Ricepe corner: A lightly spiced, buttery onion pilau

Let's talk rice. If I had to put my carbs in order of preference (and this is the kind of game that D and I play regularly) rice would tend to come near the bottom of the list but I love rice, I just tend to think I love bread and pasta and potatoes more. And then I eat some really nice rice and feel terrible for maligning it so. 

We had this rice with a very delicious lamb bhuna on Saturday night. I would share a picture, but I am terrible at food photography when the food is attractive, and we all know that there is nothing attractive about a plate of curry (taste aside, of course). Here is a picture of my cat instead:

She is playing in a large cardboard box here because, as any fule kno, cardboard boxes exert some sort of weird, magnetic pull on our feline friends and they tend to want to climb into them. Or, in this case, turn them into their own private fort (it was a very large box).

Anyway.

A very basic recipe (or ricepe - ha, ha) to be sure, but I like having a record of the basics. Especially side dishes - because it is attention to detail that can really make a meal. And while there is certainly nothing wrong with plain steamed rice, it's hard to get excited about.

Often, when we serve rice with a curry or a chilli, we just fork through some of D's famous green stuff (chilli and coriander chutney) which is a really quick way of taking things up a notch. But it's also nice to have a simple pilau recipe to hand to mix things up a bit - the spices are mellow and subtle and, of course, plenty of butter makes it rich and luscious.

I'm going to be honest - I think I've said this before - I just don't bother to soaking and rinsing my rice. I had a phase of doing it but I didn't really get much of a difference and it involves a) additional faff (not great for such a lazy individual) and b) being ORGANISED (which I am very much not). Hey, I know my (many and varied) limitations. Maybe I'm not doing soaking and rinsing right? 

I think this recipe originates from a blog and I can't remember which one so...apologies. I really need to remember to quote sources when I note stuff down. And, of course, Googling pilau rice doesn't really help. 

Ingredients

Tbsp vegetable oil

30g butter

Small onion, finely chopped

Tsp cumin seeds

Tsp turmeric

4 cardamom pods - lightly crushed so that the seeds are released

1/2 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

150g rice

225ml vegetable stock (you may need slightly more, so maybe make up 300-350 mls).

Heat the oil and half of the butter in a large pan which had a well fitting lid. Keep the heat nice and low so that when you add the onion it starts to soften and go translucent rather than colouring. Cook for around 5 minutes until soft. 

Add the dry spices and cook for a further couple of minutes until they have lost that slightly "raw" smell, then stir through the dry rice so that it is thoroughly coated in everything.

Pour in the stock. You want it to come about half a centimetre over the surface of the rice. Bring everything to a simmer and then put on the lid, turn the heat down to its lowest setting and set a 7 minute timer.

When the timer goes, turn off the heat and leave for a further 5 minutes without removing the lid.

Fluff the rice with a fork and melt through the other half of the butter. Discard the pods, stick and leaves before serving.

Meal planning from the bunker

Well, first full week of working from home completed. At the moment, I have set up shop on the dining room table while D is up in the study. This has proved to be an ill thought out plan on my part since it means that I tend to get landed with all the tea-runs.

The cat remains delighted with the situation and divides her time between sunbathing and jumping up onto my keyboard to take part in the many, interminable calls that are taking place at the moment. I have learned to mute the microphone so other people are spared her contributions to the conversation or the inevitable commotion caused by me attempting to scoop her down.

And we, we are ok. Our families and friends remain ok and for that I am extremely grateful. I woke up from a dream early this morning with a song in my head and I realised that it was the one that Rosemary Clooney sings to Bing Crosby in “White Christmas” about counting blessings instead of sheep. So my subconscious is obviously trying to encourage me to focus on the positives. It is never easy, especially when one is naturally of an anxious, pessimistic frame of mind, but those of us who are not on the frontline at the moment should be doing our very tiny bit by keeping calm and carrying on.

Those of you who know this blog will know that I have always been a meal planner. In fact, meal planning is one of the highlights of the weekend, often taking place over an end of week pint. It has become a slightly different beast at the moment as we are trying, in accordance with guidelines, to avoid shopping as far as we can, so it is all about looking at what we have rather than what we want. We already had a shopping delivery slot booked in for early next week (it’s our practice to do one big shop at the start of the month) but it looks like we won’t be able to get one after that since neither of us (very thankfully) fall into the vulnerable category and it also looks like many of the items we order a matter of course are unavailable. We’ve got a fruit and veg box coming Monday from a local firm and I’m hoping to make that a weekly, or at least fortnightly thing, so that we are not entirely reliant on the small Sainsbury’s Local for fresh produce and can avoid venturing out as far as humanly possible.

Anyway, we’ve just done a full inventory of the garage freezer so meals for the next few days are done:

Sausages, mash and onion gravy - every time I have been forced to break cover and go to Sainsbury’s, there have been sausages in the otherwise denuded chilled produce section so I’ve grabbed a pack. We batch cooked some sausage and bean stew this week (also throwing in some chopped cherry toms that were on the way out, harissa for a touch of fire and a handful of red lentils to thicken the whole) and there are a few left to produce a comfort food classic for tea.

Chicken breast, sage and onion stuffing, roast potatoes, honey roast carrots, peas. We always have a stock of chicken breasts in the freezer so we’re going to have a Sunday lunch. I’ve got plenty of root veg with more coming in the veg box, so am prioritising using these before it turns. I’ll probably do more potatoes and carrots than we need and freeze at the parboiled stage.

Turkey curry with rice and flatbreads - the curry has been in the freezer since Christmas so needs using up. I’ve got a cauliflower stalk that I’ve set aside and will blitz up and combine with the rice to up the veg content here (but don’t tell D!)

Ottolenghi’s dirty rice - well, sort of. The original recipe is here and it is DELICIOUS. We had some chicken livers in the freezer that we had earmarked to make a batch. We don’t have any pork mince but I am going to experiment with using some red lentils cooked nice and soft (for bulk and texture) with some finely chopped, rehydrated Shittake mushrooms (for a meaty flavour).

Tortellini soup - chilled, filled pasta is one of my favourite things and we discovered half a pack of prosciutto cappelletti which is not enough for a meal for two but I’ll use some butternut squash and carrots to make a light, creamy soup then throw the cappelletti into that to stretch it out. Garlic bread on the side - if we’ve cracked and eaten the last remaining garlic baguette by then I can make garlic flatbreads easily enough.

So, that’s five days worth of nice meals out of a quick freezer trawl which is quite gratifying and means I have five days where I don’t have to venture out. Hurrah.

Thoughts and prayers to all of you - hope you and yours are staying safe, well and nourished in these trying times.

How to cook sushi rice

I’m about to throw an empty packet away, and with it the instructions that I’ve been using to cook sushi rice. What is this blog, I asked myself, but an online kitchen scrapbook and thus the perfect place to make a note of it all. Thus:

Step 1. Weight out 100g rice. This is enough for two people as long as they’re pretending to be ok with WW’s idea of a portion.

Step 2. Cover the rice in cold water and swirl it around a bit. The water will go quite cloudy. Drain into a sieve. Consider repeating the process three or four times as instructed but instead decide to run cold water over the rice in the sieve, stirring lightly with your hand. After a minute or so of this, the water should run clear.

Step 3: Tip rice into saucepan and pour over 130 ml cold water. Bring to a simmer then cover and cook for 10 mins. Turn the heat off and leave for a further 25 mins. Do not remove the lid during this time.

Step 4: Meanwhile, combine a tbsp rice wine vinegar with 2 tsp sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Step 5: When the time is up, remove the lid and stir through the vinegar-sugar combo and a tiny pinch of salt (the salt is not specified on the packet but I find it wakes up the sweet sourness of the other additions).

Step 6: Serve - topped with whatever your little heart desires.

MPM: 24th September 2018

Greetings chickadees and I think it is safe to say that summer is well and truly over after a weekend which saw us a) light our fire every night b) turn the heating on and c) get pounded by hailstones.  Suits me just fine - I am not a big fan of the hot weather although I have no intention of giving up the salads that have characterised my lunches for the past couple of months.  I love salad and don't see that it should be confined to when the weather is sunny.

I've been back on track for nearly a whole week now (four and a half days counts as nearly seven, doesn't it?) and although it has had its tricky moments, altogether it is going pretty well.  It helps, I think, that we were SO over indulgent last weekend, my body was definitely ready to embrace a simpler, leaner diet.  But, as I said in my last post and said to my WW coach at the weigh in, I will never be the type of person to count, or even attempt to count, on holiday.  Food and drink are two of life's very great pleasures.

Talking of great pleasures, and another sign that winter is on its way - the new series of Strictly Come Dancing started on Saturday night which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Saturday nights from now will definitely have to feature a special sort of supper to honour the occasion.  Actually, this Saturday's supper was very special indeed - inspired by a photo on Bundobust's Instagram feed, I contrived a saag paneer pizza.  If two of your favourite foods are saag paneer and pizza, this is a dish not to be missed.  I may well post the recipe at some point.

Anyway, on to this week.  I am supposed to be going out on Friday, so it is blank for now, but may try and wriggle out of it for various reasons, not least that it would be nice to have two straight weeks of tracking under my belt as we go into October AKA D's 50th Birthday Month.  Elsewhere:

Monday: Tuna and onion (tonno e cipolla) pizza - we have pizza dough leftover from Saturday night and, well, it would be rude not to.

Tuesday:  Mussel paella

Wednesday:  Vietnamese braised pork with vegetable egg fried rice

Thursday: Chicken breast stuffed with goats' cheese

Saturday:  Lobster truffled macaroni cheese - a dish inspired by our recent trip to the Star Inn the Harbour.

Sunday:  A freezer dive - beef and fennel stew with mashed potatoes.

Have a fabulous week all!

Recipe corner: cumin spiced rice salad with lime and herbs

I will never tire of my coronation rice salad but this is a great alternative that requires very few ingredients and certainly things that I always tend to have knocking around. It’s possible that you might not have any fresh limes in your fruit bowl (as gin and tonic aficionados this is not a problem we experience) - lemon would probably work too.

Don’t skimp on the fat in the initial cooking stage - this will lightly coat the grains in lieu of any other dressing. I sprinkled some pickled red chillies over the portion that I took for lunch (see below. Also note my pretty, pink lunchbox. Could I be more of a cliche girlie girl?) These were an excellent addition.

Ingredients

30g butter
Tbsp vegetable oil
Red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
150g basmati rice
300ml vegetable stock

Zest and juice of 1 lime
Large handful of soft green herbs (mint, parsley, coriander...)

Serves 2-4 as a side dish

Melt the butter and oil together over a medium to low heat. Once melted, add the onion with a decent pinch of salt, cover, and turn the heat right down. Cook until very soft, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the garlic and dried spices and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

Stir through the rice so well coated in fat and spice, then pour over the stock. Bring the pan to a gentle simmer then cover again, put the heat on its lowest setting and cook for 5 minutes. Then, turn the heat off altogether and leave covered for a further 5 mins, at which point the rice should be cooked through.

While the rice cooks, chop together the herbs.

To finish the salad, stir through the herbs, lime zest and juice. Serve at room temperature.

Recipe corner: coronation rice salad

So, we bought a barbecue.  A beautiful, kettle style, Weber jobby.  We bought a barbecue, and the weather promptly took a dramatic turn for the worse.  I'm not saying that we were directly responsible for the pervading dampness of the Bank Holiday weekend but...

We bought a barbecue and decided that the first thing that we were going to cook on it was a simple, spatchcocked chicken adorned with nothing more than a slick of oil and a flurry of salt and pepper.  And, to accompany it, I decided to try and recreate the Waitrose coronation rice salad of which we are both so fond.

Now not to diss our beloved Waitrose, but I think that my version is WAY better - more kick, more texture and less drowned in dressing.  Every barbecue, even the slightly soggy ones, needs a couple of decent sides and this is better than decent.  Along with some watercress salad and crusty bread, it was all that our beautiful chicken needed to ensure that our inaugural barbecue was a tasty one.

Ingredients

100g basmati / wild rice mix
Large onion, finely chopped
2 tsp vegetable oil
Tbsp curry powder
Tsp chilli flakes
Tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp tumeric
50g raisins

For the dressing:
Tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp half fat creme fraiche
Tbsp mango chutney
Tsp vegetable oil
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Handful of fresh chopped chives and / or mint

Serves 4 (as a side), 6 pro points per portion

Cook the rice according to packet instructions until al dente.  You want to ensure that it retains some bite which will lend the salad texture.

Gently heat 2 tsp of oil and then add the onion and cook off over a low heat so that it softens without colouring.  After about five minutes, add the spices and the raisins and continue to cook until the onions are meltingly soft and the spice mix has lost its harsh rawness - another five minutes or so.

While onion and rice are cooking, combine the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and season enthusiastically.

Now add the cooked rice to the onion pan and combine well. Cook for a further couple of minutes, stirring regularly to ensure that the mix is well amalgamated then remove from the hat and allow to cool slightly before combining with the creamy dressing.  Check the seasoning, adding more lemon or salt as necessary.

To have this at its best, allow to sit for at least an hour before serving.  It is relatively forgiving and can be made in advance, but don't serve cold from the fridge - always let it come up to room temperature first.  Your barbecue will thank you for it.

Recipe Corner – Mussel Paella

D and I are exceptionally fond of pretty much any foodstuff that comes out of the sea and a pretty large proportion of our meals feature fish or seafood of some kind. Recently, his father gave us a huge bag of frozen mussels which we’ve been eating our way through and the following recipe (adapted from one in an old WW cookbook) entered our meal rotation as a particularly delicious way to use them. I should say that it’s only a paella in the loosest sense of the word (I sense generations of Spaniards looking around for kitchen implements to hurl at me for accosting it). I should also say that it would probably be equally delicious made with one of those frozen seafood mixes that you can pick up in the supermarket, or with fat prawns. Some finely diced chorizo sausage added at the initial stages would be good too, although obviously would up the points.

Ingredients

Tsp olive oil
Onion, chopped
Clove of garlic, crushed
Red pepper, chopped
110g risotto rice
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Pinch of saffron
50ml dry sherry
450ml chicken or vegetable stock
200g frozen unshelled mussels (defrost before using)
60g peas

Serves 2, 8 Smart Points (WW Flex) per portion

Warm the oil and gently soften the onion for a couple of minutes. As it starts to sweat, chuck in the garlic and the pepper and continue to cook, gently. Meanwhile, add the saffron to the sherry to infuse.

Stir through the risotto rice and the spices and thoroughly combine.

Add the sherry (which should now be a lovely golden colour) and allow to bubble off. Then pour over the hot stock, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

Next in are the peas, which cook for about 5 minutes. Then finally, the defrosted mussles for another minute or so – they require very little cooking so really you’re just warming them through here.

Et voila! (or whatever the Spanish equivalent is).