oh dear …

Busy, busy, getting this site up. And so, not just lunch out, but [oh the shame] a pizza has been ordered.

I know it’s traditional for programmers, but I do always feel slightly soiled …

[edit]
It was jolly nice, mind …

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deep joy

We nipped (or popped, if you prefer) to North Street this afternoon. Lunch in Cafe Ceiturica (mixed skewers for me, and a rather nice mackerel for Pete (seems like a fair swap)).

Then to the deli for crispbread, Green and Black’s choccie and bread flour, and then to the greengrocer. Where they had the first local asparagus of the season. We fell upon it with cries of glee, and into the basket it went, with the organic lemons and carrots, chillis, celery and flat leaf parsley.

Not sure what we’ll do with it yet, but we’ll enjoy it!

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a quick supper

We’re working very hard at the moment, and don’t have a lot of time to cook, but that doesn’t mean we don’t cook! Last night was pasta bake with courgettes and tomatoes, which is as quick as it gets, and utterly gorgeous.

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pork and fruit

They go rather well together, don’t they? P and I were up at crack of doom this morning for a 10 a.m. meeting 120 miles away. We were expecting a friend for supper, and a rummage in the freezer brought forth a couple of tubs of pork with apricots and pears. Delicious supper, with very little effort. Just as well after such a long day …

Hmm … this pear seems a tad truncated.

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pasta with cauliflower, broccoli and blue cheese

I love “bitsa” cooking - just open the fridge and see what needs eating.

And last night, what needed eating was some veg and some cheese. This was ridiculously quick and easy.

Divide the broccoli and cauliflower into smallish florets. Put them in a pan with a couple of inches of water and salt, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer/steam for about - oh - 7 minutes.

In the meantime, finely chop an onion - feel free to use a food processor - and sauté it gently in some olive oil, in a deepish frying pan, until it’s soft. While that’s all happening, crumble some blue cheese. I used stilton, because we had some that needed using up, but anything would do. And cook some pasta; we had tagliatelle.

When everything is done, drain the veg, drain the pasta, hurl them in the pan, add the cheese and stir it round.

Took about 15 minutes from going into the kitchen to hitting the plate - fast food!

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sometimes simple is good

There was a rather tired cauliflower in the fridge. So I made a cauli cheese, with breadcrumbs on the top. This is probably what posh people call “au gratin”.

We had it with spuds roasted in goose fat. Food fit for the ghods!

Oh, and more plum crumble. Groan. All gone now, however.

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weekend 19/20 april

We didn’t set foot out of the house. Made a batch of bananananana muffins on Friday night, and then we ate far too many of them, and both had a nasty sugar hit overnight. Serves us right.

Saturday, made soda bread for lunch, which we had with the previously mentioned chickie! soup. Supper was pork and pineapple - I went into autopilot while I was making it, and did a load of ginger, which isn’t actually in the recipe. Was still delicious.

Sunday was toasted soda bread for breakfast, and a moussaka for supper, followed - foolishly - by a plum crumble with ice cream. Belch.

I’m going to have to start photographing things, aren’t I ..

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keeping the cupboards stocked

Ever since I (literally) went bankrupt, and didn’t know quite know where the next meals were coming from for a while, I’ve been almost obsessive about keeping cupboards and freezers full. We could live for at least two months, probably longer, with what I have stocked away.

Which meant that this morning, when it is so bloody cold in here, I could decant some crumpets from the freezer for breakfast; we have just consumed them, and they were most excellent.

And I had a rummage in the veg drawer - 10 minutes with the veg brush and the Magimix, and a pan of chicken and barley is on the stove for lunch. The chicken stock was in a pan already, waiting to go away for soup for *next* week. The carrots, leek and courgette were swiftly pulverised, saute’d down for 10 minutes in some oil, then lobbed in the soup vat with the stock and some barley from the pulse cupboard. A bit of shredded chicken from the breast left from last Sunday’s dinner was bunged in too. There will be soooop for lunch.

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knitting your own tofu

perlmonger and I cooked a charmingly retro supper last night, of brown rice and lentils. I wish we could say we donned sandals and kaftans while preparing and consuming it, but sadly no.

P is very good at dhal, and this one was delicious. I remain to be convinced about brown rice, but I’m too anti food waste to throw it away, and I have found a way to cook it where it’s ok, if not delicious.

In keeping with the theme of the evening, we found an episode of The Professionals on the Tivo. Nostalgia ensued - what where those round soda syphons called? So many Capris! Great fun.

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bitsa lunch

We had a bag of salad leaves from Riverford this week. Neither perlmonger nor I are especially fond of salad; it always seems too much effort for little reward. However, we also have three mozzarellae which need eating (bought a tub full at Costco the other week). And so, today’s lunch:

1 packet pancetta cubes, gently fried in olive oil with a couple of cloves of garlic
3 salad onions, chopped
1/4 cucumber, diced
1 mozzarella, chopped
1 bag salad leaves, torn and destalked
1 can chickpeas
juice of half a lemon
some soy sauce
mixed seeds

Mix ‘em all together. Eat. Delicious.

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