Straight off the train and only time for a rushed late lunch. Him indoors had roasted a handsome fowl the night before that had full happiness – and potential flavour – credentials – organic, free range. Generous chunks went on some handy leaves and a shared box of M&S pasta salad grabbed at the station. Very nice too, but what was the hint of flavour on the bird I asked? Lime pickle apparently – a not too hot one, generously slathered over the bird with the usual oiling and seasoning.
So, unwittingly we had a revisit to the Nandos of the night before, but much better.
It was such a late lunch that supper was a slice and a half each of Welsh rarebit, not even any more salad: sometimes enough is enough. Apparently “The spelling “Welsh rarebit” is a humourless euphemism” seems odd to me!
Did my chicken die happy?
Another cross country travel, with the usual Great Western delays meaning a grabbed hot sandwich of unmentionable grossness. I was running an afternoon into evening meeting that included two muslims making their Ramadan fast, so 6.37 pm assumed some importance and everyone indulging in a sugar rush of M&S goodies. That still left me with the usual late night problem: what to eat this late in Luton?
Everyone said chicken at Nandos, and I have been pleasantly surprised there before. It does grilled chicken, sloshed in their own peri peri sauce that ranges from tasty to very hot. That’s pretty much it in various combos.
I chose a simple half chicken, medium sauce and two sides: that’s coleslaw and chips in everyday parlance. It took about 15 minutes and arrived piping hot and didn’t take long to eat. A bottle of Stormhoek Pinotage 2006 held its own against the flavour. And the whole bill around 20 quid. What’s not to like?
Well, my chicken’s life causes me a bit of concern. The website says all the birds are fresh, never frozen. That would suggest they haven’t come too far, so low food miles – though the whole of Europe is within range of a ‘fridge lorry. But what of their lifestyle? There’s absolutely no option to buy-up and choose a free range or even organic bird. And since Nandos make no claims, we must assume the worst: intensively farmed, very short lived birds. Not very happy ones.
So do I boycott Nandos for ever? Do we need to inspire a MacDonald’s like customer revolt? Maybe, but I’ve other battles on my plate. Wouldn’t it be better for Nandos to come clean and say: it’ll cost you £XX more to know your chicken had a happy life. Who wouldn’t want to pay?
Spanish omelette to the rescue
The plan said roast chicken, the realities took over as time and energy ran out. With a fridge full of vegetables and a box of eggs – oh and some left over potatoes, what about a Spanish omelette?
For me the spuds are a distinguishing feature of this dish: ideally start with raw ones, cube them small, fry in shallow oil until browned all over and cooked. Set aside on kitchen paper putting into the omelette pan when adding the eggs.
We however had some left over ‘yellow’ potatoes, so these were just cubed and got ready with the other veg. For four people you need a small non stick pan that is going to be full of veg before you add the eggs, but frying the veg is easier if you use another, bigger pan. So, start with some strips of bacon , lardons or bits of chorizo, then the onion, peppers, some finely sliced fennel, chopped aubergine and courgette (very small) and celery if you have it Sweat for a bit then add some mushrooms. When you think that everything is cooked add the potatoes and a good handful of frozen peas – for me these are as essential as the spuds.
Put the veg into the clean, smaller pan and bring up the heat. Beat your eggs – six will do for this sized pan – with some cream/milk, lots of seasoning, chopped fresh herbs, pour into the hot vegetables. You should now have a pan dangerously full! Stir the egg into the centre as it sets for a minute or two keeping the heat high. As soon as it looks as though it is setting, turn the heat down, smooth off the top and leave to cook for a few more minutes, the bottom should be nicely browned.
Did I say the grill should be on? Mmm…. You might want to grate cheese on the top of the omelette before you put it under the grill for final cooking. Unlike a quick omelette we are looking to get this cooked right through, so a few minutes under the grill may be needed. When done remove from pan onto a board or plate. Do not eat!
Why? Because like a lot of food it really tastes best neither hot – straight out of the pan, nor cold – straight out of the fridge. So leave well alone for fifteen minutes whilest you prep a big bowl of salad, it’ll taste better for the anticipation.
PS: Of course leftovers go in the fridge to keep: if you haven’t got time to let it warm up naturally, 20 or 30 seconds max in the microwave should do the trick but don’t overheat ‘cos it will be rubbery and horrid and such a waste of all that effort.
Mexican ad lib?
The chores had piled up and late home from the office means one thing, instant grub. There were two portions of vegetable chilli in the freezer and a pack of ‘seeded’ wraps. Maybe something with a Mexican twist, you know those tortilla things that go crunchy, what they called??
Oiled baking dish took four well stuffed, rolled up wraps quite snuggly. Lots of cheese on top and a hot oven for 30 minutes ish. I wanted them piping hot and a bit crunchy too.
Himself wanted boiled yellow potatoes – some sudden fancy, who’s to say no?
And another crunchy salad of all sorts (what we going to do when the newly discovered pointy red cabbages finish?).
Big plates (it was really too much) and lots of not-too-hot lime pickle. Sour cream would have been good but that would have entailed planning, and the whole point was, it wasn’t.
Mustard seed mayhem
It was the bean spouts what did it. I only know two things to do with them – salad or a stir fry. So working backwards from a vegetable stir fry it seemed like Chinese tonight.
There were store cupboard (well, freezer) king prawns and a bit of a bag of small ones, and lurking in the store cupboard proper a jar of Thai red curry paste.
So chop, chop later and we had the ingredients for:
The prawn curry – fried off mushroom slices, added three big teaspoons of the paste and fried that off too. Then one of those tiny boxes of coconut cream and two finely chopped red chillis: the paste said it wasn’t hot. Left to stew, the prawns, now defrosted of course, added just a few minutes before it was piled into the serving dish.
The stir fry had lots going in it. First some leek, then sliced fennel strips, two colours of pepper, small chunks of aubergine and some garlic. I’d started the fat in the wok with some mustard seeds and the first veg hit the pan as they started to fly all over the kitchen. The trick is a very hot pan, lots of stirring, and not letting the veg steam but really fry. Finally the bean spouts and some pak choi. A splash of fish sauce and some dry sherry and into a hot dish to wait for the …
Fried rice. Precooked long grain, chilled down so every grain is separated. Into the wok some more light oil, chopped leek, mushrooms, courgette – whatever as long as its cubed and small. Then work quickly – the rice will stick if you give it half a chance. Wizz about till well heated then push all to one side. Break an egg into the space you’ve made in the pan and with the heat still on full, bash it about to scramble/omelette it. When it’s cooked smash it up and distribute through the rice. You should be able to see flecks of yellow egg. I like a splash of rich soy sauce at this point, but you can leave that to the eaters.
At the moment of serving the dishes, stir in chopped coriander leaves into the curry, sprinkle masses of whole plucked leaves onto the veg – the aroma is delicious.
Hot bowls. Chop sticks for authenticity. Forks for greedy.
The only, only drawback of such is a meal is the endless washing up, a wrecked stove – all that heat – and bloody mustard seeds underfoot…..
(PS it means shrimp, prawn etc)
Half a lamb shoulder
Not a piece of meat I’d seen before and not from Mopsa, so assumed it needed a bit of help to be tasty. It looked at though it would take a good stuffing so the end bone removed, and a bit of judicious trimming and bashing (rolling pin does fine) and there’s something resembling a flat, oblong piece of lamb.
Over to the Magimix with its small bowl. First some fresh crumbs from a very tasty rye sourdough: put aside. A smallish onion and two garlic cloves wizzed small and tossed into a pan with some oil. Followed a few minutes later with a handful of finely chopped mushrooms.
When very softened, the vegetables and the crumbs are combined with some dried rosemary (crumbled in) and the juice of half a lemon. Lots of seasoning.
The lamb was stuffed and tied into a roll – looked like it would do a generous three when sliced.
It weighed about 1kg, so an hour at 180, plus a rest. A tray of chopped veg (fennel, courgette, peppers, aubergine, red onion, garlic – coated first in a bowl with olive oil) sat on top in the small oven.
The gravy (juices, red wine and v old home made chutney) finished it all off.
Bad, bad boys’ breakfast
Two croissants fresh from the baker, sliced carefully in half. Cover with generous slice of Parma ham. Slice a melty cheese and cover the ham. Turbo oven at 230 for five minutes ’till the cheese melts and exposed bits of ham start to crinkle. Flip together. Eat whilst too hot with coffee.
Calories and fat content: OTT, probably as bad as a fry up, but somehow more ‘sophisticated’!
Who’s kidding who?
A salad by any other name
Start the dressing in a big bowl: olive oil, fish sauce, lime juice, chopped red chilli (sans seeds) a grind of pepper. Add chopped red cabbage (those pointed Cambridgeshire ones are ideal), strips of red and green pepper, a handful of tiny florets of cauliflower, a couple of chopped tomatoes. Stir and leave a bit.
Now for the smoothy textures: small chunks of ripe avocado and fresh mango – stir about so that they start to flavour the vegetables and are a bit squidgy.
Eat. Notice the hit of chilli, the crunch of veg, the softness of the fruits, the tingle of lime and the saltiness of the fish sauce. Salad hardly describes it.
We carbed out with cappelletti stuffed with meat and cheese.
An easy peasy Friday night.
Infinite variations on fishy pies
Knocking up a fish pie should be in everyone’s repertoire of great standbys, whether it has a Fish Pie top (potatoes) or a Fisherman’s (pastry). What goes underneath can adopt the same approach and, if crafty, entail just washing up one pot – apart from the topping that is. With variations of fish and the vegetables you need never cook two the same.
I use a large sauté dish or fry pan – a wok would do just as well – to make the filling from start to finish. It seems daft to make enough just for two/three, (who wants to chop half an onion?) so we usually end up making enough for two pies with the second going straight
in the freezer as soon as the finished (but uncooked) pie is chilled down.
So, into some oil in your chosen pan put a chopped onion, followed in cooking order by a pepper, some carrots – diced, and any combination of courgette, fennel (not too much), celery (ditto). Sweat until they’ve lost their bite. Then add a generous heaped tablespoon of cornflower and wiz about a bit, it doesn’t need cooking, but ordinary flour would if you use that. Add two teaspoons of the ubiquitous Marigold vegetable stock powder, or a crumbled cube of something.
Now you’re ready to turn the mess into a rich sauce: start adding milk, first in glugs, then as it thickens and cooks, more at a time until you have a rich, coating texture. Now add frozen peas or beans or even sweetcorn – if you like bright colour! – and let it all come back to the boil. Add some fresh herbs: parsley finely chopped, some fennel if you have it, or whatever. Check the seasoning and overdo the pepper if anything. If you want it to be extra creamy add grated cheese, or do the Jamie Oliver thing and slosh in double cream!
Now the fish. Today I used a couple of slabs of salmon and a big handful of prawns. In truth I prefer solid white fish, cod if we can afford it, but see what’s on offer. And of course, smoked haddock – especially with a cheesy sauce – is quite a distinctive version.
Turn everything over carefully in the sauce and take off the heat.
You should have enough stuff to fill two 2/3 person dishes ready for topping. If using mash, make sure it’s extra creamy: I smooth it flat with a spatula then do plough lines with a fork, going both ways, just like mum taught me. More cheese on top maybe? Dot with butter.
Then 200°C for about 35 – 40 minutes.
It’s got to be peas or steamed beans to go with it.
Afterthoughts: so you don’t fancy freezing one – then use the remaining filling for delicious puff pastry pasties – but watch when eating they tend to be very hot! Or just serve on a baked potato with extra cheese. Or pile into those individual shop bought Yorkshire Puddings ….
Pot luck Paella really is
Supper pot luck invites from us mean just that: a pot of stuff, and on this occasion quite a bit of luck. The food of course has to have a bit more effort that an everyday evening, but not such that it gets into dinner party realms: and it needs to support a nice bottle of wine (each, that is!).
So the paella recipe in this Sunday’s OFM, itself from a classic Spanish cookbook called 1080 got the mind and juices thinking. And a very large (500 gms) Octopus clinched it: Octopus and prawn paella.
Now it seems to me as a frequent risotto cooker, that the difference between the two classic rice dishes are few: the kind of rice, of course, that paella is finished in the oven, and that risotto has cheese and creamy unctuousness resulting from 30 minutes of hard stirring. So, on the face of it, paella is a cinch.
For once I followed the recipe, adapting to my more limited choice of ingredients. Measured rice (half what is proposed) to 250 gms and half the quantity of stock 1.5 pints. The method was simple: brown finely chopped onion and garlic, add skinned chopped tomato and cook that. Add the chopped up octopus and the rice, cooking in the oil until opaque. Slosh in stock, some parsley that has been ground up with the saffron (I added some sweet paprika). Stir in peas (I used frozen, recipe says tinned!!!). Put sliced peppers on top. Stick in oven.
Twenty minutes later I looked and had a fine dish of rice soup. Far, far, far too much liquid. Small panic as guest is a) great cook, b) mother of daughter who runs own v successful catering outfit, c) at my left shoulder. Send her away and ladle out large quantity of delicious broth (tomorrow’s fish soup?) Turn up the gas and pray.
After a minute or to all begins to look well. Add prawns and more parsley. Rescue now forgotten French stick just in time. Try to look cool and serve.
Result? Well, a result. Full of flavour in spite of light hand on seasoning. Rich and creamy and quite like a paella. The fish was very meaty and contrasted well with the prawns and rice.
The reason for the problem? For a start I automatically put the lid on the casserole that was substituting for a paella dish – wrong, no chance for evaporation. But I still think it was too much stock. So next time I’ll do the “just under an inch above the rice” measurement that I always do – and leave the lid off…
PS The picture is from the book – not my effort!!
Only Connect 