Meat, then seven veg

Greetings Earthlings! The year is disappearing so fast and it has been the quietest ever on my little blog so my end of year report is likely to say must do better. Sigh.

We are not (that) long back from Berlin and we had a wonderful time - there’s definitely a post in that. And WW have, apparently, changed their plan again and I sort of want to find out how and then do a post on THAT but then...I suspect the WW ship has long since sailed for me. Perhaps I need to rename the blog - any bright ideas? Cooking with Cats quite appeals; then I would have a legitimate reason to stick up pictures of my beloved Minx for no particular reason. But as a name it doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone be cooking with cats? Are the cats actually helping out in the kitchen or just looking on reproachfully and bemoaning the lack of attention? Is it possible that the name would be open to misinterpretation and people would assume that I was making dishes out of cats? I mean, the Internet has its Dark Corners and I would hate to attract someone who would make that kind of assumption but...

Anyway, the meat in the blog post title refers to the food we ate in Berlin. Which was fab - I loved it! But wow, not a cuisine for vegetarians. To make up for it, we have just planned out seven days of entirely vegetarian meals. At this time of year, some of the veggie dishes that I am drawn towards are certainly too full of cheese and butter to count as strictly health food but that isn’t really the point of the exercise. I adore vegetarian food (although, for me, vegan will always be a bit too far) but I want to eat food that isn’t trying to pretend it’s something that it’s not if you see what I mean? Dishes that are glorious in their own right. Here’s what we’re doing:

Monday: roast root veg and pearl barley soup

Tuesday: pasta alla Norma - a gorgeous dish which combines a rich tomato sauce with aubergine, roasted until it just starts to melt through with a smoky flourish

Wednesday: “Arabbiata” pizza - basically, cheese and tomato but the tomato element is spicy with chilli as garlic. I’ll be topping this with lightly wilted rocket

Thursday: Ottolenghi’s ultimate winter couscous. Well, there had to be an Ottolenghi dish on there. And this is one of our favourites. The recipe is here if you don’t have a copy of “Plenty” on your bookshelves

Friday: Vegetarian dirty rice (another Ottolenghi dish) with corn maque choux (basically, sweet corn cooked in cream and spice).

Saturday: Mushroom curry, creamy chickpea and spinach curry, pilau rice, flatbread and Strictly on the telly. Bliss.

Sunday: Cauli cheese pie with mashed potatoes and Parmesan roasted parsnips. A cheese fest to end the week!

Back soon with...well, an account of Berlin (alternatively titled Pictures of Pork).

MPM: 7th January 2019

It’s 2019 mes amies! And how has it started off for you? I am not going to spend my first meal planning post of the year whingeing so I’m just going to say it is Sunday evening, my cat is on my knee and I had the most AMAZING steak ever last night. Reader, Google reverse searing. It will change your life.

This makes it clear that I’m not doing Veganuary. While I wholeheartedly applaud any of you who have risen to this particular challenge, I am just going to come out and admit that I love animal products far too much to ever give them up. We buy the best quality that we can possibly afford but even so, my refusal to give up eggs, cheese, steak, smoked salmon...(continue list ad infinitum) probably makes me selfish. I certainly intend this year to make renewed efforts to ensure that a high proportion of my meals, particularly during the day, are meat free.

Let’s look at meal planning then. I’m going to brunch with some work colleagues on Saturday (and, by brunch, I mean extended piss up) so I’m assuming I won’t need supper. D has a Ginger Pig pork chop in the freezer that he plans to devour. Elsewhere:

Monday: roasted spiced squash and red onions, couscous with olives, goats’ cheese. We have some beautiful Yellison leftover from Christmas that I am excited to use.

Tuesday: soup

Wednesday: more goats’ cheese, this time combined with some beautiful green veg and lemon to make a zingy risotto.

Thursday: we’re going to use some homemade Merguez sausages to do a spicy twist on a toad in the hole, with harissa onions.

Friday: monkfish with Romesco sauce.

Sunday: we’ve been bumping a Diana Henry miso chicken and sweet potato traybake for weeks now and, dammit, we’re doing it this week.

Happy cooking all!

Recipe corner: Mackerel with giant couscous and roasted red pepper dressing

Blogging every day is going to be tough if I have many more days like today which consisted of hours of travelling on rattling tin can trains to get to a...challenging (to be diplomatic) meeting which I could have done without. I have nothing interesting to say and am exhausted and grumpy and fit for nothing but tea slurping. Fortunately, I found this recipe post lurking in my drafts folder. It's been a while since I made the dish but, having now been reminded of it, I'm very keen to get it into the meal plan as soon as possible.

I try and always carry a notebook with me when I'm out and about. Usually, it gets filled up with shopping lists and top 5s, the latter done in the pub when D and I are a couple of pints down so that the handwriting tends towards the illegible. Sometimes, though, I'll make a note of a thoroughly good combination of flavours, nicked from a menu or packet, and years later I'll get round to bringing them together in a dish.

Aside from anything else, making this reminded me of the grooviness that is giant couscous. So much more toothsome and satisfying than the regular stuff.

You could probably do away with the fish here if you wanted a light but flavour packed lunch; as part of a main meal, the sturdy mackerel more than stands up to all the robust flavours.

Ingredients

2 mackerel, filleted
Vegetable oil, for cooking (I favour rapeseed)
2 handfuls of rocket

1/2 red onion thinly sliced
50g golden sultanas
50g capers, lightly chopped
25g pine nuts
100g giant couscous
1L chicken stock

2 red peppers
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Balsamic vinegar
Runny honey
Clove of garlic, crushed

Serves 2

Heat the oven to 180. Quarter and deseed the peppers, season and roast in the oven until the flesh is soft and the skin black (20-30 mins). Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film and set aside.

Meanwhile, sweat off the onion in a little oil until soft and beginning to colour. Transfer to a bowl and return the pan to the heat; lightly toast the pine nuts in any residual oil until lightly golden. Add to the onion, along with the capers, combine well, and set aside.

When the pepper is cool to the touch, peel off the blackened skin and transfer the flesh to a mini processor along the garlic, a slug of balsamic vinegar and a drizzle of honey. Blitz, and then trickle in olive oil until it forms a smooth dressing.

Bring the chicken stock to the boil in a large saucepan and then tip in the giant couscous and sultanas and boil for around 6 mins until the grains of couscous are tender. Combine with the onion and caper mix then cover to keep warm.

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Lay the mackerel fillets in skin size down, season the flesh and cook for 2 mins. Flip the fillets and remove from the heat, the fish will cook in the residual warmth.

Divide the couscous between two plates. Top with the mackerel fillets then a small handful of rocket and drizzle over the red pepper dressing.

Recipe Corner - Spiced couscous with halloumi, courgette and broad beans

Squeaky cheese!

Hallelujah people – the frozen broad beans are finally gone! Long time readers, who no doubt take a deep interest in the contents of my freezer, may remember that sometime back in (I think) March or so I began commenting on the fact that I was trying to get the freezer down and that I was trying to come up with interesting uses for a bag of broad beans that never seemed to become any less. Well, one last push the other week and the little critters were finally vanquished. Hurrah.

Actually, I feel a little bereft now. As soon as we’re settled into a new home with a new freezer, I might have to buy some more.

So anyway, this dish was a gorgeous combination of delicately spiced couscous, salty, squeaky halloumi and a fresh pop of summer vegetables. Perfect for this sudden hot spell, I’d say. As the main ingredient is cheese, it is, necessarily, a little hefty on the points – but as you know, I’ll sacrifice a lot to get my cheese fix and halloumi really is a favourite. You’ll notice I use reduced fat halloumi in this recipe. I actually find there to be very little difference between reduced fat and full fat versions – and that is the God’s honest, hand on heart, truth. Were it not the case, I would rather reduce the portion size than compromise (cheese is, after all, a serious business).

Ingredients

100g couscous
Tsp cumin
Tsp coriander
Tsp cinnamon
10g butter
Chicken stock (sufficient to cover the dried couscous)
200g light halloumi, sliced lengthwise
100g broad beans (fresh or frozen)
1 courgette, reduced to ribbons (use a mandolin or a good potato peeler)
Tbsp olive oil
Tbsp white wine vinegar
Squeeze of lemon juice
Scant tsp Dijon mustard

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

Put a pan of salted water on to boil and prepare your veg.

Add the spices to the couscous and cover with chicken stock. Place some cling film or a clean tea towel over the bowl and allow to steam while you prepare the other component parts.

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, lemon and mustard with some seasoning and set aside.

Boil the broad beans for five minutes, adding the courgette strips for the final minute. Drain and run cool water over the vegetables to stop them cooking. Pat dry, and return to the pan over a very low heat. Pour over the dressing and gently warm through.

Fry the halloumi slices in a hot, dry non-stick pan for a couple of minutes on each side until darkly blistered.

Uncover the couscous and melt through the butter, using a fork to fluff up the grains. Serve, topped with halloumi slices and the lightly dressed vegetables.