sesame chicken salad with cucumber and celery

Another Monday another Bikini Blitz, therefore another quick-ish dinner is required post-sweating and pre-Glee. Like Goody the Good, I'm happy to help!

Now this has been kicking around for ages, in fact it's part of the 2005/2006 Delicious cull which has made it into the Chicken scrapbook (which is pink and has Owls on it!)

This is a lovely Jilly D number and I distinctly remember making it when we were living in Lacy Road and talking to Clokey on the phone whilst I was chopping cucumber. Ahhh, happy heady pre-milosaurus days!


It's not strictly experimental as I've definitely cooked it since, but it's a first for the blog and the chopping is kinda new as the carrots and cucumber get the benefit of my knife skills course to miraculously transform into matchsticks.

Throw in the sesame-satay sauce and it's the perfect crunchy salad which is surprisingly filling - yay for me! We miss Glee btw, in favour of talking over dinner almost as if we like each other still. It's a nice thought.

Food of the Milos
Nanny and Dylan come to visit today, which is handy because the anas need to finish their reports. Breakfast is the by-now classic cheerios and apricots, followed by a boiled egg. On his day out with Nanny he has chips by the pond plus the usual array of snacks, and then a Bill Granger pasta, peas and parmesan for dinner. Carb-tastic! He's sparko within five minutes of his head hitting the pillow.

sources
sesame chicken salad with cucumber and celery - Jill Dupleix, Delicious-although-now-the-owl-book. Incidentally, it's got owls on cos their birds, like chickens and ducks, see?

persian-style lamb and rhubarb stew

There's a long and convoluted story behind this recipe.

A month or so ago Mr Paul Murphy esq (formerly of Flextech, Channel 4 and Kangaroo, and kind enough to drag me around behind him) gave me a big bunch of rhubarb - steady matron! However, I couldn't think of anything to do with it so I gave it to a mutual friend in the office. Predictably enough I immediately found this recipe in the pile of pages culled from 2005 & 2006's Delicious when I got home.

Fast-forward two weeks and this time the rhubarb comes from the same source, but via two other hands in the office to me, but can I find the recipe? Can I buggery. I do find it on their website though, so we're good to go!

Naturally it being the weekend there's an even longer tale preceding dinner, this week involving ana not doing her homework (hmmm, shades of Prifysgol Abertawe and the Institute of Education), meaning the men of the house spend the day at the Natural History Museum seeing the dinosaurs and the Butterfly Explorers tent, which was well aces. Here is the new David Attenborough developing compound insect eyes:



And here's a butterfly view of him:



Anyway, back to the lamb. It took two hours to cook so it literally fell apart on the spoon, the gravy was super-flavoured and the rhubarb was the perfect accompaniment, it's tartness cutting through the richness of the lamb. We eat it in the garden.


Deffo deffo deffo having it again if only because we've half a bag of rhubarb left.

Food of the Milos
As we're going out, it's mainly a picnic day for the boy. Mummy makes him an almost-perfect boiled egg for breakfast, before we head out with a bag full of dried fruit-based snacks. On the way home we manage to squeeze in a babyccino and a biscuit in Barnes, before a hearty dinner of left-over squash risotto from yesterday, supplemented by the latest fad, carrot sticks and houmous.

UPDATES BTW, I'm still catching up from the wedding so there are random episodes from our lives appearing below. Monday 24th pour example, or the following Tuesday. Fill your boots!

pumpkin and feta risotto & virginie's birthday

Our usual Saturday routine is enlivened by an afternoon's trip to Kingston for Virginie's birthday BBQ. We couldn't go last year because Milo was suffering from a pseudo-dose of the pox, and ridiculously Matt has never had it. What an arse!

This year we're fully up for it, if only because the Kings do amazing food. Beforehand though we have lunch whilst Milo is power-napping, a cheeky risotto to use up the squash in the veg bowl and give us the necessary energy to run around a garden all afternoon:


It's pretty good even if I forgot the feta.

As predicted I was right on both counts RE the BBQ. Matt King does an amazing array of dead animal whilst Virginie creates lashings of amazing French salads - including a curious cucumber and cream number which I'm not sure about, but Ana loves. Obviously Milo eats none of it *apart* from handfuls of crisps, houmous and small Apericubes. He attempts a little burger but he's more interested in running full-pelt into a large beanbag in the lounge.

After a virtually vegetarian couple of weeks my arteries almost go into meltdown with the amount of delicious meat they have to process. The combination of meat and bean bags ensure we all sleep like dogs tonight.

sources
pumpkin & feta risotto - Donna Hay, Instant Cook, p66

lamb tagliata

Once *again* a simple plan goes absolutely-fucking-tits-up, thanks to our ability to freeze salad to the back of the fridge. After a quick trip to the shops to get a bag of rocket the green mush in malingering in the bag, we're on.

It's a good one - again the use of lamb steaks makes all the difference - as does beefing up the rosemary salt with my mum's dried version. Perfect



Can I say beefing when talking about lamb? I'm not sure. Anyway, continuing the random theme of what I have for lunch, today it's the left over salad from last night sans the hard peaches of course:



sources
lamb tagliata - Jill Dupleix, Delicious, October 2007, p138

mozzarella, peach, basil and parma ham salad

Despite HardPeachGate last time, once again I'm inspired by the continuing offer of two lots of cured meat for £3 at the supermarket, combined with a sudden burst of clement weather, to give the mozzarella salad another spin.

However, once bitten and I opt for perfectly ripe nectarines as the peaches seemed a bit cannonbally. Oh, and for parma ham read prosciutto crudo, cos it's cheaper...


Honestly, it tastes better than it looks. There is definitely some nectarine and mozzarella somewhere under the spinach. However once again the Peach family Gods aim a firm kick towards mine (and ana's metaphorical) cobblers, as the nectarines are on the wrong side of firm.

I remember having this on the lawn at Hampton Court after a boat trip from Richmond on our anniversary the year we got married. Ahh, happy days!

sources
mozzarella, peach, basil and parma ham salad - Delicious, August 2005

poached salmon and risoni salad

After last night's deluge today is an absolute scorcher, and perfect for picnics in the park (or Golden Square if you're working), and light salmon salads and fizzy wine in the garden this evening.

Milo is off to Julia's this morning as Ana has reports to do, so after dropping him off I make my lunch for today, and I'm so impressed by its Donna Hay-style presentation I had to take a photo:



They're only cheese and tomato, with the thinnest of hints of chilli english mustard (care of Newport Farmer's Market), but I don't know - the kitchen roll makes them look a cut above. Certainly a cut above all the fools eating over-priced Eat sarnies at lunchtime.

Anyway, with the sun still blazing, monkey in bed and the garden in fine fettle we finally have our first evening meal sat outside. Throw in some fizzy wine supplied by Claire and *everybody* is happy!



Food of the Milos
Half a day at Julia's means it's pasta of some sort for lunch, and snacks when Claire, Isla and Phoebe come for a visit. As ever no breakfast, but he's still got enough energy to do some crazy dancing to The Wiggles.

sources
poached salmon & risoni salad - Bill Granger, Holiday, p14

chorizo and butter bean casserole

The keen-eyed amongst you *may* have spotted a theme to the last few night's dinners, mainly in the tomato/cured meat department.

This week I went a bit mental and bought 1.5Kg of cherry tomatoes (1.5kg) and and three chorizo(s), all of which were on offer. After a weekend of tomato, red onion and creme fraiche tart, and chorizo and tomato salad, tonight Ana uses up the last lot of the bulk ingredients to make her patented chorizo and butter bean casserole:

As ever it's brilliant, and I think using the orange zest makes all the difference, giving a tanginess to the richness of the sauce.

However, I'm not sure I'll be bulk buying again in a hurry. Not so much because it didn't really make our shopping any cheaper, although the prosecco and the extras for dinner on Sunday might have possibly offset any saving, but more because I don't think I want to eat essentially the same two ingredients three nights running.

sources
chorizo and butter bean casserole - The Black Book, although I suspect it's originally from Zest magazine