Non-kedgeree fish and rice

Hubby was cooking outside of his comfort zone – roast salmon fillet. It was lovely and once again a reminder that a roast doesn’t have to be meat!

So we had lovely leftovers and as always the pondering about what to do. There was not much else in the house – the fridge is bear in the post Christmas clear out. So what have I got – salmon, frozen peas, rice – it’s got to be a kind of kedgeree. I’ve got nothing smoked though – haddock, salmon etc, so it has to take a different route, somehow more summery, but we’re in the dark days of post Christmas January, so that doesn’t quite fit.

Were did we end up – pulled some prawns out of the freezer – cooked ones, bunch of parsley and dill still in the fridge,and a lurking leek. Off I go down the herby rice and fish route. Brown rice cooked without the usual kedgeree spices, but with the leek sweated in butter and a bay leaf. Then flaked salmon, prawns and defrosted peas left on top of the rice for about 5 mins to warm through will the rice rests. And lots of chopped dill & parsley – one thing I am grateful for in my local Tesco is the big loose bunches of herbs the sell, it allows generosity, always a good thing with herbs. And then a last minute flash of inspiration – not sure where if came from, Ottolenghi I think ? – a dollop of the very last bit of Christmas creme fraiche seasoned and sprinkled with beautiful, colourful cayenne pepper – adding just the warming note I was looking for – both colour and flavour wise.

Super supper and lovely lunchbox leftovers. All good.

 

 

Fried rice? No it’s quinoa!

It’s Monday night, scratch supper night. Didn’t want to use the leftover lamb from lunch yesterday, lamb two days in a row is a bit tough on the tummy! So there was chicken from Friday night, tomatoes from the garden , green beans & chorizo in the fridge. So that’s salad sliced red onion doused in w.w.vinegar & salt, quartered toms, basil & boiled green beans. To go with that, fried some small chopped chorizo, not much about a thumbs length, with torn up cold roast chicken, then added the roast carrots, lemon juice and cooked quinoa (1:5 with water, simmered for 30 mins & left to stand). Quite delicious a mix between a hash and fried rice.

Caesar salad, barbeque and more springtime sunshine!

I can hardly believe that we are still in this lovely sunny, hot springtime. It’s just gorgeous. I am trying to take it one day at a time but the more we have of summertime the more I know I will be disappointed when it returns to spring.

My sister came up to stay this weekend. So Friday was food shopping – butchers for a shoulder of lamb & ribs for the barbeque, the freezer for other barbeque fair – quails & chicken breast, Waitrose for the rest. Woke up Saturday morning remembering I hadn’t planned lunch.  Opps! What have I got?? Just about enough for a Caesar salad – Cos lettuce, eggs, parmesan & anchovies. Tiger bread that hubby had bought and bacon out of the freezer for breakfast – fab. I love Caesar salad – creamy salty dressing on crisp leaves with a little crunch from croutons & bacon –perfect.

We had just about got the barbeque cooked – spatchcock quail in mustard marinade, chicken skewers in tandoori style marinade & ribs – when the thunder storm that had been brewing all afternoon sent down the rain. We all dashed inside to eat. A real summertime BBQ – and it’s April. Green bean & tomato salad, corn on the cob & potato salad to balance out the meat.

Sunday was citrus fruit salad & hot cross buns for breakfast. Aqua class to work some of it off. And home to a slow roast shoulder of lamb, with pepper / feta salad (using the last of the BBQ heat yesterday to blacken the peppers), first of the jersey royals & peas. Easy peasy, but just delicious and summery enough for the day.

We finished off – much later in the day – with Heston’s cherry chocolate trifle for dessert. I’d forgotten I was making this, even though I bought the sponge fingers and cherries weeks ago. So had to improvise in the Co-op local with raspberry jelly & Ambrosia tinned custard instead of gelatine & fresh custard. Well, it seemed to make no difference, the finished trifle was delicious – amaretto, cherries, chocolate, cream – what can go wrong with that combination. Made them in individual glasses using ½ the recipe. It was just enough for three would have been a mean four. More sponge fingers needed.

Today we have polished off the last of the lamb with hummus, flat bread and salad. A suppertime picnic to finish a summertime in spring Easter weekend.

Nachos, no, gnocchi

Been mithering over what’s for supper tonight. The base is going to be Friday’s nights left over chilli con carne. I was going to go down the nachos route – but was not really comfortable with that – doesn’t seem like supper. Clearing out the veg boxes in the garage this morning, realised we have loads of potatoes – some still in the box and others that hubby bought this week, not quite sure why. Anyway we have a bit of a glut. Can I do potatoes & chilli? I guess so but it feels a little uninspired. Then with the TV on in the background as I’m doing morning pottering the cookery slot is gnocchi! Brilliant. The chilli can become a ragu sauce with the addition of the slow roast tomatoes that are in the fridge and the potatoes can become gnocchi. I hope. I’ve never made gnocchi before – how hard can it be??? We’ll see. Now to work!

Monday night make-it-up

Hubby did a lovely chicken on Sunday (Another recipe from Hugh’s Everyday) stuffed with a pearl barley pilaff style stuffing. I love it when he finds something that he wants to cook and try out. And also can’t help smiling when he comes across something that seems very straightforward until it’s in front of him – chopping sticky dates, for example, ‘how do you do this?’ was the question and after conquering them he had to stuff a chicken – priceless! But delicious. And such a lovely change from standard roast meat & veg.

Monday night’s challenge is making something tasty from the Sunday’s chicken. I keep forgetting my Monday night meals – one reason why I started this blog. The inspiration usually comes from what’s in the fridge, the cupboards and by any chance still lurking in the box. But also from how my body feels and after two meals out and still recovering from horrid Saturday, it wanted something light. So, a coleslaw cum remoulade with carrot, apple, celery, fennel & a lonely chicory bulb. All in the magimix slicer with the last of the coriander on the window sill and dressed with mayo, Dijon & English mustard, squeeze of lemon and toasted caraway seeds. Sauté potatoes and the chicken skin crisped up in the pan. Very tasty. Put the chicken carcass on for stock. Still chicken left for a couple of sandwiches and coleslaw for lunch boxes. Voila!

Yesterday – still wanting light & vegetables, the box came up trumps with peppers and courgettes. Those along with tomatoes in the fridge and some red onions that I picked up on the way home from the gym, became roast veg. Garlic & rosemary added – in the oven 200 for 40 mins. Served with griddled polenta, for a change from potatoes and a fresh pesto (basil, chedder, pine nuts, oil & lemon juice), which just perked the whole thing up.  And it was so good, that hubby didn’t ask where the protein was – he had checked that the polenta was the carbs though.

And tonight – well, I should be going to a ‘talk’, but have bailed, so pulled some beef stew from the freezer. Just as well we had meat free last night!

 

Home alone supper

Home alone supper last night, hubby was out at an after work thing. So something simple and light for me – spicy tomato prawns. Another from Delia’s Cooking for One. I’ve had this book for such a long time. It was one of the first that I bought when I moved into my first flat 28 years ago – no it can’t be that long – shock, no actually it was 25 years ago, even so that seems like such a long time ago when I write it down and yet it’s just been one lifetime – mine. Makes me wonder if I’ve learnt anything since then about life, living and me.

Anyway back to spicy prawns…had tomatoes, from the box, on the windowsill and prawns in the freezer – all combined with onions, chilli and olives to make a lovely light supper dish.  I started with some pancetta that was lurking in the fridge and added in some cumin seeds – just because I fancied a little aromatic spice in there.  Kept it to simple bowl food with a half a toasted naan tucked in the side.  Why can’t I cook this simply for hubby?  If he’d been home I would have wanted to make rice and a side dish, when actually he would have loved it just the way I did it last night. So I think it has to go on the list of simple suppers.

And it marked the end of a meaty week. We had the last of the roast lamb with a soft, gentle, aromatic pilaf the night before. The lamb sliced and sprinkled with crystals of Cornish sea salt, chopped dates & pistachios in the pilaff. I love cold lamb like this– sweet and then salty. The final slices went into sandwiches for lunch. And that’s the end of the leg of lamb!

Pork this Sunday I think. Going try a Gary Rhodes seasonal recipe that I did last spring – with an oriental twist – hoisin sauce, pak choi and pears. Need to get the butchers today to get a blade of pork, so better get on with my day. Time to work!

 

Shepherd’s pie and pancakes

Shepherd’s pie last night using some of the leftover roast lamb. Referring to Nigel Slater’s recipe as usual and using leftover gravy instead of stock. Wasn’t in the mood to mash last night, so par boiled the potatoes, sliced them and laid them on top of the pie mixture. We ate it all, and justified that with ‘it’s full of veg’, which it was – onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms.

Tonight of course, Shrove Tuesday, so pancakes for supper. I’ve been pondering all day on the back burner of my brain what to fill the savoury ones with. The whole point of Shrove Tuesday is to empty the house before Lent, so I really wanted to use what was in the fridge, cupboards etc, rather than buying ingredients especially for pancakes. What that amounted to was chard, that came in the box today, ½ packet of porcini mushrooms in the cupboard and pancetta & cheese in the fridge. This all became a lovely savoury, cheesy filling. ‘Perfect’ . And as Hubby has been commenting again on how many oranges are arriving in the box, instead of lemon and sugar we had crepe suzette to follow. They were really delicious – and once again I wonder why I only make pancakes once a year, especially crepe suzette – such simple ingredients – orange juice, sugar, butter and a splash of Grand Marnier, to bathe, eggs, flour & milk made into pancakes. If this is frugal food – we are well fed.

Pancake batter

Cup of plain flour, cup of milk, 2 eggs and a pinch of salt. Whisk together and leave to stand for at least ½ hour. Longer is good too. Whisk  1in a spoon of melted butter just before using.

Chard, porcini and cheese filling

Heat oven to 200

Soak 15g porcini mushroom in hot water.

Blanch chopped chard leaves in boiling salted water. Refresh in salted cold water. Drain.

Start cheese sauce by slowly cooking ½ onion finely chopped in tablespoon of butter.

Cook the chard stalks in boiling water for about 7 mins. Cool in cold, salted water.

Fry 4 slices of pancetta. Leave to one side.

Sauté the chard leaves in the pancetta pan. Leave to one side.

Drain the porcini mushrooms, chop and then sauté off in the pan. Add to the chard leaves.

Back to the cheese sauce. Add tablespoon of plain flour to buttery onions. Stir to a paste. Take off the heat and slowly add 250mls milk. Back onto low heat, simmer for 5-7 mins to thicken, stirring from time to time.

Add in a generous handful of grated cheddar cheese, grated nutmeg, teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and some ground pepper. Stir all together to mix until the cheese has melted. At this stage take out a couple of spoonfuls. To the rest add in the chard & porcini, stir to mix well. Stir in one egg yolk (optional).

Time to make pancakes. Make on at a time. When each is made fill with cheese filling, top with pancetta, roll and put in oven dish. When all 4 are done, spread the reserved sauce over the top, sprinkle with grated cheese.

Into oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile sauté off the chard stalks with butter, salt & pepper.

Served the  pancakes with chard stalks and a green salad.

‘What’s in the fridge?’ beef stew

Lovely, savoury beef stew tonight. Very pleased with it. Tasted just like I’d want a beef stew to taste; savoury, meaty, rich and glutinous. Shin of beef is definitely the cut of choice – but it takes a long, slow, stewing to reach that sticky stewiness.

Want to capture what I did, so I can do it again – even if I don’t have the same things in the fridge. This really was a ‘What’s in the fridge?’ stew.

Today that was what follows.

What’s in the fridge? beef stew.

Smoked bacon off-cuts fried with some dripping – not sure what but from a Sunday roast; four thick slices of beef shin @ 1kg, cut into chunks, well browned in the fat and then removed.  ½ a swede, 1 & ½ red onion, 4 sticks of celery, a leek and 6 carrots chopped. All this into the pan and browned slightly. Sprinkle over spoon of plain flour; stir in to cook off a little. Remains of a bottle of red wine – about a glass and a half, into pan to deglaze and reduce. Then today – the remains of gravy from braised oxtail, stock from the Christmas ham(from the freezer), a tin of tomatoes & the rest of the mushroom gravy from Sunday.  No extra seasoning needed – but made sure to bring it to boil – got to keep an eye on food hygiene rules. Then back in with the beef & bacon, season generously with s&p. All gets a good stir and then into the oven – fan at 120 for 3 hours.

The house smelled fabulous all afternoon – tantalising.

Served with horseradish mashed potatoes.

Of course there is loads left over – that was the plan, even though it was hard not to just tuck in merrily for second and thirds tonight. Into 3 portions – one for a pie later this week & 2 in the freezer – meals at the ready for those nights when that’s just what’s needed!

Still catching up

Monday night was a ‘what’s in the fridge night?’ And in the fridge were some sad looking vegetables, left over from last week, when I was away and Hubby was feeding himself, or not, as the case may be. The list is as follows: green beans wilting in the bottom of their bag, about a quarter of a butternut squash, a few wrinkled  carrots, half a head of broccoli and a drying out bunch of parsley. So what direction to go in? A stir fry maybe? That was my first thought, but I’m not sure how butternut squash would work in a stir fry and what about the parsley?

So pasta it is – in the style of a primavera. Chop & roast the butternut squash. Boil the broccoli, carrots and green beans with the pasta. Make a pesto with the parsley, pumpkin seeds, garlic and the drying remains of a bit of cheddar. Mix all together with some of yesterday’s lemon potatoes. ‘Delicious’ declared Hubby.

Then Tuesday was the cold roast pork from Sunday, with lentils cooked with bay leaves and garlic. When done stirred in the bit of left over gravy and greens and a little bit of mustardy vinaigrette. I love cold roast pork and with hot lentils it’s even better.

Slow cooking lamb

Spiced up the shoulder of lamb yesterday to slow cook in the oven while we were out. A rub of cumin, coriander, fennel, cinnamon, rosemary a la Hugh. Then in to sizzle at 220 for 30 mins and then down to 140 for five hours. Next time note – a glass of water means a glass of water – not a tumbler – there was far too much liquid in the tray when it was finished. I know this with lamb, need to learn it.

So the bit I need to work out is slow cooking times for a shoulder of lamb. There are different starting points – the sizzle, the browning or into a very hot oven & turn down immediately. Then there are the different temperatures and times for the slow, melting magic to happen. Because it really is magic how that joint of lamb melts and transforms into a unctuous, savoury, scooping dish to savour.

So starting points aside, as they all have their merits and basically the same effect – starting to create a savoury crust and get the joint going – slow times & temperatures are what I want to make a note of, so that that I can time better the cooking against the Sunday activity – walking, aqua, movie – without having to work it out each time.

Yesterday Hugh suggested 120 for six hours, I worked on 140 for 5 hours, and Jamie’s 170 for 4 hours. So it seems a 20 degree per hour increase or decrease – after whatever sizzle method I use. That makes sense – and quite frankly at the lower temperatures a 1/2 hour here or there doesn’t seem too crucial.

Made some aromatic rice – cardoman, cinnamon and bay – and kale to go with.

The left over rice made lovely ‘raid the fridge’ lunch today with a cold chipolata chopped in, a couple of ‘please eat me up’ slices of salami , the best bits I could salvage from a tired avocado and some fresh – oh yes, there was something fresh – watercress. Seasoned and dressed with little lemon juice, olive oil and some chopped olives.

Tonight it’s ‘made on purpose’ leftover lamb. Going to try it this time as a warm salad with pearl barley & kale. And I’ll whiz up some beetroot hummus for lunch-box lamb pitas tomorrow. The beetroot is from some I cooked for the beetroot risotto on Saturday. ‘A bit one dimensional’ said hubby – and he was right. Not sure that this is going on the list of favourites, although beetroot, is definitely staying on the favourites list and hubby’s going to grow it again next year. Hurrah!