A touch of Mexican?

Spent 30 mins in dental hygienist chair yesterday running through the ingredients in the fridge trying to decide what to make for supper... Kept coming back to butternut squash which we had the night before, or soup which I had for lunch...

Decided to pop by Whole Foods for a loaf of their tasty sourdough and check out their ready meals... Only it transpired they don't really do ready meals... Still no closer. Did spot some cooking chorizo which was reasonably priced and always good to have in stock to bring flavour.

Headed home in a torrential rain storm. Not good when you're wearing jeans on the bike!!

Hot bath to warm up and time for some inspiration from the web... Finally I recalled the tasty Mexican dish Huevos Rancheros - phew! A little more research and up popped this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1959651/potato-pepper-and-chorizo-stew-with-fried-eggs. Simple, tasty sounding and I had all the ingredients except parsley (as too wet to go outside to pick), but had coriander instead.

True to its description this took no effort and cheered me up nicely after my soaking. However, Riverford's chorizo is much better as this one which I felt was rather bland. Even the one I brought in Sainsbury's was better.

The winning supper streak continued tonight as my chunky veg soup was full of flavour and great textures.

1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 very large carrot, sliced into 0.5cm rings
1/4 large butternut squash, cut into large chunks
1/4 broccoli, cut into medium florets, including some of the stem (I like the flavour of the stem best)
1/2 red pepper, cut into chunks
2tbsp coriander, chopped
Veg stock, enough to cover veg
1/4 Savoy cabbage, shredded into 1cm slices
1/2 400g tin cannelenni beans, rinsed

Heat oil. Gently cook onions for few mins, then add garlic and chilli and continue to cook over low heat until soft, stirring often

Add veg except cabbage and cook for a few minutes.

Add stock and bring to boil then turn down and simmer for 10-15 mins, till veg cooked.

Add cabbage and beans and check seasoning. Cook for a few more mins till cabbage beginning to wilt and warmed through.

Add coriander and serve.

29.01.13

Comfort with a twist

Good ol' cottage pie (beef I think is cottage, whilst lamb would be shepherds'). Waitrose had their lean mince on 50% off per kg so 400g cost less than £3, fitting in with the post Christmas pinch feeling.

But I did parsnip mash and cheddar cheese on top to give it something a bit out the ordinary and suitable for a weekend dinner... plus I got to use the parsnips in this week's veg box. Haven't had parsnips yet this year in the box, so a nice new flavour.

Served with yet more Savoy cabbage... Had a lot of it over the last two months... But judging by the tiny wee size of this one, they may be coming to an end. I might miss it though as its nice to have something bright green on the plate, and its always very tasty and versatile.

Need to think up some more uses for carrots as supply growing again!

26.01.13

Chocolate chip banana cake take 2

Since it was SO delicious last time and I had two black bananas needing to be used up, I thought I'd make it again.

This time with muscovado sugar (light version) as Nigel suggests in his recipe. I expected it to be darker in colour, but I think it's too strong.

The cake is not as light and moist as last time, although this might be partly due to the 75g of bananas I didn't put in (don't ask why as I have them!), and its much sweeter. Cooking time was about the same.

I think I'll stick with light brown soft sugar in future!

Hey ho... It's still cake and cake is always good, partly because it seems greedy to eat cake in the middle of the afternoon in between meals.

26.01.13

Nigel Take Two

Tonight's challenge was to turn the leftover chicken noodle broth into something tasty, resembling what I think it's meant to...

Took meat off bone, warmed stock, added sliced mushrooms and the leftover cooked Savoy cabbage along with the pieces of meat.

Simmered noodles rather than left them to sit in hot water.

Drained noodles and put in a bowl. Poured broth mixture over the top.

MUCH tastier and edible, but still lacking a bit of flavour. Did forget to add the Thai basil though (what am I going to do with it now?).

Even got a thank you peck on the cheek from Ken!

Note: Nigel definitely didn't test that recipe. I think he meant to tell you to strain the broth after cooking it. Next time I'll know what to do eh!

21.01.2013

What was Nigel thinking?

Healthy chicken noodle broth turned into a cold, tasteless and very awkward to eat dinner...

For many weeks I have been looking forward to this chicken broth with its cinnamon, star anise and Thai basil flavours: expecting to feel healthy and cleansed after. Only the surprisingly tasty Daylesford Organic chicken softened this disaster. Another silver star to Daylesford for producing quality produce (there eggs were really tasty too).

Not sure how Nigel does it, but meat on the bone in a watery broth was never going to be easy to eat. Maybe my choice of chicken pieces wasn't correct (he did say wings though which I included), and/or my spices were not quality enough or too old. I admit I only had thick rice noodles rather than thin ones, but surely that's a minor detail and its not going to affect taste is it?

He said to take the broth off the heat and leave to sit whilst you cook the noodles and greens, which meant it went cold. Not helped as the noodles asked to be cooked by soaking in hot water for 15 mins by which time the water was cold.

Hmmm... I might try again, but would take meat off the bone to serve and mix the greens with the broth, reheat and serve OVER the noodles. I will try this with the leftovers.

Otherwise, all I can think is I'm not meant to serve the meat, just use it for flavour, but what a waste!

Perhaps I should ask Nigel.

However all was not lost today as Hetti and Stuart came over for tea. In opposition to last week they brought the goodies - wholesome butternut squash soup which we had with some sourdough bread I had, lightly toasted with lashings of unsalted butter, finished Hetti's signature chocolate chip cookies🍪. We ate them all, of course.

Chorizo time & veg boxes

I get a small veg box from Riverford every two weeks. This forms the basis of what we eat and I love the challenge it brings deciding what to cook / how to cook the mix of veg. I also have enjoyed learning about new veg I wasn't very familiar with (some of which have become my favourites, like celeriac and garlic leaves) and discovering new ways of cooking common veg. Surprisingly we don't eat lots of soup, but I believe I have come quite adept at making soup and have a few more unusual soup recipes in my repertoire using up certain veg.

Riverford also do a great cook book and a pretty handy app which is where tonight's dinner came from: cabbage, chorizo & potato hash served with a poached egg on top.

Another reason for singing the praises of Riverford is that whilst the recipe called for 'cabbage', they really mean you to use kale as it would work best, but it's flexible and any cabbage or greens will do. I used Savoy cabbage. This is a great lesson in learning to look beyond the ingredient and understand how they come in families and can be interchangeable.

Oh, and I cooked this because chorizo always gets lots of appreciation from Ken!

Btw, yesterday I threw together some penne, fried chorizo, what was left of a jar of pesto together with a few glugs of olive oil, topped with crumbled feta. Gotta say that the chorizo / feta combo was a treat, both smoothing out the other's potential for bring too strong. Might be onto something....

For our tired bodies last night we had comfort food in the shape of Riverford's very tasty pork and apple sausages, cauliflower cheese and baked potatoes. Riverford also do great meat.

14.01.2013

What do kids and adults like?

Tea at Tessa's today so thought I'd bake a cake. She's got two kids - Tom who's 6 and Flora who's 4. What will they like? Probably not a plum cake so those plums will have to continue going off. Can't think of an apple cake, so ditto the three apples in the fruit bowl. Don't have the cream cheese for one of my favourite cakes - Ottolenghi's carrot cake... mmmm.

Do however have two going over-ripe bananas which I'm not going to eat as I like mine almost underripe. And I've got my new Nigel Slater book and I know he likes cakes. Perfect - Nigel's chocolaty banana cake. Easy to make too!

Flora and Tom declared it delicious and banana cake was their favourite cake. So all round winner. It was light, moist and full of flavour - maybe I'm finally understanding when to take a cake out the oven?

Then it was off to Hereford Road (http://www.herefordroad.org/) to appease the adult taste buds with their lovely British rustic cooking - quality seasonal produce beautifully cooked with great wine. Only thing I'd say is that I'd have preferred my treacle tart warm.

Other made

Last night was girlie catch up night with the wonderful Hetti. Download what we've been doing, spurt out any current gripes, EAT... and get home in good time. What more could a girl want for a midweek night out?!

We went to http://rosaslondon.com/spitalfields/ for a very spicy and tasty red curry stir fry.

Tonight was after work drinks and a pizza when I got home in the oven. Tried Tesco's Finest wood-fired as feel Pizza Express has lost some quality and bored of them... but not good. Back to boring old Pizza Express it seems. Hmmm...

Looking forward to tomorrow's lie in and dinner out St John's-style.

Annabel's celeriac & chorizo soup

Tonight I decided to ditch all recipes. When I considered how many times have I made soup (esp. veg ones which I make up) and how many times I have made celeriac soup it's ridiculous that I still feel the need to check what to do in a recipe. So....

Serves 2-3

600g celeriac, peeled and chopped into chunks
1/2 large or 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
750ml vegetable stock
Approx. 5cm chunk of chorizo sausage, chopped into small cubes
50ml cream
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onions and season with salt and pepper. Gently fry the onion till soft. Add the celeriac and continue to fry for a few more minutes. Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the celeriac is soft, approx 15-20 mins.

Once cooked, whizz in a blender, magi-mix or similar until smooth. Return to the pan and check seasoning. Add the cream and reheat. Meanwhile fry the chorizo until crispy.

To serve, pour into bowls and scatter the chorizo on top.

Verdict: pretty darn tasty if I may say so myself!

And out go the recipe books for soups!

Instant dinner

Worked late, so home late. No inclination and not really enough time to make the soup I'd intended. Had healthy instant dinner last night so it was a packet of miso soup (that's healthy though isn't it?) with a cheddar cheese and pickle sourdough sandwich. One saving grace is that I had nice bread and the pickle was made by my sister. Chunky but very tasty!

Don't ask me what Ken and Mowgli had... Too grim. Can still smell it too.

Beating those Monday blues

It's Monday night... Mid week cooking begins... How to make something tasty with as little effort and time as possible as don't get home till 8pm-ish.

Today, adding to the need for simplicity, Ken is still ill with chesty/asthma thing and I've had stomach pains most of the day.

Easiest healthy dinner? That's an omelette of course! Tonight spruced up with a colourful fennel, tomato, red onion, feta and (more leftover) puy lentil salad.

Tried something new - seasoned the mushrooms as they cooked instead of the egg mixture. Tasted good, but couldn't say if better. The vinegary dressing of the salad was a nice complement to the cheesy mushroom omelette though.

Mmm.. The French make good sauces!

Thanks to Rouxbe.com for their very clear instructions, today's dinner is based on a typical French dish by Julia Childs (inspiration for this blog by the way).

No white wine so used Dry Vermouth instead, although less on basis it has a stronger flavour. Seemed to work fine which is good to know as rarely have spare white wine hanging around.

Required patience to really reduce the sauce when necessary, but worth it... Managed to season it well too. And Riverford's (giant) organic chicken breasts had great flavour. DELICIOUS!!

Used my sister's technique for mashed potatoes - very smooth and creamy. No need to replace broken ricer now.

Hopefully just what Ken needs to feel strong and healthy again and get rid of his cold.

Ode to Sophie Braimbridge!

A bit 'freecycle' today (although gave a lunch token worth £3.50 for the recycled ingredients).

Take two lovely fresh salmon pieces left over from lunch at work yesterday, season and pan fry.

Serve with a puy lentil, romanesco broccoli (both from work as well), tomato, red onion, parsley (from the garden) and fennel salad plus buttery boiled small potatoes...

And you get a simple yet luxury Saturday night dinner.

However, think I should have roasted the fennel to serve alongside rather than include in the salad. Next time.

Its Friday already!

Fridge is empty other than a cabbage and lots of red onions.... And am very broke after xmas... Hmmmm.... What to eat that won't cost money?

Stopped at local corner shop for a red pepper which joined the half red pepper in the fridge in the oven. Once roasted, peeled and whizzed up with some cream, pinch of paprika and lots of seasoning. Served with pasta. Tasty. But weirdly sweet.

Leftovers

Warmed up the leftover juice and beans from yesterday's casserole - delicious with crusty bread!!

And more chocolate birthday cake of course 🍰

Happy Birthday to me!

Sausage and bean casserole for six adults and four kids in our one bed flat for lunch for sausage and bean casserole - cooked yesterday with a thumping New Year's Day hangover.

Served with rather lumpy mash and almost forgotten Savoy cabbage (guess I'm loosing brain cells now I'm 37), washed down with my new fav fizz:


And followed by panettone bread and butter pudding and...  a very chocolaty cake made by Tal, Flora and Myla.



Here we all are after a few rounds of table tennis on the kitchen table!

All topped of with a nice glass of Prosecco 🍸