Ems and Food

Sunday lunch

2007-10-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

Having spent most of the weekend recovering from Friday night's alcoholic intake (and trying to work out how I achieved the spectacular purple speckly 3 inch bruise and lump on the top of my leg; I do know how my fingers were crushed - C. trod on them when I fell over on the way to Stratford station) I craved a nostalgic lunch from my students days in France.

Saucisson sec, pâté de campagne and mozzarella, tomato and basil salad with fresh bread.

M&S

2007-03-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

I do find the M&S adverts cloyingly annoying.

'This is not just food. This is M&S food'.

So, I couldn't fail but laugh my head off when my sister told me about the labels amongst the ham on Saturday. 'This isn't just torture. This is M&S torture'.

Apparently, my mum was trying to screw them up and my little sister wondered whether she should tell someone they'd been sabotaged.

I'm just disappointed she didn't take a picture with her phone.

Fishy business

2007-03-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

The two men in front of me at the fishmongers Applebee's Saturday morning spent £54 and £46 respectively. I felt something like the poor relation with my £7 piece of smoked haddock. But hey, were their dinners as nice as mine? They'd be hard pushed to better the smoked haddock with cream and broccoli we demolished.

In praise of...celery

2007-02-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

Much underrated, celery is a wonderful vegetable braised with onion and carrot in a little stock. Just the accompaniment to roast shoulder of lamb and mash.

The left over lamb will be lovingly crafted into something resembling a pasty for lunch tomorrow.

Comfort Food

2007-02-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

Top five:

1. Mash, cabbage and gravy.
2. Stodgy porridge.
3. Double egg and chips.
4. Vegetable dhansak and pilau rice.
5. Mushroom risotto.

I've had all five since Thursday.

Hot, hot, hot!

2007-01-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

So much food and so little time to blog about it. I had every intention of sharing the best bit about roast chicken last weekend but never quite got round to it. Just in case you're interested it's putting the leftovers into a laksa.

I like to describe it as a Thai soup with noodles and things. I took the basic Nigel Slater recipe (who else?) for pumpkin and tomato laksa and replaced the pumpkin and tomato with... roast chicken. I love it. Most of my favourite ingredients are there: garlic, chilli, coriander, lemon grass. This dish has a definite kick to it.

This Sunday I passed on a dish that takes longer to cook (these are usually reserved for the 'day of rest' for obvious reasons) simply because I forgot to take a joint out the freezer. Standby was pork and spinach curry. Or more accurately spinach and pork curry. I bought a bag of the frozen stuff over the road and chucked a couple of handfuls of the round blobs of spinach in. Fresh spinach decreases. Frozen, I have discovered, increases in size. Still, it tasted good.

Tonight had to be something quick as I left work later than usual. Prawn, cashew nuts and peppers in black pepper sauce with rice in under 20 minutes. (Pictured above). Quicker than a takeaway or heating something up in the oven. (We don't have a microwave).

The perfect potato

2007-01-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

For someone who spent ten years as a veggie I have eaten a lot of meat recently. So tonight's dinner is good and simple. Baked potato.

But not any old baked potato. It is true I am ever so slightly obsessed with Nigel Slater but the man is God.

Once the potato is cooked:

Remove immediately [from the oven] and hit it with the side of your hand (wrapped in a tea towel if you would rather not burn yourself), hard enough to split the skin but not so hard that you re-decorate the kitchen. A plume of steam will leave the potato with a rush, leaving the inside a mass of light, powdery, moist fluff. This is where you get the butter out.

Real Food.

Opening the potato in this way makes all the difference to the texture. And it's fun too.

Quack

2006-12-31T10:55:00.000-08:00

We've eaten relatively little over Christmas - turkey and the trimmings, Christmas pud on the day itself; but other than that it's been quiet and uninspired.

I woke up this morning with a burning desire for duck. I have these moments which C. finds totally alien. In terms of food he's changed beyond recognition over ten years but if you're hungry he thinks you can eat anything. I disagree.

We're thankful we were able to purchase a duck this morning. (He had visions of starting the New Year with me in an awful strop).

We have just scoffed roast duck, pancetta and potatoes (with thanks to Nigel Slater). Absolutely scrumptious. With enough potato left over to fry up in the morning. As C. himself said "That'll do nicely with an egg." (He's learning).

Store cupboard Standby

2006-12-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

It takes a truly terrible day for me to not want to cook. It happens about once every three or four months. When I have slightly terrible days I look to the cupboard and freezer for something easy. Thai prawn curry.

I buy very little prepared food but there are some exceptions: Mae Ploy sauces. I always have one on standby in the fridge. I found them at Hoo Hing which we're fortunate enough to have quite nearby.

A dessert spoon of paste (not the quantity stated on the tub; you'll die choking) with a tin of coconut milk, a sliced onion, a handful of green beans and a bag of raw tiger prawns from the freezer combine for a quick and tasty dinner.

Braised steak au poivre in red wine

2006-12-11T10:27:00.000-08:00

One of the joys of a meat box is discovering 'new' cuts. These are often pieces of meat your gran will know about but which our wonderful supermarkets, full of choice, do not stock.

Chuck steak. The shoulder in one big lump. Good for casseroles and stews. Looking for a little inspiration I ended up with Delia. Braised steak au poivre in red wine. Served with mash and cabbage. Beautiful.

One of the many occasions when we expect to have leftovers. But don't.

The Week That Was

2006-12-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

Celeriac and parsnip gratin. Winter vegetable soup. Roast squash and lamb chops. Smoked bacon and lentil soup. Amongst other things.

Dinner Dance

2006-11-26T00:53:00.000-08:00

Menu

Minestrone Soup with Parmesan Cheese
Roll and Butter

********

Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding
with Horseradish Sauce
Roast Potatoes
New Potatoes
Broccoli Spears
Baby Carrots

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Fruits of the Forest & Pavlova & Cream

********

Selection of Cheeses & Biscuits

********

Tea, Coffee & Mints

C.'s presentation/dinner dance. This meal would easily serve as an example of how us Brits got a bad name for cooking and food. It also highlights the difference between the generations. About ninety diners and possibly four of us under the age of fifty. Where to start? At the beginning.

I have tasted better minestrone soup from a tin. This had a slightly thick texture and very little taste. It was served at the table from a glass jug more usually associated with coffee machines. The Parmesan was the powdery stuff we used to put on our bolognese in the seventies. (The pots had three different sized holes/shapes). I had no idea there was still a market for it. Still, the bread was fresh and tasty.

There were murmurs of appreciation all round our table in praise of the beef. "Tender", "moist" and "can't remember when I last had beef this good." C. and I were remarkably quiet. The slices of beef were paper thin - they could hardly have been chewy - and tasted of nothing much at all. The horseradish sauce was good. Potent with an ability to clear your head in seconds. I smothered it everywhere. (So much so I thought my nose was on fire at one point). The Yorkshire was just as my mum makes them (which is praise indeed) and the roast potatoes were passable.

I declined the new potatoes. Given that it's winter they are probably from a tin. I cannot stand potatoes from a tin. One of my aunts used to feed them to us in the seventies (that decade seems to be hovering). They were disgusting and we were too polite to say so. Not much can be said for the broccoli and carrots except they were boiled to a mush and duly tasted of water.

The pavlova was a lump of very sweet meringue accompanied by a splodge of berries (recently defrosted) and a swirl of cream. I just shovelled it down quick.

The cheese was served in tiny pieces, fresh from a supermarket poly pack, on a paper plate. I usually elbow people out the way for the cheese but even the Stilton looked like plastic.

While the others took their share I commented to C. that his food tastes have changed considerably in the ten years since he met me. "I've been spoilt" was the reply.

Leek and Potato Soup

2006-11-26T00:46:00.000-08:00

After Friday night's Chinese takeaway (bean curd in black bean sauce, Singapore rice and half a pancake roll) and Saturday morning's double egg and chips over the road, lunch had to be something good, healthy and warming. Soup.

Leek, potato and onion to be precise. I'm not sure where the onion came from - it may have been Delia. For a recipe (without the onion) visit Beggar's Banquet here.

Roast squash

2006-11-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

Some things are just easy. This is one of them. Chop a smallish squash in two. Scoop out the fibres and seeds. Place on a baking tray cut-side up. Add a slice of butter, a drizzle of olive oil and a grinding of salt and pepper. Thyme or sage leaves would add a nice touch. (My only negative comment about the farmers' market was the lack of herbs other than parsley; I won't buy them flown halfway round the world from Israel).

Good with sausages, pork chops or brown rice.

I've discovered that food photography is not one of my strong points...It's not as plain as it looks!

Winter Warmer

2006-11-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is the reason why I asked the potato man at Marylebone Farmers' Market what's good for mash. (Answer: Lady Balfour). Mash pie.

A Nigel Slater recipe. Layer of mash with a layer of caramelised onions, black pepper and crumbled Stilton topped with another layer of mash and Parmesan cheese. Baked in the oven for about 25 minutes. I mess around with the pie filling - different cheeses and vegetables. Sautéed mushrooms are good as are leeks or spinach. Crispy bacon bits wouldn't go amiss either. Serve with something green.