The Fake Ice-Cream Way to 5 a Day!

Tonight the boys and I were on our own for supper, so I steamed some pieces of rainbow trout, cut from a lovely fillet which Christopher chose off the fishmonger's counter yesterday. 'Steamed fish' sounds so full of self-denial, redolent of all those miserable 'diet' features in magazines but it is actually the best ways to cook a nice piece of oily fish like this; it tastes wonderfully, vigorously, of itself.


To go with, in the streamer basket above that containing the pieces of trout, I steamed some ribbons of carrot and courgette. This is an easy way to make vegetables seem extra special to the children and all you need is the potato peeler - just pare off as many long strips as you can or want to. A tangled heap of vegetable ribbons with a piece of fish perched atop, would be delicious enough, but I added a little dressing for James and myself (Christopher is going through a 'suspicious' phase when it comes to sauces and dressings; his loss!)

Soy & Garlic Dressing

The garlic vinegar is easily made - just poke some unpeeled, fat cloves of garlic through the neck of a preserving bottle and top up with cider vinegar. Leave it to steep, topping up the vinegar as necessary over time. For this precious ambrosia, I am much indebted to the memory of the late Laurie Colwin, from whose book More Home Cooking it comes.

50ml olive oil
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp garlic vinegar (and see above)
pinch ground ginger
good grinding of fresh black pepper

Whisk everything together, then pour or drizzle over your fish and vegetables, or whatever else takes your fancy.

For a little bit of something sweet tonight, I grabbed a box of frozen melon cubes from the freezer and made this impromptu ice. We all love melons, especially for breakfast on warm days (I wish), but there always seems to be a bit hanging around that's gone a bit squidgy when we've had our fill. To save wasting it, I chop it up and freeze it for cocktails, fruit salads or just for little James to munch when he has a tooth coming. By whizzing it in the blender with a teeny splash of water, you get a sweetly perfumed dessert with a kind of 'Slush Puppy' texture, only far less virulently coloured and terrifying. For colour and another taste, I heated a handful of frozen blackberries (any berries, fresh OR frozen, would do) with 100ml water, a tablespoon of golden caster sugar and a teaspoon of ground arrowroot to make a sauce which I left to cool before pouromh over bowls of the melon ice. It went down very well, almost as a party-type treat and - ssshh! - apart from that spoonful of sugar in the sauce, it's all fruit!

Tarting Around

Started trying in earnest to get the baby into some semblance of a routine today - a good time to try as hubby's shifts fit in well, and the teething powders - 'Ashton & Parsons Infant Powders', actually - do seem to be making a dent in the pain, even if it is nigh-on impossible to adminster 'half a powder' as specified by the directions - he gets whatever goes in his mouth instead of on his chin!

I spent the morning keeping him awake, bar a 45 minute nap, so that I could put him down in his cot properly after a late morning feed. He yelled for a while, but I kept popping up to reassure him and he went off to sleep by himself (sans dummy!) in time for his big brother and me to have lunch. I used the extra time to sort some toys out with Christopher, as he's had the same toys in his sitting room toybox for far too long and was getting bored with them. I also made the pastry and lined the tart tin in preparation for our evening meal.

James woke up just before one. A little sooner than I would have liked, but it's early days. I changed and fed him, then played with the boys for a while. I got some housework done, too, thanks to Christopher's new-found skill on his Kazoo, which entertained the baby no end.

Chris did some drawing for a while this afternoon, but when he needed to use his potty, he decided it would be much more helpful to run into the kitchen, slam the door and deliberately wee on the cat. Things fell apart a little after that. Oh well...nearly time for dinner

Leek, Bacon & Caerphilly Tart

200g plain flour
pinch of salt
100g fat (half and half butter and lard, for preference)

Make pastry and use it to line a 20cm deep tart tin. You can do this up to a day in advance and keep it, sealed in a large freezer bag, in the fridge.

2-3 leeks, shredded
150g smoked bacon, diced
100g Caerphilly cheese
2 eggs, beaten
150ml crème fraîche

Put a large baking tray in the oven and preheat to 200°c/fan oven 180°c. Soften the leeks in a little butter or oil. Fry the bacon until cooked, but not crisp. Allow these to cool a little.
Spread the leeks and bacon out in the base of the pastry case. Crumble the cheese over the leeks and bacon, then season with black pepper. Beat the eggs and crème fraîche together, then pour into the tart. Place the tin on the preheated baking sheet and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until cooked though. The tart should be browned on top, with the filling still a little wobbly in the centre.

Very good. We ate it with a bit of salad, which was nice and easy (open bag, wash, tip into bowl, etc). Hubby bathed the boys, read their story and then put Christopher to bed while I fed and settled the baby. Time for a drink, methinks?

Teeth and Tears

I had to take the boys to the health centre this morning - James was due his 4-months-old round of jabs. Naturally, the place was absolute bedlam and we were there for ages. He's teething as well, so his mood was not all it could have been. I struggle to give him Calpol as he spits it all back out, not good. I've now got some teething powders, as recommended by the health visitor, to try. Here's hoping...

By the time we finished with all that, it was well after one, so I took the boys to a café for lunch before coming home and attempting to get on with all the things I should have been doing this morning.

No great inspiration for dinner this evening, so we had Chicken & Bacon Melts based on something that used to be served in a local pub, many moons ago.


It's a simple enough idea. Cubed, cooked chicken and pieces of bacon stuffed into a short baguette roll, drizzled with BBQ sauce and smothered with grated cheese. Put in a 200°c oven for 10 minutes until the cheese melts and bubbles. The pub used to serve it with salad and those weird, extruded potato, 'curly fries'. I just cut some baking potatoes into wedges, tossed them in some vegetable oil and baked them at 200°c for 40 minutes.

Hubby usually takes care of bathtime after we've eaten, but for some reason the hot water hasn't come on, so he's currently marshalling a tantrum from a very tearful Christopher instead. Oh dear.