MPM: 29th February 2016

Huh. So you know that I said that last week we were eating down the freezer in preparation for an influx of meat? Well, said meat didn't arrive when it was supposed to arrive. The good people of Westin Gourmet will be feeling my wrath this morning. And by wrath I mean that I will be phoning up and murmuring very politely that I was slightly disappointed that I had ordered something for a certain date and they haven't, you know, fulfilled their end of the bargain and I hate to be a pain but, you know, could they please let me know when I can expect all my meat to turn up (thankyouplease). Yeah, I'm quite British when it comes to being wrathful on the phone.

Still living in hope that we shall be awash with meat at some point this week, we have another round of freezer diving planned, with a couple of other top notch dishes thrown in for good measure. On Thursday, I am taking la mere out for afternoon tea at Harvey Nichols, so a nice, light bowl of soup is all that will be required in the evening. Other than that, the week looks fairly uneventful. Hurrah for a quiet life!

So, this is what the menu plan looks like:

Tuna steaks with wasabi and lime mayonnaise in brioche buns with oven baked French fries (from the freezer) on the side
Cholent (from the freezer) with crusty bread for dunking
Fish pie
Caribbean chicken soup (from the freezer)
Oxtail and chorizo stew (from the freezer) with mashed potato
Vada pav (Mumbai potato "burgers") with okra fries - D is aiming to recreate a dish from our beloved Bundobust. Nothing in this dish is coming from the freezer.

Have a good week's eating friends! And wish me luck in my Meat Mission...

Sloth

I have never been a big fan of exercise, being more akin to a sloth than any other creature in God's green Earth.  My nickname is not Sleepy Slouj for nothing.

Sloth.  Or me?  Image taken from https://gifts.worldwildlife.org

What I really want though (really, really, want) is to have a healthy, balanced approach to not just food but life in general, and exercise and fitness have to play a part in that, however much I would like to hide away from it (preferably in a pillow fort with my cat).

Recently, a friend of mine (well, I suppose officially she is a friend of D's but I am nicking her because she is the only person I know who gets as overexcited as me at the prospect of a Space NK discount code) tentatively suggested going to a class at the local fitness centre, on the strict proviso that we stand at the back.  The class in question was Clubbercise, which is basically just prancing around in the semi dark with disco lights and glow sticks.  It is waaaay more fun than doggedly stomping away on a treadmill.  And, subsequently, we have tried Aqua Aerobics (which I also love although have to spend most of the class attempting to stop my boobs making a break for freedom) and Kick Fit (great stress reliever).

I won't go so far as to say that I am a gym bunny, but I do find classes to be quite motivating and it is lovely to have someone to go with.  I have gone so far as to sign up for a monthly membership (the rolling kind which can be cancelled at any point - I know myself and the limits to my enthusiasm pretty well).  I'm very unfit at the moment, but I hope a few weeks of regular attendance will see a marked improvement.  Now that the weather is becoming distinctly more spring like, I'm hoping to get my walking boots on and if I could get up a hill without sounding like The Little Engine That Could, I would count that as a major achievement.

Recipe corner: American style chocolate chunk cookies

Picture courtesy of zazzle.co.uk  How cute is this fabric? 

I sometimes think that people (and I most definitely include myself in that all encompassing term) have forgotten what a treat actually is.

A treat is not something to be consumed every day - certainly not in any quantity. It is something to be anticipated, something to savour, something special.

When I was a young kid, sweets were for weekends and fizzy drinks for high days and holidays. The only pudding we tended to have during the week, if at all, was yoghurt. And then oh, the giddy joy at going to the sweet shop on a Friday to pick out the evening's delicacy (rhubarb and custards, or Munchies, or the wonderous thing that is a Caramac) or the pleasure taken in the sponge pudding or a crumble after Sunday lunch.

As I got older, of course this was less enforceable and, being a teenager with a remarkably sweet tooth, visits to the school tuck shop were a pretty standard part of the day. But now, as I get older still, I quite like the idea of going back to that mentality where a treat is not for every day. I want that sense of anticipation, and that sense of specialness that makes sweetmeats all the sweeter.

So I made cookie dough and shaped it into a log and I wrapped it in cling film and consigned it to the freezer so that I can bake up a slice from frozen every now and again. An oozing, chocolatey cookie, soft in the centre with a suspicion of crunch around the edge, headily scented with vanilla and on the verge of being slightly too sweet, that sort of cookie definitely falls into the treat category. Especially if consumed within minutes of coming out of the oven so it is still warm and the chocolate is liquid and smudges your fingers. I do not intend to bake up a cookie every day. But, if I am going to make my treats really count, this is definitely the way to go.

Use any kind of chocolate you like. I'm thinking about making the next batch with Smarties.

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
75g caster sugar
75g soft brown sugar
1 medium egg
Tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
100g chocolate, chopped into chunks

Cream together the butter and the sugar until soft and fluffy. Stir in the egg and the vanilla extract.

Sieve the flour and the baking powder into the mix, add the salt and stir and, finally, fold through the chocolate chunks. The mixture should be soft and malleable, like Playdoh.

Spread a large piece of cling film on the work surface and tip out the cookie dough. Use your hands to push the mixture together and shape it like a log. Then wrap the clingfilm round and roll it, so the log rounds out and becomes a sausage. Freeze.

When coming to bake, preheat the oven to 170. Use a sharp knife to take off a slice of dough - any size you like but the log should yield at least 12. Sit in on baking paper on a tray in the oven for 11 minutes. When you take it out the middle will still looked uncooked, but it will become former as it cools. The edges should just be turning golden brown.

Wait a few minutes (anticipation, remember?) and then dive in, face first. Heave a contented sigh.

Recipe corner: Vietnamese style braised pork with vegetable fried rice

Believe me when I say that you have to make this dish.  I mean, I know that I probably say that about all of them but this one is an absolute must cook.

In the last few years, D and I have made an effort to make more Sunday roasts.  I love a Sunday roast, I really do, but it is one of those things that I didn’t make myself until I was well into my twenties.  And there is no question that it can be a bit of a faff; the individual processes may be easy, but timing everything to be ready together is less so and the whole faffiness is exacerbated when you are working with a tiny kitchen and a distinct lack of dishwasher.   Nevertheless, it is a proud British tradition and one that we have tried to embrace at least a couple of times a month.

What is also a proud British tradition (at least, it certainly was for my grandparents and probably my parents too) is “leftovers day” when the remainder of the joint is served up for supper in cunning disguise. I love leftovers day as much, if not more, than I love the roast.  Sometimes, I’ll just opt for cold meat with a side dish, or even sandwiches (roast beef and horseradish sandwiches are a thing of beauty and joy forever) but I have been trying to get a bit more clever.  That is where this recipe comes in.

In the top five countdown of roasting joints, pork has always scored fairly low for us – there is nothing wrong with pork but it’s not a favourite.  D has now declared that pork must move higher up the rotation of roasts so that we can make this leftovers dish on a regular basis.  And who am I to deny him.

We spied this recipe on the Guardian site (an excellent resource for foodies – so many interesting recipes to browse through) where the author in turn adapted it from a recipe book, and so the recipe Chinese whispers go on.  I reduced it down to two portions (while upping the meat quotient slightly) and served with a lovely stir fried veg and egg rice, which I am expect is entirely non Vietnamese but was just what I fancied and worked terribly well. 

Ingredients

200g cold roast pork, chopped into chunks

Tsp. black peppercorns

Tsp. coarse salt

Tsp. soft brown sugar

2 cloves of garlic

Shallot, finely chopped

Tbsp. fish sauce

2 tsp. soft brown sugar

100ml boiling water

100ml reduced fat coconut milk

90g basmati rice

Selection of stir fry veg (I used spring onions, baby corn and sugar snap peas)

Clove of garlic, crushed

Tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs

Pinch of chilli flakes

Splash of fish sauce

Serves 2, 14 Smart Points (WW Flex) per portion

In a pestle and mortar, bash together the peppercorns, salt, one teaspoon of the sugar and the garlic until it forms a murky looking paste.   Stir this, along with the shallot, through the pork and set aside while you make the caramel. 

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, place the remaining two teaspoons of sugar over a low heat.  Resist the urge to stir but swirl the pan from time to time to ensure that it is melting evenly.  Meanwhile, stick the kettle on to boil, weigh your rice into the bottom of a steamer pan and slice your veg to suit.  Keep half an eye on the sugar as it will go from caramel to sticky, burnt mess very quickly.

Once the caramel is golden brown and liquid, add the boiling water.  It will bubble up, so exercise a degree of caution.  Allow to bubble frantically for a couple of minutes and then add the coconut milk.  Stir briskly to combine and then throw in the pork and combine everything well.  Reduce

the heat as low as it will go and simmer for around ten minutes.

Cover the rice in water, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil.  Once it is boiling, turn the heat down and put the veg, in a steamer basket, over the boiling water.  Cover.

After five minutes, remove the vegetables.  Re-cover the rice and turn the heat off.  Allow it to steam for a further five or so minutes until cooked through. 

Heat the oil in a wok or large pan and stir fry the lightly steamed vegetables.  After a couple of minutes, stir through the crushed garlic and cook a little more until the garlic smell has lost its raw edge.  While these are cooking, lightly beat your egg with seasoning and chilli flakes.

Once the veg are beginning to soften but still retain some bite, you can stir through the rice.  Then, make a well in the centre and pour in the egg.  Once it has started to lightly set, mix through the rest of the ingredients.  Add a splash of fish sauce and check the seasoning. 

Check the seasoning of the pork as well – you may need to add more sugar or more fish sauce to get the sweet / salt balance just to your liking (although I found that these measurements worked perfectly).

Serve, and thank goodness for roast dinners and leftovers.

MPM: 22nd February 2016

Certain eagle eyed readers (hello, Mum!) will have noticed that there was a recipe for Vietnamese braised pork up here at the end of last week which has now vanished, for which I wholeheartedly blame the Blogpress app. I went in to correct a spelling and it did something funky to the formatting of the entire piece. Perhaps it is progressive - perhaps it believes that this is the way that blogs of the future are supposed to look, with varying line lengths and weirdly floating margins but I say, NO. And I deleted the app in a fit of pique and returned the blog post to draft status until I can get to a computer to rectify that damage / questionable style decisions. 

I suppose the actual lesson is to proof read things properly in the first place and to try and pretend to be a proper writer as opposed to someone who just dashes off stuff in between bites of the Real Life cherry. That's how bloggers get book deals, people. Although, I am most disappointed to note that despite the fact I have spiralised every week since the turn of the year and baked spelt bread I have not suddenly developed flawless skin, swishy hair, tight buns, a six figure readership and a similarly pearly toothed agent. Disappointing.

So, this week's meal is mainly courtesy of the murky depths of our freezer. Last week I ordered a hamper of meat from an online butcher because it was too good an offer to turn down. I now have to work out how to store said hamper of meat when it turns up on the doorstep next Friday. To this end, D and I had the shelves of the freezer out on the kitchen floor today trying to do an inventory cum tidy up. 

D is out on Thursday so I will have one of my favourite quick suppers - filled tortellini (from the freezer, bien sur) tossed with butter, Parmesan and lots of black pepper. We're both out for dinner on Friday and Sunday is, as yet, unplanned. Elsewhere this week:

Cullen skink 

Leftover lamb biryani with cucumber raita and homemade flatbreads

Sausage and bean casserole

Steak (from afore mentioned meat hamper) and oven baked French Fries

More meal planning shenanigans to be found over at Mrs M's.

MPM: 15th February 2016

It is Sunday afternoon as I write this and Sounds of the Seventies is on in the background. Satisfyingly Sundayish. This weekend has mainly been about cooking - a four course Valentine's extravaganza last night (very good, if I do say myself and which probably merits a blogpost of its own) and pottering with the Sunday roast today. So far, I've parboiled potatoes, and made herby carrot mash and cauliflower cheese to accompany the pork shoulder. Frankly, I don't think we'll need the meat.
So, what does this week look like meal planning wise?

I'm out on Thursday - off down to London to see Matthew Perry's play. Yes, I know the review have been awful, but I was a teenager in the nineties and convinced that I was going to end up Mrs Matthew Perry (or, more accurately, Mrs Chandler Bing). I couldn't not see it, and even though I will spend eight hours getting there and back on a National Express coach, I am squeeingly excited. D will have to fend for himself.

We had chilli scheduled for Saturday but might need to eat down the freezer a bit before attempting to squeeze another batch cook in there. Otherwise, we have:

Leftover chilli crab cakes (from Saturday night) with salady bits
A mussel spaghetti, similar in style to this one to use up some leftover mussels (from Saturday night. Are you sensing a theme?)
Vietnamese style braised roast pork with vegetable egg fried rice
Mackerel fillets with a giant couscous salad
Roast lamb

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Cinnamon raisin spelt bread and Mercer's preserves

So if you find yourself at the BBC Good Food Spring Show (hard to say after an afternoon on the gin) in Harrogate this April one of the lovely stalls will be run by the good people of Mercer's of Yorkshire. A Yorkshire based company run by a husband and wife, they sell a lovely selection of preserves and sauces. Having been sampling their delectable lemon curd and onion marmalade (not necessarily together) this month, I can confirm that they are definitely worth checking out.

I was particularly taken with the lemon curd which is a real favourite of mine but one of those things that I never bother to make myself because other people do it so well. When we were kids, my brother wouldn't eat "jam with bits" - i.e. pretty much all jam - so we tended to get through a lot of lemon curd (and seedless raspberry which to my mind now is something of a travesty). Standard Saturday breakfast was baguette slathered with butter and curd and very lovely it was too.

Given my recently discovered mania for bread making, I decided to bake a loaf which would work with both of these products. Spelt flour is slightly harder to work with than the standard stuff but it yields a gorgeous, nutty tasting loaf with a slightly cakey texture that toasts well. I would recommend spreading thickly with soft goats' cheese before dolloping on the onion marmalade - the cinnamon and raisin combo really complements the salt / sweet / sour flavour profile. Equally, just spread thickly with curd and perhaps a little creme fraiche, it is utterly delectable.

Ingredients

250g wholemeal spelt flour (if you can't find it in your local supermarket, Holland and Barratt or similar health food stores stock it)
Tsp salt
Tsp fast acting yeast
Tsp sugar
Tsp ground cinnamon
30g raisins
Tbsp vegetable oil (I like rapeseed)
200ml cool water (you may not use all of it)

This is a sticky dough, so best made in a stand mixer with dough hook attachment. If you make it by hand, prepare to get messy.

Tip your flour, raisins, cinnamon and sugar into the mixing bowl. Add the salt to one side of the mixture and the yeast to the other so they're not touching. I don't know the specific reason for this, but Paul "Silver Fox" Hollywood tells me that never the twain shall meet and I believe him.

Set the mixer on to its lowest setting and pour in the oil and then gradually add the water. You'll need somewhere between 150ml and the free amount - enough for the mixture to come together in a shaggy dough. Once it has formed a rough ball, ratchet up the mixer and let it do its thang for about 5 minutes. The dough will be slightly sticky, but elastic.

Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover and prove for an hour.

Grease or line a loaf tin and tip in the proved dough. Give it a second prove for twenty five minutes. It's obviously working on a very hard theorem. While this second prove is going ahead, preheat the oven to 200.

Bake for around 30 mins, or until the internal temperature has reached around 200 degrees. Allow to cool slightly before falling on it armed with butter knife and topping of choice.

Look!

The BBC Good Food Spring Blogging Community website is now live! It's here! There's me!

I'll be sharing a recipe with you this weekend which works beyootifully with a couple of the lovely Yorkshire preserves that I received to try this month so be sure and keep you eyes peeled (peeled I tell you!) for that. And do check out all the other blogs on the list (but remember that I'm your favourite...)

Of cabbages, kings, diets and...fried chicken

The very lovely Steph has been writing a lot recently about CBT with relation to food and eating disorders and it makes for interesting reading. I was particularly struck by what she has to say about being a WW member and how it contributed to having a wacky approach to food because it has been on my mind of late.

The holy grail of the diet world is two fold - to be a healthy weight AND to have a relaxed relationship with food. At the moment, it feels like when I am NOT following WW, but just eating in a natural, instinctive, normal way, I hit point number two. I maintain my weight without difficulty, I gravitate towards a balanced diet, my portions are sensible, my appetite regulated. The moment I start up with the pointing, that goes out of the window. Food is defined as good or bad depending on whether it fits into that day's allowance. Days are also defined as good or bad - or perhaps on or off is a better term. When you're on, it's fine, but when you're off, you spend the time in a sort of feeding frenzy, consuming all the foodstuffs you won't be able to have when you're back on, whether or not you really fancy them at this point in time.

Is this making sense to anyone but me?

The problem I have at the moment is that to be mentally healthy, I don't think following a diet plan (this sort of issue is by no means exclusive to WW) is the right thing to do. But to be in better physical health, I need to be slimmer - no two ways about it. And I don't know how to balance both. I'm trying something a bit different at the moment but I don't want to say too much until I've given it a fair shot. I'm planning to stick with it for the next six weeks (which also happens to be Lent) and assess where I'm at come Easter, at which point I will share more with you.

Right, that's that.

In other news, our quest to find the best brunch venue in Leeds may be at a premature end because I can't imagine anything beating this:


It's Korean fried chicken with wild rice, kimchi and pickled cucumber topped with a crispy fried egg and it is served at a recently opened venue called Ox Club. The menu is DREAMY. But even in the face of such delights as ricotta pancakes with honeycomb and berries, or corned beef and kale hash, both D and I had to order the chicken and neither of us could stop making yummy noises the entire time that we were eating it. The service is friendly but laid back to the point of almost comatose - I wouldn't recommend this place if you like to be in and out quickly. But if you're happy to linger over coffee (which I think is fine at brunch) then go! Eat fried chicken for breakfast! Be glad you live in such a decadent age!

MPM: 8th February 2016

I wonder if the fact that Chinese New Year, Pancake Day and Valentine's Day have fallen in the same week this year is an indication of some sort of forthcoming Foodie Apocalypse. Certainly, it spells Likely Doom for the dieter hoping for a good result on the scales. And also Not Much Fun for people who have schlepped over here to read an entertaining meal planning post.

So in between Chinese food (we're going to Red Chilli in Leeds which has featured on this blog before - it's fab), pancakes (bacon and maple syrup or lemon juice and sugar?) and a three course romantic extravaganza, what will we be eating? Not much! We have the remains of a roast chicken in the fridge so I can see us just grazing on that throughout the week. By Sunday, we will probably have eschewed cutlery altogether and just be chewing happily at the carcass. Nice.

For actual meal planning, do, please feel free to check out the lovely people over at Mrs M's.

Random

I have recently been going through the photos on my phone and deleting them to create some storage space - the iPad is their home now. One of my plans for this year is to actually get some physical copies printed and do some scrap-booking. How quaint.

My photos can be divided into broadly three categories: Minx, Food and Other. Given that Minx spends 85% of her time asleep, I am not sure exactly why I have ended up with so many pictures of her. But then she is very beautiful.


I have a soft spot for this one because it was actually saved from the Cat Protection League's website - this was the shot they used in her bio and, so, the first picture that I ever saw of her. She looks so scared and sad here, doesn't she? Very different from the contented, purring bundle of fur that is curled up next to me as I write.

There is a sub category of Other which could best be described as "Shots of D where he is trying to pretend that he is not being photographed". I like these (and note the edge of a thumb creeping in to the top left hand corner of the shot).


But the number of food pictures - ridiculous. Particularly since some of them, I no longer remember what or where they are. Here we have a very pretty, but entirely random, cup of something with something else on the side.


Sometimes it must have been home cooked dishes that I intended to blog but failed in doing so. I can only assume that is why I have a picture of what I think is baked eggs and toast:

And another of sea bass (?) with parsnips (?) and garlic (?). This was one of D's and I'll bet he never wrote the recipe down so it will never be recreated exactly.  And what is the beige mush next to the roasted garlic cloves?  I seem to recall that this was a delicious plate of food and I'm now intrigued.

Sometimes it's restaurants that, again, I meant to write about but didn't. These are from our first trip to Homage to Fromage but they're no good for a review now because I haven't got a scooby what the dish on the left is:

Or what any of these cheeses are:

Although for all that, if you are in or around Leeds and like cheese then it comes highly recommended.  You have to really like cheese though - the menu does not cater for the lactose intolerant.

So it's been a pleasant (if slightly random) trip down memory lane, going through all of these and the lessons we take from it are - er, make notes, write up blog posts when you say you're going to do so and never serve up beige mush.  The other lesson is take photography lessons.  It is slightly disappointing to realise that my photography skills have remained so consistently terrible throughout the years.  Perhaps if I ever win the lottery, I can employ the very talented Lesley to take photos for me full time?

Anyway, I'm now off to delete all said random food pictures. A cull. A purge, if you will.  Which, clearly, will leave me with plenty of memory space for more adorable cat shots...

MPM: 1st February 2016

Greetings, fellow meal planners! Welcome to the month of February! Hopefully it will be slightly less damp than January...

Speaking of January, it was not a good month for British icons with the death of Terry Wogan yesterday completing a triumvirate of loss across music, film and broadcasting.



I was fans of them all. The funny thing when a celebrity dies, especially one like Terry Wogan who you think you actually know by virtue of his presence in your car or at your breakfast table week in and week out, is that it feels a bit like losing a friend. I felt disproportionately gloomy all day yesterday.

Anyway, setting maudlinisms aside, on with meal planning. D is out a couple of nights this week - Minx and I have no particular plans and may well eat beans on toast (NTS: do cats eat beans?) Other than that:

Smoked mackerel and chorizo potatoes with a peppery watercress salad
Caribbean chicken soup
Spicy sausage rice (from Gordon Ramsay's "Ultimate Cookery Course")
Roast chicken with all the necessary trimmings

I was also planning on making a delicious sounding honey roast root veg salad from January's "Delicious" magazine, but we have quite a lot of odds and ends of cheese in the freezer, so may throw together some sort of cheese pasta dish with those. We'll see.

More meal planning fun, as ever, over at Mrs M's.

Pass the hemp...

I seem to be accidentally turning into a health food person.

Exhibit A: the spiraliser.  I love the spiraliser!  It gives me a profound sense of satisfaction to use.  Yesterday, I added spiralised courgettes to my pesto pasta and spiralised carrot to my salad.  I find myself eyeing up items in the fruit and veg aisle wondering what else I can make into pretty ribbons.

Exhibit B:  my lunch today includes nut loaf and lentil crisps.  The latter I only picked up because I liked the sound of the creamy dill flavour, but turns out that I quite like the texture of the crisps themselves - a bit poppadum esque.

Exhibit C: D and I are currently slightly obsessed with spelt bread which we have been purchasing in Waitrose, such that I am researching recipes so that I can make it at home.  It has a subtly, nutty flavour and it ROCKS.

A book deal featuring 100 ways with lentils and tofu much surely be in the offing...

Meat free musings

Well, we went a whole week without eating any meat or fish at all.  And, for the most part, what a delicious experience it was!  While I am not now having some sort of Damascene conversion and eschewing animal flesh forever (I ate a smoked salmon sandwich yesterday and it was lovely) I certainly am now more aware than ever that it is perfectly possible to eat delicious food that happens to be vegetarian (as opposed to vegetarian food that happens to be delicious).

One thing I noticed was that the range of veggie friendly food on the go is a bit lacking.  I work away from the office on a Monday and tend to pick up a sandwich in good old M&S.  In this instance, unless you were a fan of cheese or egg, there wasn't much there, especially in comparison to the plethora of chicken based options.  Fortunately, I love cheese and egg, but it felt a wee bit uninspiring.

The only meal where I positively missed the meat was my vegetarian Sunday roast.  I made a carrot and cashew nut roast from this recipe which was delicious (I had some cold for lunch today with salad and homemade coleslaw - lovely) but, for all the onion gravy and roast potatoes and buttery braised cabbage, it just wasn't quite the same.  I would rather have had chicken with perhaps a slice of nut roast fulfilling the role of the stuffing.

Which leads me on to my next point - that just because you're eating vegetarian food, your calorie consumption is not necessarily going to go down.  The nut roast is a case in point - the recipe serves 4-6 with a quarter portion coming in at something like 15 pro points (which would be somewhere in the region of 600 calories).  That's higher than for a decent sized portion of lamb, the fattiest of the Sunday meats, and significantly higher than a good helping of the leaner chicken, turkey or pork.  I also found myself eating more cheese than I might do in the normal course of things - probably because I really like cheese and, when it came to meal planning, it kept springing to mind as a natural protein source.

I think only one of the meals that we had was entirely vegan - Nigella Lawson's tomato and pea curry with coconut rice.  I really enjoyed this, although am slightly ashamed to say that D and I both commented on how nice the tomato curry would be as an accompaniment to some  spiced lamb cutlets.  Sigh.

All in all though, a success, and a salutary reminder of how it is not only possible but actually pretty easy to go meat free if you need to.  D will be serving up his meat free week at the end of February and it will be interesting to see how we compare - he tends to be a more adventurous cook than I, so probably less cheese and more spice.  I'm sure that there is a Spice Girls joke to be had there somewhere...

MPM: 25th January 2016

Today is my Dad's birthday. Happy birthday Dad! We'll be meeting up for cheese and sequins later in the week to celebrate and I am very much looking forward to it.

Other than that, it's another pretty quiet week which is good because I have far more work to do than I have time to do it in and I'm anticipating some long days. Plus, I'm currently reading "The Count of Monte Cristo" at the moment which is good but never appears to get any shorter no matter how many pages you read. It's a bit like when you're on a walk and you sight the pub and think a cool pint is at hand but then, half an hour of trekking later, it's still not any closer. I need to make some headway (in the book, not the hypothetical walk) or I run the risk of falling behind in my Goodreads challenge to get through 52 books this year.

Right, meals for the week:

Burn's Night: haggis, neep and tattie nibbles (from the M&S Christmas range), some excellent Scottish Brie and Cranachan for pudding.
Lemongrass and turmeric chicken (leftovers from last week's Sunday roast) with coronation rice salad
Salmon with pasta pesto, courgette and peas
Ham and pea soup (using the stock from our Christmas gammon)
Mushroom and Barolo risotto
Oxtail and chorizo stew with mashed potatoes

More meal planning over at Mrs M's.

BBC Good Food - coming to Harrogate!

I've been meaning to go the Good Food show for yonks but never quite got around to it.  Which is odd because it's basically an opportunity to go and eat food and talk about food and buy food which are three of my favourite things to do.

The Spring show is coming to Harrogate this April, for the third year running.  And 2016 will finally be the year that I break my duck and go along, partly because I've been asked to join the BBC Good Food Show Blogging Community.  Look at all those capital letters!  And I have a shiny badge down at the bottom of the page which makes it all official and suchlike.

Such things make me tremendously happy.

Basically, what this means is that for the next three months, I am going to write increasingly over excited articles about the show (Michel Roux Jr is attending!  And Paul "Silver Fox" Hollywood!  And Tom Kerridge!  And I'm going to spend so much money on local gins and chutneys that I will spend the the rest of the month eating beans on toast!)  You, dearest reader, will sigh and roll your eyes and put up with them because I'm endearing really, and I post cute cat pictures.  Then afterwards I shall write a breathless account of all my adventures, complete with dodgy photography and you shall sigh a bit more and hope that no one else in the history of PR approaches me to do anything.

Here are the essential deets: the show is taking place between the 8th and 10th of April at the Harrogate International Centre and it is going to be very exciting indeed.  I shall share more information with you as the weeks go by but the website is here if you just can't wait.  The tickets are on sale now and if you're anywhere near Harrogate in April then come along!  Watch in awe at my capacity for sample sized bites of food!  Buy gin!  And cake!  Possibly appear in aforementioned dodgy photography!  Ticket prices start from £13.50 but because I love my lovely readers I have a 20% off ticket code - just enter BL20 at the checkout (please note that this applies to adult and over 65 tickets only and is not valid on VIP or with any other offer.  Terms and conditions, people!)

It's going to be fun, folks - see how excited Minx is!

Be quiet.  I'm 

73 questions, or, more about me than you ever cared to know

Who doesn't love a good meme? If you have time to spare then come, read my answers to 73 questions as posed by Vogue. If you have still more, why not answer them yourself and join in the egocentric fun!

1. Were you named after anyone? Nope.

2. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday - I had a very sore cricked neck and was feeling sorry for myself. Mind, I cry at the drop of a hat.

3. Do you like your handwriting? Yes! Although my husband claims that he can't read it.

4. What is your favourite lunch? Probably a nice sandwich - tuna mayo with cucumber is hard to beat.

5. Instagram or Twitter? Instagram.

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? No. I'd find me highly irritating.

7. Do you bake? Yes.

8. Do you like flying? Not really. I tend to have several stiff drinks before boarding a plane.

9. Would you bungee jump? No, because I'm not an idiot.

10. What is your favourite cereal? Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Nope.

12. Do you think you’re strong? Neither physically nor emotionally.

13. What is your favourite ice cream? Ooooh, tough. We made a Christmas pudding ice cream last year that was gorgeous. And anything with chocolate is good.

14. What is the first thing you notice about someone? I honestly don't know! I often check out wedding fingers for some unknown reason - but I don't know why; I certainly wouldn't judge a person for being married or otherwise.

15. Red or pink? Pink.

16. What is the least favourite thing about yourself? My lack of willpower and drive.

17. Who do you miss the most? I always miss my husband when we're apart. He is my best friend and when he's not there I don't feel quite right.

18. What was the last book you read because everyone was reading it? I don't tend to do that.

19. What film made you cry the most? See above - I cry a LOT and am banned from watching any film where anything happens to an animal. I always well up at the end of Notting Hill.

20. What was the last thing you ate? Dinner - which was spiralised Swede with herb pesto and Parmesan cream.

21. What are you listening to right now? A Spotify playlist by a Guardian journalist called "Background music to read by". Debussy at the moment - lovely.

22. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Pink. Or green.

23. Favourite smell? Currently, Jo Malone "Blackberry and Bay" perfume. Also, bacon.

24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Um...an accountant's PA. He won't return my calls, the bar steward (work related rather than fun).

25. Mountain hideaway or beach house? I like the sea, hate the beach. Can I sit in the beachside bar?

26. Favourite sport to watch? They're all dull.

27. Hair colour? Dark brown with the odd strand of grey.

28. Eye colour? My brother once described it as untreated sewage. I prefer grey-green.

29. Puppies or kittens? Kittens.

30. Favourite food? Ooooh, another difficult one. Probably cheese. Or sandwiches. Slightly obsessed with halloumi at the moment. My death row dinner, though, is bangers, mash and red onion gravy.

31. Scary film or happy endings? Both!

32. Last film you watched? Er....possibly Star Wars, the first of the original trilogy, with my nephew on New Year's Day. He likes the Stormtroopers.

33. What book are you reading now? The Count of Monte Cristo. Buckle my swash.

34. Summer or winter? Winter.

35. Hugs or kisses? Hugs.

36. Favourite dessert? Anything with chocolate. Or sticky toffee pudding.

37. Favourite room in your house? The one my cat is in.

38. How long have you been on Facebook? I'm not on it. I was but I deleted my account because they took issue with my married name.

39. What is your favourite country to visit? Scotland.

40. What was the last country you visited? Scotland!

42. Favourite sound? My cat purring.

43. Rolling Stones or the Beatles? Beatles.

44. What is the farthest you have been from home? America, I think. California.

45. Do you have a special talent? Procrastination!

46. Where were you born? East London.

47. Where are you living now? North Leeds.

48. Favourite hitchcock movie? Psycho. I've not seen many though.

49. What book have you read again and again? I reread lots of books but my go to comfort blanket of a novel is "Shroud for a Nightingale" by P.D. James.

50. Favourite tv series that’s on now? The most recent series is not long finished - The Bridge.

51. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Both!

52. What’s your favourite drink? Tea. Or gin and tonic if it is after six.

53. Who is your girl crush? Currently Sofia Helin, female star of The Bridge.

54. What was the first film you saw at the cinema? A Disney one I would have thought.

55. Heels or flats? Flats. Ballet pumps.

56. Favourite bed time story? The adventures of Billy the Whippet.

57. Bath or shower? Both, depending on the time of day.

58. Whats the hardest thing about being a mum? I'm not.

59. Favourite band? Ugh, I always go blank on things like this. I adore ABBA. And First Aid Kit are a recent favourite discovery.

60. Favourite solo artist? Um...it's cheesy, but I do like Adele. We've also been listening to Tom Odell's album quite a lot recently and I really like that. Pink is a guilty pleasure.

61. To be or not to be? That is the question!

62. What would be the title of your autobiography? God knows. My life is nowhere near interesting or eventful enough to provide autobiography material. Although that never stopped Jordan.

63. Best gift you’ve ever received? My engagement ring.

64. Best gift you’ve ever given? You'd have to ask them!

65. Favourite fruit? Raspberries.

66. What was your first pet? A budgie called Oscar.

67. Favourite board game? Scrabble.

68. How do you have your coffee? I like it strong with a splash of milk.

69. Best invention? The wheel.

70. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds.

71. Blow dry or air dry? Air dry - I have curly hair and it likes to do its own thing.

72. Cheap or expensive shampoo? I'm not fussy. Actually I don't often use shampoo - I wash my hair with conditioner which helps the curl.

73. How difficult was it to answer these questions? Some harder than others. But fun!

Recipe corner: Turnip spaghetti with garden pesto and Parmesan cream

We got a new toy for Christmas. Now, don't worry, I'm not about to go all mung bean and green juice on you but I have to say I LURVE our new spiraliser. For one thing, it reminds me of a Play Doh factory. For another, it is a fun way to incorporate vegetables into dishes. And for yet another, it allowed us to recreate a dish that we ate at Restaurant Sat Bains last year and which I nominated as one of my plates of the year.

I'm really proud of our approximation. It tastes pretty close to the real thing but is as easy as anything to make and involves consuming a huge portion of veg. That is not to say that is particularly diet friendly - the pesto requires a fair amount of oil and there is a decent whack of Parmesan...however, as ever, I think it worth it.

A word on the pesto - the recipe is vague and that is because it is really all about using the herbs you have to hand in the proportions that taste good to you. It will probably be different every time you make it, and that's OK. We make ours in a little Kenwood mini chopper (which, incidentally, is another kitchen gadget that is well worth a purchase - we use ours practically daily) but at the restaurant, it was made in a pestle and mortar at the table for added theatre. Either method works well.

Ingredients

For the pesto:

A good big handful of green herbs - any you like. Tonight, for example, we used safe, thyme and rosemary with a little bit of basil and parsley. It's a question of what is available and what you like.
Olive oil - up to 100ml
15g finely grated Parmesan
Fat clove of garlic
Half a slice of bread

For the Parmesan cream:

1 onion, roughly chopped
15g butter
Bay leaf
100ml dry white wine
200ml chicken stock
30g Parmesan
2 tbsp fat free Greek yoghurt

For the spaghetti:

One swede (spiralised) (celeriac also works, and Sat Bains used kohlrabi if you can get hold of that)
Small knob of butter

In a mini chopper, or pestle and mortar, reduce the herbs to a thick paste, then add the garlic, Parmesan and bread to thicken. Drizzle oil until you achieve a relatively loose consistency. Set aside.

Melt 15g butter in a small pan, add the onion and a hefty pinch of salt, cover and turn the heat down as low as it will go. Sweat for 10-15 minutes, making sure it does not colour. While this is going on, make up your chicken stock and finely grate the Parmesan.

When the onion is meltingly soft, add the wine and the bay leaf and turn up the heat. Reduce until nearly all the liquid has gone and then add the chicken stock and crank up the heat a little more. Reduce by about a half and then pass through a sieve.

Return the liquid to a gentle heat and stir through the Parmesan until melted. Now remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before stirring through the yoghurt. You may still get a few white solids floating about in the liquid but fret not, just pass back through the sieve. Set aside.

Spiralise your swede and bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the veg and cook for around 4 minutes until tender but still with a certain amount of bite. Use the microwave to warm the Parmesan cream and to melt a small knob of butter.

Drain the swede and drizzle over the melted butter and season. Spoon the Parmesan cream into the bottom of the serving bowls, then the buttered spirals of Swede, and finally, a good dollop of the pesto (you will probably find that you have some left over which can be kept in the fridge for a few days). Eat, reflecting that not all health crazes are bad, especially when they are such excellent vehicles for butter, oil and cheese.

Meal planning Monday - we're going veggie!

I feel that I should begin this post by stating that I am most emphatically not a vegetarian nor do I have any desire to be one.  I love meat and I love fish.  I do, however, fervently believe that I have a responsibility to buy the best quality meat and fish that I can afford and do my bit to ensure that the animals who end up on my plate have had the best possible life.

Now, as we all know, this can get expensive.  And rather than compromise on quality, I'm happily prepared to compromise on quantity.  Vegetarian food can be absolutely gorgeous.  No, strike that, food that happens not to have constituent animal parts can be absolutely gorgeous.  I don't think we need to delineate between "vegetarian" and "not-vegetarian".

D and I have both agreed that it would be a good thing to build up our repertoire of veg based dishes.  To this end, we have both designed a week of vegetarian meals.  And this is mine.

One thing that I did learn was that I could never be vegan - I'm using a lot of cheese this week!  But I'm genuinely looking forward to this menu plan and am curious to see whether we get to the end and crave burgers for breakfast!

Here's what I've gone for:

Root veg spaghetti with herb pesto and Parmesan cream (this is actually a repeat of a dish we cooked last week which was all kinds of amazing!  Hopefully, I'll share the recipe once we've made it again)
Portobello mushroom "burgers" with Halloumi
Tomato and pea curry with coconut rice and an egg pepper fry
Baked gnocchi with blue cheese and spinach (we have some Christmas Stilton which needs using up)
Carpet picnic of home baked baguettes, mushroom pate and a Scottish cheese selection
Home made pizza topped with caramelised red onion and goats' cheese served with salad and a winter slaw
Carrot and cashew nut roast with roast potatoes, root veg mash and creamy leeks and peas

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Pollen Street Social, London

Having invited ourselves round to my brother’s house for New Year’s Eve, D and I decided to take advantage of the fact that we were dahn sarf and pop into London for a nice lunch. Much as I love Yorkshire, I do get regular restaurant envy when I read of the adventures of some of my favourite food critics.

We were tempted to try and book a table at Dabbous, which is a venue we visited a couple of years ago and absolutely adored, but in the end went and nabbed a reservation at Pollen Street Social. A relatively new (2011) addition to the London restaurant scene, it managed to gain a Michelin star within a year of opening, helped, no doubt, by the fact that the executive chef is former Ramsay protégé and Great British Menu stalwart, Jason Atherton. We were lucky enough to experience Atherton’s fantastic food when we he was cooking for Ramsay at Maze, so had high expectations.

Firstly, an observation. Pollen Street Social claims to be an informal restaurant. Allowing your customers to wear jeans does not, in itself, make you informal. Nor does playing music. The presence of thick, white linen, the phalanx of immaculate waiting staff, the Bible of a wine list, the sharing main course that costs not far short of £100…these elements tend to suggest that you are a rather formal restaurant. And that’s fine. I like formal – that’s what I’m paying for. But don’t kid yourself.

Secondly, brown crab on toast is a wonderful thing. DON’T MEDDLE. I don’t care how clever it sounds on paper, brown bread foam with a sprinkle of dehydrated crabcrap is a) not nice and b) falls distinctly short of the simple dish you’re attempting to homage.


From this, you might gather that our experience at PSS did not meet expectations. And, for the first forty five minutes, I’m afraid that this was so. The service was impeccable, the food well presented. But nothing wowed and the crab, in particular, was just plain wrong.

The tide began to turn with the main courses. My lamb loin was as sweet a piece of meat as I could have wished for, blushing and sticky with jus. My only quibble was the accompaniment of curds and whey and baby vegetables – absolutely delicious but served cold so that when the creamy cheese mingled with the lamb sauce, the whole dish was rendered lukewarm. I thought it a slightly odd decision but happily licked the plate regardless. D was less taken with his venison – well-cooked but, on the whole, a bit underwhelming.



We were then offered the opportunity to take dessert at the “dessert bar” which was situated next to the glass door through to the main kitchen and allowed for an almost chef’s table experience. Here, everything went up several notches. Not only were we treated to the spectacle of the working kitchen, complete with sweary head chef, but also presented with the nicest series of sweet dishes that either of us can remember having for a long time, all plated in front of us by the lovely head of pastry, Leo.

First, an Eton mess that wasn’t messy at all – a clove scented biscuit with fromage frais, blackcurrant sorbet and mousse all contained within a fragile box of the most delicate meringue. Then chocolate pavé, rich and bitter, with little cubes of fruity olive oil jelly and an olive biscuit, which combination happily reminded us of Barcelona. And even though we were now reaching capacity, we found room for a trio of miniatures – a divine chocolate pot infused with Earl Grey, a piercingly sour jelly and a melting mouthful of a Bakewell tart. As a decided pudding fan, I was in absolute raptures. Even D, who is not generally one for a chocolate dessert, was wiping his finger round the chocolate pot and wondering if it would be possible to come, order a bucketful and have done.

Definitely, for us at least, a game of two halves. I sometimes wonder – worry! – that I am becoming jaded, which I would absolutely hate, and there was lots to praise here, but it was by no means a flawless experience and, a week on, I still feel slightly annoyed about that brown crab. There’s just no excuse for that sort of thing. Still, observing the kitchen in a place such as this is a real privilege and salutary reminder that, actually, every single dish that was put in front of us was the product of a tremendous amount of work, precision and dedication. And swearing. Lots and lots of swearing.

MPM: 11th January 2016

I'm in Manchester today and was reminded, on the train over, how much I hate commuting. Ugh, people. Also, how sad is the news about David Bowie? Dying just doesn't seem like the sort of thing that he'd do.

The majority of the weekend disappeared down a grim, Nordic rabbit hole AKA a binge watch of series 3 of The Bridge. If you are yet to catch this gem of a programme then get thee to your nearest streaming service and check it out. The third series was as utterly compelling and addictive as the two that preceded it and one of the main characters is probably the most fascinating and complex women currently being seen on the small screen. Go watch.

So, meal planning. Our approach this year is to take it in turns to plan a week, and whereas last week was brought to you by me and was variations on a theme of "comfort", this Monday, it is D in the driving seat. Not sure what his theme is beyond "food I like to cook and eat" but that's ok. 

Fish and chips 

Turnip and celeriac tagliatelle with herb pesto and Parmesan veloute (our tribute to a dish we really enjoyed at Restaurant Sat Baines last year)

Ferran Adria's take on a Spanish omelette

Caribbean chicken soup with mango and chilli

Cholet (a Jewish beef stew - taken from Tom Kerridge's new book)

Saturday night burgers 

Lemongrass and turmeric roast chicken

More meal planning fun over at Mrs M's.

Recipe corner: A turkey curry for Boxing Day and beyond

I assume that every household has a turkey curry recipe.  I’ve been trying to remember whether we ate turkey curry when I was a child and I can’t…there was definitely such a thing as turkey lasagne, and turkey soup and, of course, sandwiches but when it comes to curry I’m drawing a bit of a blank.  So let’s say that I assume that most households have a turkey curry recipe. 

This is ours.  Or, rather, this is D’s.  It’s yummy.  It is flavourful rather than spicy and creamy enough to be a soothing hug of a dish.  The addition of the carrot and the raisins add a pleasing sweetness, while the potatoes make it substantial enough to be consumed on its own (although the addition of rice and flatbreads is always welcome).

I haven’t included a picture.  Curry never photographs well anyway.  It just looked like…curry.  But really tasty curry – there’s no need to wait until next Christmas to cook it (I’m sure it would work well with roast chicken).

(BTW: regular readers might notice that from now on, I stop putting the pro points count on recipes – mainly because pro points is now an outdated system and it will be meaningless to the majority of people following WW.  My email address is above, and I’m always happy to do a calculation of pp if you so wish.)

Ingredients

2 onions

2 carrots

6 cloves of garlic

Thumb sized piece of root ginger

Tbsp vegetable oil

Tbsp ground cumin

Tbsp turmeric

Tbsp garam masala

Tbsp ground coriander

Tsp chilli powder

2 chicken stock pots, made up with 600ml water

150ml double cream

150ml coconut milk

250g roast turkey, roughly chopped

450g (3 smallish) potatoes, diced

100g sultanas

Serves 4-6

Blitz, or finely chop, together the vegetables to make a rough paste.  Heat the oil over a medium heat, add the veg and soften slightly for a few minutes.  A pinch of salt at this stage will help it soften and sweat rather than catch.

When soft, stir through the spices and cook for a further couple of minutes until they no longer smell raw.  Now you can pour in the chicken stock and bring the whole to a gentle simmer.

Add the potatoes and sultanas.  Allow to bubble away until the potato is cooked through and yields to a knife.  Reduce the heat and add the cream and coconut milk.  Further reduce until the sauce is thick, glossy and smells like turkey curry heaven. 

Finally, stir through the turkey pieces.  As with all curries, this will taste better if left to stand for at least a couple of hours and preferably overnight.  Serve with rice and naan bread as required.

Woo to the hoo

Today was my first weigh in of 2016.

I like to weigh in on a Thursday.  It's far enough away from last weekend that you've had the chance to reverse any gain but it also allows you to get a low day under your (capacious) belt before launching into next weekend.

In order to give myself a starting point, I gritted my teeth and weighed myself last Thursday.  Which, if you'll recall was New Years' Eve.  I then proceeded to have an extremely indulgent lunch and an evening of profligacy (turns out that my brother makes a very good chocolate salted caramel tart and that I like Parma Violets when they are in cocktail form).

Still, I started tracking on Monday which clearly sent my body into a profound state of shock since I stand before you delighted to report a 2.6 lb loss on last week.  It's a start!

Loss / (gain) this week: 2.6 lbs
Loss / (gain) in 2016: 2.6 lbs

I (do not) heart January

Very January-ish

What I would like to know is who the hell decided that the New Year should start in January?  January is the very, very worst month.  It’s grey and damp and dark and cold and there isn’t a single Bank Holiday on the horizon until Easter.  It is a time of year when no one wants to be getting all gung-ho about healthy eating plans and exercise regimes and productivity goals.  They want to be eating Toblerone on the sofa while catching up on The Bridge or reading their way through the pile of paperbacks that they got for Christmas. 

Just me?  Really?

I want to make 2016 a good year, I really do, but I also want it to start in kind of mid March / April time, when the weather is improving and it is not dark ALL THE TIME and I can remember what it feels like to go out and not have to worry about my hair frizzing up in the damp. 

Still, they don’t let the likes of me decide the calendar.  And so, to tackle January head on.  Yesterday, being the first day back to school was the first day when I actually troubled myself to count points.  I have, for the time being at least, broken away from the official Weight Watchers fold and decided to stick with their (now obsolete) pro points plan, which I have always found works well for me.  If this becomes too difficult then, obviously, I’ll have a rethink.  But thinking, specifically, is what I DON’T want to have to do too much of at the moment, so the devil I know is the preferred option.

Being no longer bound by the Rules of the Gods of WW, I found that I got to the end of the day with 10 points leftover but still, I stopped eating.  WW decrees that you MUST eat ALL your daily points every day or your body will enter STARVATION MODE.  Frankly, after the amount of calories I’ve consumed over the last couple of weeks, I imagine that my system was relieved to have an ease up.  I don’t intend to make a habit of it, but neither do I think it will do significant harm every now and then.  And I woke up this morning actually feeling hungry, which was nice for a change.

I’m not going to set any lofty goals for 2016.  I think, in general, to aim to have more good days than bad is enough.  I would also like to end it lighter and fitter than when I started.  But I would also like to end it richer and happier and cleverer and…with better hair.  I just need to get through January first.

The first meal plan of 2016

Greetings beloved readers, and I hope all of you had a very happy and peaceful holiday period and are now raring to get the New Year going in earnest. Whatever your resolutions, I wish you the very best of luck with them. If you haven't made any - you are a stronger man than I!

This week's meal plan is brought to you by the word "comfort". I've picked dishes that are soft and soothing and perfect for digestive systems getting over the late December excesses. And all of them perfectly diet friendly with a few tweaks - losing weight has never been, for me anyway, dependent on eating salad alone.

Mushroom risotto
Twice baked jacket potatoes with ham and goats' cheese
Creamy spiced Dahl topped with a soft boiled egg and served with flatbreads
Soup and garlic bread
Fish pie
Pasta Bolognese bake
Corned beef with parsley sauce and root vegetable mash

You see? Comfort food of the highest order - in some cases (hello, fish pie) going right back to the nursery. All of it delicious though.

Still to come this week - an interesting lunch at Pollent Street Social and 2016 goal setting. Happy eating in the meantime!