2016: so long, and thanks for all the fish

2016 proved a bad year to be a celebrity or, indeed, a fan of democracy. But leaving all of that aside, the really important issue is what did we eat? I’ve been tracking back through blog posts to bring you a yearly round up. Hurrah.

Eating In

I notice that the number of recipes that I share here has fallen quite a lot, which is a shame, and something to pick up on next year. It’s partly because I invented a rule that in order to post a recipe, I needed to make it twice. So there are a load of dishes that I’ve cooked once thought, ooh I must share that, then not got round to making again. I’m rescinding the rule for 2017.

I always keep a note of what we cook at home (and how regularly), and looking at my spreadsheet, the top three meals were all fish based which is unsurprising – we loves the fish. Salmon with pasta pesto (a perennial favourite in our house) and fish pie make up the top two; for the latter, I enjoyed this recipe for its luxuriant simplicity.

I was also reminded of our phase of eating poached trout with minted mayonnaise on a weekly basis throughout asparagus season, which meant that it hit the number three spot. Stirring some fresh chopped mint and a spritz of lemon through mayo really elevates it. The original recipe, by Gordon Ramsay, called for a minted hollandaise – perhaps in 2017 we’ll get round to doing it properly, but, in the meantime, the mayonnaise was an excellent foil for the delicate fish.

Looking through the list, I’ve come across some dishes which were only cooked once but definitely deserved to be eaten more regularly. How is it we only managed to only have that fantastic Vietnamese style braised pork dish on one occasion? Or that fantastic cauliflower risotto (which recipe is, fortuitously online – thanks, Jamie O!)

Of the recipes that I did get around to posting, a surprisingly high proportion were baking themed which I suppose is indicative of what I’ve particularly enjoyed cooking this year. I am becoming a much more confident bread maker, which is lovely, and one of my goals for 2017 is to get a sourdough starter going. I’ve especially enjoyed our forays into homemade pizza. Our freezer currently lacks both pizza dough and sauce – that will definitely need to be remedied in the new year.

Talking of homemade stuff though, I am dead impressed with D’s first experiments in sausage making. He’s done two so far – a boudin blanc and a Merguez and both of them were excellent. If you’re interested, he’s used this book for both, and the recipes have turned out beautifully.

Eating Out

Our trip to Paris in November saw us having some stunning meals, including a simple plate of lamb and mushrooms which I have already tried to re-create at home. A possible contender for my dish of the year.

Earlier in the year, and a bit closer to home, we visited the only Michelin star restaurant in Leeds. It wasn’t really my thing. But elsewhere, we have had some fine meals in this fair city, and, in Ox Club, found our favourite brunch spot. The thought of the Korean Fried Chicken still makes me smile – another possible contender for my dish of the year.

Without a doubt though, my favourite new local restaurant is the superlative Hana Matsuri which is just around the corner from us in Meanwood. I can’t stop thinking about their amazing sushi. Every single thing that I have eaten there is yet another possible contender for my dish of the year.

I’m nothing if not indecisive.

Dieting

Er. I tried Smart Points. I hated Smart Points. I made some half arsed attempts to revert to counting Pro Points, or even just calories, but nothing really took root.

Towards the end of the year, I decided to give 5:2 a whirl, and although the results were not particularly conclusive, I’m going to be fasting with gusto throughout the first couple of months of 2017 to see if I can make it work for me in the long-term.

My weight has not really changed much all year – the fluctuations up and down have all been within the same three or four pounds. Considering that it has been a year of considerable stress at times, I suppose I should be slightly pleased with that. It looks as though I may have conquered my demons with regards emotional eating, always a major factor in my weight gain. It also looks as though breaking free from the tyranny of counting has finally got rid of that feast or famine mentality which is so inherent in the long term dieter. I didn’t gain weight after a two week holiday in Scotland, or an indulgent long weekend in Paris, because I have learned the art of balance. That’s fantastic. But the scales need to go down.

I must admit, part of me is slightly panicky as to what I will do if I can’t get 5:2 to work. What the next plan is. I’m trying to ignore her for the time being.

Seven sleeps

I'm braising red cabbage at the moment, which is filling the house with a very (for me) Christmassy scent. I make this recipe pretty much every year - unadulterated, unchanged and unfailingly good. It also has the virtue of improving with age (much like me) so preparing it in advance is practically mandatory.

Are you sorted for your Christmas dinner yet? We are on our own this year so keeping things easy, yummy and slightly non traditional. Smoked salmon roulade on spelt bread to start followed by confit duck legs with mash and braised red cabbage - with cold turkey, gammon and sausagemeat loaf if anyone requires additional protein. Cheese, of course. And, finally, Christmas pudding ice cream - a recipe that I must share at some point. Gorgeous!

2016 has not been the easiest year on a personal level - let's not even start on global events. Which is why I am especially looking forward to this next couple of weeks; this holiday that is traditionally about peace and goodwill to all will hopefully be a time to focus on all the bright, shiny things that sometimes get obscured. Family and friends, sparkly lights, the joy of sharing and, yes, a bit of self indulgence.

The cute cat picture of the week is as Christmas themed as I can get - Minx tends to save all her most photogenic moments for when my phone camera is out of hand, the gorgeous little bugger. Still, small mercies - she has yet to bring down the tree!

Slow cooker recipe corner: Merguez sausage and squash stew

I am unclear as to when a stew ceases to be a stew and becomes a tagine. I'm calling this a stew, despite the obviously Moroccan influences, because I don't feel qualified to call it otherwise. You can call it a tagine though, if it pleases you.

In any case, this is a mash up of a couple of online recipes adapted for the slow cooker so it lost touch with any claim to authenticity a while ago. That aside, it is utterly delicious. Merguez sausages are officially one of my new Favourite Things. Homemade Merguez sausages are amazing. I've probably posted this picture before but I'm so impressed by D's hitherto undiscovered sausage making skills (plus I don't have a picture of the stew. Stew is like curry - it always looks rubbish in pictures):

This recipe was a fitting way to use up these beauties, and I can give it no greater compliment than that.

Ingredients

6-8 Merguez sausages

Large red onion, thinly sliced
250ml chicken stock
Small tin (200g) tomatoes
Tbsp honey

Heaped tsp each of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, dried chilli flakes, smoked paprika, ground together in a pestle and mortar

Butternut squash, peeled and cubed
Tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
100g dried apricots, roughly chopped
Half a preserved lemon, chopped

To serve: fresh coriander, finely shredded

Serves 4, generously

First: heat a little oil and brown the sausages on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool slightly before cutting into chunks and transferring to the slow cooker.

Add a little more oil and then place the onion into the pan cooking for around five minutes until beginning to soften. Splash in a little stock to deglaze the pan then add the spice mix and stir well. When nearly all the stock has bubbled away, pour in the tomatoes and the honey, then turn down the heat and allow to reduce slightly while you get on with prepping the other ingredients.

Throw the squash, chickpeas, apricots and lemon into the slow cooker alongside the sausage.

Taste the sauce and season well. Pour over the other ingredients in the slow cooker and stir thoroughly. If the mixture looks a little dry, add a bit more of the stock. Set the slow cooker to low and allow to burble away for 6-8 hours. Before serving (with steamed rice or couscous) stir through the coriander.

The 5:2 diet - an initial review

Coming into the holiday period, with far more social engagements popping up than is usual, it is going to be tough over the next few weeks to fit in the requisite fast days so D and I are being relatively easygoing about it. We always knew that this initial stab was going to be experimental and, potentially, shortlived but it has also most definitely proved worthwhile.

Here is what we have learned so far:

Fasting is hard, but not impossible. Sticking to high protein foods such as eggs (D has been eating a lot of hard boiled eggs) and low calorie / high volume items such as cherry tomatoes (surprisingly low for a great, sweet, toothsome return) and keeping well hydrated are essential.

We thought that we would want to “spend” most of our calories on a substantial evening meal, however, on the days where supper happened to come in at less than 200 calories (usually when we’re sharing a tub of fresh soup) that bit of additional flexibility has been most welcome. So we’re going to try and aim for 200 calories or thereabouts in the evening. Soup is perfect for this, if you can get past craving a chunk of bread and butter on the side.

Weight loss is not a given, however much you think you deserve it after two days of feeling a bit cold, hungry and grumpy. We were both slightly up last week despite successfully completing two days of fasting. What you do on non-fast days is just as important as what you do on the fasting ones.

So this is the plan for version 2.0 commencing in January:

A food diary apiece. Keeping accountable, even if it just to a pretty notebook, of what we eat every day will hopefully stop too much extra creeping in. The odd treat is fine, but a non-fast day is not an excuse to pig out. And balance is vital – if you’re having a more indulgent meal than usual (hello, chicken tartiflette) then keep the rest of the day simple and light. It’s just common sense.

And talking of treats, it is especially noticeable this time of year how easy it is to drink your way through excess calories. We both like a tipple or five but we are cutting right back.

One thing that is vital - planning and preparation on fast days. Everything needs to be in place so that we don’t have to think and we don’t have to rely on purchasing food items on the hop.

And exercise – a dirty word as far as I’m concerned but one that I need to get to grips with (how many times have I said that on this blog over the years?) Lesley is doing amazingly well at the moment with little more than a FitBit and a pair of dogs. I don’t think Minx would appreciate being taken for a walk but I have a FitBit that I can dust off and I have a treadmill in the garage so there is no excuse for not upping my steps and getting a bit more active. D has even challenged me to run a 10k by the end of 2017!

I’m really pleased to have a clear plan of action for after the holidays, and also that these last few weeks have seen me shave off a few pounds – not much, by any means, but a start. I have a roadmap in my pocket and I’m going to enjoy Christmas with a clear view of what I need to do once it is all over.

MPM: 12th December 2016

I write this from the living room which has been festooned with fairy lights and currently boasts not one but TWO Christmas trees. Joy.

This is a week of Christmas dos - a fuddle on Monday (do other workplaces have fuddles or is it peculiar to the civil service?), a three course, booze fuelled lunch on Thursday and festive pizza on Friday. We are still trying to fit in two fast days, but unfortunately (for us) they will be consecutive. Gah. At this point in the year, I hold out very little hope for weight loss but if I can minimise gains (or even squeak maintenance) I will be perfectly happy. Elsewhere...

Monday: mussel paella - I may be full of beige party food come the evening but am going to make this all the same as the poor dish keeps getting bumped.

Tuesday: fast day 1 - smoked haddock fish cakes and salad

Wednesday: fast day 2 - mushroom soup

Saturday: chilli con carne

Sunday: something (possibly more homemade sausages) with mash and braised red cabbage. The cabbage is a vital component of our Christmas dinner and benefits from being made in advance and reheated, so I'll do a full cabbage's worth and freeze some.

Happy cooking and eating folks, and happy nearly Christmas!

Recipe corner: chicken tartiflette

If I still included Weight Watchers points at the bottom of the recipes on here, this one would probably stand at eleventy million.  There is nothing vaguely diet friendly about it, it being a dish that is a celebration of creamy, cheesy stodge. Still, in such times, I am moved to quote Joey Tribbiani of Friends - if you're going to do a thing wrong, do it right.  If you're going to eat something groaning in calories, make it something like chicken tartiflette.

Oh, and it has kale in it, which means it is kind of healthy as well.  So.

This recipe is a tweaked version of Monica Galletti's from her new book, "The Skills" (and I believe it also appeared in the Good Food magazine a month of so ago).  Tweaked, because instead of using a whole chicken, I cheated and used thigh fillets.  Oh, and she cooks her bacon to release the flavour but then omits it from the finished dish which seemed slightly odd to me, so I left it in.

My only very slight criticism was that when I've had tartiflette in the past, I'm sure it has been a little saucier so I've upped the amount of chicken broth required to let down the cream in my version below - feel free to reduce it back again (the original recipe called for just 100ml) or up still further if you like.  You will have more broth than you need anyway but it is pretty tasty, so keep whatever is left in the fridge to use in any soups or stews you plan to be making.

Ingredients

Rapeseed, or similar, oil

Six boneless, skinless chicken thigh fillets
1 onion, roughly sliced
1 head of garlic, sliced horizontally across
100ml white wine
1 large bay leaf
Hefty sprig of thyme
1 litre chicken stock

500g waxy potatoes (such as Charlotte) sliced to about the thickness of a pound coin

6 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
150ml double cream
150g Reblochon cheese, cubed
200g kale, roughly chopped

Serves 4

In a large casserole dish, suitable for use on the stove top, heat a little oil.  Season the chicken fillets well and then brown for a couple of minutes on each side before removing from the pan. 

Add a little more oil, then add the onion and the head of garlic and cook for a few minutes until the onion is beginning to soften. Pour in the white wine to deglaze the pan and reduce down to almost nothing.  Now add the chicken stock, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a gentle simmer.  Return the chicken to the pan, cover and cook through - around twenty minutes.  Turn off the heat and set aside, allowing the chicken pieces to cool in the broth.

Meanwhile, put the potatoes in a large pan of cold, salted water.  Bring to the boil and cook for around 5 minutes.  The potatoes will just be thinking about becoming tender at this point.  Drain, and set aside.

Once cool, remove the chicken from the broth and shred. Preheat the oven to 180.  Pour the broth into a separate bowl, wipe out the casserole dish and return to the hob over a medium heat. 

Heat a little more oil and then add the bacon, cooking until beginning to brown at which point you can chuck in the onion.  Five minutes later, when the onion is softening, in goes the garlic as well.

Pour in the cream, plus 200ml of the reserved chicken broth, bring up to a gentle simmer and then season to taste - a liberal hand with the black pepper would be good here.  Stir through three quarters of the cheese, and, as it starts to melt, you can add the chicken, potatoes and kale, stirring well to make sure that everything is coated.  I told you that this pan needed to be large.

Top with the remaining cheese and then bake for twenty five minutes until golden and bubbling.

MPM: 5th December 2016

It's December everybody!  We're already five days into our Advent Calendar, and the countdown to Christmas is well and truly on - hurrah!  I'm particularly over excited that on Tuesday we are going to a local Christmas market with carols and mulled wine, which should be a lovely start to the season.  And then on Friday, we're both out with friends - me for a Christmassy afternoon tea, D to drink copious amounts of beer.  Elsewhere, our meal plan looks like this:

Monday: Fast Day #1 and we're having fishcakes and salad

Tuesday:  Out for mulled wine and mince pies - but we have a stash of M&S nibbles in the fridge if we want something when we get back

Wednesday: Fast Day #2 - sooooooooup.

Thursday:  Mussel paella

Saturday:  Spaghetti carbonara

Sunday:  Lamb of some description with mashed potatoes and garlicky mushrooms (if you've seen my Paris post, you may recognise this as a re-creation of my favourite dish of the trip, I just hope that I can get it to taste half as good as it did in Cinq Mars!)

As always, happy cooking and eating this week les touts.

Foodie Abroad: Paris

I need to start handwriting accounts of our foodie adventures when (or just after) they occur.  I could buy myself a new notebook for the purpose – few things float my boat like the acquisition of fancy stationery.  The memory of food is a fleeting thing and although it is only a few short weeks since we were in Paris, already some of what I wanted to say to you has drifted away like a snowflake on the breeze, or some such seasonally appropriate simile.

Perhaps, though, what remains is the important stuff, the stuff that I really need to say. 

So.  Firstly a top tip.  If you ever go to Paris, get yourself over to Cinq Mars, a bistro which is all kinds of wonderful.  We read about it on a website – Paris By Mouth, I think, which proved to be an excellent resource.  We picked it partly because it was close to the Musee D’Orsay and we intended to go for supper after we’d had a stiff dose of Culture.  It was one of those happy accidents really, but we have both said that next time we’re in Paris (hopefully it won’t be another ten years) we simply have to go back.  The food was superlative.  We actually noticed that a lot of the people in there with us were English or American – perhaps they had picked up on it from the same website? – but this was no shoddy tourist trap.  It was simple, classic and utterly delicious.  I had lamb with pomme puree and mushrooms and it was one of the tastiest things I think I have eaten all year.  D is still raving about his veal chop with cauliflower cheese.  They give you the serving bowl of chocolate mousse and allow you to help yourself.  What is not to love? 

Wine!

The big treat while we were there was a trip to the three Michelin star Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire.  I have been a bit chary about writing about this, to be honest.  The two things that I now remember particularly about the experience are the bill and the appearance of the food.  It is, I am afraid, impossible not to mention the bill which was the most eye watering that I have ever seen (and I’ve eaten in a lot of expensive restaurants).  The food was utterly beautiful – it was art.  But, funnily enough, in terms of a pleasure to eat, I think I preferred the lamb and mash that I had at Cinq Mars.  I felt that some of the dishes we had at PG were slightly over complicated, that they had one or two components too many.  It’s an experience, certainly, but one I’d be slightly hesitant to recommend - perhaps I’m developing simple tastes in my old age?

Part of this is edible...

As I’ve said, we researched our destinations quite thoroughly before we went because, well, in this day and age, why wouldn’t you?  One lunchtime, we were sitting outside a café in the Montmartre area and a couple approached our waitress and asked where they could go for frogs’ legs.  Google, people, Google!  If you’re going to eat frogs’ legs (I’ve tried them once and it was a frankly underwhelming experience so I wouldn’t bother again) then find out where to go for good frogs’ legs – why leave it to chance or a random waitress who may or may not like them herself?  For example, I said to D that I wanted to eat lots of snails, he went away and found lists of the best places to eat snails in Paris.  Which is how we ended up at Benoit one day and Bouillon Chartier the next.  Both very different takes on a classic Parisienne bistro.  Both did excellent snails drenched in vivid green garlicky herby butter.  Heaven.  Benoit is another place that would definitely warrant a re-visit, Bouillon Chartier is busy and buzzing and the wine was excellent value for money but the food tended towards the cheap and cheerful end of the spectrum.  We were sat on a table with a Canadian couple (it’s not the kind of place to go if you’re anti-social) and they were distinctly unimpressed by the quality of the meat and the pallor of the fries (although I should note here that I enjoyed my steak hache with peppercorn sauce very much.  I’m easy to please.)

Snails!

It was, overall, a wonderful trip to a wonderful city.  I had forgotten how very much I like Paris and much was left undone (which is good as it will, hopefully, encourage us to return before too long).  Perhaps next time, I will manage to be a more assiduous blogger.  I can’t guarantee it though – the thing about food is that I never want to let writing about it get in the way of filling my face with it.

Why I'm giving the 5:2 diet a whirl

There’s only so many times that you can make grand announcements about starting back on the dieting wagon and have people take you seriously.  I’ve been writing this blog for years and, look, still a porker!  An older and wiser porker, true, but still. 

So I’ve kept a bit quiet on that front lately, while I try and get it straight in my head what I actually want to do.  I’ve thought about it a lot and D and I talked about it while we were away because he wants to lose some weight too.  And for the last couple of weeks we have been doing intermittent fasts – commonly known as the 5:2 diet.

The premise is simple.  For 2 days a week you eat 500 calories or fewer (600 if you’re a bloke).  The rest of the time you eat normally.  Emphasis on the normal – you don’t gorge, because it defeats the point.  I’m probably teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here; there was a BBC documentary about it a few years ago and it has since become quite mainstream.  I think I even mentioned it in a blog post a couple of years back having done one fast day out of curiosity and given up in a fit of disgust.  So why come back to it now?

The answer is pretty simple.  I just cannot face accounting for every little thing that I stick in my mouth anymore.  I’ve successfully lost weight by counting calories, I’ve successfully lost weight by counting points but I seem to have used up every last little ounce of willpower to do these things again.  It is utterly, utterly tedious and utterly, utterly joyless and I don’t want my food to be tedious and joyless all the time. 

If this works it means that I only have to think about counting calories for two days a week.  And, don’t get me wrong, fasting is a bit blooming miserable.  But it’s only for two days a week.  Psychologically, it makes a massive difference to be able to say, “Oh, hello mince pie.  I can’t eat you today, but I will be wrapping myself all around you tomorrow.  Wait for me.” 

It helps a lot that D is doing it too.  We can be a bit hungry and a bit miserable together.  And, like I said, the fasting itself hasn’t actually been as difficult as I thought and I’ve successfully completed four fast days so far.  I eat a very light lunch at around one o clock – two oatcakes, two Laughing Cow triangles and some chopped salad or a couple of clementines.  I drink plenty of sugar free squash and a couple of black coffees during the day.  And then dinner is either a bowl of soup or something simple but high in protein like a piece of fish with vegetables or an omelette.  I hoard 10 calories for a splash of milk so I can have a cup of tea after supper.  At the moment, we’re relying on quite a lot of ready-made stuff simply because we don’t want to have to cook on fast days, but that’s OK.

And the results?  The results are as follows:

Week 1 weight loss / (gain)                         (0.4) lbs

Week 2 weight loss / (gain)                         3.0 lbs

Total loss / (gain)                                         2.6 lbs

Bit of a mixed bag there, but I’m going to give it a bit longer before I come to any firm conclusions.  I have no expectations that the losses will be quick – a pound a week is my modest ambition, and so far I have achieved over and above that, albeit not in a straight line.   Over those two weeks I have had fish and chips, wine, a roast dinner, cheese, chocolate, mince pies (clearly not all at once).  So although I’m conscious not to go absolutely mad nor have I been particularly abstemious.

D and I are committed to doing this until the end of January – although I can’t see either of us managing even one fast day between Christmas and New Year (you never know but…you kind of do).  So whether it works or not, at least I’ll have given it a fair try.  I really, really hope it does.  The only alternatives that I can see at the moment really blow.  As ever, beloved readers, I will keep you posted.