Chips, cheese, chips and cheese

Heavy snow at the end of last week meant that we were slightly worried about the journey up to Mull. Luckily, the roads were clear but we were treated to stunning views like this:

It's been grey skies and rain for most of our time here; fortunately we don't come to Scotland for the weather. And, at last, this morning we have been treated to the clearest of blue skies and an island awash with winter sunshine.

As I mentioned in my last post, not much is open here. And the places that are open are offering somewhat limited menus. Which means for the last week we have basically been eating things accompanied by chips or covered with cheese.

On one occasion I ordered a macaroni cheese and it came WITH CHIPS. Just...why? Actually, the real question is why did I eat most of them...

I think it's safe to say that the 2.4 lbs I lost during the first two weeks of the year will be back on Monday and they may be bringing a couple of friends with them. Ah well. It's been a lovely, relaxing break but I am well and truly stodged out which means that I am positively looking forward to a couple of days of fasting next week (remind me of that when I'm drooping and moaning on Monday!)

A poor excuse for a meal plan

D rebuked me this morning for not posting this week's meal plan.  "How am I supposed to know what I'm going to eat?" he said. 

I didn't bother, mainly because:

a) there are only some many times you can write: "Fast Day - soup" without it being oppressively dull for all concerned and the entries for both Monday and Wednesday this week consist of "Fast Day - soup".

b)  we are going away on Friday so I don't know what, exactly, I'll be eating.  We'll be staying in Ecclefechan on Friday night so it will be something followed by Ecclefechan tart.  And we're having lunch in Oban on Saturday so likely fish will be consumed.  And Sunday night will either be a pub meal on Mull or the best of whatever the Mull Co-op has to offer.

c)  that just leaves two days of home cooking to plan.  And that didn't seem worthwhile.  But for what it is worth this is what we are having:

Tuesday:  Bang Bang turkey (only with chicken - using some leftover sauce from the Christmas batch and some leftover chicken which was located, lurking, in the depths of the freezer)

Thursday:  Cottage pie.  Brisket mince, again, from the depths of the freezer, stretched out with some veg and red lentils and topped with a blue cheese and chive mash.  Probably peas on the side because there should always be peas on the side of cottage pie (or shepherd's pie).

And there you have it.  You're welcome, D.

Recipe corner: Bang Bang Turkey

The period between Christmas and New Year never really feels like real time.  I have never, since entering adulthood, worked those few days - partly because my birthday falls on the 28^th and I have always insisted that I can’t work on my birthday.  I know that millions do, but there have to be some advantages to having a birthday at such a time and one of them is that I always spend it at home.

Food between Christmas and New Year is also a strange thing.  You’ve had one big celebration and are probably gearing up for another.  You don’t really want to cook much (because that would get in the way of all the lying around).  You probably have masses of leftovers lurking in the fridge but all you really want to do is munch your way through your selection box.  Normal rules don’t apply and you find yourself eating cheese for breakfast and cracking open a bottle at three in the afternoon (or is that just me?)

Anyway, turkey curry is a must for us during this period.  We don’t tend to have turkey for Christmas Day itself, so buy a crown in specially and get the curry made in advance so the flavours have time to develop.  I’ve blogged D’s special recipe here.

And this year, he found another turkey leftovers dish: “Bang Bang Turkey” which is absolutely perfect for the season.  It contains some fresh, raw veg for a bit of crunch and a zingy peanut sauce which wakes your sluggish taste buds up.  I think it should become a regular part of our festive routine, especially since the sauce can be made in advance and frozen (I have stashed some away already in my deep freeze so it can make a re-appearance on the menu later this year.)  If you can bear to do a bit of chopping and steaming of rice then have a go at this one.  I imagine it would also work well with chicken.  The list of ingredients is absolutely massive I know, but the method is easy, and most of these are things that you are likely to have in your store cupboard anyway.  It is honestly not an arduous task to assemble.

Photo credit: bbc.co.uk

 

Notes

The original recipe is a Hairy Bikers one, and can be found here.

We served this on top of steamed basmati rice to make it a more rounded meal. 

I found that the quantities listed for the sauce would dress six lots of salad generously.  I’ve given the amounts per the original recipe below but do note that you will have leftovers which can be bagged up and frozen. 

Ingredients

For the turkey:

1 tbsp soy sauce

Juice of half a lime

½ tsp of palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)

½ tsp of chilli powder

½ tsp Chinese Five Spice

125g cooked turkey, roughly chopped

For the peanut sauce:

Tbsp vegetable oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

5cm piece fresh ginger, grated

2 red chillies, seeds removed and chopped

200ml chicken stock

150ml coconut milk

75g crunchy peanut butter

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (you can substitute cider vinegar for this if that’s what you have in)

Tsp palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)

Tbsp fish sauce

Juice of half a lime

For the salad (suggestion only – select veg to suit):

Carrot, reduced to strips with a potato peeler

Red pepper, sliced into thin strips

2 spring onions, sliced

5 radishes, thinly sliced

To serve and garnish:

 

100g basmati rice, steamed

Red chilli, sliced

Fresh coriander and mint, roughly shredded

Roasted, unsalted peanuts

Serves 2, with leftover sauce

Whisk together the ingredients for the turkey marinade then add the turkey and combine well.  Cover, and set aside (I did this several hours in advance to no detrimental effect).

Make the sauce: gently heat the oil in a pan and then add the shallots, cover, and cook over a low heat until translucent (probably about 4-5 mins).  Add the garlic, ginger and chillies and continue to cook for a couple of minutes or until they have lost their “raw” smell (probably another 2-3 mins).  Now add all the other sauce ingredients, bring to a simmer and reduce by about half.  Set aside to cool.

To serve – add a couple of tablespoons of the cooled peanut sauce to the turkey and mix well. 

In a deep bowl, start with the rice, then the turkey and finally, divide the prepared salad veg.  Drizzle with some of the remaining sauce.  Garnish with chilli, herbs and peanuts as desired.

Foggy Friday

Bloody hell, another week as positively whizzed by and we're already nearly half way through January!  Out first week of fasting yielded me a pound loss (hurrah!) and D a magnificent 3.8 pounds.  He's being quite strict on non-fast days as well, so the result was hard earned and well deserved.

All has been quiet chez nous; I've practically been hibernating since the start of the year and I have no intention of doing very much this weekend either.  There are books to read and films to watch and cats to cuddle and cups of tea to be consumed and very content with that I am too.  However, we are rousing ourselves at the end of next week and decamping to Mull for a week.  A week which we will probably spend mostly reading, watching films and drinking tea, just in a different environment and without the cat. 

It turns out that lots of things shut on Mull in January.  Actually, in other parts of Scotland too, since we are stopping off in Ecclefechan (home of the famous and delicious Tart) and planned to visit a famous Scottish person's birthplace which is situated there, only to have our intentions frustrated by out of season opening hours.  So we're going to Gretna Green instead because I've never been and it's on the way. 

If you're still ploughing through the remains of the Christmas turkey, I've got a marvellous recipe to share which post I will schedule now while I am thinking about it.  If you're not, how go your New Year Eatings? 

Have a lovely weekend all. 

2017 - the year in review

And so, Christmas has been and gone and with it the final hurrah of 2017.  I spent most of the year’s dying days snuggled up at home doing little more than watching crap on Netflix and eating chocolate biscuits.  I weighed myself this morning; up 5lbs from the beginning of December which I am quite peaceful about considering that we abandoned 5:2 and any pretence of moderation right at the start of the month.  I am hoping to get most, if not all, of it shifted by the end of January.  Today sees me on my first fast day since…well, weeks ago, and there are even rumours that the Treadmill in the Garage will be grinding back to life very shortly.  As ever, I will keep you apprised.

Before we venture forth into 2018, as always, it is worth having a quick look back.  Firstly, weight loss and health matters – I committed to 5:2 at the start of the year on the basis that:

a) I still need to lose weight

b) Weight Watchers did not agree with me anymore – the constant counting and measuring and weighing and planning was, ultimately, not doing my mental health any good and

c)  Any other formal “diet plan” would likely be just as bad. 

5:2 seemed like the answer to the problem, in that it would require fierce commitment for 2 days of the week, but the rest of the time I could pootle along as I pleased. 

Well, it has worked in the sense that I am 2 stone down over the course of the year.  It’s not what you would call an amazing result, but it is a result nonetheless, and given the number of weeks where we’ve sacked off one or both fasts for reasons both spurious and genuine, I am pleased.  I have genuinely eaten well on non-fast days – aiming for moderation rather than restriction has really helped me develop a peaceful relationship with the food that I eat for the first time in my adult life. 

And talking of eating, D and I have agreed that some of our favourite ever meals were consumed in 2017.  We were lucky enough to visit several amazing restaurants and to pick a favourite is very, very difficult. 

The stand-out, in the end, is The Raby Hunt, which we visited at the beginning of November.  It has two Michelin stars and it is not London based – the conjuction of these two facts do tend to imply quality – but we have learned that Michelin stars do not always make for the best eating or for the best dining experiences (in our opinion.  Clearly not in the opinion of the mysterious Michelin inspectors who I fondly imagine cruising the country’s dining scene in pinstripe suits).  Raby Hunt, which I wrote about here, is just absolutely fabulous.  And the dish of razor clam and celeriac and almonds is probably, probably the best thing that I ate all year.

Razor clam and celeriac at The Raby Hunt

But there are honourable mentions to be made too: the thought of the lamb at Lake Road Kitchen in Ambleside still makes my mouth water all these months later.  And we had a last minute contender in the form of scallop with fermented celeriac at TheBlack Swan at Oldstead just the other week.  It’s rather odd – I didn’t even think that I liked celeriac that much, but in expert hands, it turns out that it is rather sublime.  I probably need to cook with it a bit more.  We also absolutely adored 64 Degrees in Brighton – another superlative lamb dish, this one served with gochujang.

Lamb at Lake Road Kitchen

Dessert of the year probably, again, goes to one of the offerings at The Raby Hunt, but I can’t help but remember with very great fondness the fabulous miso caramel ice cream that we ate at Skosh in York.

Miso caramel ice cream at Skosh

Our own home cooking has, naturally, encountered new influences and ideas throughout the year (gochujang and sushi rice are now both permanent fixtures in our storecupboard), but I honestly think that one of the nicest things that I made was this summery broad bean dip.  I am already looking forward to broad bean season rolling around again so that I can make this dip by the pint.

Broad bean dip at home

We managed to make a bit more use of our extensive recipe book library, but want to ramp this up for 2018 and are aiming to cook a new dish at least once a week.  What with that and plans to visit (among other places) Joro in Sheffield and Where The Light Gets In in Stockport, I think 2018 will shape up to be pretty damn fine itself.

The first meal plan of 2018

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! I do hope that you had a lovely time and are ready for a fabulous 2018. I myself have spent much of the day dozing over an Agatha Christie novel - starting as I mean to go on, you see.

We are all sorted for a meal plan this week and, indeed, are starting as we mean to go on by including some new recipes from a new recipe book on Saturday. We're aiming to cook at least one new dish a week this year.

Fasting is back on the menu as well and, to be completely honest, I'm almost looking forward to it. The first one in particular will no doubt be tough but my system feels a bit overwhelmed at the moment after a couple of weeks of profligate consumption. I'm keen to give it a bit of a break. Lunches on non fast days will be kept light and simple and veggie packed and, hopefully, once I'm back in routine, normal digestive service will be resumed (ahem).

Monday: we're neither of us inclined to do much today so it will be a few M&S nibbles from the freezer and some cheese and biscuits. I did mention something about baking bread but I'm hoping that oatcakes will suffice since I really can't be arsed.

Tuesday: fast day - soup

Wednesday: some midweek vibrancy courtesy of one of our favourites - salmon with pasta pesto. The pasta will be packed full of courgettes and peas to boost the green quota.

Thursday: fast day - soup

Friday: D is out and, at the moment, scrambled egg on toast is looking like my top choice for a solitary supper.

Saturday: a Chinese fakeaway, and, an opportunity to cook from one of the new additions to the household library - Fuschia Dunlop's "Every Grain of Rice". We'll be having smacked cucumber in garlicky sauce followed by chicken thighs with black beans and steamed rice.

Sunday: the rest of the chicken thighs will be roasted up and served with mashed potatoes and a selection of veg - so sort of a roast dinner. I'm seriously considering making Sophie Grigson's delicious sprout gratin as a side dish, not having had any Brussels so far this year. Although I am not sure that cream, bacon and cheese fits in with my current yen for all things ascetic.