Raspberries
On Valentines Day, I had planned to make frozen berries with hot chocolate sauce but we were both too full to eat it. The raspberries have been in the freezer ever since so tonight, we had them with Green and Black’s vanilla ice-cream. The rasperries weren’t quite as frozen as they look in this picture but I could have done with defrosting them a little earlier.
G
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Although neither of us are Irish, we never let a food holiday pass us by. Today, in true Irish spirit, we made beef in Guinness with colcannon. The casserole was good, if a little sweet but the colcannon was brilliant.
G
Fred’s Fried Breakfast
This morning, we were hungry and there the cupboards were bare so Stephen made an emergency dash to the deli and came back with a bagful of goodies. He had a fried egg, some black pudding, some sweet-cured bacon, two pork sausages, some fried vine tomatoes and some French bread.
It was all very tasty and a good start to a busy day.
G
Mixed Mushroom Pasta
Tonight, we made a mixed mushroom pasta dish by frying some shallots and garlic, adding the mixed mushrooms with some thyme and lemon juice then finishing with brandy and creme fraiche. It was ok but a bit bland. Would have been good with bacon. And cheese.
G
Lamb Chops with Roasted Vegetables
Tonight we had planned to make lamb kofta, but the lamb mince that we’d bought on Saturday had not lasted well so we bought some lamb chops at the last minute. We seasoned the lamb chops with salt and garlic and pan-fried them, then sprinkled them with parsely and a squeeze of lemon juice. We mixed the roasted vegetables with some couscous which went well together. The yoghurt and mint was a good accompaniment.
F
Beef Stroganoff
After the huge success of our pork stroganoff a while back, we decided to try it with beef instead. We found a recipe and followed it, but the result was not as good as the pork stroganoff. We’ll try it again using exactly the same recipe that we used for the pork, except use beef instead. Served with purple sprouting broccoli which was good.
F
Mmmmmm cheeeeeese…
On Friday night we decided to have something easy to prepare for dinner. We had various nibbly bits and then had a selection of four cheeses, each individually selected from Neal’s Yard Dairy.
Clockwise, from the bottom round… Coolea (full in the mouth, slightly nutty aftertaste, very good indeed), Keen’s Cheddar (very sharp; I think this was a bit past it), Tunworth (an unpasteurised cows’ milk cheese, a bit camembert-like, very good) and Chabis (goats’ milk, an interesting cross between chalky and creamy, but not as fully flavoured as one that we’ve had recently; probably needs a bit more time to mature).
F
Lemongrass Marinated Beef
We have been planning to cook this for a while but have been distracted by various things along the way. We got around to it tonight and it was really good. The vegetables in the marinade (shallots, lemongrass, garlic, chilli) were supposed to be ground to a puree, but our mortar and pestle weren’t really up to the job so it was a bit chunkier than intended. It still worked well though. Served with stir-fried pak choi and mange tout and jasmine rice.
Sausages and Lentils
Tonight’s objective was to use lentils. I found lots of different lentilly recipes: fishy ones, lamby ones but Stephen, being Stephen, decided the only one to go with was the sausagey one. So that’s what we did, and it’s a good job I let him get his own way sometimes because it was a triumph.
Puy lentils, cooked with some bite. Sausages fried off then removed from the pan; shallots, garlic, sage, rosemary and chilli fried then combined with a red wine reduction, stock and the previously cooked lentils. All heated through with some fresh parsley and served with sausages on top and French bread on the side.
G
Cauliflower Cheese (and Roasted Butternut with Chicken Casserole)
We had some chicken thighs that needed using up so last night, while we were cooking dinner, Stephen make a quick casserole. I heated this up tonight and served it with some vegetables that also needed using up.
I made some cauliflower cheese and some roasted butternut. I didn’t think they were going to go with the chicken very well but actually they did, which pleased me.
G
