Steak and Mash
I have a weakness for mash. Especially mustardy, buttery mash. So I am quite happy to have it with almost anything. Kerri was out yesterday evening, so I had steak with mustardy, buttery mash. The mash was really good. The steak was average; I should have been more selective when buying it and should also have paid more attention to it while it was cooking rather than spending all my time preparing the mash.
I put a bit of Blacksticks Blue cheese on top of it, which went well. In the background of the picture are mushroom ketchup (one of the finest sauces known to man) and Harvey’s sauce (okay, but too heavy on the molasses for my liking). I added splashes of these to slices of steak.
Beef Casserole and Baked Camembert
A couple of days ago we decided to make a casserole for future consumption. Where “future” means “after a night out and are really hungry but can’t be bothered to cook”. The night out in question was last night and I had a small helping then, but we ate the rest of it tonight.
The casserole turned out well, but not brilliantly. It was hearty and the meat was tender, but it lacked any sort of distinguishing features. Apart from beef and potatoes, it contained carrots, parsnips, thyme and various other standard ingredients.
After the casserole we had a baked Camembert, into which Kerri had put slivers of garlic and some rosemary. It was brilliant, gooey and cheesy and garlicky. We dipped slices of French bread into it. Mmmmmm cheese.
Unfortunately I deleted the casserole picture in a fit of misdirected house-keeping, so here is the Camembert one:
Chorizo and Curly Kale
Thursday is vegetable-box delivery day, which means Wednesday is inevitably using-up-last-week’s-vegetables day. Tonight, we had a surplus of curly kale (we have courgettes and spinach too but let’s not talk about that) so we combined that, with Stephen’s birthday chorizo, some cream, onions and salt and pepper.
It was good, quite similar to the Cabbage and Chorizo we had the other day actually.
Pizza Toast
After a very boring evening of ironing and packing away my summer clothes, there wasn’t much time left for cooking so, I made my very special cheese on toast. Organic white bread (unsliced so I can get just the right thickness) toasted, spread with a small amount of tomato pesto, topped with chorizo, mature cheddar cheese and black pepper; then grilled until the cheese has melted and browned slightly. It is perfect.
I think I’ve tried every frozen and fresh pizza the supermarkets have to offer and nothing comes close to this. It takes less than five minutes to prepare, is made from store-cupboard ingredients, and always tastes brilliant. I would eat it every week if I could.
And I managed to change the settings on the camera without Stephen’s assistance :proud:
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Bubble and Squeak
Another of my favourite meals from when I was small, this time made with leftover roast potatoes and curly kale. Served with leftover pork belly. It was tasty but teeny. Stephen is raiding the fridge as we speak.
Chocolate Spread on Toast
It’s not big, and it’s not clever, but boy does it taste good 🙂
Pork Belly
Stephen had pork belly for lunch last week and it was really tasty so we decided to try cooking our own. We bought the pork belly from the Ginger Pig yesterday and, before we went out to watch the fireworks, we poured boiling water and cider vinegar onto the skin, then refrigerated it over night.
This morning, before we cooked it, we rubbed it with a paste of salt, pepper, butter, garlic and crushed bay-leaves. We cooked it for 30 minutes at 200 degrees, 30 minutes at 180 degrees and a final 15 minutes at 160 degrees. Then we removed the crackling and put that under the grill until it went really crispy.
We served it with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, curly kale, carrots and broccoli. And Stephen’s special gravy. It tasted as good as it looks. And there’s leftovers for tomorrow, with bubble and squeak.
Fried Egg with Bubble and Squeak
For breakfast this morning, Stephen had a fried egg with the leftover mashed potatoes and curly kale from last night. He fried the mashed potatoes, so they were a sort of bubble and squeak.
Banger and Mash-and-Carrots-and-Kale
Bonfire night. Have to have bangers and mash according to Kerri. I heartily endorse this idea. So before a delay-ridden and noisy teenager-ridden bus trip to Alexandra Palace to watch fireworks, we tucked into this meal. The sausages were sage and onion (and pork, obviously) from the Kerri Pig. They were fairly coarse in texture, very meaty and really tasty – more of the meat than of the sage and onion, but that is of course fine. Our mash contained butter, milk, cheese, mustard, carrots and kale (and potatoes, obviously). It too, was really good. The whole meal was a flavour extravaganza; just a pity we had to eat it so quickly to catch our ill-fated bus.
Coddled Egg with Mushrooms, Spinach and Cheese
For my recent birthday, one of the many, many presents that I received from Kerri was an egg coddler. I had never used one before and used it for the first time on my birthday. Now, a week later, I tried it again and added mushrooms, spinach and cheese to my egg. It was really tasty, but tasted more of mushrooms, spinach and cheese than egg. I should rethink the ratios next time should I decide that it needs to be more breakfasty.
