corn/cheese snacks.
Your Unrequested Guide to NZ's Scary Snack World
* Corn-based cheese flavoured snack from NZ - and possibly Australia? Slightly bendy shaped sticks of cheesy, crunchy goodness. My favourite crisp/snack. So much the favourite that I now dream of them...
** Corn-based 'burger' flavoured snack from NZ. Shaped like a doughnut. Orange but a less fluro shade than Twistees. Second favourite crisp/snack, although it is certainly a close contest.
*** Balls of corn-based cheese flavoured snacks from NZ. Never really cared for Cheese Balls. Too cheesy I think. Also smelt distinctly nasty. Actually much closer to what they sell masquerading as Twistees here.
**** Doughnut-shaped orangey corn-based cheese flavoured snacks from NZ. Different doughnut shape to the Burger Rings - thicker? Acceptable as snack substitute if Twistees and/or Burger Rings aren't available.
You can't get anything vaguely resembling Twistees here in the UK. They sell things called Cheese puffs but they are singularly revolting and similar to Twistees only in the sense that they are orange. Every now and then (well, to be honest, there are more of the nows than the thens) I get a distinct hankering for Twistees. I suppose that's why I'm dreaming about them. It does seem a distinctly mundane thing to dream about, but there you go. My mind cares not for great philosophies or poetry...for me and my subsconscious, it's all about the fluro-orange corn/cheese snacks.
Your Unrequested Guide to NZ's Scary Snack World
* Corn-based cheese flavoured snack from NZ - and possibly Australia? Slightly bendy shaped sticks of cheesy, crunchy goodness. My favourite crisp/snack. So much the favourite that I now dream of them...
** Corn-based 'burger' flavoured snack from NZ. Shaped like a doughnut. Orange but a less fluro shade than Twistees. Second favourite crisp/snack, although it is certainly a close contest.
*** Balls of corn-based cheese flavoured snacks from NZ. Never really cared for Cheese Balls. Too cheesy I think. Also smelt distinctly nasty. Actually much closer to what they sell masquerading as Twistees here.
**** Doughnut-shaped orangey corn-based cheese flavoured snacks from NZ. Different doughnut shape to the Burger Rings - thicker? Acceptable as snack substitute if Twistees and/or Burger Rings aren't available.
Monday, 8 November 2010
WTF? Click here to read a review of possibly the most offensive cook-book to be published since 1947!
I can't decide what outrages me most about this book. The title (and infinite assumptions it makes about the stereotypical role of women in society), the seeming lack of any skill in actually writing or indeed writing recipes, or the assumption (as the author of the blog post notes) that cooking is a chore we should engage in purely to keep our (presumably) better half happy. It grates on so many levels and I'm offended by it as a feminist but also as someone who loves cooking (bar the occasional moment of 'I can't be arsedness'). Infuriating.
And when did post-feminism come to mean the exact opposite of feminism?? Post-modernism has some answering to do as far as I'm concerned.
I read an article in a NZ paper over the weekend which noted that gender equality in NZ is actually getting worse, not better, and that women are increasingly left out of the business board-room (except, one assumes, for when they have to bring in the coffee). Apparently the glass ceilings are little more than chipped, and part of me wonders what role books like this (with all their insidious sub-text) play in keeping women from truly shattering that ceiling. If mainstream publishing houses are happy to perpetuate the image of women as the timeless 50's housewife, if major sport continues to treat women as nothing more than the 'eye-candy' with which to decorate the male sporting plain, and if the WAG role continues to be what young women aspire to be, how will we ever achieve true parity?
Hm, not really a food-related post, but perhaps food for thought...
And when did post-feminism come to mean the exact opposite of feminism?? Post-modernism has some answering to do as far as I'm concerned.
I read an article in a NZ paper over the weekend which noted that gender equality in NZ is actually getting worse, not better, and that women are increasingly left out of the business board-room (except, one assumes, for when they have to bring in the coffee). Apparently the glass ceilings are little more than chipped, and part of me wonders what role books like this (with all their insidious sub-text) play in keeping women from truly shattering that ceiling. If mainstream publishing houses are happy to perpetuate the image of women as the timeless 50's housewife, if major sport continues to treat women as nothing more than the 'eye-candy' with which to decorate the male sporting plain, and if the WAG role continues to be what young women aspire to be, how will we ever achieve true parity?
Hm, not really a food-related post, but perhaps food for thought...
It's chicken soup time...
Brrr! And with a frosty gust of wind and some frozen shards of torrential rain, winter is upon us. So, for me, it's time for home-made chicken soup with barley. Not sure whether it's good for the soul, but it's certainly a delicious warming comfort on day's like this when you feel you're only just holding a bout of the dreaded lurgy at bay...
I'm not sure what it is about barley but I just love it. I think it must be a childhood reminiscence - homemade vege soup at Mum's and Grandma's always but always had lentils and barley in it. It somehow comforts me like nothing else I can think of.
What's your strange childhood comfort food...?
I'm not sure what it is about barley but I just love it. I think it must be a childhood reminiscence - homemade vege soup at Mum's and Grandma's always but always had lentils and barley in it. It somehow comforts me like nothing else I can think of.
What's your strange childhood comfort food...?
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
A story which has nothing to do with food except I am eating while writing it
So, a while back, I was accidentally abducted by a bus driver. He didn't mean to steal me away, but apparently forgot about me and the fact that I was still sitting on his damn bus, and so, deciding his bus was empty, thought he'd knock off early for the night and head home.
Unfortunately for both of us, I wasn't watching where we were going, so only realised my abduction once we were well off the beaten track and bloody miles from the bus depot or town (I was actually briefly terrified..."am I actually being abducted right now?? christ, should I panic or would that be an embarrassing over-reaction??" I love that I am worried about being polite when considering the idea of being abducted. But anyway...).
Once I made my presence known to the bus driver (startling the poor man half to death - 'But, but, the bus is empty?? What are you doing here??'), I had to listen to him repeating over and over (as he drove me waaaay back across town) 'You should have told me you were still on the bus'. Now, I was a little put out by this since I pretty much presume (as I'm sure most bus-users do) that the driver will assume you are on the bus until you get OFF. Simple, right? I'm yet to see a system of bus travel in which after every stop, all passengers must reassert their presence to the driver. Call me crazy but that seems inefficient. Apparently he had actually looked around the bus before heading home, and hadn't seen me...which seems improbable, unless we assume I now have powers of invisibility! V exciting. Always wanted a super-hero power. Unfortunately for me, this power seems distinctly person-specific. No one else I've encountered since has been prone to my powers, and as best I can tell, everyone can see me.
Until this morning.
I'm on the bus this morning and the bus driver forgot to stop and let me (and the one other poor lad who was also still on the bus) off at our stop after I rang the bell. Now, this is a fairly normal experience, I grant you except that....
...it was the SAME driver! The abducting driver!
So the questions I have are: is my invisibility power growing such I can now shield others as well?? Is that bus driver the only one prone to my invisibility cloak? And, more importantly, how the hell does this man fail to see me even when I'm STANDING on an all-but empty bus, with another live human shouting at him to stop?? Perhaps he just hates me and thus wishes to torment me by trapping me on his bus forever?
I just want to be seen and heard! :-(
Unfortunately for both of us, I wasn't watching where we were going, so only realised my abduction once we were well off the beaten track and bloody miles from the bus depot or town (I was actually briefly terrified..."am I actually being abducted right now?? christ, should I panic or would that be an embarrassing over-reaction??" I love that I am worried about being polite when considering the idea of being abducted. But anyway...).
Once I made my presence known to the bus driver (startling the poor man half to death - 'But, but, the bus is empty?? What are you doing here??'), I had to listen to him repeating over and over (as he drove me waaaay back across town) 'You should have told me you were still on the bus'. Now, I was a little put out by this since I pretty much presume (as I'm sure most bus-users do) that the driver will assume you are on the bus until you get OFF. Simple, right? I'm yet to see a system of bus travel in which after every stop, all passengers must reassert their presence to the driver. Call me crazy but that seems inefficient. Apparently he had actually looked around the bus before heading home, and hadn't seen me...which seems improbable, unless we assume I now have powers of invisibility! V exciting. Always wanted a super-hero power. Unfortunately for me, this power seems distinctly person-specific. No one else I've encountered since has been prone to my powers, and as best I can tell, everyone can see me.
Until this morning.
I'm on the bus this morning and the bus driver forgot to stop and let me (and the one other poor lad who was also still on the bus) off at our stop after I rang the bell. Now, this is a fairly normal experience, I grant you except that....
...it was the SAME driver! The abducting driver!
So the questions I have are: is my invisibility power growing such I can now shield others as well?? Is that bus driver the only one prone to my invisibility cloak? And, more importantly, how the hell does this man fail to see me even when I'm STANDING on an all-but empty bus, with another live human shouting at him to stop?? Perhaps he just hates me and thus wishes to torment me by trapping me on his bus forever?
I just want to be seen and heard! :-(
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Thank god for small mercies (in the form of lasange)
Last night (after a day of border line insanity wherein the crazy in me very nearly won) I forced myself to make a lasange while I was getting dinner ready. It was not quite the last thing i felt like doing, but pretty damn close to it. However, tonight, I've just gotten home after a decidedly dodgy commute (I really should have stopped for a coffee or a nap) with a long night of desperate last-minute lecture prep to do yet, and I can say with the utmost certainty that I have never in life been so glad to see a lasange. Thank goodness I forced myself to make it last night, and bless its deliciously microwaveable soul.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Reconnecting with Nigella
I love watching cooking shows on TV - all kinds and all chefs. I can (and do) easily while away the better part of a day mindlessly watching people saute and stir-fry.*
Nigella is one of my faves as far as TV viewing goes. I know she's completely over the top, but I can't help but feel enthused when I watch her glide seamlessly through the kitchen and her life. Sadly, though, I've never really been a huge fan of her recipes. I've got a couple of her books, sure, but they are not the ones I turn to when I need inspiration or to check on an idea. For some reason, our food styles have never really meshed. Until now...
Nigella's new book 'Nigella Kitchen' (oddly named...ought there be an apostrophe s?) is wonderful. It's part cook book, part food-autobiography (which is lovely - stories about people's connection with food are often more appealing than the food itself), but the recipes are lovely as well. And really, I feel I need to credit Nigella with my return to the kitchen and the foodie blogging. My lifestyle has changed immeasureably of late - I have become a commuter living in a house with someone who routinely works at the office until 8 or 9pm (after a 7.30am start). This has meant major adjustments, most notably for me, in the form of how and what I cook. To be honest, it's all been a bit dreary recently and I've found the very thought of having to cook something (anything) when getting home after an hour and a half commute at 8.30pm just far too much. I become immobilised and suddenly have a complete mind-blank. I know I'm meant to be a kitchen 'planner' which means you don't have to think at that time of night, and generally I do plan, but the last couple of weeks got away with me.
Enter Nigella.
Her beautiful book with its lovely, wholly realistic approach to feeding oneself and the family, has motivated me to remember what it is I love about cooking. For while it seems an effort, as Nigella pointed out to me (I feel as if we've had a conversation or two after reading her book!), I do genuinely enjoy cooking once I manage to drag myself off the sofa and into the kitchen. Even when I'm doing nothing more than throwing together eggs on toast (and I have come to the realisation that actually, eggs on toast at 8 or 9pm is perfectly reasonable dinner fare), the gentle rhythms of the kitchen are very soothing and do much more to relax me after a long day of navigating my way through a new job and rush-hour traffic than any amount of vacant staring at the TV with a certain food-chain's burger grasped limply in my hand could. So thank you, Nigella, for your realism and your inspiration. I hope that my sanity and my food will be all the better for it!
* The exception to this rule is Sophie Dahl who appeared tried to be a bit like Nigella but managed to kill the concept completely. Talk about over the top. If your recipes don't hold up, then no amount of reading poetry to camera with a soft-focus lens gently blurring life's edges is ever going to make up for it. God, but she was annoying. Even I couldn't watch her, and I am generally known to a have pretty low TV standards threshold.
Nigella is one of my faves as far as TV viewing goes. I know she's completely over the top, but I can't help but feel enthused when I watch her glide seamlessly through the kitchen and her life. Sadly, though, I've never really been a huge fan of her recipes. I've got a couple of her books, sure, but they are not the ones I turn to when I need inspiration or to check on an idea. For some reason, our food styles have never really meshed. Until now...
Nigella's new book 'Nigella Kitchen' (oddly named...ought there be an apostrophe s?) is wonderful. It's part cook book, part food-autobiography (which is lovely - stories about people's connection with food are often more appealing than the food itself), but the recipes are lovely as well. And really, I feel I need to credit Nigella with my return to the kitchen and the foodie blogging. My lifestyle has changed immeasureably of late - I have become a commuter living in a house with someone who routinely works at the office until 8 or 9pm (after a 7.30am start). This has meant major adjustments, most notably for me, in the form of how and what I cook. To be honest, it's all been a bit dreary recently and I've found the very thought of having to cook something (anything) when getting home after an hour and a half commute at 8.30pm just far too much. I become immobilised and suddenly have a complete mind-blank. I know I'm meant to be a kitchen 'planner' which means you don't have to think at that time of night, and generally I do plan, but the last couple of weeks got away with me.
Enter Nigella.
Her beautiful book with its lovely, wholly realistic approach to feeding oneself and the family, has motivated me to remember what it is I love about cooking. For while it seems an effort, as Nigella pointed out to me (I feel as if we've had a conversation or two after reading her book!), I do genuinely enjoy cooking once I manage to drag myself off the sofa and into the kitchen. Even when I'm doing nothing more than throwing together eggs on toast (and I have come to the realisation that actually, eggs on toast at 8 or 9pm is perfectly reasonable dinner fare), the gentle rhythms of the kitchen are very soothing and do much more to relax me after a long day of navigating my way through a new job and rush-hour traffic than any amount of vacant staring at the TV with a certain food-chain's burger grasped limply in my hand could. So thank you, Nigella, for your realism and your inspiration. I hope that my sanity and my food will be all the better for it!
* The exception to this rule is Sophie Dahl who appeared tried to be a bit like Nigella but managed to kill the concept completely. Talk about over the top. If your recipes don't hold up, then no amount of reading poetry to camera with a soft-focus lens gently blurring life's edges is ever going to make up for it. God, but she was annoying. Even I couldn't watch her, and I am generally known to a have pretty low TV standards threshold.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
A bounty of sugars
I was going through my cupboards today and found that I currently have 7 different varieties of sugar therein. Who needs so much sugar? Come to that, who the hell knew there were so many varieties of sugar? Ironically - or perhaps just annoyingly - despite this sugary glut, I didn't actually have the one type of sugar I needed for Nigella's Everyday Brownies. I've made do by mixing the two types which I think are closest to the one she wanted, so hopefully it'll be ok.
But it occurred to me, upon discovering my blatant sugar addiction (to say nothing of my apparent compulsion for buying too many kitchen supplies), that really, I ought to still be writing about my foodie life. There's a push at work for us to be blogging about our work and responding cleverly and intellectually to world happenings, but to be perfectly honest, if I'm going to spend time writing on things other than academic articles, I'd rather spend that time writing about food and my frenzied efforts in the kitchen. So I have returned to this blog and hope that I'll find a form of creative outlet here, whether others enjoy reading about that or not, and that my kitchen capers will benefit from the blogging.
How are things in your kitchens? Well, I hope?
But it occurred to me, upon discovering my blatant sugar addiction (to say nothing of my apparent compulsion for buying too many kitchen supplies), that really, I ought to still be writing about my foodie life. There's a push at work for us to be blogging about our work and responding cleverly and intellectually to world happenings, but to be perfectly honest, if I'm going to spend time writing on things other than academic articles, I'd rather spend that time writing about food and my frenzied efforts in the kitchen. So I have returned to this blog and hope that I'll find a form of creative outlet here, whether others enjoy reading about that or not, and that my kitchen capers will benefit from the blogging.
How are things in your kitchens? Well, I hope?
Friday, 2 July 2010
Uselessness
It is summer. I am hot. I do not feel like cooking. I also do not much feel like blogging about the fact that I have not been cooking. But - but, dear reader(s) - I am off to Greece tomorrow and me and my tastebuds are very excited! I will not take my wee laptop but my lovely Mum has hers with her and I promise to faithfully recount all of the (hopefully) delicious meals that we eat! If computers fail me, I will take many notes and catch up upon my return.
Bring on the ouzo and olive oil!!
xx
Bring on the ouzo and olive oil!!
xx
Monday, 21 June 2010
Potato Plague
You'll remember an earlier post when I was raving about my lovely potato plants and how big and green and lush looking they were? I was so excited. They had so much potatoey potential. Well, they got a bug. Blight, I think? To be honest, though, I'm not completely sure because it could actually just be that potatoes look like that when they are ready to be picked?
I don't know. I've never grown the damn things before! How are you meant to know? Anyway. They looked bloody awful so I thought, well, if they do have a bug, better to dig them out now in the hopes of salvaging some wee spuddies!
Here's the result:
Look how proud and happy I am with my wee pile o' tatties! It was all very exciting. That's just one wee bag too - there's still another diseased looking bag there plus the two bags of late cropping ones and the entire garden full of Red Duke of Yorks.
Post-Script: my excited face was a bit less excited half an hour or so later when I cooked them and discovered that the variety is pretty damn bland and not at all waxy (so decidedly inappropriate for the potato salad I was concocting. Sigh...). But still, bland and floury though they were, they were all mine and it was such fun diving through the dirt hunting for them. Here's hoping there are no more diseases and the rest of my crops are just as fruitful!
I don't know. I've never grown the damn things before! How are you meant to know? Anyway. They looked bloody awful so I thought, well, if they do have a bug, better to dig them out now in the hopes of salvaging some wee spuddies!
Here's the result:
Look how proud and happy I am with my wee pile o' tatties! It was all very exciting. That's just one wee bag too - there's still another diseased looking bag there plus the two bags of late cropping ones and the entire garden full of Red Duke of Yorks.
Post-Script: my excited face was a bit less excited half an hour or so later when I cooked them and discovered that the variety is pretty damn bland and not at all waxy (so decidedly inappropriate for the potato salad I was concocting. Sigh...). But still, bland and floury though they were, they were all mine and it was such fun diving through the dirt hunting for them. Here's hoping there are no more diseases and the rest of my crops are just as fruitful!
Friday, 18 June 2010
Where to start?
I'm at that stage where I've been away from the blog for so long that I could easily just let it slip away and become little more than a fuzzy, well-fed memory, but I really ought to soldier on. To what end, who knows, but there you go. I'm back, world of the web!
We are finally unpacked and connected to the internet in our new place and all in all, it's really working out. Neither of us could remember for the life of us, what the kitchen looked like before moving it, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that its general cleanliness and airiness when we got here after an epic van trip (never have I undertaken something as terrifying as driving solo almost the length of England in vehicle that is almost the same length as the house. It was like driving a missile silo down the road. It wasn't so much that I had blind spots as that I had small sections where I could actually see! But anyway. I made it without any scrapes - either to me, the van, our possessions or any innocent bystanders, so that's all that matters).
The garden is great in that we have one! We have a proper backyard with shrubs and a fence and all those normal suburban things. Given the weather has been uncharacteristically bright, it's been such a joy to be able to sit in the sun reading and sipping quietly on a glass of sparkling mineral water. I'm no soil scientist (that job goes to someone else in my extended family) but it doesn't take a doctorate in geology to know that the quality of dirt (or rather, dry crust overlaying solid clay) is crap, but I'm hopeful that things will grow regardless. My new landlady left a housewarming (garden warming?) gift of 12 runner bean seedlings and a bean tripod thingy in the garden, so I now have 18 bean plants in the garden. Actually, when I planted them I had 18. I now have 17 and a half because of the voracious appetites of the local snail and slug brigade (I may come back to my battle against these bean-loving beasts another time). Incidentally, transporting my balcony garden of pots was one of the more difficult processes of shifting house - nothing died, but the lad gave me more than one dirty look after the 15th trip up and down the stairs carrying sacks of potato plants and/or pots of courgettes! Hehe.
My newly appointed garden now sports:
3 varieties of potato (3 bags plus every spare space in the actual garden. I must have planted 20 seed potatoes last week. If they all grow - and I have my doubts - there will be potatoes for one and all. Come and visit, won't you? We'll have potato salad!)
3 varieties of beans (and the dwarf french beans already have the tiniest cutest wee beans. I'm dying for them to hurry up and grow so that I can eat them! There might also be bean salad when the eventual 'glut' arrives!)
2 kinds of courgette
1 tomato
Beetroot
copious quantities of herbage
salad plants scattered wildly around the garden in the hopes that the slugs might focus some attention on the easily replaced rocket leaves, instead of my precious beans!
I'm very excited about the garden, but this post is already too long, so I should sign off and come back to wax lyrical about the joy of adding one's own nasturtium flowers to a salad another day...
This week I've cooked:
- a truly lovely summer kedgeree which features hot smoked salmon, peas and sugar snap peas, served with a fried egg and crispy shallots on top. Not my own recipe (I'd change a few things) but one from Delicious. magazine if you want to try it yourself. I'd use ground cumin instead of whole if you track it down to try yourself (and I highly recommend it. Yum).
- homemade pesto and orzo salad with bocconcini, semi-dried tomatoes and rocket. Perfect for lunch when travelling - providing your office colleagues aren't afraid of a little garlic aroma. This recipe was from Good Food mag and will be a regular in my packed lunch repetoire I think.
- mini pavlovas served tonight at 10pm with local raspberries and strawberries. Blissfully summery and good.
- homemade ciabatta (actually I've only half made that - the dough is slowly rising in the fridge overnight).
- gingernuts and chocolate chip cookies
- fresh garlic bhajis
- oven baked paella (decorated with nasturtium flowers from the garden. Picture below although it actually looks a bit red overall in the photo. It was much prettier in person).
I have other stories about my first potatoes of the season but it's time to say goodnight. I hope your Friday nights were delicious and indulgent!
We are finally unpacked and connected to the internet in our new place and all in all, it's really working out. Neither of us could remember for the life of us, what the kitchen looked like before moving it, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that its general cleanliness and airiness when we got here after an epic van trip (never have I undertaken something as terrifying as driving solo almost the length of England in vehicle that is almost the same length as the house. It was like driving a missile silo down the road. It wasn't so much that I had blind spots as that I had small sections where I could actually see! But anyway. I made it without any scrapes - either to me, the van, our possessions or any innocent bystanders, so that's all that matters).
The garden is great in that we have one! We have a proper backyard with shrubs and a fence and all those normal suburban things. Given the weather has been uncharacteristically bright, it's been such a joy to be able to sit in the sun reading and sipping quietly on a glass of sparkling mineral water. I'm no soil scientist (that job goes to someone else in my extended family) but it doesn't take a doctorate in geology to know that the quality of dirt (or rather, dry crust overlaying solid clay) is crap, but I'm hopeful that things will grow regardless. My new landlady left a housewarming (garden warming?) gift of 12 runner bean seedlings and a bean tripod thingy in the garden, so I now have 18 bean plants in the garden. Actually, when I planted them I had 18. I now have 17 and a half because of the voracious appetites of the local snail and slug brigade (I may come back to my battle against these bean-loving beasts another time). Incidentally, transporting my balcony garden of pots was one of the more difficult processes of shifting house - nothing died, but the lad gave me more than one dirty look after the 15th trip up and down the stairs carrying sacks of potato plants and/or pots of courgettes! Hehe.
My newly appointed garden now sports:
3 varieties of potato (3 bags plus every spare space in the actual garden. I must have planted 20 seed potatoes last week. If they all grow - and I have my doubts - there will be potatoes for one and all. Come and visit, won't you? We'll have potato salad!)
3 varieties of beans (and the dwarf french beans already have the tiniest cutest wee beans. I'm dying for them to hurry up and grow so that I can eat them! There might also be bean salad when the eventual 'glut' arrives!)
2 kinds of courgette
1 tomato
Beetroot
copious quantities of herbage
salad plants scattered wildly around the garden in the hopes that the slugs might focus some attention on the easily replaced rocket leaves, instead of my precious beans!
I'm very excited about the garden, but this post is already too long, so I should sign off and come back to wax lyrical about the joy of adding one's own nasturtium flowers to a salad another day...
This week I've cooked:
- a truly lovely summer kedgeree which features hot smoked salmon, peas and sugar snap peas, served with a fried egg and crispy shallots on top. Not my own recipe (I'd change a few things) but one from Delicious. magazine if you want to try it yourself. I'd use ground cumin instead of whole if you track it down to try yourself (and I highly recommend it. Yum).
- homemade pesto and orzo salad with bocconcini, semi-dried tomatoes and rocket. Perfect for lunch when travelling - providing your office colleagues aren't afraid of a little garlic aroma. This recipe was from Good Food mag and will be a regular in my packed lunch repetoire I think.
- mini pavlovas served tonight at 10pm with local raspberries and strawberries. Blissfully summery and good.
- homemade ciabatta (actually I've only half made that - the dough is slowly rising in the fridge overnight).
- gingernuts and chocolate chip cookies
- fresh garlic bhajis
- oven baked paella (decorated with nasturtium flowers from the garden. Picture below although it actually looks a bit red overall in the photo. It was much prettier in person).
I have other stories about my first potatoes of the season but it's time to say goodnight. I hope your Friday nights were delicious and indulgent!
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Offline
I have not been swallowed by some sort of web-based black hole, don't worry! Nor have I had my hands cut off, although my current situation does feel a bit like it. We shifted house last week, and my broadband won't be connected until next week [long suffering sigh]. I do have things to write about gardens and new kitchens and potato crops and the like, but alas I have to wait to post properly. But, I will be back soon, I promise.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
A quiet kitchen
I haven't been cooking much lately - or at least very little of any interest. The main reason for this is that I've been busy preparing for a big job interview (and then celebrating getting that job!) but it's also been really hot here the past few days (I say really hot - what I mean is about 25 degrees which I'm aware is not at all 'really hot', but rather is a pleasant summer climate, but it is quite literally the hottest weather we've experienced since moving to the UK nearly 2 years ago. As a result, we've been wilting as our poor bodies have readjust to the sight and feel of sun!). I just don't fancy spending a lot of time in the kitchen when it's 'really' hot - and I'm fairly sure that if I lived in a genuinely hot climate I'd die of starvation because of my reluctance to get near the oven!
I made my Thai beef salad last night and it really did hit the spot - especially when eaten on the balcony, basking in the late evening sun and washed down with a nice cold lager. Bliss.
I've also started packing my kitchen. Almost everything in terms of pots and pans etc has been packed into boxes, with just my wok-style frypan and my largest pot remaining (and the dishes to eat from, obviously). This is going to pose some interesting culinary challenges over the coming few days, so there might yet be something interesting and kitchen-related to write about. I'll keep you posted.
And finally, my garden is quite literally growing before my eyes now that the sun has decided to show its face. It's really rather exciting and I can't wait to get down south and plant some beans in the ground!! My friend who is coming to visit this weekend is also bringing me another tomato seedling, a yellow courgette seedling and a pumpkin seedling (grown from seeds she rather deviously smuggled into the UK when she returned from her latest trip to NZ! Hurrah - proper pumpkins on the horizon perhaps?!). I'm also fairly sure that in a few weeks we will have our first harvest of potatoes. I've never seen something grow so quickly and they are starting to bud into flowers so expect to read about my first ever home-grown potato and herb salad soon! Yum yum yum.
And that, I'm afraid, is all I have today. I will willingly take your best recipe offerings for summer fare, as I am eternally optimistic that this year will be Britain's hottest summer on record (and I have no intention of starving when that happens!). Anything that doesn't involve shrimps/prawns/shellfish is welcomed....
I made my Thai beef salad last night and it really did hit the spot - especially when eaten on the balcony, basking in the late evening sun and washed down with a nice cold lager. Bliss.
I've also started packing my kitchen. Almost everything in terms of pots and pans etc has been packed into boxes, with just my wok-style frypan and my largest pot remaining (and the dishes to eat from, obviously). This is going to pose some interesting culinary challenges over the coming few days, so there might yet be something interesting and kitchen-related to write about. I'll keep you posted.
And finally, my garden is quite literally growing before my eyes now that the sun has decided to show its face. It's really rather exciting and I can't wait to get down south and plant some beans in the ground!! My friend who is coming to visit this weekend is also bringing me another tomato seedling, a yellow courgette seedling and a pumpkin seedling (grown from seeds she rather deviously smuggled into the UK when she returned from her latest trip to NZ! Hurrah - proper pumpkins on the horizon perhaps?!). I'm also fairly sure that in a few weeks we will have our first harvest of potatoes. I've never seen something grow so quickly and they are starting to bud into flowers so expect to read about my first ever home-grown potato and herb salad soon! Yum yum yum.
And that, I'm afraid, is all I have today. I will willingly take your best recipe offerings for summer fare, as I am eternally optimistic that this year will be Britain's hottest summer on record (and I have no intention of starving when that happens!). Anything that doesn't involve shrimps/prawns/shellfish is welcomed....
Monday, 17 May 2010
And so, the search for the perfect roll continues...
...although we might be pretty close to a winner. You'll remember my rant about the revolting stale state of bread affairs here in the UK? Well, I recently came across a recipe for onion seed hotdog rolls which came highly recommended and I thought I'd give it a bash...to see if they turned out as the rave review suggested they would. The review in question came from a wonderful Australian woman called Janie who has her own website called Masterchef Reject (which, by the way, is pure genius and well worth a visit! www.masterchefreject.com ) but the recipe itself belongs to a man by the name of Dan Lepard who writes for the Guardian as a baking expert (his website has the recipe, so I'm not going to reproduce it here).
Both Dan and Janie recommended these buns as brilliant carriers of sausages, so that's how I served them too. The buns were really fresh out of the oven (because I'd misread the instructions and didn't realise they had to rise for an extra hour longer than I'd planned. As such, they came out of the oven about 5 mins before we ate - piping hot! Mmm) and really quite delicious! You add quite a large quantity of sauteed onions to the dough and that gives them this gorgeous sweet oniony flavour. I only added the onion seeds on top, whereas Dan suggests putting them into the dough proper - up to you really. The seeds lend a Turkish/Middle Eastern vibe to the overall flavour I think. I will say, though, that next time I make these (and there will definitely be a next time) I'm only going to use white flour. I did as Dan recommended and added 1/5 wholemeal, but I just don't think it adds anything to them. They'd be much nicer soft and squishy and devoid of nutrients in true white bread style! Oh, and you probably shouldn't use red onions for this. I did, and while they tasted fine, they did add a rather purple tone to the buns which I don't think was the recipe inventor's intention! White flour and white onions all the way!
I served my outdoor reared pork sausages with sage and garlic in the rolls with a super quick tomato chutney (made at the last minute when I realised we were out of ketchup/tom sauce. Actually the chutney was much nicer. I cooked 1/2 a red onion with 1 tsp sugar, added 4 quartered ripe tomatoes and a clove of garlic, a pinch of ground all spice, 2 tbsp or so more sugar, a splash of red wine vinegar and some salt. It was really good!). I've included a photo, but really, it doesn't do justice to the buns or the meal itself. There's just no glamorous way of photographing a sausage (and you can take whatever dodgy sounding double entendre from that you like!)!! :-P
Both Dan and Janie recommended these buns as brilliant carriers of sausages, so that's how I served them too. The buns were really fresh out of the oven (because I'd misread the instructions and didn't realise they had to rise for an extra hour longer than I'd planned. As such, they came out of the oven about 5 mins before we ate - piping hot! Mmm) and really quite delicious! You add quite a large quantity of sauteed onions to the dough and that gives them this gorgeous sweet oniony flavour. I only added the onion seeds on top, whereas Dan suggests putting them into the dough proper - up to you really. The seeds lend a Turkish/Middle Eastern vibe to the overall flavour I think. I will say, though, that next time I make these (and there will definitely be a next time) I'm only going to use white flour. I did as Dan recommended and added 1/5 wholemeal, but I just don't think it adds anything to them. They'd be much nicer soft and squishy and devoid of nutrients in true white bread style! Oh, and you probably shouldn't use red onions for this. I did, and while they tasted fine, they did add a rather purple tone to the buns which I don't think was the recipe inventor's intention! White flour and white onions all the way!
I served my outdoor reared pork sausages with sage and garlic in the rolls with a super quick tomato chutney (made at the last minute when I realised we were out of ketchup/tom sauce. Actually the chutney was much nicer. I cooked 1/2 a red onion with 1 tsp sugar, added 4 quartered ripe tomatoes and a clove of garlic, a pinch of ground all spice, 2 tbsp or so more sugar, a splash of red wine vinegar and some salt. It was really good!). I've included a photo, but really, it doesn't do justice to the buns or the meal itself. There's just no glamorous way of photographing a sausage (and you can take whatever dodgy sounding double entendre from that you like!)!! :-P
Thursday, 13 May 2010
And another...it's been a ranting kind of day. I think I'm tired..
FYI, university students of North-East England, "A scene shows her sat in a chair" is not grammatically correct. At all. It's not even close. And just because you all choose to speak that way doesn't make it grammatically correct. It certainly doesn't give you licence to bring that appalling use of language into your damn essay writing! "A scene shows her sitting in a chair", dammit. SITTING!!!!
I mean for christ's sake. This is primary school shit isn't it?!
Arrrghhh!
I need a drink. You might find me "sat here" with a beer in my hand very soon.
I mean for christ's sake. This is primary school shit isn't it?!
Arrrghhh!
I need a drink. You might find me "sat here" with a beer in my hand very soon.
Sharing a Rant...
Dear Good Food Magazine:
Let me just start by saying, I'm a subscriber and I really enjoy your magazine every month. It has lovely, easy-to-follow recipes as well as providing inspiration in the kitchen, so I'm a big fan.
However, I was really disappointed when I came across an article on your website called '20 ways to live a greener life". The first entry on that list claimed that apples from New Zealand (among other imports) add huge emissions to the global carbon footprint as a result of their 'food miles'.
As a New Zealander (who does care passionately about eating seasonably and sustainably) reading off-hand comments like that in a publication as popular as yours really troubles me. If your staff had done some research into the food miles debate, they would have found that there have been studies showing that food exported from New Zealand around the world in fact has a lower carbon footprint than a lot of things produced in the UK and in Europe. New Zealand is a country which is fortunate enough to have a climate well suited to all manner of livestock and produce production and as a result, our agricultural practices are highly efficient and low in carbon consumption. Here - by all means read a summary of one such report if you don't believe me: http://www.ruralenterprisesolutions.co.uk/content/industryreports/viewitem.aspx?artID=4624
I'm sure if you wrote to Caroline Sauders she'd be happy to provide you with a copy of the original article.
The truth is that the food miles debate has become an outdated myth to a large degree (even your own government has accepted that it got the issue wrong based on more current research) and there are much more effective ways of centring the discussion around sustainability without unjustifiably bagging an entire nation's agricultural industry. New Zealand farmers don't receive subsidies for their efficiently grown produce, and in an awful lot of sectors of that industry, they grow it more sustainably than their counterparts on this side of the world.
It's important that you remember what an influence a publication like yours can have on consumer patterns and I would urge you to remember that sometimes research is needed into issues like food miles, rather than just a constant (rather ignorant) rehashing and of tired, out of date arguments. The issue of global sustainability is really important, so we do need to be aware of these issues, but perpetuating an out of date myth only clouds the issue and prevents us from taking the time to calmly and objectively debate the very real, ongoing problems we face. In fact, the intensive farming practices of producing livestock for meat in the States and in Europe contributes more to greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of global transport combined (see: Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman, among many others) - in the UK we should be more concerned about the fact that certain dairy companies want to replicate the American system here and establish giant, highly intensive, indoor dairy farms. These will do more damage to the UK's 'carbon footprint' than all the apples from New Zealand ever could.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth. I just wanted to bring this to your attention.
Thanks again for an otherwise excellent magazine.
Jessica Bain
Let me just start by saying, I'm a subscriber and I really enjoy your magazine every month. It has lovely, easy-to-follow recipes as well as providing inspiration in the kitchen, so I'm a big fan.
However, I was really disappointed when I came across an article on your website called '20 ways to live a greener life". The first entry on that list claimed that apples from New Zealand (among other imports) add huge emissions to the global carbon footprint as a result of their 'food miles'.
As a New Zealander (who does care passionately about eating seasonably and sustainably) reading off-hand comments like that in a publication as popular as yours really troubles me. If your staff had done some research into the food miles debate, they would have found that there have been studies showing that food exported from New Zealand around the world in fact has a lower carbon footprint than a lot of things produced in the UK and in Europe. New Zealand is a country which is fortunate enough to have a climate well suited to all manner of livestock and produce production and as a result, our agricultural practices are highly efficient and low in carbon consumption. Here - by all means read a summary of one such report if you don't believe me: http://www.ruralenterprisesolutions.co.uk/content/industryreports/viewitem.aspx?artID=4624
I'm sure if you wrote to Caroline Sauders she'd be happy to provide you with a copy of the original article.
The truth is that the food miles debate has become an outdated myth to a large degree (even your own government has accepted that it got the issue wrong based on more current research) and there are much more effective ways of centring the discussion around sustainability without unjustifiably bagging an entire nation's agricultural industry. New Zealand farmers don't receive subsidies for their efficiently grown produce, and in an awful lot of sectors of that industry, they grow it more sustainably than their counterparts on this side of the world.
It's important that you remember what an influence a publication like yours can have on consumer patterns and I would urge you to remember that sometimes research is needed into issues like food miles, rather than just a constant (rather ignorant) rehashing and of tired, out of date arguments. The issue of global sustainability is really important, so we do need to be aware of these issues, but perpetuating an out of date myth only clouds the issue and prevents us from taking the time to calmly and objectively debate the very real, ongoing problems we face. In fact, the intensive farming practices of producing livestock for meat in the States and in Europe contributes more to greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of global transport combined (see: Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman, among many others) - in the UK we should be more concerned about the fact that certain dairy companies want to replicate the American system here and establish giant, highly intensive, indoor dairy farms. These will do more damage to the UK's 'carbon footprint' than all the apples from New Zealand ever could.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth. I just wanted to bring this to your attention.
Thanks again for an otherwise excellent magazine.
Jessica Bain
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
And also
I'm feeling incredibly smug about my balcony garden success at the moment. My salad potatoes (I think the variety was Swift?) are nearly flowering and look so healthy! I have absolutely no bloody idea whether healthy foliage in a potato plant correlates to the actual production of tubers, but I remain ever-hopeful!
The other plants (aside from my magic beans which remain magic...I expect to find a giant at the top any day now) are all looking a bit sad and disgruntled but frankly I'm looking much the same. We had SNOW flurries here yesterday, folks. SNOW. Not much, and granted it didn't stick around, but it is still cold enough in mid-May for freaking snow. My wee botanic babies can't wait to move south to Toaster (and nor can I!).
The other plants (aside from my magic beans which remain magic...I expect to find a giant at the top any day now) are all looking a bit sad and disgruntled but frankly I'm looking much the same. We had SNOW flurries here yesterday, folks. SNOW. Not much, and granted it didn't stick around, but it is still cold enough in mid-May for freaking snow. My wee botanic babies can't wait to move south to Toaster (and nor can I!).
Reformed Risotto Haters
I meant to make a spring vege and chicken soup with fresh bread for dinner tonight, but I got distracted marking essays (hard to believe really!) and forgot to make the bread, so I had to revise that decision. Instead I decided to go with a risotto - partly because I've got risotto rice that I bought ages ago and never used and I'm trying to empty the pantry, and partly because I've been meaning to give risotto another bash. To be perfectly honest, I've never really been a huge fan of risotto. I find it pretty uninspired and texturally unappealing, but part of me feels as though I should like it. Everyone else seems to love risotto, so what's wrong with me that I don't?! Anyway, in an effort to cull my pantry supplies (because I don't want to shift more stuff than I absolutely must) I decided tonight was the night.
But - and this is a big but, dear reader(s) - I'm also rather lazy and had no desire to stand around gently stirring or massaging the damn rice in whatever poncy ridiculous fashion you're meant to (I don't, for the record, find such activity soothing or a time to unwind or whatever. It's a pain in the arse and let's just call a spade a spade!). So I gave an 'oven baked risotto' a bash. It was chicken, broad beans, pea, asparagus and tomato risotto and I have to say, I really rather enjoyed it! You basically saute onion (and in my case garlic - clearly I've demonstrated a strong addiction to garlic over the past months. I worry that I must smell like garlic sometimes because I use it in virtually everything. That's normal though, right? Everyone uses garlic all the time??) in oil and butter, add the rice and then some hot stock and whatever flavours you are using, bung the lid on and stick the whole thing in a 200degC oven for 18 minutes (yep, you do actually have to time it) and when you bring it out, voila! Risotto of a sort.
I'm sure the Italians would string me up for such a dish, but I say bugger it!
Ooh, and here's a little teaser for the weekend. I'm going to make (wait for it) Whoopie Pies! Could there be a more delightful sounding thing?? I happened across them in my weird web wanderings and was just tickled by the name. And the concept sounds just disgustingly American enough to be good - you make soft cakey biscuits and then sandwich them together with marshmallow butter cream. Oh. My. God. It's sure to be a sticky sugary mess!
But - and this is a big but, dear reader(s) - I'm also rather lazy and had no desire to stand around gently stirring or massaging the damn rice in whatever poncy ridiculous fashion you're meant to (I don't, for the record, find such activity soothing or a time to unwind or whatever. It's a pain in the arse and let's just call a spade a spade!). So I gave an 'oven baked risotto' a bash. It was chicken, broad beans, pea, asparagus and tomato risotto and I have to say, I really rather enjoyed it! You basically saute onion (and in my case garlic - clearly I've demonstrated a strong addiction to garlic over the past months. I worry that I must smell like garlic sometimes because I use it in virtually everything. That's normal though, right? Everyone uses garlic all the time??) in oil and butter, add the rice and then some hot stock and whatever flavours you are using, bung the lid on and stick the whole thing in a 200degC oven for 18 minutes (yep, you do actually have to time it) and when you bring it out, voila! Risotto of a sort.
I'm sure the Italians would string me up for such a dish, but I say bugger it!
Ooh, and here's a little teaser for the weekend. I'm going to make (wait for it) Whoopie Pies! Could there be a more delightful sounding thing?? I happened across them in my weird web wanderings and was just tickled by the name. And the concept sounds just disgustingly American enough to be good - you make soft cakey biscuits and then sandwich them together with marshmallow butter cream. Oh. My. God. It's sure to be a sticky sugary mess!
Sunday, 9 May 2010
'Hello, my name is Jessica and I'm an addict...'
I'm not sure Andrew knew what he was starting with my beautiful Christmas present but it seems to have set off an addiction to rather expensive kitchen ware! We were out and about today and happened across a Le Creuset shop...and, well, you can guess what happened. I got a salt pig (hurrah), sugar bowl, tea pot, milk jug and mixing bowl - and they're calling me on Wednesday to let me know if the cast iron shallow 26cm casserole in teal that I want has come in. I really shouldn't have, but it's all so pretty and lovely and there is something wonderful about having beautiful well-made kitchen ware to cook with.
I now have my eye on a Denby dinner set. And then a new good quality cutlery set. And then...
Pictures of my new acquisitions to come.
I now have my eye on a Denby dinner set. And then a new good quality cutlery set. And then...
Pictures of my new acquisitions to come.
Friday, 7 May 2010
Fail
I cooked nothing today. No, actually, that's not true - I never cook nothing (double negative? I always cook something?). I made lunch and then for dinner I made homemade garlic-crumbed pieces of chicken with homemade lemony mayo, fries and a sort of vege dish which was really a bastardised ratatouille. But none of that counts as blog-worthy activity since it is normal Friday night dinner fare...it would be like me blogging about making sandwiches for lunch - not precisely world rocking!
I did, however, paint my nails a fabulously tarty red colour to cheer myself up. This isn't precisely blog-worthy either, but I felt I should write something today. I think my bearings must be a bit off though, because I now look like I've been attacked by a rather lopsided knife-wielding villain - I have splashes of shiny blood-redness all over my hands and instead of looking tarty and vampish, I instead look rather gory. Fail...
I did, however, paint my nails a fabulously tarty red colour to cheer myself up. This isn't precisely blog-worthy either, but I felt I should write something today. I think my bearings must be a bit off though, because I now look like I've been attacked by a rather lopsided knife-wielding villain - I have splashes of shiny blood-redness all over my hands and instead of looking tarty and vampish, I instead look rather gory. Fail...
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Watching the clock - Part II
I have been told I will have to watch the clock another day yet. Sigh. On the upside, it's been a long time since my kitchen cupboard looked this tidy. Wait, I'll take a picture...see?
.jpg)
I guess there are some benefits to sitting around waiting! Sorry about the pic quality...couldn't muster the energy to get the camera so I used my phone.
Tune in tomorrow and see what else has been cleaned whilst I wait...
.jpg)
I guess there are some benefits to sitting around waiting! Sorry about the pic quality...couldn't muster the energy to get the camera so I used my phone.
Tune in tomorrow and see what else has been cleaned whilst I wait...
Watching the clock...
Today I am waiting. Tick tock tick tock. I loathe waiting for things. Not that I'm the kind of person that wants everything, like, 'Right Now', but I just hate waiting for the inevitable, like the phone call after a job interview. You know it's coming - whatever the result - and you can do nothing but wait until it does. Sigh.
Normally I would bake or play in the kitchen to distract me, but I'm out of most baking supplies. And so I watch the clock (and my cellphone) and wait...
My lunch today is going to be a sort-of vietnamese noodle salad: rice noodles, shredded lettuce, bean sprouts, carrot, cucumber, mint and coriander, lemon juice and fish sauce and sugar and some avocado and cashew nuts. Food to soothe the worried soul...
Normally I would bake or play in the kitchen to distract me, but I'm out of most baking supplies. And so I watch the clock (and my cellphone) and wait...
My lunch today is going to be a sort-of vietnamese noodle salad: rice noodles, shredded lettuce, bean sprouts, carrot, cucumber, mint and coriander, lemon juice and fish sauce and sugar and some avocado and cashew nuts. Food to soothe the worried soul...
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Mighty Beef Fajitas
Ok, I'm supposed to be prepping for the World's Biggest Interview tomorrow (I have been working on the presumption that it finishes at 2 which makes it 5.5 hours long, but have just realised that if I am last on the list then I will be at the interview day for 7 hours! 7 freaking hours?! Bloody hell. I am going to need a serious drink of something tomorrow night. Probably several drink of something, truth be told...)
Anyway. I have a schedule of terrifying organisation for today (Andrew couldn't stop laughing when I made it and proudly pinned it to the wall last night. Pah. I'll show him - I can be organised. Although, the fact that I currently have my email open, Facebook open and am writing a blog post might indicate he was right to snort...hm.) but I finished task 1 (practice my 'teaching demonstration presentation') early, so thought I'd engage in a little blogtivity until 10am (when task 2 - practice 'module presentation to staff' - is scheduled to begin). That gives me 8 minutes so I'd better type quickly.
This is my recipe for beef fajitas. You can make it with chicken instead. I don't know that you could make it vegetarian. Mexican recipes do often have fish tacos (soft, not crispy tacos) though, so potentially you could reinvent it for a fish fajita? I'm just not on board with tofu, so perhaps this will have to be left as a carnivores dish. It does, though, like all my meals, make a little meat go a reasonable distance. It's also super quick and easy and healthy so there's no downside as far as I can see. Again, I claim no authenticity for this recipe...it's just what I do and it works.
Beef Fajitas (serves 2)
300g lean beef (I usually use rump because it's cheaper than posh cuts, but use what you like)
1 small onion (red or white)
1 clove garlic
2-3 coloured peppers (I try to use a mixture of green, red and yellow, but that's purely for aesthetic reasons. Use what you have and it will be fine. Although, I do think the red and yellow are nicer taste-wise, because they are sweeter. Your call though)
1 generous tsp ground cumin
1 generous tsp hot smoked paprika (if you don't have this, use 1/2 tsp chilli and 1 tsp regular paprika. The smoked stuff just gives a nice smokey vibe but chilli and regular paprika is also fine)
1 tsp ground coriander
To garnish/serve:
flour tortillas
avocado slices
sour cream or creme fraiche
roughly chopped fresh coriander (optional - ie. if you have it in the house, great, if not, leave it out. No biggy).
Slice beef very thinly (super thin - you want it to cook in about 3 mins otherwise it starts stewing). Slice onions similarly thinly, crush the garlic and chop peppers into long strips.
Heat oil in fry pan until hot. Cook the vegetables until onions are soft and peppers are starting to soften. Remove vegetables from pan.
Heat a small amount of oil until smoking, add beef. You don't want to move it around too much for 30 secs - let it seal first. Then stir fry it a bit. Once it is starting to look like most of it has changed colour (it's ok for this to be rare - I prefer it that way), add all your spices plus 1 tsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir to combine and cook about 30 secs. Add the vege. Stir and you're done.
Serve in warmed tortillas with the various additions. From fridge to table in literally under 10 minutes (even for a novice cook who wasn't that keen on being asked to help out last night!)
Ooh, and I'm 1 min over my time allocation so I'd better skedattle.
Anyway. I have a schedule of terrifying organisation for today (Andrew couldn't stop laughing when I made it and proudly pinned it to the wall last night. Pah. I'll show him - I can be organised. Although, the fact that I currently have my email open, Facebook open and am writing a blog post might indicate he was right to snort...hm.) but I finished task 1 (practice my 'teaching demonstration presentation') early, so thought I'd engage in a little blogtivity until 10am (when task 2 - practice 'module presentation to staff' - is scheduled to begin). That gives me 8 minutes so I'd better type quickly.
This is my recipe for beef fajitas. You can make it with chicken instead. I don't know that you could make it vegetarian. Mexican recipes do often have fish tacos (soft, not crispy tacos) though, so potentially you could reinvent it for a fish fajita? I'm just not on board with tofu, so perhaps this will have to be left as a carnivores dish. It does, though, like all my meals, make a little meat go a reasonable distance. It's also super quick and easy and healthy so there's no downside as far as I can see. Again, I claim no authenticity for this recipe...it's just what I do and it works.
Beef Fajitas (serves 2)
300g lean beef (I usually use rump because it's cheaper than posh cuts, but use what you like)
1 small onion (red or white)
1 clove garlic
2-3 coloured peppers (I try to use a mixture of green, red and yellow, but that's purely for aesthetic reasons. Use what you have and it will be fine. Although, I do think the red and yellow are nicer taste-wise, because they are sweeter. Your call though)
1 generous tsp ground cumin
1 generous tsp hot smoked paprika (if you don't have this, use 1/2 tsp chilli and 1 tsp regular paprika. The smoked stuff just gives a nice smokey vibe but chilli and regular paprika is also fine)
1 tsp ground coriander
To garnish/serve:
flour tortillas
avocado slices
sour cream or creme fraiche
roughly chopped fresh coriander (optional - ie. if you have it in the house, great, if not, leave it out. No biggy).
Slice beef very thinly (super thin - you want it to cook in about 3 mins otherwise it starts stewing). Slice onions similarly thinly, crush the garlic and chop peppers into long strips.
Heat oil in fry pan until hot. Cook the vegetables until onions are soft and peppers are starting to soften. Remove vegetables from pan.
Heat a small amount of oil until smoking, add beef. You don't want to move it around too much for 30 secs - let it seal first. Then stir fry it a bit. Once it is starting to look like most of it has changed colour (it's ok for this to be rare - I prefer it that way), add all your spices plus 1 tsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir to combine and cook about 30 secs. Add the vege. Stir and you're done.
Serve in warmed tortillas with the various additions. From fridge to table in literally under 10 minutes (even for a novice cook who wasn't that keen on being asked to help out last night!)
Ooh, and I'm 1 min over my time allocation so I'd better skedattle.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Cooking classes continue
We had our second cooking class experiment on Saturday. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that the lad is as excited or interested in the process as I am, but he's playing along and seems to be happy enough to take up the kitchen reigns now and then. This time we cooked the meal that I'm pretty sure was the first thing my Mum taught me to cook all by myself: Spaghetti Bolognaise. Now, obviously, this is the Anglicised version at which (posh chefs tell us) genuine Bologna nonnas would have a heart attack, but we like it and it is an excellent dish for people who are learning the cooking basics. It's also good for someone like my lad who (perhaps - next week's job interview depending) might have to fare for themselves throughout the week. You can make one big batch and eat it on spaghetti, on rice (with the addition of a bit of chilli and some beans), on toasted rolls with cheese, on baked potatoes, in wraps...
Anyway, he did very well and so far has had no disasters. I'm going to make beef fajitas tonight and I think that I'll get him to cook them. Another easy meal - no more than about 5 mins of actual cooking, and not much more of chopping. Perfect food for the non-cook!
Hope your weekends have been sunny and food-filled!
Anyway, he did very well and so far has had no disasters. I'm going to make beef fajitas tonight and I think that I'll get him to cook them. Another easy meal - no more than about 5 mins of actual cooking, and not much more of chopping. Perfect food for the non-cook!
Hope your weekends have been sunny and food-filled!
Monday, 26 April 2010
Beginner's fun
It was a ground-breaking night in the F&F household last night. Brace yourselves...My lad, he who has never cooked (beyond baking the odd brownie and his world-reknowned pavlova), cooked dinner last night! I know - earth shattering!
It's odd - he's very good at baking, but has never ever cooked a meal. He's not unhelpful - if I am utterly sick of the sight of the kitchen (which happens to us all, let's be honest) he'll happily 'cook' by going to the curry shop and buying dinner. But he has steadfastly avoided cooking anything meal-like...and I guess I've been happy to take charge since I enjoy it. But I really think everyone can and should cook, so I have been determined that he should be able to cook at least a few basic things. Poor pestered boy...! Haha.
His major problem with cooking, I think, is not so much that he couldn't do it (because anyone can follow a recipe). Instead it's more that he views cooking as a lengthy, difficult, time consuming process which all seems too hard when he's gotten home from work. And I understand that, really I do. For me cooking is necessary, but it's also usually fun and not terribly difficult because I've been doing it for so long. For him, though, to start from scratch in learning, things are always going to take a lot longer.
One of the big things I think that puts people off cooking, is the unreliability of recipes. Very few "celebrity" chef cookbooks are useful beyond providing the odd bit of inspiration, because their recipes just don't work. And for a beginner cook who has no reason to doubt the wisdom of those they see galavanting about on tv, how are they to know that it isn't them but rather the recipe which is at fault?
So, the lad cooked from a reliable (read: Alison Holst) cookbook last night (sausage casserole, mashed potatoes and peas - nothing revolutionary, but good, basic, easy food which requires very little hands-on time) and I stood along-side offering sage tid-bits of wisdom here and there. All in all, a very successful first attempt. Let us hope there will be a second and third...
It's odd - he's very good at baking, but has never ever cooked a meal. He's not unhelpful - if I am utterly sick of the sight of the kitchen (which happens to us all, let's be honest) he'll happily 'cook' by going to the curry shop and buying dinner. But he has steadfastly avoided cooking anything meal-like...and I guess I've been happy to take charge since I enjoy it. But I really think everyone can and should cook, so I have been determined that he should be able to cook at least a few basic things. Poor pestered boy...! Haha.
His major problem with cooking, I think, is not so much that he couldn't do it (because anyone can follow a recipe). Instead it's more that he views cooking as a lengthy, difficult, time consuming process which all seems too hard when he's gotten home from work. And I understand that, really I do. For me cooking is necessary, but it's also usually fun and not terribly difficult because I've been doing it for so long. For him, though, to start from scratch in learning, things are always going to take a lot longer.
One of the big things I think that puts people off cooking, is the unreliability of recipes. Very few "celebrity" chef cookbooks are useful beyond providing the odd bit of inspiration, because their recipes just don't work. And for a beginner cook who has no reason to doubt the wisdom of those they see galavanting about on tv, how are they to know that it isn't them but rather the recipe which is at fault?
So, the lad cooked from a reliable (read: Alison Holst) cookbook last night (sausage casserole, mashed potatoes and peas - nothing revolutionary, but good, basic, easy food which requires very little hands-on time) and I stood along-side offering sage tid-bits of wisdom here and there. All in all, a very successful first attempt. Let us hope there will be a second and third...
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Enough is enough
I don't know what the hell they do to the bread over here, but almost every kind of shop-bought bread you can buy is stale before you get it home. The Brits must prefer it that way because it's all like that. Dry, crumbly, sticks in your throat - ick! Frankly I eat very little bread these days unless it's home made, but the one bready thing we do buy regularly is rolls for Andrew's lunches. I've never had much success at replicating the light, spongy white rolls he deems suitable for sandwiches (this is not a wholemeal house and he's got some teeth issues so multigrains are a minefield). I can do a lovely doughy bun that is good when it's warm from the oven, but the next day it could easily double as a cricket ball. Small ciabatta rolls are easy and delicious, but not always suitable for a bog-standard cold meat and salad sandwich. So I've continued to buy icky mass-produced supermarket rolls with god-knows what in them (much more than flour, yeast and water, that's for sure) and since my lad is (generally) a quiet, uncomplaining sort, he munches his rolls without much bother.
The last straw for me, though, was last Friday night. I had made homemade burgers - gorgeous things made with prime free-range Aberdeen Angus steak mince, gruyere cheese, caramelised onions, lettuce (no tomato because I feel very strongly about tomatoes in burgers. They just don't belong, dammit!) and homemade mayo - sounds good, right? No burger could be made with more care and love. But then my masterpiece was destroyed by the revolting stale, crumbly piece-of-shit bun I'd been forced to buy. 'That is it!', I cried, as my beautiful burger fell to pieces in my hands. 'I will not stand for this any longer - there MUST be a way of making proper soft burger buns at home. I can't eat like this any more!'
So, after much googling, I decided to try a recipe gleaned from a 'certain' book about trainee bakers (recipe below) and it has worked out very well, I must say. I mean, there's definitely room for improvement, but they are soft, fresh and delicious and worlds apart from the supermarkets' 'finest'. I used plain flour instead of strong flour, which ordinarily would be a bread no-no, but I figured that I was actually trying to achieve a lighter, almost fluffy texture (in contrast to my normal sturdy 'rustic' loaves) and I think that principle was a good one. I'd possibly try mixing strong and plain next time to achieve just a slightly stronger crumb. Also I'd add much much less sugar than the original amount - they're much too sweet for my liking. I feel quite confident, though, that I can perfect these wee beauties and that my burgers will never again be tarnished by the chemically-crap which supermarkets sell as rolls.
The Original Recipe
4 3/4 c flour (if using plain you will need more)
1 1/2 tsp salt (I used less as a result of my recent bout of over-salting)
1/4 c powdered milk (not a normal ingredient for me. I'm not sure what this does but I plan to find out)
3 1/4 tsp sugar (waaay too much. Will use 1 tbsp next time I think)
2 tsp instant yeast (1 sachet)
1 lge egg, beaten
3 1/2 tbsp butter, at room temp
1 1/2 c (plus 1 tbsp) luke warm water
I don't really need to give you instructions for making this - blahblahblah bread-making. It's the same thing every time really! Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, egg and the water and mix to combine. Knead, prove, knock back, shape, prove again, bake at 200degC for about 15 mins. Oh, brush the tops of the buns with whatever you fancy - sesame seeds, poppy, cheese or just a light brush of oil.
The last straw for me, though, was last Friday night. I had made homemade burgers - gorgeous things made with prime free-range Aberdeen Angus steak mince, gruyere cheese, caramelised onions, lettuce (no tomato because I feel very strongly about tomatoes in burgers. They just don't belong, dammit!) and homemade mayo - sounds good, right? No burger could be made with more care and love. But then my masterpiece was destroyed by the revolting stale, crumbly piece-of-shit bun I'd been forced to buy. 'That is it!', I cried, as my beautiful burger fell to pieces in my hands. 'I will not stand for this any longer - there MUST be a way of making proper soft burger buns at home. I can't eat like this any more!'
So, after much googling, I decided to try a recipe gleaned from a 'certain' book about trainee bakers (recipe below) and it has worked out very well, I must say. I mean, there's definitely room for improvement, but they are soft, fresh and delicious and worlds apart from the supermarkets' 'finest'. I used plain flour instead of strong flour, which ordinarily would be a bread no-no, but I figured that I was actually trying to achieve a lighter, almost fluffy texture (in contrast to my normal sturdy 'rustic' loaves) and I think that principle was a good one. I'd possibly try mixing strong and plain next time to achieve just a slightly stronger crumb. Also I'd add much much less sugar than the original amount - they're much too sweet for my liking. I feel quite confident, though, that I can perfect these wee beauties and that my burgers will never again be tarnished by the chemically-crap which supermarkets sell as rolls.
The Original Recipe
4 3/4 c flour (if using plain you will need more)
1 1/2 tsp salt (I used less as a result of my recent bout of over-salting)
1/4 c powdered milk (not a normal ingredient for me. I'm not sure what this does but I plan to find out)
3 1/4 tsp sugar (waaay too much. Will use 1 tbsp next time I think)
2 tsp instant yeast (1 sachet)
1 lge egg, beaten
3 1/2 tbsp butter, at room temp
1 1/2 c (plus 1 tbsp) luke warm water
I don't really need to give you instructions for making this - blahblahblah bread-making. It's the same thing every time really! Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, egg and the water and mix to combine. Knead, prove, knock back, shape, prove again, bake at 200degC for about 15 mins. Oh, brush the tops of the buns with whatever you fancy - sesame seeds, poppy, cheese or just a light brush of oil.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
What is aloo gobi you ask?
For those you aren't familiar, aloo gobi is an Indian potato and cauliflower curry that is often served as a side dish (well, in the rather heathen UK it is - I'm sure in various parts of India it's a main dish in its own right). I made a version of it on Sunday night to go with a small portion of chicken curry that I was also making (as well as wholemeal chappatis). I'm sure that an authentic Indian chef would have a hernia looking at my recipe, but this is what I did and it was really good (better the next day if you can have some self-restraint!):
Aloo Gobi Jess-Style
(makes enough for one large portion or 2 side dish portions)
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cm piece of ginger, julienned (I like the pieces of ginger this gives but by all means grate it if you can't be bothered slicing)
1 chilli (I think small green chillis would be more authentic but I had red ones in the freezer so I used a whole one with seeds), finely chopped
2 small potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks (about 2 cm?)
1/4 head of cauliflower cut into similar sized chunks to the potato
1 tbsp whole cumin seeds
1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
1/2 cup (or so) water
handful of chopped fresh coriander
(optional: half a bag of baby spinach thrown in at the end to wilt is really nice)
Mix the ground spices (coriander, tumeric and pepper) with 1 tbsp oil. Heat the rest of the oil and add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli to soften. Add whole cumin seeds. Once they start popping, add the spice paste and fry for half a minute or so until it smells fragrant. Add potato and cauliflower and salt, mix together so the vege is all coated then add the water. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 15 mins. Remove the lid and cook another 5 mins or until the vege are cooked and the curry is looking quite dry. The vege should be coated in a thick paste more than a sauce. If you want it a bit 'looser' you can add a bit more water at the end. Taste and adjust seasonings (it could need more salt - a splash of lemon juice might also be nice). I also stirred in the half bag of spinach and let that wilt before adding the coriander leaves and serving.
Lovely with a blob of plain yoghurt with rice and Indian breads. Good as part of an Indian meal but also a lovely super-cheap main in and of itself. And great for lunch the next day!
Aloo Gobi Jess-Style
(makes enough for one large portion or 2 side dish portions)
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cm piece of ginger, julienned (I like the pieces of ginger this gives but by all means grate it if you can't be bothered slicing)
1 chilli (I think small green chillis would be more authentic but I had red ones in the freezer so I used a whole one with seeds), finely chopped
2 small potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks (about 2 cm?)
1/4 head of cauliflower cut into similar sized chunks to the potato
1 tbsp whole cumin seeds
1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
1/2 cup (or so) water
handful of chopped fresh coriander
(optional: half a bag of baby spinach thrown in at the end to wilt is really nice)
Mix the ground spices (coriander, tumeric and pepper) with 1 tbsp oil. Heat the rest of the oil and add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli to soften. Add whole cumin seeds. Once they start popping, add the spice paste and fry for half a minute or so until it smells fragrant. Add potato and cauliflower and salt, mix together so the vege is all coated then add the water. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 15 mins. Remove the lid and cook another 5 mins or until the vege are cooked and the curry is looking quite dry. The vege should be coated in a thick paste more than a sauce. If you want it a bit 'looser' you can add a bit more water at the end. Taste and adjust seasonings (it could need more salt - a splash of lemon juice might also be nice). I also stirred in the half bag of spinach and let that wilt before adding the coriander leaves and serving.
Lovely with a blob of plain yoghurt with rice and Indian breads. Good as part of an Indian meal but also a lovely super-cheap main in and of itself. And great for lunch the next day!
Monday, 19 April 2010
From tiny seeds...
...fabulous balcony gardens grow! Well, maybe not fabulous yet, but there is definitely potential for fabulousness!
I thought I'd give an update on my green-fingered efforts. All is well and my potatoes in particular are going crazy! It's very exciting to see so much foliage - I just hope that means there are lots of yummy new potatoes lurking below the surface. Inside my pretend glasshouse I have a courgette (which is small but I think will be a winner), a tomato (which I'm less hopeful about), a pot with nasturtiums and rhubarb swiss chard, a pot with swiss chard, regular spinach and miniature curly kale as well as a pot full of oregano. Outside the 'glasshouse' is my rosemary (which actually is looking a wee bit disgruntled at having been repotted a few months back. It was for its own good, but you can't tell plants that!), my thyme, mint and garlic. There are three potato bags and the one in the middle only got its tubers yesterday (a later cropping variety) while the outer two have been growing for about a month. Oh, and there's a pot with some rather spindly alpine strawberries in it too.
It's all very exciting, and even more exciting is the fact that we'll be shifting in about 6 weeks, to a place with a lovely wee garden. I plan to plant a bunch of other bits and pieces there once we shift and yesterday I sowed 2 varieties of french bean (a dwarf green variety and a pretty pink and brown speckled Italian variety), some red peppers (I live in hope that it will be a warm summer!) and some really pretty Italian beetroot which is all pink and white striped. Fingers crossed for a delicious summer bounty!
On a related note, as you might know, I have a pigeon problem on my balcony and recently set up a sad little attempt at a pigeon deterrent. I thought you might get a laugh out of this, so here 'tis. Apologies for the blurriness. It's quite hard to get a shot which shows this in all its deranged glory.
The pigeons just mock my festive-looking effort and practically land on top of it. I'm sure I saw one of them eyeing up a piece of the silver ribbon as a jaunty wee addition to her nest. I race out onto the balcony every wee while to scary them away from my seedlings and - according to Andrew - yesterday I officially became 'crazy pigeon lady' when I wielded a broom and stood on the balcony yelling and waving it around. Sad to become so eccentric so young...what ever will I do when I get old!?
I thought I'd give an update on my green-fingered efforts. All is well and my potatoes in particular are going crazy! It's very exciting to see so much foliage - I just hope that means there are lots of yummy new potatoes lurking below the surface. Inside my pretend glasshouse I have a courgette (which is small but I think will be a winner), a tomato (which I'm less hopeful about), a pot with nasturtiums and rhubarb swiss chard, a pot with swiss chard, regular spinach and miniature curly kale as well as a pot full of oregano. Outside the 'glasshouse' is my rosemary (which actually is looking a wee bit disgruntled at having been repotted a few months back. It was for its own good, but you can't tell plants that!), my thyme, mint and garlic. There are three potato bags and the one in the middle only got its tubers yesterday (a later cropping variety) while the outer two have been growing for about a month. Oh, and there's a pot with some rather spindly alpine strawberries in it too.
It's all very exciting, and even more exciting is the fact that we'll be shifting in about 6 weeks, to a place with a lovely wee garden. I plan to plant a bunch of other bits and pieces there once we shift and yesterday I sowed 2 varieties of french bean (a dwarf green variety and a pretty pink and brown speckled Italian variety), some red peppers (I live in hope that it will be a warm summer!) and some really pretty Italian beetroot which is all pink and white striped. Fingers crossed for a delicious summer bounty!
On a related note, as you might know, I have a pigeon problem on my balcony and recently set up a sad little attempt at a pigeon deterrent. I thought you might get a laugh out of this, so here 'tis. Apologies for the blurriness. It's quite hard to get a shot which shows this in all its deranged glory.
The pigeons just mock my festive-looking effort and practically land on top of it. I'm sure I saw one of them eyeing up a piece of the silver ribbon as a jaunty wee addition to her nest. I race out onto the balcony every wee while to scary them away from my seedlings and - according to Andrew - yesterday I officially became 'crazy pigeon lady' when I wielded a broom and stood on the balcony yelling and waving it around. Sad to become so eccentric so young...what ever will I do when I get old!?
Friday, 16 April 2010
Procrastination makes perfect
Garrgh. I'm useless. Seriously. I have a pile of marking to do and a house to start packing and job applications up the wazoo, but instead I have spent the morning faffing about and achieving nothing! Sigh.
However, procrastination usually results in one of two things for me - either I clean (a much rarer event) or I bake. Today I've gone with the latter option and have made chocolate chunk cookies (returning to the basics seems a good way of rediscovering my kitchen mojo...the cookies are fine, and the raw batter is even better!) and shortbread. Oddly I don't think I've ever made shortbread before, but it's not nearly as challenging as I thought it was. I made a recipe which had cornflour as well as regular flour, because I like crunchy shortbread and that gives it the necessary texture. It was too dry to roll out and cut into pieces, so I pressed it into a cake tin and baked it that way, intending to cut it into wedges (which is quite traditional of Scottish shortbread, so I've read). Apparently you're meant to score it or something prior to baking because my shortbread 'cake' is now a pile of broken chunks of shortbread, but those chunks are damn tasty, perfectly crumby with just the right amount of crunch. Perfection with a cup of hot, sweet Earl Grey Tea while pissing away an afternoon.
Shortbread Recipe
Ingredients (please don't ask me to convert these to metric. My scales measure both):
6oz Plain flour
4oz Soft butter
2oz caster sugar
1 oz cornflour
Cream butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add sifted flours and mix to combine. Hopefully yours will be moist enough to hold together and get rolled out. Otherwise press into a lightly oiled cake tin and bake at 170degC for 25 mins or until very lightly coloured all over.
It will be soft until it cools properly and then it will go nice and crisp.
Happy procrastinating to one and all!
However, procrastination usually results in one of two things for me - either I clean (a much rarer event) or I bake. Today I've gone with the latter option and have made chocolate chunk cookies (returning to the basics seems a good way of rediscovering my kitchen mojo...the cookies are fine, and the raw batter is even better!) and shortbread. Oddly I don't think I've ever made shortbread before, but it's not nearly as challenging as I thought it was. I made a recipe which had cornflour as well as regular flour, because I like crunchy shortbread and that gives it the necessary texture. It was too dry to roll out and cut into pieces, so I pressed it into a cake tin and baked it that way, intending to cut it into wedges (which is quite traditional of Scottish shortbread, so I've read). Apparently you're meant to score it or something prior to baking because my shortbread 'cake' is now a pile of broken chunks of shortbread, but those chunks are damn tasty, perfectly crumby with just the right amount of crunch. Perfection with a cup of hot, sweet Earl Grey Tea while pissing away an afternoon.
Shortbread Recipe
Ingredients (please don't ask me to convert these to metric. My scales measure both):
6oz Plain flour
4oz Soft butter
2oz caster sugar
1 oz cornflour
Cream butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add sifted flours and mix to combine. Hopefully yours will be moist enough to hold together and get rolled out. Otherwise press into a lightly oiled cake tin and bake at 170degC for 25 mins or until very lightly coloured all over.
It will be soft until it cools properly and then it will go nice and crisp.
Happy procrastinating to one and all!
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
In which Jess attempts to recreate Vogels and fails...
Damn you Mark Bittman, damn you!! (imagine I'm shaking my fist angrily whilst yelling that to get the full picture of my frustration). I really do wonder why I bought that Food Matters book. Don't get me wrong, I'm still all in favour of the concept, but I've just remembered that every recipe of Bittman's that I've ever tried has always been a real disappointment. His peanutty noodles were definitely a let-down and several others I've tried and forgotten were also distinctly average. And on reflection those meatballs of his I made the other day really weren't that good (this evaluation is based on the fact that I've got about 300 of the damn things in my freezer and apparently freezing does not improve them. At all. They become all squishy and gross which is just not appetising).
So anyway. One of his recipes is for a no-knead brown bread that I thought I'd try. I really miss a particular bread from home (Vogels) which is whole grain but sort of dense and chewy rather than cardboardy (like most other store-bought brown bread tends to be) and for some reason I thought Bittman's brown loaf would be the answer. It wasn't. It's flat, heavy as a brick, crumbly and weird tasting (I seem to be over-salting everything lately...is salt getting saltier or am I getting distracted while I put the salt in the dishes?).
Basically it's a dud. Another dud to add to my growing pile of food-crap. Sigh. I seem to have lost my food mojo of late. Has this ever happened to you? And how do you reconnect with your food mojo when it seems to have absconded??
So anyway. One of his recipes is for a no-knead brown bread that I thought I'd try. I really miss a particular bread from home (Vogels) which is whole grain but sort of dense and chewy rather than cardboardy (like most other store-bought brown bread tends to be) and for some reason I thought Bittman's brown loaf would be the answer. It wasn't. It's flat, heavy as a brick, crumbly and weird tasting (I seem to be over-salting everything lately...is salt getting saltier or am I getting distracted while I put the salt in the dishes?).
Basically it's a dud. Another dud to add to my growing pile of food-crap. Sigh. I seem to have lost my food mojo of late. Has this ever happened to you? And how do you reconnect with your food mojo when it seems to have absconded??
Monday, 12 April 2010
Of a' the airts the wind can blaw, I dearly like the west...
We've just gotten back from the Hielands (the west highlands, to be specific...hence the Rabbie Burns quote!) where we had a lovely (sorry - bonnie) time. It's aye beautiful up there - wholly recommend it to anyone lucky enough to find themselves in Scotland!
See...?
Anyway, in addition to gorgeous scenery, the Highlands, as it turns out, also boasts some really good food. Among the delicious treats I scoffed were some hot-smoked salmon from a smokehouse on the outer Hebrides (Salar Smokehouse...seriously good!), a wonderful meal of asparagus and pecorino tortelli in a beurre blanc sauce (eaten sitting in a tiny traditional pub perched on the edge of Loch Gairloch as the sun was setting, with the Isle of Skye in the background (mm, bliss...). A rather ordinary lunch of egg sandwiches was made superb by the simple fact that the bread was home-made, the free-range eggs were grown by "Sarah who lives down the road in Pool Ewe" and that the "organic lettuce grown by Joan and Alec up the way in Inverasdale" - and the locale of that meal was a 4 table cafe in an art gallery on the edge of Loch Ewe...how delightful!! If you weren't allergic to shell-fish and crustaceans, there is a whole host of other wonderful food available - at the Badachro Inn (aforementioned little pub on the edge of Loch Gairloch) they were serving some stunning-looking langoustines and crab.
I'm back now, and will diligently be reporting on my lunch adventures and any other interesting meals I might embark on. I hope you all had a lovely Easter and have eaten plenty of delicious treats...!
See...?
Anyway, in addition to gorgeous scenery, the Highlands, as it turns out, also boasts some really good food. Among the delicious treats I scoffed were some hot-smoked salmon from a smokehouse on the outer Hebrides (Salar Smokehouse...seriously good!), a wonderful meal of asparagus and pecorino tortelli in a beurre blanc sauce (eaten sitting in a tiny traditional pub perched on the edge of Loch Gairloch as the sun was setting, with the Isle of Skye in the background (mm, bliss...). A rather ordinary lunch of egg sandwiches was made superb by the simple fact that the bread was home-made, the free-range eggs were grown by "Sarah who lives down the road in Pool Ewe" and that the "organic lettuce grown by Joan and Alec up the way in Inverasdale" - and the locale of that meal was a 4 table cafe in an art gallery on the edge of Loch Ewe...how delightful!! If you weren't allergic to shell-fish and crustaceans, there is a whole host of other wonderful food available - at the Badachro Inn (aforementioned little pub on the edge of Loch Gairloch) they were serving some stunning-looking langoustines and crab.
I'm back now, and will diligently be reporting on my lunch adventures and any other interesting meals I might embark on. I hope you all had a lovely Easter and have eaten plenty of delicious treats...!
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Easter Treats
I've had a series of unfortunate incidents in the kitchen of late (very Lemony Snickett of me with a weirdly bad curry last night, horrid pasta the night before...it's all putting me off even being in the kitchen, frankly!) but I did do some successful baking over Easter which was rather yummy.
I made the traditional hot cross buns, of course (always do at Easter) and they were yummy. I don't like mixed peel, so I put dried blueberries in instead of currants - they added a slight fruitiness that was missing without the peel and turned out really well actually (although they did lend a slightly purplish tone to the buns!). I cooked them in a friend's oven and unfortunately they got a wee bit browner on top than I would have liked, but when they're hot and fresh out of the oven and served with lashings of butter, it really doesn't matter.
My piece de resistance, though, was the chocolate tart. Very rich, very chocolatey and rather Easter-ish with the addition of sugar coated chocolate eggs on top. It was a Rachel Allen recipe and for once (I have little success with her recipes on the whole) it worked really well. Basically you make a sweet short crust pastry and bake it blind, then heat cream and milk, add both milk and dark chocolate and then beat in some eggs. Pour into the pastry shell and bake for about 20 mins. Ta-dahhh!
Best served with softly whipped cream and fresh fruit like strawberries. Perfect for Easter, although I certainly wouldn't limit myself to making it then...it actually would be a great, very easy dessert to make ahead when you had people coming over too.
Hope your Easter was sweet, chocolatey and spent with the people you love!
I made the traditional hot cross buns, of course (always do at Easter) and they were yummy. I don't like mixed peel, so I put dried blueberries in instead of currants - they added a slight fruitiness that was missing without the peel and turned out really well actually (although they did lend a slightly purplish tone to the buns!). I cooked them in a friend's oven and unfortunately they got a wee bit browner on top than I would have liked, but when they're hot and fresh out of the oven and served with lashings of butter, it really doesn't matter.
My piece de resistance, though, was the chocolate tart. Very rich, very chocolatey and rather Easter-ish with the addition of sugar coated chocolate eggs on top. It was a Rachel Allen recipe and for once (I have little success with her recipes on the whole) it worked really well. Basically you make a sweet short crust pastry and bake it blind, then heat cream and milk, add both milk and dark chocolate and then beat in some eggs. Pour into the pastry shell and bake for about 20 mins. Ta-dahhh!
Best served with softly whipped cream and fresh fruit like strawberries. Perfect for Easter, although I certainly wouldn't limit myself to making it then...it actually would be a great, very easy dessert to make ahead when you had people coming over too.
Hope your Easter was sweet, chocolatey and spent with the people you love!
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Note to self: Lard is BAD
Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad! Oh god, so so very bad. I'm still not sure why I even had lard in the fridge (I bought it months ago thinking I needed it for a recipe only to get home and find - thankfully - that I didn't need it after all. I never threw it out, and that was my first mistake. Well, no, actually, the first mistake was buying the damn stuff in the first place, so keeping it would be the second horrifying error in judgement). Tonight's dinner was meant to be homemade fish and chips, and for some mysterious reason (akin to the judgement call which left me with half a pound of lard in the fridge) I decided to try deep fat frying on the stove top. We were very late getting dinner underway though, and it wasn't until I went to start the process that I realised I didn't have enough vegetable oil. It was then that mistake no. 3 took place...a tiny all-knowing voice in my head chirped 'use the lard'! Genius.
Oh god. The smell. The revolting nostril-gagging smell. It smelt like dead animal carcass. No, worse, it smelt like many rotting animal carcasses. In fact, it smelt like the rendering department of a freezing works factory (a smell that no good person should ever have to know).
I went through the motions and fried the chips and battered fish, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat them...fish should not taste like rendered hog fat. It just shouldn't.
In the end we dashed 2 doors down the street and got a curry...the strong Indian-food smells have helped to weaken the lingering lard stench - that and some scented candles, having the doors open all night (even though we've had snow on and off all day) and brewing some strong coffee are starting to make the place smell slightly more livable again. But only slightly...
I may never eat pork again.
Oh god. The smell. The revolting nostril-gagging smell. It smelt like dead animal carcass. No, worse, it smelt like many rotting animal carcasses. In fact, it smelt like the rendering department of a freezing works factory (a smell that no good person should ever have to know).
I went through the motions and fried the chips and battered fish, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat them...fish should not taste like rendered hog fat. It just shouldn't.
In the end we dashed 2 doors down the street and got a curry...the strong Indian-food smells have helped to weaken the lingering lard stench - that and some scented candles, having the doors open all night (even though we've had snow on and off all day) and brewing some strong coffee are starting to make the place smell slightly more livable again. But only slightly...
I may never eat pork again.
Bits and Pieces including Popcorn
I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but I'm attempting to give up crisps. Crisps for me (sorry - I do mean chips...I was brought up in NZ for crying out loud, but I'm a language mimic and am forever inadvertently changing my speaking and writing habits when I'm around new accents and the likes. Hence I now call them crisps 'coz that's what they do here in the UK) are like cigarettes are for smokers. I know they are bad for me, I know I have too many of them and I know I should give them up, but time after time I find myself throwing a family sized bag of the bastards into my shopping basket and then guiltily devouring them once I'm home. The worst part is that my lad isn't a crisp/chip eater. He can and does avoid eating them which just makes it worse because I know without a doubt that I will eat the entire contents of said family sized bag of crisps/chips. I brush the chip dust and salt from my top like a smoker does ash from their sleeves and feel ashamed that I am unable to kick this nasty habit.
Anyway, much like a smoker, I routinely decide I'm going to 'quit' crisps and go cold turkey...it'll be better for me in the long run, I cry! I can just munch on raw vege and fruit if I'm hungry, I boldly claim, convinced that I have the will power to do this. Yet, time and time again I fall off the crisp wagon and find myself licking the salt from my fingers with an almost fiendish delight. This week, like so many weeks before, I decided to stop eating crisps. This time the sobriety attempt was sparked by bloody Mark Bittman's book - apparently crisps are not only no good for me but apparently the environment also suffers from my obsession. Sigh.
Today is day 4 of the cold turkey attempt and it hasn't been so bad thus far. The major difficulty for me is finding something to replace crisps. Logically I realise that I could eat 3 baked potatoes with butter for the same calorific content as a bag of crisps but A. I don't really give a shit about calories and B. baked potatoes are nice and all, but not really conveniently portable in the same way a bag of crisps are. Yesterday when I was at home I made popcorn* so that satisfied the salty, crunchy cravings, but today I'm in the office and despite my little containers of chopped fruit and nuts, I yearn to hit the vending machine and grab a bag of salty crispy joy...
Help me stay strong folks...what can I eat in lieu of my beloved crisps?? The environment needs me to stay on the wagon....!!!
Ok, on a different note, how FREAKING cute is my new lunch bag? Seriously, c'mon! You know you're jealous of its cute, Louis Vuittonishness! I am loving both its cuteness and practicality...it's currently keeping my delicious lunch of Moroccan vege and lamb cous cous and my can of diet cola (look, I've given up the crisps, leave me some sinful joy, won't you?!) chilled to perfection! It's my new favourite thing!
.jpg)
(it has a big lunch box with a fitted chiller pad, and 2 wee boxes which fit inside the big one and a-top the chiller pad. Ingenious AND cute!)
*The popcorn was rather a coup, actually. I cooked it in a pot with butter (I have no time for air-popping...the salt doesn't stick! What's the point?!) and I threw a crushed clove of garlic into the sizzling butter before adding the corn. Then I salted it before it popped (I think this is essential - it pops the seasoning right into the corn rather than just having it on the outside) and then ground over some freshly cracked black pepper before eating. Delicious garlicky buttery peppery popcorn! Who knew?!
Anyway, much like a smoker, I routinely decide I'm going to 'quit' crisps and go cold turkey...it'll be better for me in the long run, I cry! I can just munch on raw vege and fruit if I'm hungry, I boldly claim, convinced that I have the will power to do this. Yet, time and time again I fall off the crisp wagon and find myself licking the salt from my fingers with an almost fiendish delight. This week, like so many weeks before, I decided to stop eating crisps. This time the sobriety attempt was sparked by bloody Mark Bittman's book - apparently crisps are not only no good for me but apparently the environment also suffers from my obsession. Sigh.
Today is day 4 of the cold turkey attempt and it hasn't been so bad thus far. The major difficulty for me is finding something to replace crisps. Logically I realise that I could eat 3 baked potatoes with butter for the same calorific content as a bag of crisps but A. I don't really give a shit about calories and B. baked potatoes are nice and all, but not really conveniently portable in the same way a bag of crisps are. Yesterday when I was at home I made popcorn* so that satisfied the salty, crunchy cravings, but today I'm in the office and despite my little containers of chopped fruit and nuts, I yearn to hit the vending machine and grab a bag of salty crispy joy...
Help me stay strong folks...what can I eat in lieu of my beloved crisps?? The environment needs me to stay on the wagon....!!!
Ok, on a different note, how FREAKING cute is my new lunch bag? Seriously, c'mon! You know you're jealous of its cute, Louis Vuittonishness! I am loving both its cuteness and practicality...it's currently keeping my delicious lunch of Moroccan vege and lamb cous cous and my can of diet cola (look, I've given up the crisps, leave me some sinful joy, won't you?!) chilled to perfection! It's my new favourite thing!
.jpg)
(it has a big lunch box with a fitted chiller pad, and 2 wee boxes which fit inside the big one and a-top the chiller pad. Ingenious AND cute!)
*The popcorn was rather a coup, actually. I cooked it in a pot with butter (I have no time for air-popping...the salt doesn't stick! What's the point?!) and I threw a crushed clove of garlic into the sizzling butter before adding the corn. Then I salted it before it popped (I think this is essential - it pops the seasoning right into the corn rather than just having it on the outside) and then ground over some freshly cracked black pepper before eating. Delicious garlicky buttery peppery popcorn! Who knew?!
Monday, 29 March 2010
Last week's lunches
Seems a shame to get rid of all of these mini-posts, so I guess I'll pop them up here as a separate post. Last week's lunches were:
Monday 22 March: a mashed avocado with lime, spring onion and salt (margarita guacamole?) transported to my delighted mouth by means of half a family-sized bag of tortilla chips. The nasty fluro orange kind. Oh, and half a mango.
Tuesday 23 March: large pile of raw vegetables, spicy Moroccan hummus and 2 emmental and pumpkin seed crisp-breads (the inherent healthiness that this denotes was neither desired nor deliberate!)
Wednesday 24 March: rice noodle stirfry with ginger, garlic, spinach, baby corn, mushrooms, mung beans and cashews for protein. Was v good and I rather wish I made double...
Thursday 25 March: broth-like soup with chickpeas, potato, zucchini, onion/garlic, tomatoes, parsley, and the homemade stock I had in the fridge. Nice but would have been infinitely more satistfying with a wodge of crusty bread along-side.
Friday 26 March: am working so lunch had to be transportable. Made noodle "salad" with remains of last night's asian braised chicken and stirfry vege and some rice noodles. Is actually v average and would benefit from a brief microwave zap. Still, it will sustain me until gin-o'clock!
Monday 22 March: a mashed avocado with lime, spring onion and salt (margarita guacamole?) transported to my delighted mouth by means of half a family-sized bag of tortilla chips. The nasty fluro orange kind. Oh, and half a mango.
Tuesday 23 March: large pile of raw vegetables, spicy Moroccan hummus and 2 emmental and pumpkin seed crisp-breads (the inherent healthiness that this denotes was neither desired nor deliberate!)
Wednesday 24 March: rice noodle stirfry with ginger, garlic, spinach, baby corn, mushrooms, mung beans and cashews for protein. Was v good and I rather wish I made double...
Thursday 25 March: broth-like soup with chickpeas, potato, zucchini, onion/garlic, tomatoes, parsley, and the homemade stock I had in the fridge. Nice but would have been infinitely more satistfying with a wodge of crusty bread along-side.
Friday 26 March: am working so lunch had to be transportable. Made noodle "salad" with remains of last night's asian braised chicken and stirfry vege and some rice noodles. Is actually v average and would benefit from a brief microwave zap. Still, it will sustain me until gin-o'clock!
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Ugly food tastes the best
Michelin-starred chefs might well think it's all about delicate fronds of herbage artistically draped across tiny, symmetrical portions of inedibly (and impronouncibly) fancy food, but I think unattractive, imperfect food tastes better. Think about it - your homemade bread and baking treats are almost always weird looking, slightly lumpy and certainly asymmetrical, but they always taste incredible!
Home made bagels are the epitome of this phenomenon. I don't know how the supermarket brands get their bagels so shiny and smooth and perfectly shaped, but how ever they do it, they also seem to suck the flavour and texture out of the bagels at the same time. Homemade bagels are just odd looking, but their texture and flavour is infinitely superior to anything store bought.
So, as you might guess from this lengthy intro, I made bagels this weekend! The very best ones have to be boiled before baking - that's what gives them the dense, chewy quality. And a wee trick I've learnt allows them to stay rounded and plump - you bake them for the first 7 mins sitting on a damp tea towel, and then very gently flip them over, egg wash and bake until golden. You don't have to do this, of course, but that keeps them round rather than flat bottomed.
Today's lunch then, was eggs benedict with homemade bagels, smoked salmon, poached free-range eggs, blanched spinach and homemade hollandaise. Not too shabby! It's the first time I've ever made hollandaise and it was much easier than I thought it would be. I've always had a deep set fear of making hollandaise for some reason, but it worked out well. I heated the butter in the microwave until it was bubbling and then gently trickled it into beaten egg yolks (with lemon and dijon) all the while beating with my electric beaters. It was a tense few mins while I made it - I kept expecting the egg yolks to utterly reject the butter and split horribly, but nope!
Supermarkets and Michelin starred chefs be damned...I'll take my homemade lumpy weird bagels any day over visual perfection in food!
Home made bagels are the epitome of this phenomenon. I don't know how the supermarket brands get their bagels so shiny and smooth and perfectly shaped, but how ever they do it, they also seem to suck the flavour and texture out of the bagels at the same time. Homemade bagels are just odd looking, but their texture and flavour is infinitely superior to anything store bought.
So, as you might guess from this lengthy intro, I made bagels this weekend! The very best ones have to be boiled before baking - that's what gives them the dense, chewy quality. And a wee trick I've learnt allows them to stay rounded and plump - you bake them for the first 7 mins sitting on a damp tea towel, and then very gently flip them over, egg wash and bake until golden. You don't have to do this, of course, but that keeps them round rather than flat bottomed.
Today's lunch then, was eggs benedict with homemade bagels, smoked salmon, poached free-range eggs, blanched spinach and homemade hollandaise. Not too shabby! It's the first time I've ever made hollandaise and it was much easier than I thought it would be. I've always had a deep set fear of making hollandaise for some reason, but it worked out well. I heated the butter in the microwave until it was bubbling and then gently trickled it into beaten egg yolks (with lemon and dijon) all the while beating with my electric beaters. It was a tense few mins while I made it - I kept expecting the egg yolks to utterly reject the butter and split horribly, but nope!
Supermarkets and Michelin starred chefs be damned...I'll take my homemade lumpy weird bagels any day over visual perfection in food!
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Practising what I preached...
I finished Food Matters yesterday and while I still think it could have been more soundly written from a scientific point of view, that's not really the point of the book. Bittman provides enough information to those who are uninitiated in this whole 'food matters' debate that they can be convinced of his arguments' merits, but his focus is really on showing you how to make changes to your eating habits which he insists will benefit you, your pocket and the environment. So whereas Michael Pollan is all about science and fact, Bittman is all about the food. I think the books complement each other in that respect: if you've read In Defence of Food, you could then use Food Matters to help you actually make some real changes.
Now, as we know, I'm not very good at using new recipes - I read them, and ponder on them and enjoy having them around me, but I often do little more than that. Last night for dinner we were scheduled (yes, I make a weekly meal plan) to have meatballs and spaghetti. This is one of my standard meals, and in general it is one which I think fits with Bittman's overall approach - you make a smallish quantity of meat go a lot further and by serving wee balls on top of pasta, you actually need less of the meat to feel satisfied. I do have my own recipe for meatballs which I've honed for years and which both the lad and I really like, but Bittman has another version in his book, so I thought I ought to give that a try last night. I have altered his quantities and spices a bit, and the resulting recipe is below.
NB. This will make a GIANT quantity of meatballs. Seriously - from 500g of meat you will have enough to easily feed 8 people for dinner. Throw a salad and some garlic bread on the side and you could probably stretch it even further. With the recipe below, I made 66 decent sized meatballs last night. My freezer is literally packed full of the leftovers! Plus using bulgar instead of breadcrumbs (which is the normal approach) means that you add fibre to the mix and that has the overall function of lowering the fat. I was a wee bit dubious about how the texture of the meatballs would be, but they were really nice and very tasty. Win, win, win, win!
Bittman and Bain's Meatballs
500g ground meat (he says turkey, but that's a v American vibe. I used half pork mince and half beef...both welfare approved, obviously).
1 cup bulgar wheat (here's where we vary. He said to use 2 cups of bulgar for half the above quantity of meat. That would make them wheatballs and they wouldn't stick together. He also doesn't list whether that should be dried or soaked. So, I soaked 1 cup of dried bulgar for 30 mins in boiling water, drained it throughly and used that amount for the 500g meat. These are good proportions)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced very finely
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
spinach - as much as you've got but anything between 250-500g will work
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary and thyme
2 tsp salt
black pepper
1 free-range egg
Soak the bulgar as described above, drain and add to the meats. Heat the olive oil and saute onion and garlic until soft. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add this mixture along with the egg and seasonings to the meat and bulgar. Mix thoroughly with your hands until kneaded/combined. At this point I fried a small mini-meatball in the pan I'd used for the onions, to test the seasonings.
Roll into balls, place on baking sheet and bake at 200g for about 20 mins. Eat in whatever style you prefer. We had ours with tomato sauce - I simmered the baked meatballs for about 5 mins in the sauce before serving over spaghetti.
If you have used meat that hasn't been pre-frozen, you can then freeze the uncooked meatballs. If it was frozen already (as in my case) then cook them all, and freeze them cooked. To freeze, place separated meatballs on a lined baking tray in the freezer overnight. In the morning transfer the frozen balls to a bag and voila - free-flow meatballs for the next month! :-)
Now, as we know, I'm not very good at using new recipes - I read them, and ponder on them and enjoy having them around me, but I often do little more than that. Last night for dinner we were scheduled (yes, I make a weekly meal plan) to have meatballs and spaghetti. This is one of my standard meals, and in general it is one which I think fits with Bittman's overall approach - you make a smallish quantity of meat go a lot further and by serving wee balls on top of pasta, you actually need less of the meat to feel satisfied. I do have my own recipe for meatballs which I've honed for years and which both the lad and I really like, but Bittman has another version in his book, so I thought I ought to give that a try last night. I have altered his quantities and spices a bit, and the resulting recipe is below.
NB. This will make a GIANT quantity of meatballs. Seriously - from 500g of meat you will have enough to easily feed 8 people for dinner. Throw a salad and some garlic bread on the side and you could probably stretch it even further. With the recipe below, I made 66 decent sized meatballs last night. My freezer is literally packed full of the leftovers! Plus using bulgar instead of breadcrumbs (which is the normal approach) means that you add fibre to the mix and that has the overall function of lowering the fat. I was a wee bit dubious about how the texture of the meatballs would be, but they were really nice and very tasty. Win, win, win, win!
Bittman and Bain's Meatballs
500g ground meat (he says turkey, but that's a v American vibe. I used half pork mince and half beef...both welfare approved, obviously).
1 cup bulgar wheat (here's where we vary. He said to use 2 cups of bulgar for half the above quantity of meat. That would make them wheatballs and they wouldn't stick together. He also doesn't list whether that should be dried or soaked. So, I soaked 1 cup of dried bulgar for 30 mins in boiling water, drained it throughly and used that amount for the 500g meat. These are good proportions)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced very finely
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
spinach - as much as you've got but anything between 250-500g will work
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary and thyme
2 tsp salt
black pepper
1 free-range egg
Soak the bulgar as described above, drain and add to the meats. Heat the olive oil and saute onion and garlic until soft. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add this mixture along with the egg and seasonings to the meat and bulgar. Mix thoroughly with your hands until kneaded/combined. At this point I fried a small mini-meatball in the pan I'd used for the onions, to test the seasonings.
Roll into balls, place on baking sheet and bake at 200g for about 20 mins. Eat in whatever style you prefer. We had ours with tomato sauce - I simmered the baked meatballs for about 5 mins in the sauce before serving over spaghetti.
If you have used meat that hasn't been pre-frozen, you can then freeze the uncooked meatballs. If it was frozen already (as in my case) then cook them all, and freeze them cooked. To freeze, place separated meatballs on a lined baking tray in the freezer overnight. In the morning transfer the frozen balls to a bag and voila - free-flow meatballs for the next month! :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)