Elizabeth David
I’ve long been envious of people who just happen to find old and interesting cookery books in charity shops. I often find myself browsing the shelves only to be confronted with the Sainsbury’s Microwave Cook Book from 1982 or the Marks and Spencer All Time Favourite Slow Cooker Recipes. Today however, I struck lucky and came across these two paperbacks for 49p each in my local Oxfam. I knew they were good, but this was confirmed when I was stalked around the store by someone who clearly coveted them.
They make for interesting, if complex, reading. I’m yet to cook anything from them though.
G
Scallops and Paella
Tonight’s starter was scallops with chorizo. We fried the chorizo off first, then the scallop roe and finally the scallops themselves. Served as above. Yum 🙂
To continue the fishy theme, we then made a seafood paella with prawns, mussels and clams:
It was very tasty, and there was rice, you just can’t see it in the picture 🙂
Cheese Muffins
In my “things to cook soon” file, I’ve had Nigella’s Welsh Rarebit Muffin recipe for ages but never gotten around to making it. Speaking to someone I know this week, she mentioned that she’d had mixed results with the recipe and suggested I try this instead, Cheese and Pancetta Muffins from UKTV Food.
We left out the pancetta in an attempt to be healthy but added in some worcester sauce and made these for breakfast this morning. They were good, but would have been even better with the pancetta I think.
G
Steak with Butternut and Caramelised Onions
We decided that steak with salad would be fairly healthy for a Friday night. We had a couple of sirlion steaks and roasted some butternut pieces and mushrooms to go with them. We also cooked down a red onion until it was quite gooey and caramelised with just a few “intentional” black bits. And there was salad too.
Thai Green Curry with Chicken
We had been planning to make Thai green curry for a few days, and when the day came, we found ourselves in Chinatown buying ingredients. We had a jar of green curry paste from the shop, but after my purchase of a long-coveted “real” mortar and pestle from New Loon Moon in Chinatown, I was determined to make it myself. Almost coincidentally, we had all the required ingredients at home. So I started grinding, mashing and bashing and 15 minutes or so later, we had some semblance of green curry paste although the lemongrass had made it rather fibrous and not too paste-like.
We cooked the curry with chicken, later adding pea aubergines, baby corn and mange tout. It was really good. At least twenty times better than it would have been using the curry paste from a jar. And we have some left over, so we can make some again soon without too much hassle.
Cheese Crumpets
Stephen was out tonight and I had planned to use up the smoked mackerel fillets we bought last time he was out (I couldn’t be bothered to eat them that time) but I just couldn’t be bothered – again. So, I foraged around and found some crumpets that were dangerously close to their sell-by date (don’t know how I let that happen!)
Toasted, toped with cheese which was melted under the grill and eaten with a cup of tea. They were good but the picture actually makes them look better than they were.
Am hungry again now though.
G
Brrr
It’s been lovely and bright and quite warm lately but today was cold, it even snowed briefly. After lots of tidying up in the garden we came inside and cooked a warming casserole. The afternoon was spent reading the papers and after an early shower I thought some hot chocolate would be just the thing to round off the weekend.
This is regarded as the best hot chocolate in the world evah, and I have to agree that it’s pretty good (so good that you can just spoon the chocolate out of the tin). I made it with all milk, heated on the stove then added a good couple of teaspoons of the pure chocolate flakes and whisked it until it was frothy. Would be really good with some whipped cream on top.
G
Guinness Marmite
Apparently, these limited edition jars are flying off the shelves and going for fortunes on eBay…we were lucky enough to find one today in Waitrose so snapped it up.
I don’t buy the marketer’s “love it or hate it” rubbish, I think it’s ok…I like it with cheese on toast and it adds depth to beef dishes but I don’t particularly like it on toast or in a sandwich. Stephen likes it though and so it was down to him to sample it when we got home. The verdict: “it’s ok, doesn’t taste that much different to normal Marmite though”.
Pheasant au Vin
Yesterday, we bought a pheasant at our local butcher with the intention of cooking it today. After considering a few pheasant-related recipes, we decided to make something up and do a “pheasant au vin”. I’m glad that we did because it was really, really good. Joined the pheasant, then marinated it in some red wine for a few hours. Then browned the pheasant pieces, fried lardons, shallots and garlic. Then added the wine in which the pheasant had been marinating, plus a little more wine, some sage and thyme and then enough beef stock to just cover all the ingredients. Brought it to boiling point, then put it into the oven for an hour. Served with leeky mash, cabbage and mange tout.
Chiang Mai Curry Noodles
I had a craving for some more Thai food last week, so I attempted to make “Chiang Mai Curry Noodles”. It didn’t go quite according to plan. I couldn’t get exactly the right noodles and I couldn’t get red curry paste because for some reason none of the shops had it at the time. I didn’t feel up to making my own curry paste, so I used green curry paste instead. The result was tasty, but not brilliant.
F
