A fantastic recipe and an even better pun – what more could you ask for?
One of the very few plus points about growing older is the fact that I seem to be less hungry all the time. I was going to say that I seem to be losing my appetite, but that is probably stretching the point; I still require regular feeding or else I start to droop and sulk. But I don’t require the volume of food that once I did which means I can make my points work harder in terms of quality rather than quantity. This is good, because many of my very favourite things in the world are point heavy, as I suspect this is the situation whatever measure (points, calories, syns…) that you are using.
The recipe below is a case in point. 16 pro points per portion is pretty hefty. Factor in a couple of accompaniments (last Saturday we had this with mashed potato and broad beans tossed in butter, garlic and Iberico ham) and you’ve got nearly an entire day’s consumption in a single meal. It was worth the hit, believe me, but some austerity throughout the rest of the day was required – not to mention a trip to the gym.
Oxtail is not an easy cut to come by – we ordered ours from an online butcher, and I can’t think why it is not more popular because it produces the most fabulous stew. It breaks down into tender beefy shreds and gives the surrounding gravy an incredible unctuous quality. Of course, this is partly because it has an incredibly high fat content, but it does ease one’s conscience a little bit when the cooled fat is removed on the second day (this and the shredding of the meat are messy jobs – I would advocate getting a nearby husband to get his hands dirty while you direct operations from a safe distance).
The original recipe, by Sam and Sam Clarke of Moro, was to be found on the BBC website, although it now appears to have vanished. I have tweaked it very slightly by reducing the amount of oil required – I also used my slow cooker for the first stage although you could just as easily do it in the hob. Don’t be put off by the fact that this is prepared across two days – it is pretty straightforward to make and tastes just…fantastic.
Oxtail with Rioja and Chorizo
Ingredients
1.5 kg Oxtail (weight including bone), in chunks
1 carrot, quartered
1 onion, quartered
1 celery stick, quartered
Tsp black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Large sprig of fresh thyme
Tsp cloves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly squished
1 bottle of Rioja
Large sprig of fresh parsley, leaves stripped
Salt and pepper
Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
120g chorizo, sliced into rounds
2 tbsp flour,
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ tsp fennel seeds
Tbsp tomato puree
Salt and pepper
Serves 4, 16 pro points a portion
The day before serving, season and then brown the oxtail in a large pan. I found that you did not need to add any oil at this stage – the oxtail’s own fat will be render out sufficiently. NB: depending upon the size of your pan, you may need to do this in batches. Remove from the pan (transfer to slow cooker if using).
Add the carrot, onion and celery to the pan and cook for about five minutes, tossing regularly to ensure that it browns on every side. Then add the peppercorns, bay, thyme, cloves and garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes. Again, transfer to the slow cooker if using, or return the oxtail to the pan.
Add the parsley and rioja, season well and top up with water if required to cover (in the slow cooker, no additional liquid will be necessary even if the meat is not fully submerged). Cook for around 5 hours on High (or simmer gently for around 2 hours) until the meat can be pulled from the bone easily. At this stage, transfer the oxtail to a large bowl and strain the juices over it. Allow to cool and then refrigerate over night.
On the day of eating, remove as much of the solid fat as possible from the cooled stew. At this point, you should also shred the meat from the bones. This is a fairly easy, albeit messy job.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sweat off the onion and carrot for about 10 minutes – add a good pinch of salt to allow them to soften without colouring. Add the chorizo and cook for a few more minutes. Then, stir in the flour and cook off for a couple of minutes before tipping in the paprika, fennel seeds and tomato puree. Ensure everything is fully coated in the beautiful orangey paste.
Now you can bring the shredded oxtail and stock to the pan. Season again to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15-20 mins, allowing the gravy to reduce slightly and thicken.
Serve with accompaniments of your choice (although I think it would be wrong not to have it with mashed potato…)
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
Monday morning, 6am
Two pounds off this morning ladies and gentlemen, which takes me to the magic stone mark since my refocus (I hesitate to call it a restart) at the beginning of January.
Although I am determined not to put pressure on myself - and avoid deadlines at all costs - I was super keen to hit that milestone (so witty...) this morning - psychologically, it feels like a huge boost.
The next two weeks I'm off delivering training, so potentially tricky on the weight loss side of things (and no meal planning!) But I feel in a good place to face these challenges with, if not a song in my heart then, at the very least, a grit-teeth smile.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Although I am determined not to put pressure on myself - and avoid deadlines at all costs - I was super keen to hit that milestone (so witty...) this morning - psychologically, it feels like a huge boost.
The next two weeks I'm off delivering training, so potentially tricky on the weight loss side of things (and no meal planning!) But I feel in a good place to face these challenges with, if not a song in my heart then, at the very least, a grit-teeth smile.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Sunday night sarnies
Look at these beauties...
I have rediscovered an old friend tonight. You are looking at a toastie consisting of:
2 x slices from a medium white loaf (5pps) with
10g butter smeared on the outside (2pps) and
60g smoked salmon trimmings (2pps) combined with 50g light cream cheese (2pps) and a good scrunching of black pepper packed inside...
Then toasted in my faithful Breville for 4 minutes and garnished with salad.
A delicious, luxuriant tea with the added bonus (from my point of view) of being a nostalgic delight; I used to eat these on a regular basis as during my student days.
Happy Sunday!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I have rediscovered an old friend tonight. You are looking at a toastie consisting of:
2 x slices from a medium white loaf (5pps) with
10g butter smeared on the outside (2pps) and
60g smoked salmon trimmings (2pps) combined with 50g light cream cheese (2pps) and a good scrunching of black pepper packed inside...
Then toasted in my faithful Breville for 4 minutes and garnished with salad.
A delicious, luxuriant tea with the added bonus (from my point of view) of being a nostalgic delight; I used to eat these on a regular basis as during my student days.
Happy Sunday!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
A little stumble (but not a full on fall)
So, as you may remember, last Monday, in a fit of something in between enthusiasm and smugness, I told you all about how I had dragged myself out of bed in order to swim at the ungodly hour of six thirty. As Lesley quite rightly pointed out, this is probably not deserving of too much kudos until it has become a regular occurrence. Well, I am pleased to say that I repeated the same feat on Thursday morning too. Early exercising is not set to become a regular fixture in our routine but we have both agreed that in order to hit the requisite (although required by whom I don’t know) number of workouts per week, they may sometimes be necessary and I’m proud that I proved I can do it…even if I don’t much like it.
As it is, the last few days have been a bit pear shaped and yet I still managed a half pound loss yesterday morning – I like to think that Karma gave me a little reward for fighting against every instinct of my inherently lazy nature not once but twice.
Back to this latest slip up, and it’s the same old chestnut with me; stress = poor choices. I had to travel to London for a job interview last Thursday and despite the fact that I had planned out my strategy with regards food and drink I still faltered, especially when the interview didn’t go as well as I had hoped. And then, having faltered, I didn’t pull myself up straightaway; I sulked on Saturday afternoon, refusing to go to the gym and having a nap instead, and then wasn’t as stringent as I could have been on Sunday (although it turns out fish finger sandwiches are not so pointy as you might expect). Little things but….meh. I hate the fact that I’m such a Pavlov’s dog about it all. I read the blog posts that I write when everything is going well and that person sounds so happy and sorted and healthy – in fact, that person is so happy and sorted and healthy, and yet the sulky, sleepy, cheese-on-toast eating, gym spurning alter ego is still around and closer to the surface than I would like.
Still, for all that, the scales continue to creep downwards – I’ve lost 12 pounds since the turn of the year and I’m going to go all guns blazing for a decent loss this week that will take me up to the 1 stone mark. Onwards!
As it is, the last few days have been a bit pear shaped and yet I still managed a half pound loss yesterday morning – I like to think that Karma gave me a little reward for fighting against every instinct of my inherently lazy nature not once but twice.
Back to this latest slip up, and it’s the same old chestnut with me; stress = poor choices. I had to travel to London for a job interview last Thursday and despite the fact that I had planned out my strategy with regards food and drink I still faltered, especially when the interview didn’t go as well as I had hoped. And then, having faltered, I didn’t pull myself up straightaway; I sulked on Saturday afternoon, refusing to go to the gym and having a nap instead, and then wasn’t as stringent as I could have been on Sunday (although it turns out fish finger sandwiches are not so pointy as you might expect). Little things but….meh. I hate the fact that I’m such a Pavlov’s dog about it all. I read the blog posts that I write when everything is going well and that person sounds so happy and sorted and healthy – in fact, that person is so happy and sorted and healthy, and yet the sulky, sleepy, cheese-on-toast eating, gym spurning alter ego is still around and closer to the surface than I would like.
Still, for all that, the scales continue to creep downwards – I’ve lost 12 pounds since the turn of the year and I’m going to go all guns blazing for a decent loss this week that will take me up to the 1 stone mark. Onwards!
Monday, 20 February 2012
Meal planning Monday - 20th February 2012
I’ll be away Tuesday night and home late on Wednesday night, so only five household meals to be accounted for this week. We’re still on freezer clearing duty: you’ll notice broad beans to make a sneaky late appearance – I swear that the bag doesn’t appear to be going down at all!
- Tonight – leek and goats’ cheese tart (using pastry from the freezer and goats’ cheese that is currently making the fridge smell a wee bit suspicious)
- Thursday then becomes a belated Shrove Tuesday! Yes, we’re having pancakes for tea. The sensible option would be to cook something light and nutritious and then follow it up with a couple of pancakes; I’m not sensible so I’m going to just eat pancakes. With lemon juice and sugar. Mmmmmm.
- Friday – it’s Fakeaway night! Lamb seekh kebabs in pitta bread, probably with some kind of chilli condiment, and spiced potato wedges.
- On Saturday we’ll be having a stew of oxtail with chorizo and rioja. We’ve made this recipe before and it is absolutely wonderful, so I’ll probably blog about this one separately. At the moment, the plan is to serve it with mashed potato and broad beans with serrano ham. Gorgeous.
- Finally, Sunday, and I’m going to be digging out my beloved Breville to make an old favourite of mine from my university days – smoked salmon and cream cheese toasties.
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Recipe Corner - Broad bean and bacon salad with goats' cheese croutons
Being on a diet and saying “I like salad” is a bit like those very slender celebrities who claim to be “stuffed” after a small piece of steamed fish and some broccoli – it sounds like there is some serious self delusion going on. But I am going to stick my neck out here – people, I like salad, I really do. Admittedly, I like to put stuff on my salad, but I genuinely enjoy crunching through a pile of lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes et al.
I’ve always been slightly wary of serving up a main meal salad, assuming that D was not a fan. But it turns out I have been wrong on this score, he, like me, is quite happy to eat it as long as it is a vehicle for Other Things. Were he to be presented with a plate of naked iceberg adorned with nothing more than a few palely bland chunks of tomato, it might be quite another matter.
This particular salad was borne from necessity – I am still trying to come up with fifty different ways to serve broad beans, plus we had some bacon and some goats’ cheese in the fridge that needed using up. But it was absolutely delicious and perfect light but tasty fare for a Sunday (oh-bugger-its-weigh-in-tomorrow) evening.
Ingredients
For the green salad:
Mixed leaves, shredded
¼ cucumber, chopped or sliced
Tbsp olive oil
½ tbsp white wine vinegar
Tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
For the broad beans:
100g frozen broad beans
2 rashers of back bacon, fat trimmed, and chopped
4-5 spring onions, finely sliced
Tsp butter
2 tbsp half fat crème fraiche
Tsp fresh mint, finely chopped
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper
For the croutons:
4 thin slices of French baguette (approx 20g each)
60g soft goats’ cheese
Serves 2, 12 pro points per portion
Tip the broad beans into a saucepan of simmering salted water and boil for around five minutes until tender.
Meanwhile, heat the grill and toast one side of the baguette slices for a few minutes. When lightly toasted, remove, and smear the goats’ cheese on the other side. Have these on a baking sheet ready to go back under. Whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard and seasoning to make the vinaigrette.
Melt the butter in a non stick pan and fry the bacon. After a couple of minutes add in the spring onions and toss well to coat in the delicious rendering bacon fat. Soften for a further two to three minutes.
Now, place the goats’ cheese croutons back under the grill for around five minutes until beginning to brown. While they’re under, add the broad beans to the bacon pan and combine well before adding the crème fraiche, lemon, mint and seasoning. Allow to bubble gently and remove from the heat – you want them to be warm but not blisteringly hot when they hit the salad.
Toss the leaves and cucumber with the vinaigrette. Top with the broad bean and bacon mixture, and finally the goats’ cheese croutons.
I’ve always been slightly wary of serving up a main meal salad, assuming that D was not a fan. But it turns out I have been wrong on this score, he, like me, is quite happy to eat it as long as it is a vehicle for Other Things. Were he to be presented with a plate of naked iceberg adorned with nothing more than a few palely bland chunks of tomato, it might be quite another matter.
 |
Ingredients
Mixed leaves, shredded
¼ cucumber, chopped or sliced
Tbsp olive oil
½ tbsp white wine vinegar
Tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
For the broad beans:
100g frozen broad beans
2 rashers of back bacon, fat trimmed, and chopped
4-5 spring onions, finely sliced
Tsp butter
2 tbsp half fat crème fraiche
Tsp fresh mint, finely chopped
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper
For the croutons:
4 thin slices of French baguette (approx 20g each)
60g soft goats’ cheese
Serves 2, 12 pro points per portion
Tip the broad beans into a saucepan of simmering salted water and boil for around five minutes until tender.
Meanwhile, heat the grill and toast one side of the baguette slices for a few minutes. When lightly toasted, remove, and smear the goats’ cheese on the other side. Have these on a baking sheet ready to go back under. Whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard and seasoning to make the vinaigrette.
Melt the butter in a non stick pan and fry the bacon. After a couple of minutes add in the spring onions and toss well to coat in the delicious rendering bacon fat. Soften for a further two to three minutes.
Now, place the goats’ cheese croutons back under the grill for around five minutes until beginning to brown. While they’re under, add the broad beans to the bacon pan and combine well before adding the crème fraiche, lemon, mint and seasoning. Allow to bubble gently and remove from the heat – you want them to be warm but not blisteringly hot when they hit the salad.
Toss the leaves and cucumber with the vinaigrette. Top with the broad bean and bacon mixture, and finally the goats’ cheese croutons.
Monday, 13 February 2012
I’ve turned into one of those people…
Guess where I was at twenty past six this morning. Go on, guess.
Twenty past six saw me sitting outside of the gym, waiting for it to open.
We decided not to actually join the queue of keen beans that were waiting for the turnstiles to be unlocked and instead lurked in the car until half past. Nevertheless, I was in the pool at twenty five to seven and, as I swam up and down and watched the clouds begin to blush pink with sunrise through the glass roof, I thought to myself “Who are you?"
Twenty past six saw me sitting outside of the gym, waiting for it to open.
We decided not to actually join the queue of keen beans that were waiting for the turnstiles to be unlocked and instead lurked in the car until half past. Nevertheless, I was in the pool at twenty five to seven and, as I swam up and down and watched the clouds begin to blush pink with sunrise through the glass roof, I thought to myself “Who are you?"
Meal planning Monday - 13th February 2012
- And speaking of eggs on toast, tonight we’ll be having Eggs Benedict for a light yet indulgent supper. I must confess, the Hollandaise is out of a jar. Housekeeping fail.
- Tuesday – Valentine’s Day! As you may remember, I am a big fan of this most overblown of fake Hallmark occasions. We’ll be having a steak supper and a bottle of red wine and I’ll spend a couple of minutes trying to make romantic small talk before we revert to normality and start squabbling over my inability to load the dishwasher properly.
- Wednesday – Chicken and chickpea “stuff” leftovers. In last week’s meal plan it was referred to as a curry, but it turned out more like a stew with a vague hint of chilli. This was a most disappointing recipe so I won’t bother to link or share it - I hate wasting points on boring food. I plan to make it slightly more exciting second time around by bunging a load of sliced jalapenos and some crème fraiche (in place of sour cream) on top.
As always, head over to Mrs M’s for more meal planning fun.
Friday, 10 February 2012
Long overdue...
Way back in the mists of January the lovely Lauren nominated me for “The Versatile Blogger” award and it has taken me all this time to get round to writing about it. I blame Work for making me be away from home for long swathes of time and Karma for not allowing me to win the lottery and thus spend all my time not working.
But there is it, in all its glory – isn’t it pretty?
When I first started blogging, nearly two (two!!) years ago it was really just to amuse myself. I like food, I like writing about food, but I also had come to appreciate reading about all those women out there who, like myself, struggled with achieving a healthy body and a healthy lifestyle. I have always believed that it is possible to lose weight (or, indeed, maintain a healthy body weight) while eating nice food. I continue to believe that – even though I don’t always manage it.
It was always my intention that this blog be both a celebration of food and a meditation on why it is so many of us struggle with our weight. If you reject, as I do competely, the idea that you only get fat because you are stupid and lazy, then what does that mean (answers on a postcard please...)? I continue to tussle with the emotional side of weight loss and gain (that will be those navel gazing posts that I still inflict upon you from time to time). I also continue to work on eating as much tasty food as I possibly can. I am not sure if that makes me Versatile so much as vaguely Confused. Either way, I am very grateful to Lauren for thinking of me, and to everyone who stops by and reads this blog from time to time.
Now, I believe that I am supposed to nominate ten other people for this award, paying the love forward. I’ve picked five of the many wonderful blogs that I follow – so each of them can regard themselves as been twice blessed.
Peridot : I lurked on Peridot’s blog for a long time before plucking up the nerve to comment. She writes so beautifully and so truthfully about her weight loss and she has more willpower than anyone I have ever “met”. More than any other blogger I follow I want to give her a big hug. And then take her for a drink. Although since she is low carbing at the moment it would probably have to be a slimline tonic water.
Lesley : again, a really truthful blog. And with regards versatility, not only does she write incredibly well, but she takes the most amazing photographs. I’ve so enjoyed her recent posts where she takes her camera along with her when she goes out running, that I’ve almost, almost, convinced myself to try some outdoor runs when the weather improves a bit.
Linz has a social life that puts me to absolute shame; where she gets the energy to balance that, her crazy work schedule and personal training sessions is beyond me who spends most of her weekends lounging on the sofa like a Victorian maiden aunt.
Starfish : a fellow WWer who has lost a stunning amount of weight and does crazy things like surfing and riding bikes down very steep hills. I admire her bravery tremendously (again, from the refuge of my sofa).
And finally Jenny : this a food-ey blog rather than a diet-ey one. Check out the recipe index on this site, I promise you, you will want to cook practically all of them. She seems to be able to turn her hand to any sort of cuisine while catering for a family on a budget. I try and never read her posts while hungry.
But there is it, in all its glory – isn’t it pretty?
When I first started blogging, nearly two (two!!) years ago it was really just to amuse myself. I like food, I like writing about food, but I also had come to appreciate reading about all those women out there who, like myself, struggled with achieving a healthy body and a healthy lifestyle. I have always believed that it is possible to lose weight (or, indeed, maintain a healthy body weight) while eating nice food. I continue to believe that – even though I don’t always manage it.
It was always my intention that this blog be both a celebration of food and a meditation on why it is so many of us struggle with our weight. If you reject, as I do competely, the idea that you only get fat because you are stupid and lazy, then what does that mean (answers on a postcard please...)? I continue to tussle with the emotional side of weight loss and gain (that will be those navel gazing posts that I still inflict upon you from time to time). I also continue to work on eating as much tasty food as I possibly can. I am not sure if that makes me Versatile so much as vaguely Confused. Either way, I am very grateful to Lauren for thinking of me, and to everyone who stops by and reads this blog from time to time.
Now, I believe that I am supposed to nominate ten other people for this award, paying the love forward. I’ve picked five of the many wonderful blogs that I follow – so each of them can regard themselves as been twice blessed.
Peridot : I lurked on Peridot’s blog for a long time before plucking up the nerve to comment. She writes so beautifully and so truthfully about her weight loss and she has more willpower than anyone I have ever “met”. More than any other blogger I follow I want to give her a big hug. And then take her for a drink. Although since she is low carbing at the moment it would probably have to be a slimline tonic water.
Lesley : again, a really truthful blog. And with regards versatility, not only does she write incredibly well, but she takes the most amazing photographs. I’ve so enjoyed her recent posts where she takes her camera along with her when she goes out running, that I’ve almost, almost, convinced myself to try some outdoor runs when the weather improves a bit.
Linz has a social life that puts me to absolute shame; where she gets the energy to balance that, her crazy work schedule and personal training sessions is beyond me who spends most of her weekends lounging on the sofa like a Victorian maiden aunt.
Starfish : a fellow WWer who has lost a stunning amount of weight and does crazy things like surfing and riding bikes down very steep hills. I admire her bravery tremendously (again, from the refuge of my sofa).
And finally Jenny : this a food-ey blog rather than a diet-ey one. Check out the recipe index on this site, I promise you, you will want to cook practically all of them. She seems to be able to turn her hand to any sort of cuisine while catering for a family on a budget. I try and never read her posts while hungry.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Meal planning Monday - 6th February 2012
In weight loss news: I’m very pleased that I’ve managed to lose weight across both the weeks that I’ve been working away from home. Admittedly only half a pound this week, but considering I had very little control over my weekly meals, was out for dinner on Saturday night (sister in law’s 30 tenth birthday) and accidentally fell face down into a large bag of crisps on Sunday (I blame the weather), I’ll take it very gratefully. I’ve talked before about really struggling with “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to eating plans. These last two weeks have proved to me that if I stay focussed and make good decisions where possible I can still achieve some measure of success. And hurrah for that.
Now, what are we eating this week?
Well, we’re still trying to clear the freezer. The problem I have is that in order to use up one ingredient (say, a bag of frozen broad beans) I need to buy several other ingredients, some of which will probably end up in the freezer. I feel a bit like Sisyphus. I am determined that I will get it defrosted by the end of this month, so expect to see a lot of broad bean related meals over the next couple of weeks…
- Last night it was risotto – pancetta, pea and (yep) broad bean.
- Tonight – Cumin crusted tuna steaks with (you guessed it) broad bean and dill pilaf.
- Tomorrow – not a broad bean in sight! Salmon and pesto fishcakes, salad with a basil vinaigrette.
- Thursday – I’m not going to be home from work until quite late, so I’m dusting off the slow cooker and putting together a chicken and chickpea curry to be served with basmati rice and/or pitta bread.
- Friday – Not sure if D is in or out, but if he is in then I quite fancy some end of week indulgence with a spaghetti carbonara
- Saturday – Slow roasted spiced lamb, couscous with feta and mint and a spiced aubergine puree
- Sunday – Going to keep this quite light and serve a broad bean (they’re back!), mint and goats’ cheese bruschetta, possibly with some roasted tomatoes on the side.
As always, head over to Mrs M for more meal planning fun.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Recipe Corner: Chunky pea and ham soup
One of D's 2012 resolutions was to get more vegetables into his diet. I know this partly because he has written it next to the pea soup recipe in February's Good Food magazine.
This suits me down to the ground because, as fellow devotees of Weight Watchers will know, most vegetables contain zero points and therefore can be consumed with impunity.
It turns out that we are not in any danger of becoming full blown vegetarians just yet though, as we seem to have a tendency to insert some sort of pig into every recipe we come across. Very few savoury dishes are not improved by the addition of bacon. Thus the "and ham" of the title.
This soup is scrumptious and despite it's healthsome contents doesn't feel too virtuous. Don't forget the basil - it works brilliantly with the peas here.
Ingredients
Tbsp olive oil
5 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 celery heart, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
5 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced
200g frozen peas
850ml veg, chicken or ham stock
3 large handfuls fresh basil
150g cooked ham or gammon, shredded
Serves 4, 4 pro points per portion
Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and celery and cook for about 5 minutes until softened. Next in are the leeks and garlic - allow them to soften for a further 5 minutes. Finally go the peas. Stir through the other veg then pour over the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the peas are cooked.
Transfer half of the soup into a blender with the basil and whizz into purée. Return it to the pan along with the shredded meat and stir through. Check for seasoning before serving.
The original recipe suggests garlic bread as a good side dish for this - we concur.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
January round up
Greeting from the wilds of Lincolnshire! And what a beautiful day it is too.
Hard to believe that the first month of the year is already behind us. How was it for you? January chez moi was rather quiet which actually worked out quite well as I was able to get my 2012 off to a healthy and relaxed start; I'm 9lbs lighter now then I was at the beginning of the year after another stellar (albeit rather unexpected) loss last week.
As someone who has been dieting on and off for most of their adult life, with varying degrees of success, I am very wary of ever saying "This time is different." So I won't. What I will say is that I feel extraordinarily relaxed. I think it's partly the fact that I'm not working towards a deadline (I WILL lose two stone by the summer / my wedding / my 30th birthday). And partly down to the fact as I get older I stop demanding 100% perfection from myself - one, two, three, a thousand slip ups - it's all good as long as you pick yourself up afterwards and continue forward with a cheerful step.
I think it also helps that we've eaten very well this month. I promise to share with you in very short order D's fantastic chunky pea and ham soup and also the delicious leek fritters that he made last Friday which came served with the brightest of green sauces. We had a belated Burns night supper at the weekend, which was lovely, and discovered that leftover haggis makes a fantastic toastie filling if chopped up and moistened with a touch of mayonnaise. I've rediscovered the joy of mackerel and made a mental note to have it on the shopping list more regularly. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've bought lunch rather than making use of my cute little lunch bag. And my wasabi pea addiction continues to rage, checked only by the fact I can't always get to M&S.
Here's to a fantastic February for us all.
Hard to believe that the first month of the year is already behind us. How was it for you? January chez moi was rather quiet which actually worked out quite well as I was able to get my 2012 off to a healthy and relaxed start; I'm 9lbs lighter now then I was at the beginning of the year after another stellar (albeit rather unexpected) loss last week.
As someone who has been dieting on and off for most of their adult life, with varying degrees of success, I am very wary of ever saying "This time is different." So I won't. What I will say is that I feel extraordinarily relaxed. I think it's partly the fact that I'm not working towards a deadline (I WILL lose two stone by the summer / my wedding / my 30th birthday). And partly down to the fact as I get older I stop demanding 100% perfection from myself - one, two, three, a thousand slip ups - it's all good as long as you pick yourself up afterwards and continue forward with a cheerful step.
I think it also helps that we've eaten very well this month. I promise to share with you in very short order D's fantastic chunky pea and ham soup and also the delicious leek fritters that he made last Friday which came served with the brightest of green sauces. We had a belated Burns night supper at the weekend, which was lovely, and discovered that leftover haggis makes a fantastic toastie filling if chopped up and moistened with a touch of mayonnaise. I've rediscovered the joy of mackerel and made a mental note to have it on the shopping list more regularly. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've bought lunch rather than making use of my cute little lunch bag. And my wasabi pea addiction continues to rage, checked only by the fact I can't always get to M&S.
Here's to a fantastic February for us all.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Oh, frabjous day!
aka why you gotta keep the faith (as Bon Jovi so rightly said)
So, you may remember that this time last week I wrote a post all about how I was completely ok with the fact that, despite my bestest efforts, the scales were being a little bit stubborn about moving. And I wrote how I was being totally Zen (man) and that I trusted in the fact that if I kept on keeping on all would be well.
I am SO glad that I can report this week that I was right in every particular, because I don't know how long I would have been able to sustain that oh-so-sensible outlook. This week I lost three and three quarter pounds, bringing my total for January up to four. Which, at a rate of between one and one and a half pounds per week is absolutely perfect. I am very happy.
I am not just very happy because I have lost some weight. I am happy because I have done it with relatively little pain. I look back at what I have been consuming over the last couple of weeks and can honestly say that it has been tasty, enjoyable and it is a way of eating to which I am happy to adhere. That's the key, isn't it? Whether you want to lose weight or maintain weight, you can only do it in the longterm if you eat in a way that you enjoy and that fits in with your lifestyle. Hopefully when I'm back at home, I'll have time to blog a few more recipes - they have been a bit thin on the ground recently and I've got some dishes that I would really love to share with you.
So this week and next week, being away from home Monday to Friday, are going to be a little trickier. I am estimating points for everything I eat and hoping to fit a few swims in, and we'll see what happens. I know from experience that I can quite easily maintain when I'm out of my home environment and I'm hoping that by being extra vigilant and trying to cut down on a few extras that sneak in (like biscuits with afternoon coffee and wine with dinner) I can manage a small downwards drift. We'll see. It's all good (man).
So, you may remember that this time last week I wrote a post all about how I was completely ok with the fact that, despite my bestest efforts, the scales were being a little bit stubborn about moving. And I wrote how I was being totally Zen (man) and that I trusted in the fact that if I kept on keeping on all would be well.
I am SO glad that I can report this week that I was right in every particular, because I don't know how long I would have been able to sustain that oh-so-sensible outlook. This week I lost three and three quarter pounds, bringing my total for January up to four. Which, at a rate of between one and one and a half pounds per week is absolutely perfect. I am very happy.
I am not just very happy because I have lost some weight. I am happy because I have done it with relatively little pain. I look back at what I have been consuming over the last couple of weeks and can honestly say that it has been tasty, enjoyable and it is a way of eating to which I am happy to adhere. That's the key, isn't it? Whether you want to lose weight or maintain weight, you can only do it in the longterm if you eat in a way that you enjoy and that fits in with your lifestyle. Hopefully when I'm back at home, I'll have time to blog a few more recipes - they have been a bit thin on the ground recently and I've got some dishes that I would really love to share with you.
So this week and next week, being away from home Monday to Friday, are going to be a little trickier. I am estimating points for everything I eat and hoping to fit a few swims in, and we'll see what happens. I know from experience that I can quite easily maintain when I'm out of my home environment and I'm hoping that by being extra vigilant and trying to cut down on a few extras that sneak in (like biscuits with afternoon coffee and wine with dinner) I can manage a small downwards drift. We'll see. It's all good (man).
Monday, 23 January 2012
Meal planning Monday - 23rd January 2012
Really, there is very little meal planning going on this week. The reason? Once again, I’m abroad – by which I mean away from home rather than in an exotic location, teaching people how to be analysts. After two weeks which were successful in both a meal planning and a weight loss sense (more of that to follow in a later post) it is rather a blow to once again be in an environment where I have little control over what I eat. Poor D is left to keep the home fires burning with a fridge full of fresh soup, roast chicken leftover from yesterday’s fabulous Sunday dinner (if I do say so myself, I do a very good roast) and Christmas ham.
But there are still three dinners to be eaten at home.
- Friday – I am hoping to be presented with a chicken and bacon salad with crispy leek fritters. However, D may well be out gallivanting, in which case this will get bumped (possibly to Sunday?) and I’ll have something gloriously simple like a poached egg on toast – which believe me, I’ll need after a week of institutionalised force feeding.
- Saturday – I’m doing a belated Burns’ Night supper – haggis, neeps and tatties and a whisky cream sauce (probably made with half fat crème fraiche in an attempt to make it slightly more WW friendly).
- Sunday – Not sure here: could be bumped salad, or we could end up with leftover haggis: I quite fancy it pan fried and piled into soft white rolls with spicy chutney.
As always, head over to Mrs M’s for more meal planning fun.
Monday, 16 January 2012
On not feeling the scale love (and being ok with that)
I would describe my relationship with my bathroom scales as…uneasy. We studiously ignore each other most of the time, apart from the odd period of frenzy when I hop on every time I enter the bathroom. This seems to suit us both.
At the end of last year I was attending a weekly WW meeting, which meant that the home scales could be disregarded altogether. But because of all the travelling that I have been doing for work recently, I was missing as many as I was attending, and it became difficult to justify the cost especially since I seldom stayed for the meeting proper. So this January, I’ve switched back to online membership and I’ve had to pick up with the boys in the bathroom again.
They are not loving me so far this year. Last week, I recorded a STS (Stay The Same) which I could accept quite happily given that my first post Christmas weigh in had shown what I thought was an undeservedly low figure. But this week, this week I was expecting big things. If they handed out prizes for WW Sainthood I would have won. I tracked diligently, I ate sensibly, I even exercised restraint on my alcohol consumption. I reached Sunday evening with points to spare and a decided air of smugness.
Those bastard scales sure put an end to that. Quarter of a pound off, if you please. Quarter of a pound! I could probably have lost that just by shaving my legs.
Old Me would have thrown a terrific strop. What’s the point, she would have said, why bother, let us just sit in bed and eat cake until they have to winch us out through the window.
But New Me is much more Zen. New Me looks back at last week and says – ok, you gave it a good shot and you didn’t get the loss that you were hoping for. But did you feel deprived? No. Did you enjoy the food you ate? Yes. Did you feel healthy and satisfied? Yes, most of the time. Is there anything you could do differently? Well, I could possibly spread my weeklies a little more evenly. Will the scales drop eventually? Yes, for sure.
I am not, I refuse, to be ruled by the number on the scales – I will not give them that power over me. I will continue to try, succeeding sometimes and other times not so much, and eventually I’ll see that figure meander downwards.
Hopefully.
At the end of last year I was attending a weekly WW meeting, which meant that the home scales could be disregarded altogether. But because of all the travelling that I have been doing for work recently, I was missing as many as I was attending, and it became difficult to justify the cost especially since I seldom stayed for the meeting proper. So this January, I’ve switched back to online membership and I’ve had to pick up with the boys in the bathroom again.
They are not loving me so far this year. Last week, I recorded a STS (Stay The Same) which I could accept quite happily given that my first post Christmas weigh in had shown what I thought was an undeservedly low figure. But this week, this week I was expecting big things. If they handed out prizes for WW Sainthood I would have won. I tracked diligently, I ate sensibly, I even exercised restraint on my alcohol consumption. I reached Sunday evening with points to spare and a decided air of smugness.
Those bastard scales sure put an end to that. Quarter of a pound off, if you please. Quarter of a pound! I could probably have lost that just by shaving my legs.
Old Me would have thrown a terrific strop. What’s the point, she would have said, why bother, let us just sit in bed and eat cake until they have to winch us out through the window.
But New Me is much more Zen. New Me looks back at last week and says – ok, you gave it a good shot and you didn’t get the loss that you were hoping for. But did you feel deprived? No. Did you enjoy the food you ate? Yes. Did you feel healthy and satisfied? Yes, most of the time. Is there anything you could do differently? Well, I could possibly spread my weeklies a little more evenly. Will the scales drop eventually? Yes, for sure.
I am not, I refuse, to be ruled by the number on the scales – I will not give them that power over me. I will continue to try, succeeding sometimes and other times not so much, and eventually I’ll see that figure meander downwards.
Hopefully.
Meal planning Monday - 16th Jan 2012
- Reappearance no 1: Chunky pea and ham soup – a D creation, loosely based on a recipe in this month’s Good Food magazine and bursting with so many veggies that it yielded four instead of the expected two portions. We’ll have the other half tonight with some garlic bread bites.
- Reapparance no 2: Sweet potato cakes per a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe – two large potatoes produced enough for 11 little cakes, so five went into the freezer and will be served again this week.
- Bump: Lamb and green bean curry.
- Pesto spaghetti with slow roasted cherry tomatoes and mozzarella pearls – I’m think in terms of the pasta version of a caprese salad.
- Grilled mackerel with harrisa and coriander couscous - I believe that this first popped up on a pre Christmas menu plan and for one reason or another never got made; this will hopefully be the week that the poor old mackerel is finally liberated from the freezer
- Haddock with a cheddar and basil crust with mustard mash – fish from the Waitrose Cook range, for an occasion next week when I’m feeling lazy. Or, rather, even more lazy than usual.
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Recipe Corner - Good Wife Cookies
We've been doing some de-cluttering over the last couple of weeks. You would have thought that there is a limit to the amount of stuff it is possible to cram into a two bedroomed flat, but several bags later there is still a way to go.
Last Sunday was particularly traumatic; I managed to uncover some skirting boards that haven't seen the light of day in a while and promptly wished I'd left the layer of camouflaging clutter alone. Feeling like a thoroughly bad housewife, I promptly repaired to the kitchen and made these. Nothing like a bit of baking to restore one's sense that one IS, in fact, a domestic goddess. Anyway, I enjoyed them so much that I whipped up another batch today. Truly the sign of a successful recipe.
I must admit that I have been eating these for breakfast. But this is kind of ok; just like muffin is acceptable breakfast food (despite being cake by any other name) so is any baked good that contains oats - because it's practically porridge.
These lasted in an airtight tin for a good 3-4 days.
Date and stem ginger cookies
Ingredients
175g butter
175g soft brown sugar
100g golden syrup
85g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g porridge oats (you see!!)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g stoned dates, chopped
100g stem ginger, chopped
2 tbsp boiling water
1 medium egg, beaten
Makes 24 cookies, 5 pro points per cookie
Preheat the oven to 180 (fan 160) and line several baking sheets with baking parchment.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter, golden syrup and sugar together over a gentle heat. Meanwhile, measure out your dry ingredients.
When you have a sweet, golden pool bubbling away in the pan then tip in your dry ingredients and stir well. Add the raw egg and water in the hope that it will stop you licking the spoon (it won't).
Allow the mixture to cool slightly and then, with slightly damp hands, form into balls and place them on the baking sheets, flattening them out slightly as you put them down. They will spread when cooking, so allow plenty of space - I got six to a normal size baking sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. They will appear very soft on removal from the oven but they will firm up as they cool.
Serve for breakfast or otherwise.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Last Sunday was particularly traumatic; I managed to uncover some skirting boards that haven't seen the light of day in a while and promptly wished I'd left the layer of camouflaging clutter alone. Feeling like a thoroughly bad housewife, I promptly repaired to the kitchen and made these. Nothing like a bit of baking to restore one's sense that one IS, in fact, a domestic goddess. Anyway, I enjoyed them so much that I whipped up another batch today. Truly the sign of a successful recipe.
I must admit that I have been eating these for breakfast. But this is kind of ok; just like muffin is acceptable breakfast food (despite being cake by any other name) so is any baked good that contains oats - because it's practically porridge.
These lasted in an airtight tin for a good 3-4 days.
Date and stem ginger cookies
Ingredients
175g butter
175g soft brown sugar
100g golden syrup
85g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g porridge oats (you see!!)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g stoned dates, chopped
100g stem ginger, chopped
2 tbsp boiling water
1 medium egg, beaten
Makes 24 cookies, 5 pro points per cookie
Preheat the oven to 180 (fan 160) and line several baking sheets with baking parchment.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter, golden syrup and sugar together over a gentle heat. Meanwhile, measure out your dry ingredients.
When you have a sweet, golden pool bubbling away in the pan then tip in your dry ingredients and stir well. Add the raw egg and water in the hope that it will stop you licking the spoon (it won't).
Allow the mixture to cool slightly and then, with slightly damp hands, form into balls and place them on the baking sheets, flattening them out slightly as you put them down. They will spread when cooking, so allow plenty of space - I got six to a normal size baking sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. They will appear very soft on removal from the oven but they will firm up as they cool.
Serve for breakfast or otherwise.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Notes from my Christmas kitchen
Apologies for those of you who would rather eat their own hand than revisit the gluttony of the end of December, but I’m running a bit behind with blog posts owing to spending a chunk of last week feeling sorry for myself. Go and make a cup of tea and this will all be over soon.
You see, last year’s Christmas dinner was the first one I have ever cooked myself. Mum was in charge of sauces (I don’t eat sauces of the bread and cranberry variety so felt that I was not the best candidate to make them) and helped with the dishing up (which turns out to be one of the most stressful parts, especially when you have run out of oven space to warm the plates) but the majority of the cooking was done by yours truly. It is odd how very nervous I was about it, especially considering it is just a glorified roast dinner.
I wanted to make a few notes about it, more as an aide memoire to myself than anything else. After all, there are many miles to go and glasses of wine to be consumed before next Christmas, and the chances of me remembering anything useful between then and now are…remote.
Course the First
We started off with a selection of pates, which worked really well. Mainly because pate is a cinch to do in advance and because people can help themselves to as much or as little as they like, depending on how much room they have betwixt their navel and their waistband. To go with the pates I whipped up a batch of the brown soda bread that I blogged about a little while ago, only this time I produced a series of misshapen rolls rather than a single misshapen loaf. Incredibly easy to do, delicious served still slightly warm from the oven and kudos to the chef for producing fresh bread on Christmas Day. The rolls took about 20-25 minutes to bake through compared to the full size loaf.
Course the Second
To accompany the three bird roast (D was quite disgruntled that this had replaced the traditional turkey but I thought it was nice) we had:
Sausage meat stuffing (a family staple)
Sage and onion stuffing – homemade and, can I just say, I will never be able to use Paxo again after actually bothering to make this from scratch. I used a Mrs Beeton recipe that I found on the BBC website, baked it in a foil tray rather than within a bird and it was lovely.
Roasted potatoes and parmesan roast parsnips
Braised red cabbage
Brussel sprouts pan fried with bacon and chestnuts – a minor triumph here. My Dad proclaimed them the nicest sprouts he had ever had, which, given his feeling for them probably translates as “Least awful sprouts ever,” but still. We shredded and blanched them on Christmas Eve so all that was required prior to serving was cooking some finely chopped bacon and chestnuts in butter and then tossing through the sprouts with plenty of seasoning. I like sprouts, but even I have to admit that I prefer them shredded, although if you’re serving them like that be sure to give them next to no cooking to ensure you don’t end up with green mulch.
Crushed swede – my brother had said beforehand that he considered this a side dish too far, but I love swede smushed up with a bit of butter and loads of black pepper with my roast dinners.
Most of the side dishes were prepared in advance and placed in foil trays. The two stuffings and the potatoes and parsnips needed cooking through but the swede and cabbage only required warming ten minutes before serving. In any case, it was just a question of being organised with regards timings rather than having a lot of cooking to do which made for a relatively relaxed day. In retrospect we could probably have done with another green thing in there – I had intended to do peas but completely forgot when it came down to it. But all in all, I was pleased. And writing it down is making my mouth water a little bit which must be a good sign.
Course the Third
Although I adore Christmas pudding, I never want to eat it after Christmas dinner. It was D’s idea this year to produce a little trio of desserts which appealed to my pretentious side, although future S take note that there were a few tense marital moments during the baking of numerous miniature pastry cases (D and I do not cook well together – he is as orderly as I am haphazard).
We made miniature chocolate salted caramel tarts which were absolutely scrumptious. The original recipe, by Rachel Allen, can be found here; we halved the quantities which produced about eighteen dinky little tarts in total, assuming you’re not trying to show off it would be far easier to produce a full sized one and just serve slices. If you like chocolate and salted caramel and tarts (and who doesn’t?) then I urge you to give this a go. I’m rolling it out again (boom, boom!) for our next dinner party.
To either side of the tarts we had a burnt orange ice cream and little squares of Yorkshire parkin. I will share the parkin recipe with you in a future blog post, because it is a cake that deserves to be more widely known. The ice cream is a recipe of Tamasin Day Lewis’ which I can’t find online although there are appear to be a few similar ones if you dig around; basically you make an orange infused custard and then a caramel which you take just slightly over “done” (hence the burnt) and combine with glorious results.
Et fin…
And after all that we were too full for cheese! Which is not something you hear very often in our family. Cue one household snoozing, replete, in front of the television – which is just how it should be on Christmas Day...now but a distant memory (looks at plate of salad and weeps a little weep)...
You see, last year’s Christmas dinner was the first one I have ever cooked myself. Mum was in charge of sauces (I don’t eat sauces of the bread and cranberry variety so felt that I was not the best candidate to make them) and helped with the dishing up (which turns out to be one of the most stressful parts, especially when you have run out of oven space to warm the plates) but the majority of the cooking was done by yours truly. It is odd how very nervous I was about it, especially considering it is just a glorified roast dinner.
I wanted to make a few notes about it, more as an aide memoire to myself than anything else. After all, there are many miles to go and glasses of wine to be consumed before next Christmas, and the chances of me remembering anything useful between then and now are…remote.
Course the First
We started off with a selection of pates, which worked really well. Mainly because pate is a cinch to do in advance and because people can help themselves to as much or as little as they like, depending on how much room they have betwixt their navel and their waistband. To go with the pates I whipped up a batch of the brown soda bread that I blogged about a little while ago, only this time I produced a series of misshapen rolls rather than a single misshapen loaf. Incredibly easy to do, delicious served still slightly warm from the oven and kudos to the chef for producing fresh bread on Christmas Day. The rolls took about 20-25 minutes to bake through compared to the full size loaf.
Course the Second
To accompany the three bird roast (D was quite disgruntled that this had replaced the traditional turkey but I thought it was nice) we had:
Sausage meat stuffing (a family staple)
Sage and onion stuffing – homemade and, can I just say, I will never be able to use Paxo again after actually bothering to make this from scratch. I used a Mrs Beeton recipe that I found on the BBC website, baked it in a foil tray rather than within a bird and it was lovely.
Roasted potatoes and parmesan roast parsnips
Braised red cabbage
Brussel sprouts pan fried with bacon and chestnuts – a minor triumph here. My Dad proclaimed them the nicest sprouts he had ever had, which, given his feeling for them probably translates as “Least awful sprouts ever,” but still. We shredded and blanched them on Christmas Eve so all that was required prior to serving was cooking some finely chopped bacon and chestnuts in butter and then tossing through the sprouts with plenty of seasoning. I like sprouts, but even I have to admit that I prefer them shredded, although if you’re serving them like that be sure to give them next to no cooking to ensure you don’t end up with green mulch.
Crushed swede – my brother had said beforehand that he considered this a side dish too far, but I love swede smushed up with a bit of butter and loads of black pepper with my roast dinners.
Most of the side dishes were prepared in advance and placed in foil trays. The two stuffings and the potatoes and parsnips needed cooking through but the swede and cabbage only required warming ten minutes before serving. In any case, it was just a question of being organised with regards timings rather than having a lot of cooking to do which made for a relatively relaxed day. In retrospect we could probably have done with another green thing in there – I had intended to do peas but completely forgot when it came down to it. But all in all, I was pleased. And writing it down is making my mouth water a little bit which must be a good sign.
Course the Third
Although I adore Christmas pudding, I never want to eat it after Christmas dinner. It was D’s idea this year to produce a little trio of desserts which appealed to my pretentious side, although future S take note that there were a few tense marital moments during the baking of numerous miniature pastry cases (D and I do not cook well together – he is as orderly as I am haphazard).
We made miniature chocolate salted caramel tarts which were absolutely scrumptious. The original recipe, by Rachel Allen, can be found here; we halved the quantities which produced about eighteen dinky little tarts in total, assuming you’re not trying to show off it would be far easier to produce a full sized one and just serve slices. If you like chocolate and salted caramel and tarts (and who doesn’t?) then I urge you to give this a go. I’m rolling it out again (boom, boom!) for our next dinner party.
To either side of the tarts we had a burnt orange ice cream and little squares of Yorkshire parkin. I will share the parkin recipe with you in a future blog post, because it is a cake that deserves to be more widely known. The ice cream is a recipe of Tamasin Day Lewis’ which I can’t find online although there are appear to be a few similar ones if you dig around; basically you make an orange infused custard and then a caramel which you take just slightly over “done” (hence the burnt) and combine with glorious results.
Et fin…
And after all that we were too full for cheese! Which is not something you hear very often in our family. Cue one household snoozing, replete, in front of the television – which is just how it should be on Christmas Day...now but a distant memory (looks at plate of salad and weeps a little weep)...
Monday, 9 January 2012
Meal planning Monday - back for 2012!
Thank you for all those lovely New Year messages on my last post. I didn’t respond as unfortunately I was laid out on my sickbed having succumbed to a winter sickness lurgy. I have been looking very mournful for the last few days, I can tell you! Nothing makes me sadder than having to miss meals.
I have rallied, you’ll be pleased to hear. Unfortunately, my system was obviously thrown into such a state of confusion that several days of close acquaintance with the bathroom floor followed by several more days of erratic eating have resulted in…a stay the same. I am sanguine. If I were my digestive system, I’d be confused too. And seeing as I didn’t gain any weight over the festive period this seems like a fair pay off to me. Still, one week into the New Year and I haven’t yet gained any weight – 2012 is not to be written off yet.
This year I do want to stick to regular meal planning posts as much as possible, so feel free to come and beat me with a big virtual stick if you don’t see one during the first few days of the week.
Then without further ado, what’s cooking chez moi this week?
- Sweet potato cakes with crispy bacon, salad and a yoghurt and sour cream dressing
- Smoked salmon and spring onion risotto
- Classic macaroni cheese
- Ham, fresh pea and leek soup with a lemony yoghurt swirl
- Thai style quick lamb and green bean curry with rice and naan bread
As always, check out Mrs M’s blog for more meal planning fun.
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Happy new year!
I have spent the majority of my Christmas break in hibernation. Quite, quite literally – there have been days where I have barely left the confines of my bedroom except to fetch a fresh cup of tea, and have been mostly nose down in one of my new books or my shiny new Kindle (which I love, love, love!) It has been absolutely blissful and has meant I have started January feeling incredibly peaceful and content.
2011 was a good year for me in retrospect – although like the curate’s egg in reverse, it had its moments. I got married, which was lovely, despite the moments of stress and anxiety in the run up to the big day; I love being a wife and catch myself grinning down at my left hand even now. I stumbled, more by luck than judgement, into a new role at work which gives me a massive amount of job satisfaction and, yes, even enjoyment. It’s on secondment at the moment but will hopefully become permanent within the next couple of months so I'm tentatively feeling as if, professionally, things have started to come together. The downside of that was quite a lot of time away from home which I found difficult at first – I’m a homebody who thrives on routine and safety nets. And, looking back, I can see that outside of work and the W, my home life was a little stultified this year. I fell out of my gym habit, I didn’t do as much creative writing as I intended and missed quite a lot of my writing group’s monthly meetings. Having said that, I have kept up with this blog, albeit it has sometimes meandered quite a long way from its original purpose – but I guess that is the nature of blogs, they represent our very selves, complete with all our contradictions and falterings and what nots.
It was not a stellar year for weight loss. I tend to throw away records in fits of pique, or “fresh starts”, so I’m not sure what I weighed at this time last year but it sure as hell wasn’t significantly different to what I weigh now. That is frustrating. I am not going to waste time or emotional energy bemoaning the fact that another year has passed and I’m still a long way from where I want to be. The question I need to ask is: what now?
The first answer is – I keep trying. I want to be slimmer and fitter for both health and aesthetic reasons. As I mentioned here, I need to to rediscover the me who loves lipstick and high heels and that me wants to be at the very most a size 12 and probably (given my frame) smaller.
The second answer is – I address why I keep failing. It is not the plan I follow (if anything, WW’s new innovations have made it even more flexible and easy to use), it is not for lack of support. I have a platform here to work through those tangled emotions that keep getting in the way of success and I need to use it. So, expect the odd navel gazing post this year, and bear with.
The third answer is – I get fitter. I talked about my love hate relationship with exercise a bit here, and I am determined to get back into a decent routine this year if it kills me. Which it just might.
So my friends – here is to a fabulous (as opposed to flabulous) 2012 – to all of you out there in the ether, let’s make it a good one!
2011 was a good year for me in retrospect – although like the curate’s egg in reverse, it had its moments. I got married, which was lovely, despite the moments of stress and anxiety in the run up to the big day; I love being a wife and catch myself grinning down at my left hand even now. I stumbled, more by luck than judgement, into a new role at work which gives me a massive amount of job satisfaction and, yes, even enjoyment. It’s on secondment at the moment but will hopefully become permanent within the next couple of months so I'm tentatively feeling as if, professionally, things have started to come together. The downside of that was quite a lot of time away from home which I found difficult at first – I’m a homebody who thrives on routine and safety nets. And, looking back, I can see that outside of work and the W, my home life was a little stultified this year. I fell out of my gym habit, I didn’t do as much creative writing as I intended and missed quite a lot of my writing group’s monthly meetings. Having said that, I have kept up with this blog, albeit it has sometimes meandered quite a long way from its original purpose – but I guess that is the nature of blogs, they represent our very selves, complete with all our contradictions and falterings and what nots.
It was not a stellar year for weight loss. I tend to throw away records in fits of pique, or “fresh starts”, so I’m not sure what I weighed at this time last year but it sure as hell wasn’t significantly different to what I weigh now. That is frustrating. I am not going to waste time or emotional energy bemoaning the fact that another year has passed and I’m still a long way from where I want to be. The question I need to ask is: what now?
The first answer is – I keep trying. I want to be slimmer and fitter for both health and aesthetic reasons. As I mentioned here, I need to to rediscover the me who loves lipstick and high heels and that me wants to be at the very most a size 12 and probably (given my frame) smaller.
The second answer is – I address why I keep failing. It is not the plan I follow (if anything, WW’s new innovations have made it even more flexible and easy to use), it is not for lack of support. I have a platform here to work through those tangled emotions that keep getting in the way of success and I need to use it. So, expect the odd navel gazing post this year, and bear with.
The third answer is – I get fitter. I talked about my love hate relationship with exercise a bit here, and I am determined to get back into a decent routine this year if it kills me. Which it just might.
So my friends – here is to a fabulous (as opposed to flabulous) 2012 – to all of you out there in the ether, let’s make it a good one!
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Tag: I'm it!
What, or who, inspired you to start a blog?
I first started writing about food….oh, about five or so years ago. D and I had developed a bit of a restaurant habit and I started writing reviews – partly to amuse myself and partly so that we had a record of what we were eating. Then, back in 2009 a piece I wrote about The Old Vicarage in Sheffield won a competition which gave me a bit of a confidence boost and I decided I wanted to give myself an outlet to write more regularly.
The thing is, there were so many wonderful blogs out there already, I didn’t want to join the party as it were without a bit of a different slant, and that is where the WeightWatchers angle came about. I’ve spent most of my life trying to be thinner (rarely succeeding, mind) and the older I get the more I realise I only want to do it on my terms – i.e. avoiding uninspiring, tasteless “diet” food as much as possible.
Who is your foodie inspiration?
Hmmm, tricky.
I’ve always enjoyed both cooking and eating, and that’s thanks to my parents who encouraged us as children to eat widely and well, and ensured that we had all the basic skills we needed to be able to look after ourselves and not have to rely on takeaways and toast.
But my inspiration nowadays…well, I would probably have to say D. Since we met we’ve had so many culinary adventures together, and it has been those that have really inspired me to cook more and eat more and generally be more curious about food.
Your greasiest, batter - splattered food/drink book is?
I have a lot of recipe books, but I must be very honest and say I tend to treat them a bit like novels and day to day am probably more likely to cook from recipes I’ve found online. Which is something I really must change. Probably the most used book in the collection is Mary Berry’s Complete Cookery Course – mainly because it is a copy my Mum has had for donkey’s years that she gave to me when I moved out (buying herself a new edition, I believe!). It’s an incredible useful guide for basics.
Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it?
A few years ago we went to Copenhagen and had dinner at Noma, which went on to be named the best restaurant in the world. The food there was truly amazing, like nothing I’d ever had before. They only serve Nordic ingredients, many of which are foraged, so most of the flavours were quite alien to what I was used to, but it was stunning: fresh and vibrant but also playful. I love food with a sense of humour! I couldn’t pick out one particular course as the best – the whole experience was just fabulous.
Another food bloggers table you'd like to eat at is?
Without wishing to sound creepy (she did nominate me after all!) it would probably have to be Jenny’s. I do always think her food sounds seriously good – proper home cooking.
What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?
I was lucky enough to be given a KitchenAid this year as a wedding present, and I’d like some more attachments for that, please Santa.
Who taught you how to cook?
I used to bake a lot with my maternal grandmother – scones and sponges and that sort of thing. Basic cookery skills – that would be my Mum. To be honest, I’ve never really understood people saying that they can’t cook, if you can read, taste and you understand a few basic techniques then you can follow a recipe, so a lot of skills and techniques I tend to pick up as I go along.
I'm coming to you for dinner what's your signature dish?
If you’re coming for a dinner party at our house, then D will be your head chef – he tends to be in charge of the “event” cookery. I do always make gougeres though – lovely little cheesy choux puffs to enjoy with a drink beforehand.
In terms of midweek cookery – I tend to cook lots of things not very frequently, if you see what I mean. I am a huge fan of pasta though, so you’d probably get a bowl of pasta pesto if you caught me on the hop! It has been a staple since my student days.
What is your guilty food pleasure?
I try not to feel guilty about any type of food – everything in moderation, etc.! I do probably enjoy Dominos pizza far more than I should though – after all, no Italian would recognise those doughy, gooey utterly delectable monstrosities as pizza would they? Perhaps they should invent a new name for it.
Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?
Now this is quite hard...I am an open book! And also, quite dull!
OK…there must be something…I am a grade 8 clarinetist, and did think about turning professional for a while back in my younger days – I won the Junior Musician of Havering at one point, which was probably the pinnacle of my musical career. I haven’t played for years now, and keep thinking about picking them up again.
That’s probably the best I can do.
Right, I’m supposed to tag five people to do this, although around this time of year I suspect most of us have other priorities…so I’m going to cop out and say anyone who happens to see this consider themselves tagged – diet bloggers as well!
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Recipe Corner – Mrs Scrooge’s Piccalilli
We ventured into York on Sunday. For the uninitiated, York, whilst a very beautiful city with many fine features, is what can only be described as a Tourist Trap. Especially around this time of the year when the main street seems to play host to one rather twee Christmas market after another.
Yes, I know. Bah humbug.
I love Christmas, I really do, but the advent of Internet shopping has spoiled me utterly and I can no longer bring myself to love Christmas shopping. I found myself in the Marks and Spencer’s food hall shooting imaginary death rays at all the old age pensioners who had decided that, despite the fact they have the ENTIRE WEEK to go and do their shopping, Sunday – and the Sunday two weeks before Christmas at that, is the very, very best time to venture out for mince and onion slices. The American tourists who were absolutely fascinated by the contents of the tinned goods aisle – apparently they don’t have Heinz Cream of Tomato soup in the States - were also on the end of my patented Beam of Death.
It was my husband that made me brave the ravening hoards to purchase the ingredients for homemade chutney. And it’s a good job he did really – I should have made it a couple of weeks ago but I’ve been shamefully disorganised. Last year I went it for a Nigella recipe inspired by all good flavours of Christmas, but this year I’m experimenting with a slightly simpler spiced apple recipe which I think will work beautifully with strong cheddar. It spent the night burbling away to itself in the slow cooker which made the whole process even more painless than usual. I’ll also be revisiting a fabulous piccalilli which I discovered a few years ago on the Waitrose website and which is reproduced below. This stuff is truly fantastic so I try and remember to make enough to both give away and retain a jar for us.
The only ingredient in this that the dedicated Weight Watcher needs to worry about is the sugar. I would therefore reckon on a single point for a good dollop.
Ingredients
700ml malt vinegar
2 tbsp coriander seeds
500g cauliflower, broken into small florets
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp English mustard powder
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp Tumeric
2 tbsp ground ginger
150ml Cider vinegar
100g French beans trimmed and sliced
½ cucumber, quartered and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
200g granulated sugar
Makes 1.7kg
Place the malt vinegar and coriander seeds in a large pan and bring to the boil, at which point add the cauliflower and onion and simmer for about five minutes until slightly softened but retaining some crunch.
Meanwhile, put the mustard, flour, turmeric and ginger into a small bowl and gradually whisk in the cider vinegar to make a smooth paste.
Add the remaining vegetables, garlic and sugar to the pan and stir over the heat for 2-3 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved. Drain over a large bowl to collect the vinegar.
Put the mustardy mixture in the pan and bring to the boil. Gradually add the malt vinegar back in and then allow to simmer for 10 minutes, until it coats the back of a spoon. Now replace the drained vegetables and take off the heat.
The piccalilli can now be spooned into sterilised jars (the easiest way to do this is to run them through a hot dishwasher) and kept for as long as you can resist it. Not very long in our household.
Yes, I know. Bah humbug.
I love Christmas, I really do, but the advent of Internet shopping has spoiled me utterly and I can no longer bring myself to love Christmas shopping. I found myself in the Marks and Spencer’s food hall shooting imaginary death rays at all the old age pensioners who had decided that, despite the fact they have the ENTIRE WEEK to go and do their shopping, Sunday – and the Sunday two weeks before Christmas at that, is the very, very best time to venture out for mince and onion slices. The American tourists who were absolutely fascinated by the contents of the tinned goods aisle – apparently they don’t have Heinz Cream of Tomato soup in the States - were also on the end of my patented Beam of Death.
It was my husband that made me brave the ravening hoards to purchase the ingredients for homemade chutney. And it’s a good job he did really – I should have made it a couple of weeks ago but I’ve been shamefully disorganised. Last year I went it for a Nigella recipe inspired by all good flavours of Christmas, but this year I’m experimenting with a slightly simpler spiced apple recipe which I think will work beautifully with strong cheddar. It spent the night burbling away to itself in the slow cooker which made the whole process even more painless than usual. I’ll also be revisiting a fabulous piccalilli which I discovered a few years ago on the Waitrose website and which is reproduced below. This stuff is truly fantastic so I try and remember to make enough to both give away and retain a jar for us.
The only ingredient in this that the dedicated Weight Watcher needs to worry about is the sugar. I would therefore reckon on a single point for a good dollop.
Ingredients
700ml malt vinegar
2 tbsp coriander seeds
500g cauliflower, broken into small florets
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp English mustard powder
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp Tumeric
2 tbsp ground ginger
150ml Cider vinegar
100g French beans trimmed and sliced
½ cucumber, quartered and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
200g granulated sugar
Makes 1.7kg
Place the malt vinegar and coriander seeds in a large pan and bring to the boil, at which point add the cauliflower and onion and simmer for about five minutes until slightly softened but retaining some crunch.
Meanwhile, put the mustard, flour, turmeric and ginger into a small bowl and gradually whisk in the cider vinegar to make a smooth paste.
Add the remaining vegetables, garlic and sugar to the pan and stir over the heat for 2-3 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved. Drain over a large bowl to collect the vinegar.
Put the mustardy mixture in the pan and bring to the boil. Gradually add the malt vinegar back in and then allow to simmer for 10 minutes, until it coats the back of a spoon. Now replace the drained vegetables and take off the heat.
The piccalilli can now be spooned into sterilised jars (the easiest way to do this is to run them through a hot dishwasher) and kept for as long as you can resist it. Not very long in our household.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Maybe this time next year I'll have a Beachbody...
One of the things that I really, really want to get off to a flying start this coming January is a proper exercise routine. Throughout 2010 I was managing fairly regular attendance at the gym – to the extent that I was actually choosing to get up before nine on a Saturday to get to a Body Combat class. All that has rather petered out in the latter half of this year.
My general attitude to exercise was always one of dislike and suspicion, a seed planted back in my school days. I was not, it is safe to say, a sporty child, nor had any ambitions in that direction and can’t say I ever cried myself to sleep at night when I missed out on a place in the netball team. While we’re on the general subject, I never really understood the edict that every single pupil had to have some sort of role in Sports Day, but tried to get on board (generally by putting my name down for the relatively safe Tug of War every year as soon as the sign up sheet was posted). With the exception of swimming I steered clear of sport in general. And I think the world of sport was probably pretty grateful.
But then, back in (I think) about 2009, D and I began attending a local gym on a reasonably regular basis. I started off by just sticking to gentle lengths of the pool before cautiously venturing into the gym proper and then discovered that some of the classes were actually OK as long as you stayed at the back and avoided catching sight of yourself in the wall to wall mirrors. It would be too much to say that I ever enjoyed myself, but I definitely enjoyed the feeling of well being that followed a good workout. And I also enjoyed the fact that exercising allowed me to eat more. Weight Watchers allows you to earn bonus activity points to be consumed or not as the individual sees fit – well, I generally always saw fit (I amquite very greedy) and still achieved a steady weight loss as well as some fledgling muscle tone beneath the flab. So what happened in 2011? Hard to say. We’ve fallen out of routine, and, I must admit, the thought of having to build up all that fitness again from scratch does fill me with dread. More than once in the last couple of months have I thought about cancelling my gym membership.
Perhaps, then, it was more than a little bit lucky that a few weeks ago I had an email from someone who wondered if I’d be interested in mentioning some of their products on here. If I tell you the site was called beachbody.com you may understand why I was more than a little surprised – there may well have been some incredulous laughter on my part. But I read her mail and was touched that she said that she’d seen that I have posts relating to “living a healthy lifestyle”. And I thought, well, they may have been a bit thin on the ground lately, but living a healthy, balanced lifestyle is in fact the point of this blog. I want the people who visit me here to understand that losing weight or maintaining a healthy figure isn’t about deprivation but about balance. Have your cake, eat it, but make up for it somehow. Eat salad for dinner or (and here’s the bit I’ve certainly been avoiding for the last six months) go for a swim or a jog. I’ve lost sight of the exercise bit of a healthy lifestyle recently, but this was a salutory reminder, and just in time for New Year Resolution season.
Beachbody have some new products coming out which they’ve asked me to link to, and, in the spirit of spreading the exercise love I am more than happy to do so, although I should add that I haven’t tried these particular ones myself – unfortunately, my living room doesn’t lend itself to home workouts. I have however done some Les Mills Pump classes at the gym and always found them good in a painful sort of way, plus, strength training is a really good way of boosting your metabolic rate. The slightly amusingly named Body Beast workout looks to be more aimed at those people who are wanting to build some serious muscle – not my thing, but ideal if you’re after a more Fatima Whitbread look (hats off to her, the woman looked amazing on I’m A Celebrity). And I had actually heard of the P90X2 workouts, which seem to be a mixed bag of strength training and cardio previous to seeing them on the site – to have penetrated my consciousness they must be doing someone some good.
I should also say that although it is an American site they do international delivery at no extra charge, which is nice of them.
Many thanks to the very sweet Emily from Beachbody for what may well be the gentle nudge I needed to get me back in the direction of the gym – I can’t imagine that I’ll ever be what you would call a gym bunny, but I do need to make it a part of my life again. Are you there, Bonus Activity Points? It’s me, Seren…
My general attitude to exercise was always one of dislike and suspicion, a seed planted back in my school days. I was not, it is safe to say, a sporty child, nor had any ambitions in that direction and can’t say I ever cried myself to sleep at night when I missed out on a place in the netball team. While we’re on the general subject, I never really understood the edict that every single pupil had to have some sort of role in Sports Day, but tried to get on board (generally by putting my name down for the relatively safe Tug of War every year as soon as the sign up sheet was posted). With the exception of swimming I steered clear of sport in general. And I think the world of sport was probably pretty grateful.
But then, back in (I think) about 2009, D and I began attending a local gym on a reasonably regular basis. I started off by just sticking to gentle lengths of the pool before cautiously venturing into the gym proper and then discovered that some of the classes were actually OK as long as you stayed at the back and avoided catching sight of yourself in the wall to wall mirrors. It would be too much to say that I ever enjoyed myself, but I definitely enjoyed the feeling of well being that followed a good workout. And I also enjoyed the fact that exercising allowed me to eat more. Weight Watchers allows you to earn bonus activity points to be consumed or not as the individual sees fit – well, I generally always saw fit (I am
Perhaps, then, it was more than a little bit lucky that a few weeks ago I had an email from someone who wondered if I’d be interested in mentioning some of their products on here. If I tell you the site was called beachbody.com you may understand why I was more than a little surprised – there may well have been some incredulous laughter on my part. But I read her mail and was touched that she said that she’d seen that I have posts relating to “living a healthy lifestyle”. And I thought, well, they may have been a bit thin on the ground lately, but living a healthy, balanced lifestyle is in fact the point of this blog. I want the people who visit me here to understand that losing weight or maintaining a healthy figure isn’t about deprivation but about balance. Have your cake, eat it, but make up for it somehow. Eat salad for dinner or (and here’s the bit I’ve certainly been avoiding for the last six months) go for a swim or a jog. I’ve lost sight of the exercise bit of a healthy lifestyle recently, but this was a salutory reminder, and just in time for New Year Resolution season.
Beachbody have some new products coming out which they’ve asked me to link to, and, in the spirit of spreading the exercise love I am more than happy to do so, although I should add that I haven’t tried these particular ones myself – unfortunately, my living room doesn’t lend itself to home workouts. I have however done some Les Mills Pump classes at the gym and always found them good in a painful sort of way, plus, strength training is a really good way of boosting your metabolic rate. The slightly amusingly named Body Beast workout looks to be more aimed at those people who are wanting to build some serious muscle – not my thing, but ideal if you’re after a more Fatima Whitbread look (hats off to her, the woman looked amazing on I’m A Celebrity). And I had actually heard of the P90X2 workouts, which seem to be a mixed bag of strength training and cardio previous to seeing them on the site – to have penetrated my consciousness they must be doing someone some good.
I should also say that although it is an American site they do international delivery at no extra charge, which is nice of them.
Many thanks to the very sweet Emily from Beachbody for what may well be the gentle nudge I needed to get me back in the direction of the gym – I can’t imagine that I’ll ever be what you would call a gym bunny, but I do need to make it a part of my life again. Are you there, Bonus Activity Points? It’s me, Seren…
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Recipe Corner – Roasted Parmesan Parsnips
This post could well have been called: “Time to talk turkey (or in our case, three bird roast)”. You see, I’m rather excited – this year I am cooking Christmas dinner not just for myself and D, but for my parents, my brother and sister in law and my eleven month old nephew. Discerning palates all, especially the baby.
The menu has been more or less finalised and hopefully a lot can be done in advance which I think is the key to any sort of entertaining and means that I can spend most of the actual day drinking Bucks Fizz (Mum, if you’re reading this, I’m just kidding. I promise to remain upright at least until Doctor Who.)
As well as roast potatoes, the best ever braised red cabbage, crushed Swede, the ubiquitous sprouts (of which more in a later post) and, of course, peas, I will be serving some scrumptious crunchy coated parsnips. I’ve tested this recipe twice now (D has been forced to eat variations on a theme of Sunday dinner two days in a row – how he suffers for my art) and think I’ve cracked it timing wise. In terms of prep, both the potatoes and the parsnips will be parboiled well in advance, probably on Christmas Eve, and allowed to cool completely. Not only does this seem to give the best, crispiest roasted roots, but it also is one more annoying job out of the way.
I’ve given the rough amounts for 4 people here, but it is easily doubled or halved depending on the size of your family and, indeed, how much they like parsnips.
Ingredients
6 parsnips – look for short fat ones as they tend to be easier to cut
2 tbsp couscous*
20g fresh grated Parmesan
½ tsp ground cumin
Black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Serves 4, 6 pro points per serving
* The original recipe that this is based on called for polenta which I wasn’t able to find in its correct form in our local Tesco. I substituted couscous, a store cupboard staple in our house, as an experiment and it worked well. It is probably a coarser crumb than polenta but it still gave a lovely, crispy coating to the parsnips. By all means use polenta if you can get hold of it.
Cut the parsnips into rough quarters length ways. Your pieces all need to be of similar size, so if you have a particularly rotund specimen you may need to cut it into eighths. These look about right:
Put the parsnips into a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Once there, boil them briskly for a minute before draining. Use kitchen towel to blot off any excess water.
While your veg cook, put the couscous, Parmesan, cumin and several good scrunches of black pepper in a suitable receptacle – I used a shallow.
Now transfer your drained parsnips into the couscous mix and toss well to coat. You should do this while they are still warm. You can do this bit well in advance – the vegetables will roast well from cold.
When it comes to cooking them, preheat the oven to about 200-220 degrees. Heat a the vegetable oil in a roasting tray for about 15 minutes. Tip the parsnips into the hot oil and roast in the oven, turning once or twice for 25 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve alongside your bird with lashings of gravy.
The menu has been more or less finalised and hopefully a lot can be done in advance which I think is the key to any sort of entertaining and means that I can spend most of the actual day drinking Bucks Fizz (Mum, if you’re reading this, I’m just kidding. I promise to remain upright at least until Doctor Who.)
As well as roast potatoes, the best ever braised red cabbage, crushed Swede, the ubiquitous sprouts (of which more in a later post) and, of course, peas, I will be serving some scrumptious crunchy coated parsnips. I’ve tested this recipe twice now (D has been forced to eat variations on a theme of Sunday dinner two days in a row – how he suffers for my art) and think I’ve cracked it timing wise. In terms of prep, both the potatoes and the parsnips will be parboiled well in advance, probably on Christmas Eve, and allowed to cool completely. Not only does this seem to give the best, crispiest roasted roots, but it also is one more annoying job out of the way.
I’ve given the rough amounts for 4 people here, but it is easily doubled or halved depending on the size of your family and, indeed, how much they like parsnips.
Ingredients
6 parsnips – look for short fat ones as they tend to be easier to cut
2 tbsp couscous*
20g fresh grated Parmesan
½ tsp ground cumin
Black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Serves 4, 6 pro points per serving
* The original recipe that this is based on called for polenta which I wasn’t able to find in its correct form in our local Tesco. I substituted couscous, a store cupboard staple in our house, as an experiment and it worked well. It is probably a coarser crumb than polenta but it still gave a lovely, crispy coating to the parsnips. By all means use polenta if you can get hold of it.
Cut the parsnips into rough quarters length ways. Your pieces all need to be of similar size, so if you have a particularly rotund specimen you may need to cut it into eighths. These look about right:
 |
| Photo credit: Waitrose.com |
Put the parsnips into a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Once there, boil them briskly for a minute before draining. Use kitchen towel to blot off any excess water.
While your veg cook, put the couscous, Parmesan, cumin and several good scrunches of black pepper in a suitable receptacle – I used a shallow.
Now transfer your drained parsnips into the couscous mix and toss well to coat. You should do this while they are still warm. You can do this bit well in advance – the vegetables will roast well from cold.
When it comes to cooking them, preheat the oven to about 200-220 degrees. Heat a the vegetable oil in a roasting tray for about 15 minutes. Tip the parsnips into the hot oil and roast in the oven, turning once or twice for 25 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve alongside your bird with lashings of gravy.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
This is why we plan our meals...
The lack of a meal planning post on a Monday indicated a lack of, well, meal planning on my part which in turn has led to a series of rather thrown together (albeit nice) suppers and culminated in a meal out last night (if Gourmet Burger Kitchen can be considered "out"...I suppose it is, in that it is outside of the house) Which was rather foolish since we're trying to save money at the moment and I weigh in on a Thursday. And also because I try to limit eating out to really special places these days, and whenever I go somewhere less than special I feel vaguely cheated because I probably could have cooked whatever I'm eating myself and had it while wearing my pyjamas and watching NCIS rather than having to pretend to be civilised. Anyway, D told me sternly (well, he said it in an email so he didn't use a specific tone although I imagined him saying it with a stern voice and slightly furrowed brow) to get back to it and achieve some "consistency" with regards food shopping and the cooking thereof.
(As an aside I still managed to lose half a pound at weigh in - hurrah - and GBK was...underwhelming really. I mean, nice enough burgers and I loved the fact that the skinny fries were actually matchstick fries, oh, and the garlic mayo was good. But it was pricey in a sneaky way which I didn't like - charging extra for a dill pickle in the cheeseburger for example, when to have a cheeseburger without a dill pickle is sacrilege as far as I'm concerned).
Anyway, let's talk meal planning. There is still a decent amount in our freezer, so most of the meals this week are based around ingredients that we already have. Oh, and the cunning amongst you will notice that there are nine meals listed, so this meal plan, taking into account there is likely to be at least one night out thrown into the mix, should see us through until the end of next week.
- Roasted chicken thighs with mashed swede, Parmesan parsnips, roast potatoes and Brussel sprouts with bacon and chestnut butter. Two of the sides are trial runs for Christmas dinner.
- Bolognese pasta bake - bumped from last week. What is it about poor old Bolognese that it always gets bumped with me? The sauce is already made though, so this will be a good one for a night when I just. Can't. Be. Bothered.
- Mackerel fillets with harissa and coriander couscous.
- Lamb seekh burgers with cumin carrot slaw and potato wedges
- Shepherd's Pie (I have a lot of lamb mince to use up...)
- Egg, chips and beans - another one for a lazy evening
- Bacon and broad bean risotto
- Bangers and mash with red onion gravy
- Nigel Slater's mild and fruity salmon curry with naan bread
As always, head over to Mrs M's blog for more meal planning fun.
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