Osso bucco alla Milanese with risotto allo zafferano

Under normal circumstances being left home alone means one of four things:

• a week of wild culinary experimentation 
• a week of eating all those meals I love but Ana hates
• a week of going out and eating toast
• a combination of all three, but tending to point three with a lot of leftover ingredients from point one cluttering up the fridge

This week frugality is the name of the game as we're off to Norge on Friday so all money must be carefully husbanded into Krone rather than a crate of Corona and a variety of odd spices.

However I know for a fact there is a lonely osso bucco in the freezer, along with a cheeky tuna steak. The trick is working out which to eat when.

On the basis it takes over two hours to cook Jamie's osso bucco wins the Sunday night dinner race - although having spent almost three hours building Lego on my own, it very nearly turns out to be early Monday morning breakfast.

This is one of those recipes we tried during the blog hiatus, so not strictly experimental, but it also wasn't amazingly successful, lacking a wee bit of punch to the sauce and the meat not quite being as tender as I'd hoped.

This time I get it bang on, and not just because I was absolutely famished by the time it was ready:

I think the trick was to double up the amount of nutmeg and rosemary, I used a better tomato paste and a bit more stock. Worst case scenario the stew is too runny and you've got to boil it off, best case - it's unctuous and bursting with flavour. It was the latter in this case.

sources

osso bucco alla Milanese with risotto allo zafferano - Jamie Oliver, Jamie's Comfort Food, p244

Jamie Oliver's venison stroganoff

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venison stroganoff - Jamie Oliver, right here on his website

Kate Belcher's Persian-style lamb and rhubarb stew

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I've still not found this in my back-catalogue of Delici, but luckily enough I copied it out years ago - voila!

Jamie Oliver's venison stroganoff

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venison stroganoff - Jamie Oliver, right here on his website

Debbie Major's griddled sausages with lentil and pimenton stew

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griddles sausages with lentil and pimenton stew - Debbie Major, Delicious, March 2014, p31

kay's sausage and guinness casserole

A third beautiful day running after wettest winter on record - could this be spring springing? Actually, despite the wall-to-wall rain I don’t remember this winter being particularly not sunny.

It's so nice I disappear off for my first jaunt around Richmond Park of the year, but I’ve got to be back in time to take Ana to Kensington for lunch with Kendra, and then I’ve got to get back in time to take Milo to a birthday party in Brentford, and once I’ve dropped him off I’ve got to be back in time for the England v Wales game and may be a brewski or two whilst super Georgey North runs in a hattrick.

Things sort of run like clockwork, with a couple of hiccoughs: I don’t leave early enough for my run so I only just get back in time to take Ana, who is less-than pleased to be travelling in the smelliest cab in London. The traffic coming back isn’t kind, so Milo has to sacrifice his lunch to my need for a shower, but at least I smell fresh when we make it to the party venue by the skin of our teeth. Traffic across Kew Bridge is a nightmare so I miss the first 10 minutes of the match (fortunately including that insufferable c0ck Danny Care’s try), but then it’s all cold beers and crisps on the beanbag as Wales stride towards another championship. Apart from the fact they’re utterly gash.

Still it is sunny, I have run 19.1K in fairly good pace and I’ve a fridge full of beers to sooth the pain. So much so at one point it looks like nobody is having dinner, Milo having eaten party food, Ana having lived it up on roast chicken at the Kensington Roof Gardens and I'm full of crisps and beer, but in the end some sort of sense prevails. Doubly so as we were umming and ahhing over a healthy and summery Vietnamese crab salad, but in the end stodge and (more alcohol) wins out as we opt for Kay’s sausage and Guinness casserole.

I go to bed very early.

sources
sausage and Guinness casserole - Mrs Kay McCarthy, now in the Black Book

morrocan chicken stew

One of our planned meals this week was the ever-popular Thai chicken lettuce thing for today’s fasting jamboree, or whatever the opposite of jamboree is as not eating doesn’t feel particularly jamboriffic.

Unfortunately for our weight loss, East Sheen’s favourite middle-class haunt has sold out of both turkey and chicken mince AND thai basil, although as we’ve have discovered the latter is hardly essential. ‘No matter’ I thought, I can pick some up on the way home later in the week, apart from the fact there seems to be a poultry mince famine this week, so after idly staring at the empty shelves for a bit I ended up coming home with chicken thighs and chicken breasts. I don’t know why as neither was useful, and as there wasn’t even any beansprouts, I couldn’t make Tom Norrington-Davies’ chicken noodle soup either.

This woolly thinking continues as I struggle to find any inspiration to deal with the mountain of chicken in the fridge, a process further undermined by the lack of at least two crucial ingredients for every meal I want to cook. Eventually we hit paydirt as we do have all we need for the classic Morroccan chicken. Well, except herbs but they only provide an admittedly-tasty gremolata garnish:

I also finished the evening with a spice shopping list so I can deal with tomorrow’s night chicken-y chapter: Chicken Chettinand!
sources
moroccan chicken stew - Delicious, February 2008, p28

lamb and orzo bake with cherry tomatoes

Individually ‘beers’, ‘curry’, ‘rugby club lunches’, ‘Greg’ and ‘JP’ are all fine concepts. It’s when I combine them, and maybe throw ‘hip flasks of sloe gin’, ‘wine’ and ‘pies’ into the mixer, that it goes horribly wrong.

At least I have some degree of consistency because if memory serves me right, the last time I went out with both of them I ended up puking, and the time before that when I went to St James’ Palace with JP, I also ended up with my head in the toilet.

The upshot is I’m feeling distinctly wonky today, which is more disastrous than usual as I can’t simply malinger in bed as I’ve got an interview pitch to create.

When in doubt – and by doubt I strictly mean ‘massively hungover’ – the best course of cooking action is to get a stew going. This is particularly true if it’s cold and wet outside, and you’ve got limited time on your hands because you’ve got beat your brains into some sort of order to come up with sensible ideas.

So whilst Ana and Milo are visiting the Bolgers of Kensington, and I’m cudgelling the grey matter for all I’m worth (whilst shivering due to cold/booze), we all have the satisfaction of knowing something warming and comforting is slowly bubbling away in the oven:

I remember this being a staple of the Wellington and cabana-boy-for-the-McPartlin years, and a very fine thing it is too!

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lamb and orzo bake, with cherry tomatoes - the black book

kay's sausage and guinness casserole

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sausage and Guinness casserole - the mother-in-law, now in the Black Book

jamie oliver's southern sausage stew

Having successfully fasted yesterday, tonight we undo all the good work by massively over-stuffing ourselves with porky goodness, and that’s not including the several-to-many cakes I managed to digest at work.

I rather suspect over-eating the following day is an inherent risk with the 5:2 diet, but generally we’ve been quite good at keeping our portion sizes down compared to last year. It’s even had a positive knock-on effect to how we view food, as we/I are much less likely to idly snack through boredom during the week, having put ourselves through the (relative) pain of rumbling stomachs and dizzy spells.

Not tonight though, and although Ana makes a show of complaining about the mountain of rice and spicy, sausage stew I pile onto our plates, her words are rather undercut by her actions as I certainly didn't force her to have seconds. And I note she left a couple of bits of green pepper and a pipkin of salt on her plate.

sources
jamie's southern sausage stew - Jamie Oliver, Delicious, October p41

simon rimmer's italian bean casserole

Having generally lorded it up over the last month or so how easy I’ve found fasting on Mondays, today it all comes back to bite me in the bum.
 

I blame yesterday’s Sunday roast-a-thon at JPs, complete with double-helpings of both lamb, roasties, red wine and sticky toffee pudding. I think in trying to offset today’s deficit a day ahead, I’ve accidentally opened a massively hungry can of worms. Fat worms that are really, really hungry.

Stomachs started rumbling within seconds of waking, and continued all day, all through the 1500 starvation witching hour, all the way home and right up until the point I’d heated up some of Simon Rimmer’s Italian Bean Casserole we’d carefully secreted in the freezer last time we had it.

It was a little soupier as I added a can of tomatoes, but not enough to deaden the flavours of the herbs. Obviously it’d have been nicer with some parmesan, but you can’t underestimate the value of having  dinner pretty much ready when you return home, when you would willingly eat your own arm off.

Sadly though, the casserole did not assuage our groaning tums, which continued to gurgle all through The Killing and deep into the night.

cep and potato stew

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cep & potato stew - Delicious, November 2009, p81

hugh's north african squash and chickpea stew

Other than a roast, nothing says autumn is on it's way more than a hearty stew ticking away on the hob, and guess what's cooking tonight?

Funnily enough I'm not as famished as I usually am after yesterday's 5:2 starvathon, so I don't have to instantly make a huge pile of sandwiches when I get home. This means I've got more time to chop up squash/onions/garlic/celery when I get home, and indeed get a bit frisky with some left-over chorizo lurking in the fridge.

What we end up with is a great heart-warming, satisfying stew which is made even richer by the addition of the chorizo, which adds a piquant dimension and greater depth for flavour. This is all to the good as we both knackered, hence the picture wobble:

There's simply too much to do at the moment, and things aren't helped by a Milo discovering hitherto untapped mines of energy after some post-school swimming.

And if we weren't sure it the seasons were turning, watching The Killing is final confirmation. We still can't work out whodunnit though...

sources
north african squash and chickpea stew - HFW, River Cottage Veg Everyday, p30

chorizo and butter bean casserole

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chorizo and butter bean casserole - The Black Book

delia smith's chicken basque

We're at the arse-end of the shopping as Ana's out at a wedding tomorrow and us boys are off on a camping weekend in t'country.

However, rather than the usual panicked raiding of the freezer, with a side-order of marmite on toast, today I'm fully prepared to use up the shriveling green pepper, the random tomatoes and the lonely orange, because having recently lured Ana with Delia's roasted veg and cous cous salad, her chicken basque is lurking fresh in mind.

 It certainly looks much prettier than last time, with the added bonus that I didn't burn the rice to the bottom of the pan. If you like paella, but can't be bothered to spend ages at the stove, definitely give this dish a whirl: Despite the rice giving it some heft, the spices and orange really lighten the load, and the chicken is deliciously succulent - it's a perfect summer dinner.

Wine Time
Tomatoes and orange are going to be a hard match but the key here is the fruity acidity they bring to the dish. Rosé is going to work well here, but anything with some fleshy, bright fruit will go well. If you're sticking with Spain, look for a good Rueda which has a nice green apple bite or an Albarino if you're feeling flash. A young red Tempranillo will also work well here, especially if you chill it - gasp!

sources
chicken basque - Delia's Smith's Summer Collection, p130

angela boggiano's rich beef ragu

More bargain cooking for you tonight, as in addition to yesterday's special offer bream I also picked up a kilo of heavily reduced stewing steak.

Now Ana is not massively enamoured with my bargain-hunting, as quite rightly she thinks we should be eating things in date rather than on the cusp of turning to mush. To be fair I think she's broadly right, but it's hard to break my mother's habit of filling up the shopping trolley with reduced stuff. However we do have a compromise that allows me to go off-message with reduced beef/pork/lamb: I can buy it IF I make a stew or casserole within a day. Long, slow cooking with plenty of other bits and bobs makes all the difference to grey meat.

As it's a bit wet and woolly today, the beef is gets a three hour simmer with a whole host of veg, herbs (and wine), care of Angela Boggiano's comforting rich beef ragu. Sorry about the wonky picture...

See, you'd never know that was horse.

Wine Time
Hopefully the meat is falling apart, with a rich, unctuous sauce full of sticky tomatoes and resinous herbs. Red is the obvious match here, so let's cut to the chase and stick with Italian - it is a ragu after all! The trick here is to note how much, and how ripe the tomatoes are, as they are the base component battling away with the wine.

Canned tomatoes tend to be fairly standard in flavour, so if you use a single tin go with a lighter-bodied red like a Sangiovese or a Montepulciano. More than one tin, or plum tomatoes or even ripe, fresh tomatoes, new wave Barbera or Nebbiolo all the way! The difference here is in the acidity of the wines, they should all be fruity, but the latter wines will have a mouthwatering snap of acidity.

sources
rich beef ragu - Angela Boggiano, Delicious, March 2007, p51

dhruv baker's braised beef shin

Following yet another day out for Ana Louise - this time living it up at Orange Pekoe for Kendra Kats' Champagne birthday tea, followed by going for a 'date' with Brenda at The Depot - today we have a family outing.

As we're all still slightly suffering from post-Hamilton blues, this outing does not involve an awful lot. In fact, we only get as far as Mortlake Park for a 'power play' in the cold, followed by an emergency trip to our favourite local deli, the mighty Pickle & Rye.

How delicious does this look? Ana and Milo went for their trad options: turkey club and a chocolate brownie, respectively. However I rang the changes and rather than my usual Toronto, opted for the pulled pork - It's a great combination of sweet meat and smokey sauce! There's so much to love about this place, from the fresh ingredients, the great coffee, friendly staff and the fact the sandwiches all made fresh to order. It's fab, and even better they've now 'super-sized' their portions with 'American' size sandwiches. Ana wouldn't let me have one though.

Outing over, we settle in to watch telly/play Lego whilst Dhruv Baker's beef stew ticks away... for three freakin hours! Lucky I'm full of porky goodness, otherwise I'd have gone mental with hunger cravings.

It's worth the wait mind. We've had it a couple of times now, although it's one of those recipes I can never find when I want it. In fact it's just taken me fully two hours to find it now. Anyway, it's unctuous and filling, and the parmesan and polenta chips he teams it with are fantastic. Sadly we don't have them this time, we have it with the equally Milo-endorsed cauliflower cheese and mash.

Wine Time
The great thing about stews is you don't need a massively beefy (ho ho!) red to team with them, because the flavours are so intense in the dish itself. Also, the long cooking time means using the tannins in the wine to break down the fat in the meat becomes a bit moot. I suppose we have these associations because you have stews in winter, and you naturally drink bigger, ballsier bottles in the cold months.

Anyway, a youngish Chianti full of floral notes, red cherry/rasperry flavours, and sweet spices would be amazeballs here: Rich enough to balance the gravy and to cut through the cheese, and with some soft, medium tannins that don't dominate the meat.

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braised beef shin with carrot & saffron puree and polenta chips - Dhruv Baker, Delicious, October 2011, p61

chorizo and butter bean casserole

Me and Richie Roo are out at tasting in the City tonight, so for the second Thursday in a row Ana gets to wrestle with a spicy sausage in the kitchen for our viewing pleasure.

Given it's freaking freezing, windy and sleety, this hearty stew is the best thing to return home to: Spicy, warming, filling and stuffed with orange and oregano flavours, it's perfect for warming the bones:

She's the best wife and no mistake!

sources
chorizo and butter bean casserole - The Black Book

simple fish stew

Will this Royal fever never end? It's only Monday and already I feel like my liver has been beaten with a stick. At least it's sunnier today, and after the bitter recriminations of missing Her Maj yesterday, today we decide we need to be more organised. Again.

Sadly the sum of our parts seem to magnetically repel organisation, and we're an hour late to Wandsworth Royalty Jude's BBQ. And I left the wine on the kitchen table.

Still, one afternoon watching chickens with beer cans up their bums cooking on the grill, relentlessly playing games with Milo, and picking at salad, we're all ready to come home - and I've not even been drinking today!

As ever the bedtime routine dragged on, leaving us out on our feet once he was a-kip. What we both need is a healthy, zesty dinner that makes you feel instantly healthy and alive, whilst doing fair battle with the torrential rain that has set in. I have to say experimental fish stew is not top of my list of things to cook, but neither am I inspired by anything else in the fridge, and what does excite me gets ruled out by the extensive marinading time. Still, cooking fish whilst you're hungover? I don't think so!

How wrong can you be? It was amazing. Simple, zesty, healthy and packed full of flavours - so much so there was none left for Milo tomorrow or my planned lunch portion. All gone, and even with some plate licking and plenty of mopping up with rustic bread.

When we do it again I might throw some chilli in to give it some more zing, and maybe replace the orange with lemon, as the combination of tomatoes and orange reminds me too much of our chorizo and butter bean stew. Actually, it's weird how tomatoes and orange do go together...

Wine Time
Essentially this is bouillabaisse I suppose, although without all the spider fish, spiny badger fish, gurnard, guts and shellfish. It's rich and full-bodied, the fish is fairly sweet and subtle, but you've also got hearty tomatoes and pungent fennel. In this sort of "Oh My God" scenario I tend to go with the local wine for the very good reason the food and wine tend to support each other - so in this case I reckon a good Provencal Rosé would do the trick a treat.

sources
simple fish stew - Waitrose Love Life, Summer 2012, p45

kay's sausage & guinness casserole

Booze is a fickle mistress, so we're a bit all over the shop today. I have a little work delivery in the morning, and then whilst Ana combats the explosion of toys/old clothes/washing/washing-up me and the Milo get the shopping in.

Interestingly smoked salmon is back on the shopping list as the other fickle mistress in our house has decided he likes it again, but as long it's not 'cooked'. He's a fool, and a fool and his fish are soon partied.

Anyway, after possibly the longest day in history, complete with Wellington-esque weather, we finally get to relax under with a hearty plate of classic sausage & Guinness casserole, and the latest Skandi Crime Sensation on BBC4, Broen. Is it as good as The Killing? I'm not sure yet, but the quantity of nudity and sexytime ensures next week's viewing...

Back to the point though: Sausage casserole - mmmmmm.

Wine Time
Difficult one to match this, mainly because there's a whole bottle of stout in the mixer, which is quite an overpowering flavour, plus there's all the apple and smokey notes from the sausages and bacon. I'm going to say 'ale' or indeed more stout works well, but if pushed I'm going to go with a big, spicy red - maybe a Syrah/Shiraz? I'm slightly unsure.

sources
sausage and Guinness casserole - It's a Kay McCarthy special, from the Black Book