Things have gone slightly awry on the recipe front this week, because rather than the traditional Friday night curry, or chilli, curry or maybe even a curry, tonight we’re having Peter Gordon’s halloumi salad thingy. Not that this isn’t normally this is a great dish of course, but it doesn’t shout ‘welcome to the weekend’, and particularly not if you’ve been down the pub for a couple of hours.
Any chance of this minor disgruntlement turning into Camden Brewery-fuelled rage is handily diverted to flailing confusion because once again, I completely forget how to construct this recipe. I’ll have to take a picture when we’re next chez the Taylors. Anyway, using previous images as a guide I broadly manage to knock-it together pretty accurately, and although I forgot to soak the chestnuts in salted lemon juice, I did remember to infuse the oil with chilli and garlic.
To reiterate, this is in no way a Friday night dinner, but it is rather jolly and I think I’ve finally found a brand of halloumi that I like.
sources
fried halloumi topped with chilli, spinach, water
chestnut, hazelnut, orange and sun-blushed tomato salad - Peter Gordon,
Salads: The New Main Course, p65
Friday, 7 March 2014
Thursday, 6 March 2014
poached egg and new potato salad with crispy bacon and mustard dressing
sources
poached egg and new potato salad with crispy bacon and mustard dressing - Delicious One Month Healthy Eating Plan, February 2007, p10
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
bill granger's rigatoni with chicken bolognese
I can only predict this week ending in chaos.
Having spent last night telling me her version of Bill Granger’s chicken rigatoni is better than mine, and she’ll cook it on Friday as the forecast halloumi salad isn’t very ‘weekend-y’, how come I find myself cooking chicken rigatoni tonight?
Admittedly Ana does have some homework to mark, and as Felix is coming for a playdate tomorrow night it’ll be a handy dish to have ready to feed the ravening hordes, but *somebody* is definitely going to pull a face when she realises after tonight we’ve only got two lots of salad left in the fridge. Still, it’ll sort-of aid with ongoing battle with boombattyness.
Do I need to say anything about this dish now? We’ve been eating it since New Zealand (not the same batch), and it remains a classic standby, even if it’s virtually impossible to get hold of minced turkey or chicken in SW14.
sources
rigatoni with chicken bolognese - Bill Granger, Simply Bill, p87
Having spent last night telling me her version of Bill Granger’s chicken rigatoni is better than mine, and she’ll cook it on Friday as the forecast halloumi salad isn’t very ‘weekend-y’, how come I find myself cooking chicken rigatoni tonight?
Admittedly Ana does have some homework to mark, and as Felix is coming for a playdate tomorrow night it’ll be a handy dish to have ready to feed the ravening hordes, but *somebody* is definitely going to pull a face when she realises after tonight we’ve only got two lots of salad left in the fridge. Still, it’ll sort-of aid with ongoing battle with boombattyness.
Do I need to say anything about this dish now? We’ve been eating it since New Zealand (not the same batch), and it remains a classic standby, even if it’s virtually impossible to get hold of minced turkey or chicken in SW14.
sources
rigatoni with chicken bolognese - Bill Granger, Simply Bill, p87
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
valli little's char siu beef and tenderstem broccoli
Bloody hell the early mornings are beginning to bite. I’m sure it’ll all be worthwhile when I’m collecting my third Booker Prize, and taking restraining orders out on Rachel Weisz and/or Hayley Atwell.
Having spent all day yawning at work, I at least managed to blow the cobwebs away with a fairly brisk gallop home, buoyed by bananas, biscuits and the fact the evenings are definitely getting lighter. Once back I manage to stave off both sleep and starvation with a super-quick Vietnamese char siu beef and noodle bowl care of lovely Valli Little:
I have to say it’s not what I remembered. This is not to say it’s not nice, it is with a nice balance of sweetness from the char siu and shaxong wine, and the garlic/ginger/chilli holy trinity of heat, but somehow it missed the head of the nail as well as the plank. In my head I was expecting this fresh and zingy Vietnamese soup, which we’ll be having next week now it’s stuck there.
sources
char siu beef and tenderstem broccoli stir-fry - Valli Little, Delicious, August 2013, p110
Having spent all day yawning at work, I at least managed to blow the cobwebs away with a fairly brisk gallop home, buoyed by bananas, biscuits and the fact the evenings are definitely getting lighter. Once back I manage to stave off both sleep and starvation with a super-quick Vietnamese char siu beef and noodle bowl care of lovely Valli Little:
I have to say it’s not what I remembered. This is not to say it’s not nice, it is with a nice balance of sweetness from the char siu and shaxong wine, and the garlic/ginger/chilli holy trinity of heat, but somehow it missed the head of the nail as well as the plank. In my head I was expecting this fresh and zingy Vietnamese soup, which we’ll be having next week now it’s stuck there.
sources
char siu beef and tenderstem broccoli stir-fry - Valli Little, Delicious, August 2013, p110
Sunday, 2 March 2014
heston's pea and pancetta spaghetti
I don’t know why I’ve not thought of this before, but living in a pub is brilliant!
I say 'living' but what I actually mean is 'temporarily staying' at the rather fab Hampshire Hog in the rural countryside, for an equally fab 40th birthday party.
Having finally lived the dream, I can’t believe we’ve spent so long kipping on people’s floors, or struggling back to inaccessible B&Bs in the dead of night when we could've been staying in actual, real live pub. Who else would have a foaming nutbrown ale and maybe a scotch egg and a burger ready for when you’ve checked in? Who else would have a full English on a hotplate (‘help yourself!’) prepped once you’ve dragged yourself (and hungover wife) out of bed? And where else could you then sit for three hours, having more foaming pints of nutbrown ale bought to your table along with – oh go on then – a chicken and mushroom pie for lunch? Pubs are genius!
The only downside is, that there isn't one. And it only gets better if you forget your glasses and lenses so you can't drive home! I do have to cook dinner when we get home as 'punishment' mind, which does turn into a unique sort of torture as once again we've got almost nothing in the cupboards meaning we have to make do with a version of Heston's pea and pancetta spaghetti:
Obviously what we lack in peas and pancetta, we make up with sweetcorn and bacon.
sources
heston's pea & pancetta spaghetti - Waitrose Weekend, 16th September, p10
I say 'living' but what I actually mean is 'temporarily staying' at the rather fab Hampshire Hog in the rural countryside, for an equally fab 40th birthday party.
Having finally lived the dream, I can’t believe we’ve spent so long kipping on people’s floors, or struggling back to inaccessible B&Bs in the dead of night when we could've been staying in actual, real live pub. Who else would have a foaming nutbrown ale and maybe a scotch egg and a burger ready for when you’ve checked in? Who else would have a full English on a hotplate (‘help yourself!’) prepped once you’ve dragged yourself (and hungover wife) out of bed? And where else could you then sit for three hours, having more foaming pints of nutbrown ale bought to your table along with – oh go on then – a chicken and mushroom pie for lunch? Pubs are genius!
The only downside is, that there isn't one. And it only gets better if you forget your glasses and lenses so you can't drive home! I do have to cook dinner when we get home as 'punishment' mind, which does turn into a unique sort of torture as once again we've got almost nothing in the cupboards meaning we have to make do with a version of Heston's pea and pancetta spaghetti:
Obviously what we lack in peas and pancetta, we make up with sweetcorn and bacon.
sources
heston's pea & pancetta spaghetti - Waitrose Weekend, 16th September, p10
Friday, 28 February 2014
rick stein's chicken chettinad
Having dragged my arse around Victoria in the lunchtime rain to get the necessary spices, we’re having curry tonight, even if it’s late and I have to make a subsequent dash to our new, world-beating corner shop for all our premium wine and beer needs.
Seriously though, it has the most amazing selection of wine and beer I’ve ever seen, and beats pretty much all local supermarkets/off licences into a cocked hat, so not only do we get brilliant booze (obviously all booze is brilliant), we also get the heart-warming satisfaction of supporting our local businesses. And booze, of course.
Anyway I feel we need to have another crack at the mighty chicken chettinand to expunge the curry of shame I drunkenly created last time, before storming off to bed in a huff claiming our marriage was at an end.
Clearly the only way to do this is to cook it again in an atmosphere of reconciliation and enjoyment of each others company. Strangely enough, this turns out to be a roaring success although looking at the amount of empty bottles in the recycling bin I could probably hazard a guess what aided this…
sources
chicken chettinad - Rick Stein, Rick Stein's India, p216
Seriously though, it has the most amazing selection of wine and beer I’ve ever seen, and beats pretty much all local supermarkets/off licences into a cocked hat, so not only do we get brilliant booze (obviously all booze is brilliant), we also get the heart-warming satisfaction of supporting our local businesses. And booze, of course.
Anyway I feel we need to have another crack at the mighty chicken chettinand to expunge the curry of shame I drunkenly created last time, before storming off to bed in a huff claiming our marriage was at an end.
Clearly the only way to do this is to cook it again in an atmosphere of reconciliation and enjoyment of each others company. Strangely enough, this turns out to be a roaring success although looking at the amount of empty bottles in the recycling bin I could probably hazard a guess what aided this…
chicken chettinad - Rick Stein, Rick Stein's India, p216
Thursday, 27 February 2014
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
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
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