Lunch Bunch

Occasionally, (well, once or twice a week if we’re being strictly honest here) I decide to skip making a pack-up and “treat” myself to lunch “out”. I say out, but whatever I buy ends up getting eaten at my desk while I scan the BBC news headlines and wish I had a job that I could do from home. Preferably in about half an hour a day leaving me lots of time for fun stuff like napping and reading blogs. And I say treat but…well.

It was while I was standing in the Co-op earlier today, surveying the lunchtime options, that I realised a) they are not good with food and b) buying a crappy pre packaged sandwich or salad can in no way, shape or form be described as anyone who enjoys good food as a treat. I mean, everything looked so sad and grey and shrunken. I must have stood in front of the display for a good five minutes, just staring, blankly. Occasionally, I would pick something up to tap the nutritional info into my iphone (at least having a WW app makes it look a bit like you’re sending a text rather than calculating points) and spluttering out loud on discovering that some mangy, smelly tuna mayo on soggy stuff that used to vaguely resemble bread would set me back more points than a good home cooked meal.

No, I think me and the lunchtime takeaway may have come to the end of our love affair for a while. Increasingly, I just can’t stand spending a premium to eat bad ingredients badly assembled and left to sweat away in plastic. Especially when I think about the gorgeous squash soup with Gruyere leftovers that I was tucking into this time last week, a lunch that knocked any of the Co-op’s offerings into a cocked hat, and for half the points.

Should you find yourself in a similar situation, my current top options (and by top I mean best of a bad bunch) are:

Comfort Food – M&S Shepherd’s Pie in a Pot: Yes, M&S tends to be pricier than its rivals, but it also tends to be worth it. The meal-in-a-pot thing may be a bit of a gimmick but I thought the Shepherd’s Pie was pretty tasty and filling and perfect for a gloomy day. At 9 points it is by no means the lowest option out there, but it will keep you going, and there is a generous layer of cheese on top which appeals to this particular fromagophile. The M&S Count on Us Chilli Con Carne pot should get an honourable mention here too – a bit lacking in spice, but only 6 points a portion and also pretty filling.

Meal Deal – Boots still wins this one by a whisker, I reckon. The Shapers range tends to be ok - I’m currently opting for the Chicken Caesar Salad. The dressing is, of course, no where near the real thing, and the cheese is a bit on the plasticky side, but there are plenty of crunchy croutons and a decent amount of chicken in with all the salad and the whole thing comes to a mere 4 points. There are plenty of 0 point fruit options to get as your “side” but I often treat myself to a bag of Snack a Jacks at 3 points – I have a curious fondness for rice cakes of all shapes and sizes.

Fast food – You still can’t really go wrong with a Subway. All the nutritional info is listed online so you can go as low or high point as you like and bulk out your choice with plenty of salad. I used to be a turkey-and-ham-with-the-works-plus-light-mayo kind of girl but have discovered that I can get steak and cheese for the same number of points (9) and somehow the latter feels much less like diet food.

Any other bright ideas would be welcomed…although for the time being I think I’m going to stick to filling my mauve and pink “Kitten” lunchbox (yes, I am 30, no, I have no intention of giving it up to use sensible Tupperware) with homemade fare – I might put the money I save towards something exciting. Like…oooh, I don’t know, a wedding…

Recipe corner – Oven baked roasted red pepper and chorizo risotto

I must be on track at the moment, because this is the second recipe I’ve posted in a week! It’s so tasty though, I felt I had to share.
I love risotto, and this oven baked specimen means that you don’t have to spend a long time standing and stirring at the hob (not that this is a task that I object to particularly). The resulting texture is slightly less creamy than a traditional risotto – probably more akin to a paella.

This is an adaptation…an evolution, if you will, of a recipe that originally appeared on the Good Food magazine website. If you don’t already check this site out then go on, pop across now (as long as you come back here to copy this down afterwards). It has some fantastic, simple ideas for meals, plus, most of the recipes include a full nutritional breakdown which makes them easy to work into your day.

For the purposes of this post, I’ve calculated the points based on the individual ingredients. There are a few tweaks you could make to make it less pointy:

o Make it vegetarian by getting rid of the chorizo – total saving, 3 propoints per portion. Up the paprika a little if you do this for an extra flavour kick.

o Ditch the olive oil – total saving 2 propoints per portion. Use a spray instead.

o Use extra stock in place of the wine – total saving 1 propoint per portion.

o Reduce the total amount of Parmesan in the recipe by half (I wouldn’t ditch it altogether as it does add a lovely umami flavour) – total saving – 1 propoint per portion.

Ingredients

Tbsp olive oil
Red pepper, cut into quarter pieces
Red onion, finely chopped
Clove of garlic, crushed
50g chorizo sausage, diced
150g risotto rice
50ml white wine
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp dried chilli flakes (opt)
200g (one small tin) chopped tomatoes

Tbsp balsamic vinegar
250ml veg or chicken stock
30g Parmesan, finely grated

Serves 2 / 15 pro points per portion

Firstly, roast your pepper. I find the easiest way to do this is to put the four pieces, skin side up, on a baking tray and stick them under a hot grill for 10-20 mins until the skin is blackened. Transfer the pepper into a plastic bag and cool. The skin will then slip off easily. Dice the flesh of the pepper.

In an ovenproof dish, warm the olive oil and add the chorizo. Cook for a while: the chorizo itself will release more oil as it heats up. Tip in the onion and the pepper, cook for several minutes until softening, then add the garlic and spices and cook for a minute or so more until the “raw” garlic smell is no longer present (I find adding the onion and garlic at the same time, as many recipes suggest, just causes the garlic to burn).

Now stir in your risotto rice, and make sure it is coated in the lovely, orangey oil. Then add the wine and allow to bubble down to almost nothing. Pour over the stock, tomatoes and add a good lug of balsamic vinegar for sweetness, cover the dish and transfer to a preheated oven (200 or 180 fan) for 25 minutes.

Stir through the Parmesan cheese before serving.

"Healthy" eating?

I came across a blog the other day, in the course of one of my random blog hopping exercises, of a girl who was losing weight while following a fairly strict vegan diet. Reading through what she ate on a daily basis was quite amazing – here was someone who was actually doing a Gillian McKeith In Real Life! Someone who didn’t have to go on the TV and extol the virtues of such a regime for the cameras while secretly fighting a burger craving*.

It made me feel a little inadequate, I must admit. I wouldn’t say I have a bad diet, I cook a lot from scratch, I try and eat plenty of fruit and veg (made easier, it must be said, by the fact that WW have now made fruit zero point) and try to be conscious of eating a good variety of foods to get in a range of nutrients. But I am never going to be someone who tucks into a bowl of roasted cauliflower for breakfast.

Then I started thinking about some of my sins. I often have a jar of ready made sauce in the cupboard so I can bung something together quickly if needs be. I am no stranger to the takeaway. I prefer a bag of French Fries to a handful of unsalted nuts. And (oh, hang your head!) I recently purchased a bag of frozen alphabet potato shapes on a whim. I started picturing my “Table of Shame” – you know, when McKeith used to take someone and lay out their weekly food intake in order to shock them into embracing their new diet. Was I the only person who used to look at that and think, “Oooh, I haven’t had Jammie Dodgers (or fish and chips or cheesy Wotsits etc…) for ages!”

But here is how I justify my less than flawless food habits. We all talk a lot about “healthy” eating, and when we use the word “healthy” we generally are referring to physical health – that food which will provide our physical bodies with sufficiently nutritious fuel to function at peak efficiency. How about mental health though? Let’s not pretend that emotions and food are not related; apart from the odd person who genuinely doesn’t given a monkeys about what they’re eating and, literally, only eats to live, we all make that connection. You know, a particular dish that will put a smile on our face after the shittiest of days, or a favourite chocolate bar that is the oral equivalent of a great big hug. If what you’re eating is (to your own palate) worthy but joyless, you won’t be particularly happy. And I personally believe that good mental health makes a significant contribution to the health of the physical body.

I would support the right of the author of the blog that set off this chain of thought, or Ms McKeith or anyone else to eat and drink exactly as they wish. If cauliflower for breakfast makes them happy then good for them. But for me, I’m going to try and learn to balance eating a diet that feeds my body and a diet that feeds my soul too – and that very likely means the odd indulgence and regular deviation from the path of nutritional righteousness. Sorry Gillian.

*NB: This is a complete and utter guess on my part – I’m just projecting.

Recipe corner - Roasted squash and thyme soup with Gruyere

Oh dear - long time, no post. The standard reason for a diet blog to go quiet is that said dieter has fallen spectacularly off the wagon and is lying in the gutter with crumbs down their front. While not quite plumbing the depths, there may well have been a pizza ordered at some point. Dominos have started adding a layer of pesto to one of their bases and I am very fond of pesto. It was research, people!

I went to a new meeting last night which is far more conveniently situated than previous ones but does involve walking past my favourite curry house which was smelling particularly delicious. My resolve was sorely tested – a special murghi massala with pilau rice would have gone down very well after the ritual humiliation that is the Weigh In. Luckily, I had my tea all planned out and so was able to resist – just.

This soup recipe is adapted from a Rick Stein effort on the BBC website (from where the photo also is taken - I must get into the habit of taking my own photos, although they never make the food look very appetising). I say adapted, but really, I’ve just substituted half fat crème fraiche for single cream and cut out a bit of oil. Most WWers are big fans of zero point soup and it may seem counter intuitive to start bunging butter, cream and cheese into it, but the result was a delicious, velvety, rich concoction which made an extremely filling tea. Our squash was freakishly big, which meant the soup was a touch thicker than what would be my personal preference, but you can always adjust the stock to solid ratio as per your own tastes.

Ingredients

Butternut squash
40g butter
Onion
1-2 tsp dried thyme
Litre of chicken stock*
4 tbsp half fat crème fraiche
120g Gruyere cheese

*One day I swear I will be sufficiently foodiefied to make my own stock. Until that day comes, I am very partial to the Knorr stock pots.

Serves 4, 6 pro points per person

Split the squash in half lengthways, and remove all the seeds and fibres from the cavity. Cut into large wedges, spray with a little oil and season the wedges well. Roast in a hot oven for about 40 mins, until tender.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat. Tip in the onion, season and add the thyme and allow to soften but not colour.

When the squash is cooked, allow to cool slightly before removing the skin and adding to the pan. Cover with the stock and simmer for about ten minutes, adjusting the seasoning as necessary (I find squash needs a lot of salt to counteract the sweetness, but bear in mind that the stock itself will have a fair amount of salt in it).

Blitz to a puree and then return to the heat, stirring in the crème fraiche. Serve with the Gruyere coarsely grated on top.

NB: D is of the opinion it would be easier to peel the squash before putting it in the oven to roast. I’ve kept to Rick’s method here, but you may wish to consider it, especially if you are in a rush – the squash can take quite a while to get to handling temperature.

Friday fun

Greetings, friends! The snow has started falling yet again here in Yorkshire, so no signs that spring is approaching yet. But as I head into the weekend, I just had to share these two pieces of comedic genius with you.

Read, and wonder at these two recipes and then (and this is key) scroll down to the user comments:

Rachael Ray’s late night bacon

and

Rachael Ray’s pineapple wedges

I had to stop reading these at work because I kept making odd snorting noises. Well, odder than usual.

(Classic) Recipe corner – Macaroni cheese*

*Inspired by Victoria – thanks for reminding me of this fabulous comfort food!

OK, probably a teaching grandmother to suck eggs post. I mean, I bet everyone has their own macaroni cheese recipe. But for those of us who count points, it is sometimes useful to have had someone else sit down and stick it through the recipe builder.

I have said it before and will no doubt say it again: I am a massive cheese lover. It’s genetic I think. My Dad would literally live on bread and cheese if left to himself. And as a general rule, I don’t approve of the concept of low fat cheese. It is one of those foodstuffs that you should embrace in all its lardiness or not at all (like low fat chocolate bars. Wrong, wrong, wrong).

But, when I popped to Tesco during my lunch hour I was tempted to break my golden rule by the sight of a trial size Cathedral City Lighter pack – a brand I’d heard reasonable things about. And, do you know what, not half bad. I mean, it’s never going to find its way onto a cheeseboard – if I want to indulge in a piece of real Cheddar I go for the absolutely gorgeous Black Bomber and points be damned. For a midweek macaroni cheese supper though, it was very Quite Nice indeed. And yes, I know that 14 points is quite steep for a meal, but in my opinion, worth every one.

Macaroni cheese is a please yourself kind of dish. I personally like a nice thick layer of melted cheese on the top, so I rely mainly on the Parmesan to flavour my sauce, but there is no reason to keep to my proportions. There are plenty of potential zero point additions: onions, leeks, mushrooms (I would always soften these in a separate pan before adding or they’ll be a wee bit too crunchy; one of the beauties of macaroni cheese is all the unctious squishiness). You could whack a tin of tuna into the sauce before combining with the pasta to make a delicious tuna pasta bake. A lot of recipes suggest adding sliced tomatoes and breadcrumbs to the topping. And of course, you could vary your cheeses. But here, I’m going fairly classic.

Ingredients

30g butter
30g flour
300ml skimmed milk
20g Parmesan, grated
Tsp dijon mustard
Scrape or two of nutmeg
80g reduced fat cheddar, grated
120g pasta

To infuse the milk:

Onion, peeled and halved
Garlic clove, lightly crushed
Bay leaves
Peppercorns

Serves 2, 14 pro points per person

In my opinion, one of the secrets to a good bechamel is to infuse the milk beforehand – but if you can’t be bothered then you can always skip this stage. In any case, all you need to do is tip the milk into a saucepan with the onion, garlic, a couple of bay leaves and a few peppercorns. Bring the milk up to just before boiling point (it should be frothing enthusiastically at the edges) and then turn off the heat and cover. Infuse for as long as you like – an hour or so should be fine.

Now for the sauce. Strain the milk into a jug first of all, wipe out the infusing pan and use it to make the sauce – no need for too much washing up! Melt the butter over a low heat before tipping in the flour and stirring well to combine into a paste (or a roux if you’re feeling particularly French). Then, little by little, add the milk, stirring well at each stage to get rid of lumps. Take your time – you want to make sure you cook out the flour or else you’ll be able to taste it in the finished sauce. I would reckon on this stage taking around 10 to ensure a glossy, lump free sauce. Stir through the mustard and season with nutmeg, plenty of black pepper, the Parmesan cheese (reserve a little for sprinkling on top), around a third of the Cheddar and salt if required (but leave this till the end – the cheese itself should provide plenty of salty flavour so you may not need to add any more).

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water and drain well.

Toss the pasta through the sauce and arrange in a baking dish. Top with the remaining Cheddar and bake in a medium oven for 10-15 mins until it is gloopy and bubbling. Serve with the remaining Parmesan scattered over – and perhaps a salad on the side if you feel the urge.

Bloody, bold and resolute

Ah, January. Probably the most depressing month of the year. Post Christmas, post birthday and post New Year celebrations, there doesn’t seem to be an awful lot to brighten the endless dark days, especially if one’s diet is equally joyless. Which of course it should be, as one tries to undo all the damage done by spending the last two weeks of December thinking it is ok to eat chocolate for breakfast, snack on mince pies and forget what a piece of fruit looks like.

Oh, was that just me?

I think I knew that I was ready yesterday. You see, I just couldn’t be bothered to eat. All day. A few pints of sugar free squash were all I consumed until about half seven at which time I heated up a bowl of split pea and ham soup and ate about half of it. This is a very rare occurrence and I recognise that it was my body finally telling me enough was enough. For all that I make New Year Resolutions, they seldom seem to start on January 1st itself – I generally require a couple of days of sulking and hoovering up the Christmas leftovers before I am truly ready to start again. Again.

The cupboard still contains more chocolate than is strictly necessary, but luckily most of it is easily portionable (is that even a word?) And I believe that there are some mini sausage rolls lurking in the freezer (shop bought I’m afraid – it’s a family Christmas tradition to get mini sausage rolls every year and every year I think to myself “Hmmm, I bet these would be much nicer if I made them myself…”) but again, easy enough to cook them up a couple at a time to have as an in-front-of-the-telly-with-a-puddle-of-ketchup treat. Everything else has been safely despatched. I think. Armed with my new Pro Points iphone app, surely, nothing can stand in my way?? (cue: evil super villain laugh).

2010: The Good, the Bad and the…

When I look back on 2010 it will not be as one of my more successful years. I’ve lacked motivation and focus in a number of areas. Work has been pretty meh for the most part. I've been even more accident prone than usual - managed to lose the diamond out of my engagement ring after a fall on the ice in January, and chip a front tooth during another fall a few months later (less ice more wine involved on that occasion). A lack of cash has meant an inordinate number of weekends sitting on the sofa drinking cheap wine and, er, complaining about the lack of money (although on the plus side, the new series of Doctor Who was fabulous) and never mind the fact that add up the cost of all those bottles and it probably would have paid for a couple of slap up dinners.

More distressingly, the anxiety issues, which I touched on briefly here, and which I thought were receding in 2009, came back to haunt me. I never wrote on this blog about, for example, the truly excruciating experience of the full blown panic attack in the clinical psychologist’s office because, frankly, I don’t know how many people would be that interested, and this blog is supposed to be food focused. But, where food forms such an intrinsic part of ones life, it is natural that other topics will come creeping in. And it is an indisputable fact that if I could sort out my head once and for all, I would probably not resort to the comfort eating and drinking that tends to be my diet downfall.

What of the “diet”? Or (since I hate that word) rather the “life plan that enables one to shed excess poundage while still eating beautifully cooked, varied and healthful foods”? Between January and April there was steady downwards movement on the scales. Around the time I started this blog, I’d hit a bit of a hump and I never really got past it. I’ve dithered. I am an expert ditherer. I’ve had plenty of ideas to kickstart my interest: detox eating, setting myself date specific challenges, even the act of writing a blog for gawdsake, but the overall results have been desultory. My gym attendance has been sporadic. I’ve gone to meetings to stand upon the WW Scales of Truth and then chickened out again after bad weeks. My current relationship with my bathroom scales has been reduced to me eyeing them mistrustfully every time I go to the loo.

So what has gone wrong with my thinking in 2010 and how can I fix it for 2011? Well, the anxiety issues have not and are not going away – that is the sad fact. I’m currently on a waiting list for something called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which I understand aims to reprogramme thought patterns and achieve better response mechanisms in the subject (which would be me). I’m hoping that talk of my eating habits can feature quite heavily in this, since it is clear to me at the moment that there is a strong link there.

Until such time as I rise to the top of the waiting list (and with the NHS that could well be many months) I’m going to continue to blog and to follow all the lovely blogs that I have come across. I’ve recently been reading just as many food blogs as diet blogs, and I love the way some of those people manage to make all their meals an act of celebration, the sheer joy and exuberance they take in food. One of the things I learned this year that continually being in “diet” mode (yes, that word again…) can suck all the joy out of eating – something that was really brought home to me by the bacon sandwich that may just be one of my best meals of the year. I want to aim to have everything I eat be carefully considered and constitute a real treat – whether it is a juicy satsuma or a really gorgeous cup of proper coffee or a full blown five course extravaganza. There will always be times when something needs to be grabbed on the run, but a little bit of forethought should prevent that from happening too often. Mindfulness and quality over quantity – these are 2011 mantras.

Detox eating may not be sustainable for me for long periods of time (by which I mean anything longer than two days looking back to posts on the subject), but I could certainly consider building some “cleaner” meals into the weekly food plan. Immediately springing to mind - a sharp and punchy fruit smoothie, a really gorgeous tuna steak, seasoned and griddled with some stir fried veg and perhaps a touch of five spice, or a roasted sweet potato with avocado and tomato salsa – fantastic, no sacrifice, and smug-makingly virtuous.

It’s sadly obvious as well that setting myself time or weight related goals doesn’t work either. In fact, they seem to send me running in the opposite direction with my fingers in my ears going “La, la, la.” Of course, I have just over eight months until I get married and I would love to be able to slip into a slinky size 10 gown and ooze elegant sophistication a la Hepburn – rather than blowsy bosoms a la Monroe. But there is no point killing myself over that particular deadline. I’m going to rely on Bridal Magic: which is to say that every bride looks beautiful on their wedding day whether or not they more generally resemble Jabba

And it’s not been all bad. My weight, while it has gone up and down over the course of the year, has not risen significantly overall. Anyone who has had a weight problem in the course of their adult life knows that sometimes just stopping the upwards trend is an important step in the right direction, so I’m going to give myself credit for that – not much, but a little. I’ve also started writing regularly – not just here, but also by starting a creative writing course at York University, finally recognising that a creative outlet is a healthy thing for me. I want to continue to develop my writing in 2011 – not necessarily with a view to doing anything with it, but just because it is something I love to do.

Ooooh, and I tried bone marrow for the first time in September. No year where you've managed to have a completely new food experience can have been entirely without merit.

Happy New Year everyone - let's make it a good one.

Recipe corner – Best Ever Braised Red Cabbage

Well, two sleeps left to go until what might just be the most important meal of the year, and like all good foodies I’m getting quite excited. We’re planning to be quite organised and do the majority of the prep work beforehand so on the big day itself we don’t have to worry about anything more then bunging stuff in the oven. But what do they say about the best laid plans?

Tonight, the main job will be to put together the best braised red cabbage in the world, ever and I’ve reproduced the recipe below (I believe it was originally by Marcus Wareing, but I’m not sure where exactly it came from). This is not a low point option – I have calculated the pro points, but more for the sake of interest than anything else; if I were in counting mode I’d probably use little if any butter and sweeten the vegetable with grated apple and onion, and it would be lovely. But just occasionally, this is worth the hit.

Ingredients

1 small red cabbage, cored and sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
150g unsalted butter
200ml red wine vinegar
50g clear honey
100g demerara sugar
1 bay leaf
Sprig of thyme
Large pinch of salt

Serves 4-6, 8 pro points per person (if 6)

Set the oven to 150.

Mix together all of the ingredients and place in a roasting tray. Cover with foil and cook for about 1 ½ hours, stirring regularly, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

(Note: if, after the 90 minutes have elapsed you still have a lot of liquid, it might be worth sticking the tray over a high hob to reduce – we did this last time we cooked it in order not to muck up the timings of other dishes, and it tasted just as nice).

Edited 23/10/2017
This recipe also works really well if you just bung everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for around 8 hours (or overnight).  The colour of the cabbage will be slightly less vivid but the flavour and texture will be utterly perfect.  If you use this cooking method, I would suggest reducing the amount of vinegar by half.

A bit of a do

We had our team Christmas “do” yesterday. Half the people I work with are off today. Of the remaining half, some of us feel somewhat delicate, but since I did most of my serious drinking after leaving the group to hit a Leeds hostelry with D, my dignity (in the office, at least) remains intact.

And so, The Spice Quarter. For £9.95 a head for all you can eat, I shouldn’t really complain. After all, the food was just there to provide lining for the stomach. But I’m going to (complain) because this is my blog and I can if I want to.

Firstly, I am always going to be suspicious of somewhere that purports to do Indian, Thai, Chinese and Italian cuisine. It’s like those dodgy takeaways you see that do curry, pizza and chicken and chips. You just know that none of those are going to be done in any way competently. So I did not have high hopes. And, to be strictly fair, none of the food that I tried at The Spice Quarter was actually inedible. It just all tasted a bit….nothingy. Bland. The curries had no heat and very little taste, plus you had to stand for a good few minutes at the buffet fishing around for bits of meat in the oceans of neon coloured sauce. The pizza looked and tasted like it had been taken from a supermarket freezer – thick, doughy base and a load of pale, sloppy cheese that tasted…pale and sloppy. I couldn’t be bothered to even try any of the desserts – they all appeared to be school dinner rejects with pallid, puckered skins forming beneath the lights. I’ve just remembered that I did quite like a tandoori chicken wing. But that’s about it.

There’s another one of these lurking in Cardiff apparently – but I can only assume, since it has won an award for being the best Indian restaurant in Wales, it is a) better or b) Welsh people don’t like good curry.

The Spice Quarter

Electric Press Building
Great George Street
Leeds
LS2 3AD

A Cold Front. And Back. And Sides.

Well, I’ve spent most of the last week skulking in bed with woman flu. Which is to say the real deal rather than the man kind. There has been lots of snivelling, sniffing, coughing and a marked decrease in my appetite - generally an absolutely sure-fire sign that all is not well.

So foodie adventures have been somewhat thin on the ground. I did develop a craving for cream of tomato soup last week, which was something of a cure all when I was wee. It tasted just as orange as I remembered it – lovely. And the last two Sundays on the trot we have had a very tasty oxtail stew. It’s the first time I’ve ever cooked oxtail and I absolutely loved it – so thick and unctuous. I think Santa (aka my Mum) is getting us a slow cooker for Christmas which I am extremely excited about – and oxtail stew will likely be making an early reappearance in the New Year, as that kind of cut is perfectly suited to long, slow cooking.

Christmas feasting is all planned out, and D ventured to M&S yesterday to stock up on some festive nibbles. I am particularly looking forward to trying the mini cubes of pork belly – which you may have seen Caroline Quentin waving about on the TV advert. What is it about Christmas and pork products? As well as my beloved sausage meat we’ll be eating quite a lot of gammon over the next few weeks as well, gorgeous with scrambled eggs for a light lunch or with roasties and pickles for something a bit more substantial.

I am making no advance apologies for going a bit OTT at Christmas (always assuming my appetite has returned by then) but I’ll be hauling myself up on the WWagon in the New Year in a last ditch attempt to hit beautiful bridedom.

Recipe corner - Nigella's Christmas Chutney

I didn't go in for homemade Christmas presents until a couple of years ago.  The reason being is that I am one of the least crafty people that you will ever come across - crafty as in Blue Peter, mind, not crafty as in a fox.  Or are they cunning?  Anyway, the point is that although I appreciate pretty things, I can't make them.  I can't draw, my handwriting is illegible and I even struggle to cut in a straight line.  So you can understand why I didn't want to inflict my homemade offerings on my mostly lovely friends and family.

That is, until I cottoned on to the idea of cooking their presents.  At first, this seemed doomed to failure, as biscuits or cookies or chocolates, all your typical gift fare, need to be nicely packaged and that might mean I'd have to try and make boxes or something.  But chutney - now, chutney is a different thing.  Buying a kilner jar is easy enough, and fairly cheap, and even I can just about manage a gift label.

I've experimented with different ones for the past few years.  Piccalilli is a firm favourite, not least because it goes so beautifully with the Christmas cheeses and meats.  And this year, in addition to a jar of that, my nearest and dearest will be receiving a jar of Nigella's Christmas Chutney.

Say what you like about Nigella - but I love her for the way she utterly embraces Christmas.  When I saw the recipe in Delicious magazine a month or so ago I knew it had to be done.  The chutney has currently been quietly maturing away in the cupboard for a week or so now, and already, the flavour is wonderful.  When I gave some to D just a minute ago he said "It tastes like Christmas" - and that is exactly right.  It is a lovely blend of sweet and sour and spice and all the flavours are completely redolent of an English Christmas.

Ingredients

750g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped small
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
500g fresh cranberries
250g soft pitted dates
Grated zest, pulp and juice of 2 satsumas or clementines
400g caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
500ml white wine vinegar
2 tsp Maldon sea salt flakes or 1 tsp table salt

Makes roughly 2 ltrs worth - negligible pro points per person


First sterilise your jars - and I tend to do this just by putting them through a hot dishwasher.

Put the apples, onion, cranberries and dates into a large pan.

Add the satsuma or clementine zest, then squeeze in the juice and add the pulp.

Add the sugar and spices then pour the vinegar over and sprinkle the salt.

Give it a good stir then turn on the heat and bring to the boil.  Once there, turn the heat right down and let it sit for an hour or so, uncovered, to bubble away until it is all reduced to a deep red pulp.

Spoon into the sterilised jars and seal.

In the pan, to become an hour later...

...Christmas in a jar!

The longer in advance you make this the better - Nigella recommends about 2 months.  Although I have to say it is already delicious after a week.  Oh, and I should add that I halved this recipe and it still came out beautifully - although I'm now wishing I had made a full batch!

Ghosts of Christmas dinners past

Yesterday, D came home with a plump little pheasant which will form the basis of our Christmas dinner this year. It is all rather exciting, because for the first time we will be on our own for this most important of meals so we have been able to please ourselves with the menu plan. The bird currently reposing in our freezer will be served with braised red cabbage, celeriac and thyme gratin and plenty of sausage meat.

The sausage meat loaf is the only traditional item on there – and even then, it is only really a tradition in my own family. Sausage meat is the one constant that we all insist on; it was the one item that all the family were guaranteed to fight over, to the extent that my Mum used to say that she was providing more sausage meat than turkey. The Christmas sausage meat is the foodstuff that ended my six month foray into the world of vegetarianism as a teenager. I remember vividly that Mum, despite the many misgivings she had as to my dedication to the vegetarian cause went out and bought me a veggie alternative to Christmas dinner. I remember, or think I do, sitting down to lunch and seeing this…grey mass on my plate where the meat should be. To be fair to M&S it probably wasn’t that bad, but to me every mouthful tasted like dust. I struggled to hold on to my anti meat principles through that last meal, and then, the next day demanded a turkey and sausage meat sandwich.

(That doesn’t take the prize as my worst Christmas lunch ever though, because that honour was awarded a year later when my Dad, my brother and I were all struck down with what we think was food poisoning from eating oysters on Christmas Eve. I think by the time my Mum had got the dinner on the table (we used to entertain all four grandparents at our house in those days so she was not serving it for herself alone) the three of us were all sprawled pathetically in the other room away from the smell of the food. )

But back to the sausage meat – and it’s funny how certain foods can be so evocative, especially those foods that we associate with Christmas. One of my favourite memories of my late mother in law is the first Christmas dinner I ate there: it was the first time that I had ever been away from my parents and I felt a little sorry for myself. Come lunchtime, she proudly presented me with not one but two different varieties of sausage meat – D had tipped her off in advance and she had gone to great lengths, consulting many recipes, to provide it for me, despite the fact it was not a feature in their household.

And do you know what, I have just realised while writing this, that I don’t actually know how my Mum makes her sausage meat!  Since she won’t be around on Christmas Day (she and Dad will be spending it with my brother and very heavily pregnant sister in law) I had better get on to her in advance. Given it forms a central part of my Christmas ritual, it would never do for it to be inauthentic!

Giving the gift of Gougeres

Ah, snow.  It may be cold and wet and make your toes go slightly numb when you are walking down the road with a hole in your boot, but it has its uses.  For instance, today, I am at home.  Living thirty miles away from the office has its uses too - especially when no one you work with lives in the same sort of direction as you.

In fairness, the roads are terrible and that's even if you manage to get out of our car park - D has helped to dig several cars out today.  And the station is a mile trudge down icy streets.  So I didn't have to exaggerate much when I phoned in.  And I've used the time wisely - a lie-in followed by a session in the kitchen making some gorgeous smelling Christmas chutney and a loaf of banana bread.

Today I'm going to give an early Christmas present which is a foolproof recipe for the best canape in the world, ever.  Gougeres are basically puffs of cheesy choux pastry - but despite the fact that they look incredibly impressive (homemade pastry always has that effect on people) they are a cinch to make.  Having this recipe up your sleeve means that whenever you decide to throw an impromptu Christmas cocktail party you will never be without a nibble for your guests.  These are cheesy footballs par excellence (was mine the only household that bought a tub of those things every Christmas, despite the fact that nobody seemed to like them...?)

Oh, and I've even put them through the WW recipe builder, in case you're the type of person who not only throws impromptu Christmas cocktail parties, but likes to be true to their diet while in the midst of them. These are a mere point each - although I defy you to limit yourself to just the one!

Ingredients

125ml milk (skimmed works absolutely fine)
100g butter, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
150g plain flour
4 medium eggs
100g Gruyere cheese, grated
pinch of cayenne pepper
small pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
paprika for dusting (optional)

Makes 50, 1 pro point each

Combine the milk, 125ml water, the butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan and set over a low heat.  Bring to the boil and then immediately remove the pan from the heat.  Add the flour and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Return the pan to a medium heat for about 1 minutes, stirring, to dry out the paste.  It is ready when it all comes away from the sides to form a ball in the middle of the pan.  Tip into a bowl and allow to cool for a minute.

Add the eggs one by one, beating with the wooden spoon.  At first, you will have a mixture that vaguely resembles baby sick (sorry!) and doesn't seem to want to come together - but persevere.  Eventually you will have a smooth, shiny paste.  At this point, tip in three quarters of the grated cheese, the cayenne and the nutmeg. You can make the mixture a couple of hours in advance up to this stage.  To prevent a crust from forming cover with clingfilm, allowing the clingfilm to sit on the surface of the choux pastry like skin.

Most recipes would now tell you to transfer this mixture to a piping bag - but I've found that there is absolutely no need.  Line some baking trays with parchment paper and use a teaspoon to blob the mixture onto the trays, well spaced apart as they will puff up in the oven.  Sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese.

Bake at 200 degrees C for 15-20 minutes until the little buns are dry and crisp on the outside but soft on the inside.  Dust with paprika before serving.

This recipe is taken from "Eggs" by Michel Roux - an amazing book that is well worth getting if you like, um, eggs.

Snow time like the present...

...for a little review.
Pro Points has now been up and running for 3 weeks, and this little blogger has lost three and a half pounds. Not a stellar rate of loss by any means, more of a slow, steady crawl down the scales – certainly nowhere near the dress size that WW suggested I could drop for Christmas.

But let’s look closer…

Week 1 – Monday to Friday
Pro Points rock! Hurrah! And then…

Week 1 – Saturday and Sunday
…D and I discovered the B52. By which I do not mean the late 90s pop group who invited us to join them in their love shack, but a shooter made up of coffee liqueur, Baileys and Cointreau. I could explain the complex emotional reasons for us deciding it was a good idea to start drinking shots at lunchtime, but it is probably easier if you just assume that we both like a drink. I would recommend the B52 – however, it comes with a health warning; three of these, washed down with a few pints of cider and it is quite likely that you will buy a box of mince pies on the way home, inhale two of them and fall asleep on the sofa at seven in the evening with pastry crumbs round your mouth.

Week 2 – Monday to Friday
Mostly spent sulking, refusing to exercise and eating cheese. See self indulgent post here.

Week 2 – Saturday and Sunday
Made a ten hour round trip on a bus in order to attend a friend’s thirtieth birthday party. Such are the lengths that I will go in order to see my dearest contemporaries and also to get plenty of cheap vodka. Consumed copious quantities of Smirnoff – and was mostly undeterred when the mixers started running out (“No more Diet Coke…? No problem, we’ll just use this wine that’s lying about instead! Hic!”) A good time was had by all – although the pain of five hours on a National Express bus with a hangover is not to be underestimated. I fed my poor, beleaguered system plastic sandwiches to try and perk it up.

Week 3 – Monday to Friday
Let’s haul ourselves back up on that Pro Points wagon! Free fruit – eat your fill of seasonal satsumas! Marvel at your own smugness.

Week 3 – Saturday and Sunday
My parents come round for dinner on Saturday night. Between us, D and I have created seven, delicious courses. The theme of the evening is “An Extravaganza of Cheese” in honour of my father’s fervent appreciation of the stuff. No one around the table succumbs to the cheese sweats – but it is a close run thing. Sunday finds D and I suffering from post dinner party ennui – possibly occasioned by the fact that each of the courses was accompanied by a different bottle of wine. At seven o clock we dive head first into a bucket of chicken and “special” coleslaw. My foodie credentials, slim to start off with, take a further battering.

I think, from this little round up, we can take the following points.

1)  Pro Points would appear to work. Over three weeks I probably pointed 10 out of 21 days, and made six gym visits. This has been enough to not only counteract all the fervent eating and drinking that has gone on during the other 11 days, but also to make a three and a half pound dent in my existing paunch.

2)  I definitely drink too much. And, as my thirtieth birthday fast approaches, I no longer fall into the category of debauched, “mad for it”* yoof. As a teenager, I did not spend Saturday evenings drinking White Lightening cider behind Romford library – preferring instead to stay in and watch Gladiators. But that appears to be the last time I adopted a sensible approach to alcohol consumption. If I have any hope of fitting into a size 10 wedding dress, the shots, the cider, the vodka and the wine all have to go…or, at least, have to become a less prevalent part of my weekend.

On a final note, can I just say how disproportionately excited I am about my lunch? M&S Turkey and vegetable soup with sage and onion stuffing balls – it’s Christmas Dinner soup! It’s 7 points for what looks to be a generous portion! And there are snowflakes on the packaging! Can you imagine a more comforting lunch for an extremely snowy November day?

*I suspect the fact that I have used this expression dates me even more than the admission that I’m fast approaching thirty. I don’t suppose even Liam Gallagher says “Mad for it!” anymore. Sigh.

Recipe corner - Madhur Jaffrey "shrimp" curry

Have I happened to mention how much I adore curry?

I was quite aged before I discovered my passion for spicy food. The primary problem for me was that for many years I couldn’t bring myself to eat rice. I assume it was a textural issue because I can’t imagine there being anything about the taste of rice that I could dislike. To this day, one of the very few foods that I am unable to go near is rice pudding (I’m actually shuddering just thinking about it), but thankfully, I now have no such problems with the savoury stuff.

My tolerance to chillies has grown as well, to the point where I have even dared to cook a vindaloo at home (and very nice it was too). So, the world of Indian cuisine has become my own personal oyster.

We are (un)lucky enough to have a fantastic Indian takeaway a 30 second jog away. If you’re ever in York (and not dieting) can I recommend the Gate of India? Situated in the back room of a pub, it is not the most prepossessing of locations, but the food is absolutely delicious – and I always try to leave some on my plate to eat cold the next morning.

But curries are incredibly easy to make at home as long as you have a reasonably well stocked spice cupboard. This one, by Madhur Jaffrey on the BBC website, is incredibly quick and has the added bonus of not using a pre-bought curry paste, so you can justifiably feel smug and domestic goddessey about producing it. The addition of cherry tomatoes at the end is our own and probably completely unauthentic - so feel free to leave them out – although I like the little pops of sweetness throughout the curry. I have a feeling some spinach stirred through just at the end, wilted in the residual heat, would also be rather good.

Ingredients

1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp paprika
½ tsp ground turmeric
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed to a pulp
2.5cm/1in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated to a pulp
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
397g/14oz can reduced fat coconut milk, well shaken (or stirred)
¾tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp tamarind paste
450g/1lb peeled and deveined, meduim sized uncooked prawns (shrimps)
100g cherry tomatoes, halved

Serves 4, 6 pro points per portion

In a bowl, combine 300ml/10fl oz/1¼ cups water with the cayenne pepper, paprika, turmeric, garlic and ginger. Mix well. Grind the coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a clean and add to mixture.

Put the spice mixture into a pan and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce should reduce and thicken. Add the coconut milk, salt, tamarind paste and bring to a simmer. Add the prawns (shrimp) and simmer, stirring now and then, until they turn opaque and are just cooked through. Just before serving, stir through the cherry tomatoes.

In a fog

It appears that winter has well and truly arrived. Looking out of the office window, all I can see is dense, pale fog. I don’t find Leeds an attractive city at any time of the year but at the moment, shivering under its damp blanket, it is particularly grey and gloomy.

And perhaps it is the weather, perhaps it is the fact that I currently leave for work in the dark and return home in the near-dark, perhaps it is the thought of turning 30 in just over five weeks time, but the last week or so I have been indulging in some full on melancholia. You know, making like a Victorian damsel and taking to my bed in an attempt to sleep my way through my off mood.

In times like this, comfort food is what is required, and, as we all know comfort food does not always equal diet friendly. In fact, very often it equals the exact opposite. On Monday, for example, I indulged in a slice of Starbucks ginger loaf cake (good, although not as good as my Mum’s ginger cake) and make the rookie mistake of not checking the pro points until after it had been consumed – 12. Ouch.

Fortunately, last night’s supper, a delicious bowl of roasted tomato and ricotta risotto hit the comfort food spot without being too damaging – this comes out at 11 pro points which is not bad at all for a main meal, and a luxurious one at that. I’ve also indulged in my perennial favourite of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs this week, which again seems to suit the vagaries of the new pro points plan and is exactly the kind of food which is required at the moment.

If anyone else is feeling a little down in the dumps, may I recommend this recipe? I think of this as hug-in-a-bowl soup, it really does make everything seem a little brighter. Well, everything except the sky over Leeds.

Recipe corner - Blue cheese and broccoli soup

I don’t think it will come as a particular surprise to anyone that blue cheese and broccoli is a gorgeous combination. This lovely soup recipe, which I tore out of a magazine many years ago, is an absolute winner. The cream cheese makes the texture fantastically luxurious while the blue cheese adds depth of flavour – but in a sufficiently modest quantity that the points are kept low.


Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
450g broccoli broken into florets
Veg or chicken stock made up to 850ml
200g extra light soft cheese
300ml skimmed milk
60g blue cheese, crumbled

Serves 4, 4 pro points per serving

In a large pan, using a couple of squirts of spray oil if desired, saute the onion and garlic until softened (adding a generous pinch of salt will help get them nice and sweaty).

Add the broccoli, tip in the stock and then simmer for around 15 mins until the brocolli is tender.

Remove from the hob, chuck in the soft cheese and allow it to melt into the soup in the residual heat.

Once the soup has sufficiently cooled so as to no longer be a hazard, transfer to a blender and whizz until smooth.

Meanwhile, put the milk and blue cheese into the same saucepan and gently melt the blue cheese into the milk. When the soup is blitzed, return it to the pan and stir through the milky cheesy goodness.

Going Pro

Massive excitement on Monday morning when Weight Watchers launched its brand new plan, “Pro Points” to existing members (with a roll out to non members in January). It seemed to spark a bit of interest in the mainstream press, as the new system moves away from assigning food a value based on its calorie and saturated fat content to some kind of jiggery pokery where you have to think about protein and carbs and speed of digestion or something. I’m no scientist (unless having a Double Science GCSE counts for anything, which I’m pretty sure it doesn’t) so I just tend to adopt a “nod and smile” policy when people try to explain any sort of scientific theory to me. All I heard, during the explanations of the new plan, was that fruit was henceforth to be zero points. Bring on the bananas!

My instinct tells me that a well established company like Weight Watchers does not rock the boat, particularly the popular, money spinning boat, unless it thinks it is on to something. Yes, the cynical amongst us may point out that by forcing people to pay out for an entirely new set of equipment, the tills will be set ringing. But actually, a massive re-branding exercise like this costs a great deal of money, and they run the risk of alienating their core customer base. So I’m going to assume there is method to all of this and embrace it wholeheartedly.

Zero point fruit is wonderful. And has also made me realise how many times in the past I eschewed an apple or a satsuma in order to squeeze in an extra biscuit. I’m not even sure why because I like fruit. I think dieting tends to bring out the rebellious child in me to a certain extent – why waste two points on a banana when for two and a half I can have a Kit Kat. Never mind that I might have actually wanted the banana more than the chocolate. And going back to basics is kind of fun as well. I’ve been recalculating favourite food items, getting a feel for how I can make best use of my allotted allowance while still enjoying gorgeous, fit-for-a-foodie food. Stay tuned for some Pro Point recipes as I begin to get a bit more au fait with it all…

Vanilla is the new Black

Well, it's been a few days since we came back from London now, boasting a few new pounds in my paunch. But since we had some absolutely lovely food – and some very necessary (to soak up the alcohol) deep fried bits and pieces, I can’t complain at all.

Tomorrow sees the launch of the new Weight Watchers plan, which of course is all very exciting, but in the meantime, a little bit more food porn.

Monday lunchtime found us meeting up with an old friend. Sort of. You see, Vanilla Black is a restaurant that used to be located in York. Much as I love my home city, it doesn’t boast the greatest selection of eat-outeries in the world, but Vanilla Black was something rather special. It is a vegetarian restaurant – but one doing food that non vegetarians actually want to eat. Even ardent meat-loving males.

Anyway, a few years ago, it decided, a la Dick Whittington, that all the streets in London were paved with gold and packed up all its wordly belongings in a red spotted hankerchief and headed down South - much to the disappointment of the York clientele; especially me, who had only managed to eat there once and been totally bowled over by the quality of the food. And so, finding ourself in the Big Smoke for the weekend, we resolved to go along and pay it another visit to see if it lived up to our memories of the place.

The menu which we examined carefully in advance, looked pretty good – although we wondered (and here our aged memories could be playing tricks with us) if it was slightly less “fun” than previous incarnations. I’ve probably said it before, but D and I are suckers for playful food which is probably why we adored the Fat Duck so much, and why J. Baker’s continues to be one of our absolute favourite places to eat. Vanilla Black had grown up and become a little more po faced. But then, it is now situated within spitting distance of Lincoln’s Inn and probably has to take itself as seriously as all the pinstripe clad lawyers wandering around.

When we came to make notes on the food afterwards a lot of little nitpicks started to emerge. “It sounds like I didn’t like it,” D observed, “But I actually did.”

Observation 1: The portions were small. I would freely admit that I am greedy, with a capacity for food that would put many a rugby player to shame. But if it hadn’t been for the fact that I got through two slices of bread and the best part of a jug of water over the course of the meal, I think I would have left with quite an empty stomach.

Lentil dahl with potato mousseline

Yukon potato cakes with smoked olive oil mayonnaise

Observation 2: Most of the individual component of the dishes we ordered were well cooked and tasted good. I just wasn’t always entirely sure whether they all belonged together. Sometimes it felt like something had just sidled onto my plate from the plate next door. Take the lentil “dahl” with curry oil and potato mousseline. I just don’t quite understand what those pale smears of potato added to the very flavourful, beautifully textured beluga lentils. And my dessert, a Valrhona chocolate truffle with cherries, coconut ice and mint crisp…that wasn’t so much an individual componet gone wrong as three puddings that had all accidentally fallen into one bowl together. I like chocolate and cherries, chocolate and coconut and chocolate and mint. I am less keen on cherries, coconut and mint together.

Cauliflower "cake"

Cheese pudding with pineapple chutney

Observation 3: Some of the flavours lacked oomph. There was a bit of the Southern Softie to them – especially the smoked olive oil mayonnaise which accompanied D’s potato cake starter (“very subtle” he said, a little mournfully) and also his peanut butter parfait which looked rather wan.

Peanut butter parfait

Valrhona chocolate truffle

But don’t get me wrong – overall, we ate well; £30 for three courses is not at all bad for decent quality food and it would be a brilliant place to take a vegetarian friend for lunch. I think possibly it has got a little more starchy and lost some of the quirkiness it displayed in the York Years, but I guess such things happen to people, and restaurants, when they cross the Watford Gap…

 Vanilla Black
17-18 Tooks Court
London
EC4A 1LB

The Countdown to Christmas starts here…

I was born and raised a Catholic which, naturally, meant attending Catholic school. Which in turn meant that the countdown to Christmas only really started with the lighting of the first candle on the Advent wreath to a rousing chorus of “The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came”.

Many years, and a serious lapse, later and it’s a slightly more secular event that launches the run up to the Most Wonderful Time of the Year ™. You may already have guessed if you’ve been out and about this week….yep, it’s the Starbucks red cups. And, more specifically in my case, the consumption of the first gingerbread latte of the year.

As a general rule, I like my coffee black and strong and don’t go in for the milky confections that they sell on the high street (although I have recently developed a slight obsession for the Flat White). But a gingerbread latte as sickly and rich as it may be…even thinking about it makes me want to start humming a Christmas carol. I can’t wait to have one later this week. Possibly in lieu of breakfast. I’m also hoping, probably in vain, that Starbucks decide to bring back the cranberry bliss bars that they sold a good few Christmases ago now and which were a gorgeous, dense cross between a cake and a biscuit, with sharp little pockets of dried cranberries and a drizzle of white chocolate. So if the Starbucks’ Santa happens to be listening….?

One tall, skinny gingerbread latte with no whipped cream (in my opinion, no adult drink with the possible exception of hot chocolate should be topped with whipped cream) will cost you 2 WW points (although, of course, this is all set to change come the launch of Pro Points) which is a lot less than a mince pie and, in my opinion, no less festive.

First Star of the Year

Michelin star bashing has become rather prevalent in some quarters. It seems that there are certain chefs, critics, food bloggers have fallen out of love with the system that has been pre-eminent in judging the quality of restaurants for 100 years. And yes, it may be that there can be a bit of a bias towards French cuisine – I haven’t read a single review of Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester which justifies a three star rating (although desserts are supposed to be very good – maybe there were lots of sweet toothed inspectors that year).

Anyhoo, you’ve got to have some sort of quality measuring system, and whichever one you use is going to be subjective to a greater or lesser degree. I personally like the fact that Michelin inspectors remain completely anonymous – to the extent that apparently they’re not even allowed to tell their parents about their line of work! And also, I quite like French food, so any bias in that direction is no great hardship for me. D and I made the decision that the Michelin Guide was going to be our go-to and we’ve seldom been let down.

2010 has not been a good year on the star front – in fact, the lowest since records began (or since we first started going out). You can blame a combination of the forthcoming nuptials, or the downturn in  the economy, or the fact that, as civil servants, we’ve both been slapped around the face with the wet kipper of a two year pay freeze. We finally broke our duck last Saturday with a very pleasant lunch at The Harwood Arms in Fulham.

The Harwood Arms is a gastropub, although in our view, the pub part of the proceedings seemed to be restricted to a few people eating bar snacks at the...well, bar. There didn’t appear to be a lot of punters in for a quiet Saturday afternoon pint. That said, it had a good relaxed atmosphere, and it did a first class Scotch Egg.

Scotch egg take one.

Scotch egg take two - check out that yolk!

It was a wee bit disappointing that there we no intercourse frills and furbelows. Some people find them annoying, but I absolutely love the pre-starter amuses, or the palate cleanser before dessert, or the petits fours. These are often where you see the chef at his most frivolous, with the result that you often get the tastiest little morsels of the meal. But lunch itself went a fair way to making up for that disappointment – it was exceptionally tasty.

For starters, we shared snails and smoked bone marrow on toast, and a home made pork pie with fried crispy pigs’ ears. It was my first time eating both marrow and ear, and I enjoyed both very much, although it was hard to distinguish the taste of the ear-meat (hmmm, that phrase does sound slightly odd read out loud) underneath all the deep fried crispiness. The snails were absolutely fantastic – when I’ve had them previously they have always been drenched in some sort of sauce; left to themselves they were lovely and meaty and a real pleasure to eat.

Pork pie with crispy pigs' ears

Snails and smoked bone marrow on toast

We decided to share two main courses as well, as we were having a hard time deciding. I must admit, when it came to the halfway point I was extremely loath to surrender up the fallow deer chop with the little deer pasty on the side – this was the standout dish of the day. D said he would just have eaten the pasty alone, but I also enjoyed the tender, slightly-pink-in-the-middle chop. The fact that the cod was served with a cauliflower cheese croquette did make the swap slightly less traumatic – everything tastes better with cauliflower cheese on the side.

Fallow deer chop, with deer pasty

I was slightly concerned when I accidentally smashed a glass prior to dessert, that I'd be getting a chef's surprise in my poached quince.  But whether he took his revenge or not, pudding tasted fabulous.  I thought the parkin was a touch dry - I've made it myself and I'm sure my homemade efforts were a bit more luscious and sticky, but I'm probably being pernickety.  Or else extremely biased.

Poached quince with mead ice cream and parkin

So, final verdict on the first star in our collection this year?  Well, a couple of new foods ticked off the "I really should try that" list, a superlative Scotch egg, some gorgeous game and very cheery staff made this a lovely place to visit for lunch.  It certainly didn't have the wow factor, or the glamour of some restaurants we have visited but anyone who thinks that Michelin isn't interested in anything except starched tablecloths and French poncery should go pay this place a visit.

Oh, and how many points?  Probably about 500.  Worth every one.

The Harwood Arms

Walham Grove

Fulham

SW6 1QP

0207 386 1847

Quickfire Friday

Friday already! The days have really run away from me this week.

An exciting weekend coming up for us; we’re off down to London to indulge in some Michelin starred pub grub, some very interesting vegetarian food and some near-the-knuckle humour courtesy of Mr Frankie Boyle. Hopefully photos and details will follow – although probably not so many of Frankie since this is, nominally, a food blog. If he makes any food or diet related jokes I’ll try and note them down. Unless he is rude about fatties in which case I’ll throw Minstrels at him.

We’ve been doing some improvising foodwise this week – it’s the end of the month and we didn’t want to burden the credit card with a big food shop. But nevertheless, we’ve done pretty well with the spoils of the freezer. Last Friday we found that an entire head of garlic, roasted slowly at a medium heat and then crushed into a paste will give a fantastically sweet, mellow garlicky-ness to mashed potatoes which then makes a fabulous side dish for pan fried fillet steak or slow roasted, crispy skinned pork belly. The soft roasted garlic cloves are also gorgeous squeezed from their skins and squished into crusty bread – no butter required.

If you fancy a curry this weekend, I would recommend popping over to the Good Food channel website and trying this Kashmiri lamb with fennel seeds by Anjum Anand. I find her terribly smug to watch, but this dish was absolutely gorgeous – and with low fat yoghurt and skimmed milk adding creaminess to the sauce, it works out as pretty low in points. D’s only criticism was the portion size – he says he could have eaten double what I gave him (and actually, I secretly agree).

Oh, and in a fit of domestic goddessdom I made these Nigella chocolate banana muffins, which at 4 points a pop are less than a Starbucks skinny effort, and very moist and tasty. Next time, I’d be tempted to stir a handful of chocolate chips through the mixture for a bit of extra interest and take the points hit.

Have a lovely weekend!

Recipe corner - Roasted tomato and ricotta risotto

This is the second risotto recipe I’ve put up in the last few weeks. I suppose at least I’m consistent – or dull, depending on your point of view. But I have to say, it’s the second risotto I’ve made in the last few weeks which has made me want to lick the plate clean while managing to be reasonably virtuous WWwise.

I wish I could claim the credit for this combination of ingredients but I can’t. I first came across it in this blog entry here, which in turn was based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. Hey, I plugged it into the WW recipe builder though!  Thanks so much to Victoria for her original post, this looks set to become one of my new favourite dinners.

Ingredients

For the roasted tomatoes:

As many tomatoes as you wish – I used half a punnet of cherry and two large plum tomatoes but probably would have added more if they’d been available
½ tbsp olive oil
Tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt, pepper
Generous tsp dried oregano

For the risotto:

½ tbsp olive oil
Red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Generous pinch of crushed dried chillies
120g risotto rice
100ml white wine
500ml veg or chicken stock
125g ricotta cheese
15g finely grated Parmesan

Serves 2, 8 points per person, 11 pro points per person

Preheat the oven to a low temperature – about 150. Then chop the tomatoes until they are all roughly the same size. I halved the smaller cherry tomatoes and used that as a guide when chopping the larger ones.

Now toss the tomatoes in the oil, vinegar, oregano and plenty of seasoning and roast in the oven for an hour, by which time they should have a lovely rich smell and look fairly dehydrated. You can do this in advance. Divide the tomatoes up – you want roughly two thirds stirred through the risotto and the other third to sprinkle on top.

Time for the risotto. Start by warming the oil and sweating off the onion with the chilli flakes, and then add the garlic and cook until it loses that “raw” smell (being careful not to burn it).

Stir the risotto rice in so it is completely coated in the oil and then add the wine and reduce down almost to nothing. At this stage it is time to start adding the stock, a ladelful at a time. Each time you add some stock add a few of the roasted tomatoes as well (remembering that you’ve set about a third of them aside for garnish). Stir well each time. Continue until the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender.

Add the ricotta cheese and three quarters of the Parmesan, cover and leave to sit for a couple of minutes.

The risotto that you’re left with will have quite a soupy texture so you may want to cook it out a bit more – but I’d leave it if I were you. Garnish with the remaining tomatoes and Parmesan.

How the Cook Crumbles

When you were a child how many times do you think you said “When I grow up I’m going to….”

I know for a fact that I intended to eat Coco Pops for breakfast every day, avoid semolina and have proper puddings midweek. My mother was perfectly capable of making fabulous puddings, but she had somehow got hold of the crazy idea that puddings were for High Days and Holidays only. If we wanted sweet after tea during the week, our choice was restricted to yoghurt or fruit. It’s probably one of the reasons I developed a secret biscuit habit.

Anyway, now I am all grown up and I can have puddings any time I like. The problem is that I am a grown up who is endeavouring to fight against her stubborn flab and puddings (other than yoghurt and fruit) can seldom be slotted into the day after an evening meal. And so I tend not to bother with puddings except when I go out.

It was this article that prompted the craving for crumble. A proper autumn fruit crumble with the slightly tart fruit bubbling up through a sweet, oaty topping and a judicious amount of cream. The problem? How to slot a proper sized portion of crumble into my daily points. The solution? Have pudding instead of tea! And so it was that last night, instead of the Moroccan style chicken with olives and sweet potato mash that had been tentatively planned, I baked an apple and blackberry crumble (6 points a portion) and topped it off with a dollop of WW crème fraiche (0.5 points). Not only did it exactly hit the spot but actually, I found it sufficiently filling that I didn’t go to bed hungry which I always assume I will if I don’t eat a “proper” meal. I think D also approved – well, we’re having the rest of the crumble for tea tonight.

In other news, if you’re looking for something to distract you from work, check out the link at the bottom of the page to “The Foodie Blogroll”. It may seem slightly contrary for a dieter to take such a lascivious interest in food blogs, but I am endlessly fascinated by what other people eat – and often find them a source of great inspiration when it comes to planning my own daily meals.