Saturday 11th of May 2013

I love avocados.  Popping a couple in my shopping basket and bringing them home, to be tucked away in a brown paper bag on the kitchen counter until they are perfectly ripe has become something of a weekly ritual.  Sliced into salads,  quickly mashed to spread on a tortilla for a fast quesadilla or just eaten, greedily,  with a splash of vinaigrette,  I've yet to find a way to eat them that I've not liked. Jeffrey Steingarten informs me, in The Man Who Ate Everything, (a corker of a book, by the way, and highly recommended) that "Brazilians eat avocados for dessert,  mashed up with sugar". Haven't tried it yet, but maybe one of these days I will...

Last night, for supper, I grilled a stack of lamb leg steaks and made a couple of different salads to go with.  In the interests of gilding the lily,  I also toasted some pitta and knocked up a batch of this gorgeous avocado houmous.  Smooth and mildly nutty-tasting, this knocks guacamole out of the park as far as I'm concerned, and is A.Mazing with lamb.  It also has the huge advantage of staying perfectly green for days,  rather than mere minutes,  so can be handily stashed in the 'fridge for hungry moments (or, quite frankly, for those standing-by-the-open-'fridge-with-a-spoon moments!).  Cooking the already-cooked, tinned chickpeas for a few more minutes makes for a desirably smooth houmous, plus you can fish out as many of the papery skins as possible (they seem to detach easily when cooked) for an even better texture.

Avocado Houmous

410g can chickpeas,  drained and rinsed well
2 ripe avocados,  flesh scooped out and roughly chunked up
1 dsp tahini
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
juice of a lemon
avocado oil, as needed (and see below)

Put the drained,  rinsed chickpeas into a saucepan and cover with water.   Bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes,  or until very soft.  Scoop out as many of the skins as you can or want to.   Drain and allow them to steam dry for a few minutes.  Put everything, bar the oil (and you can use a different mild oil if you want, I just always use avocado oil here) into the processor and whizz to a smooth and creamy looking paste.  Drizzle in oil to achieve the texture that you want,  I prefer my houmous to be on the softer side, rather than standing up in stiff peaks.  Serve immediately, or seal in a tub in the 'fridge for later.

Cath xx

Saturday 27th of April 2013

Another lovely sunny day here today, so a light lunch was called for, in order to allow for maximum time spent in the garden and minimum time spent actually having to do anything.  Baked eggs are, anyway, a bit of a weekend lunchtime favourite at Distracted Towers and this is a lovely version.

Baked Eggs on Mushrooms and Spinach

large lump of butter
200g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
150g spinach leaves, washed and shaken dry
1 tbsp whipping cream
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon (optional, and see below)
8 small-to-medium-sized eggs
25g grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Melt the butter and fry the mushrooms over a high heat.  I have some rather wonderful porcini mushroom powder called, endearingly, Shake O'Cini, and I added a few shakes here to boost the mushroom flavour, but you don't have to be as elaborately specialist if you don't want to be..!  When the mushrooms are brown and almost 'squeaking' as you stir them, pack the spinach into the pan and put on the lid.  Remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes.  Remove the lid, stir well and then replace the lid for a few minutes more until the spinach is well wilted.  Tip the vegetable mixture into a sieve over a bowl, and press down on it with a spoon, allowing the scant, but flavoursome, juices to drain through the sieve.  Stir the cream into the strained juice.  You can just as easily use double cream instead, but whipping cream is what I mostly have in the 'fridge.


Arrange the vegetable mixture in shallow ovenproof dishes and make a 'hole' for each egg, as shown in the picture, left, and scatter over the chopped tarragon, if using.  Tarragon is a great addition to the triumvirate of mushroom, spinach and egg, but leave it out if you don't have it, or don't fancy it.  There's no mileage in using dried tarragon here... Put the dishes onto a baking tray (I lined mine with one of my silicon mats to provide a non-slip surface, stopping the dishes from sliding around on their short journey to the oven. Crack each egg into one of the 'holes'.  Drizzle over the cream-swirled cooking juices, then scatter over some parmesan.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven.  The eggs will continue to cook in the dishes, so err on the side of their being slightly underdone when you take them out of the oven, rather than risk overcooking them.  Serve with a nice loaf of bread and some crunchy salt to sprinkle over the eggs.

Cath xx  

Sunday 14th of April 2013

The final weekend of the school holidays has been, for me, split between relaxing before the chaos hits and cooking up a bit of a storm to prepare for busy days ahead.  We enjoyed my Lamb Stew with Summer Flavours on Friday night, helped along by a steaming mound of couscous, some salad and a scattering heaping pile of my Herby Cheese.

Saturday Lunch was a courgette and goat's cheese tart; made to my usual recipe, but using my lovely new rectangular tart tin from Lakeland.  The new tin made the tart much more presentable and neater to slice, though I found it rather more difficult to get the tart out of this tin than with my workaday round tins.  We ate the tart with some salad and steamed new potatoes (I normally eschew potatoes with party, but I ran across these spanking Charlotte potatoes and was irresistibly drawn to them...  In the evening, the boys and I enjoyed a casual supper of cheese and biscuits with salad and fruit in front of Doctor Who and The Voice.  I like a cheeky weekend fix of Sir Tom, I do (even if his tendency towards name-dropping is worse than ever!).

Now, with school bags packed and ready for the morning, I can truly relax, having cooked an enormous batch of Slow-Cooked Onions (and I used red onions today) to see us through the next couple of weeks, prepared a very nice-looking vegetable curry to go in the slow-cooker tomorrow and served up a bacon and mushroom risotto for lunch.  In advance of school starting tomorrow, the boys and I are looking forward to a 'last supper' of mussels in garlic butter sauce with some crusty bread before it's back to metro, boulot, dodo. Back to the grindstone...

Cath xx

Wednesday 10th of April 2013

Okay, so we had good ol' roast chicken for supper (again), but owing to my increasing aversion to potatoes-with-what-feels-like-absolutely-everything, I needed to cook something that came up to scratch in the hearty, satisfying stakes without being an obvious, 'I just don't want to make potatoes' thing.  Now, I appreciate that a celeriac is not something that, ahem, normal people necessarily have just knocking about in their vegetable basket, but I did - still on a bit of a Francophile tip, I was planning to make celeriac rémoulade later this week but, hey, them's the breaks... Celeriac & Mushroom Gratin it was!

In actual fact, as far as side dishes for roast chicken go, this one is a definite keeper.  I peeled the celeriac, halved and then sliced it.  I popped the pieces in a pan of cold water along with a couple of chopped shallots and brought it all to the boil.  Once drained, I layered the celeriac and shallot in a roasting pan with some sliced mushrooms, scattering a bit of chopped tarragon (mmmm...) between the layers.  Poured over a 284ml carton of whipping cream (though double would also be fine, that's just what I had to hand), ground over some (white) pepper and covered it with a handful of grated parmesan.  That was it; ready for 45 minutes in the oven at 180ºc (which was, helpfully, the second half of the chicken's cooking time).  I allowed the gratin to rest for 10 minutes alongside the chicken after taking them out of the oven; I always think that baked dishes like this benefit from being served on the warm side, rather than searingly hot, they seem to taste more of themselves, somehow.

Cath xx

Tuesday 12th of March 2013

We had another really good meal from the slow cooker tonight.  I'm particularly proud of this one, because it ticks lots of boxes for me; it's done in the slow-cooker, it uses mainly storecupboard ingredients and it is a meat-free meal, thus providing both variety and economy.  You can use a bought curry paste with no problems (and I do on occasion), but I really like   Jamie Oliver's recipes for homemade curry pastes, which I find can be frozen very successfully 'for a rainy day', as it were.  I tend to use the tikka masala variety, though I do reduce the amount of chilli by half and eliminate the coriander leaves.  The former, for the sake of the children's taste buds, the latter because of my personal aversion to coriander leaves.  Love the seeds, but I find myself nauseated by the leaves.  Apart from chips and tinned baked beans, it is my only real food aversion.  My Dad would certainly mention andouillette at this point, but since I was tricked into eating some (on a mere technicality, I might add) as a child I, still shuddering, will never, ever touch it again.  Anyway, moving swiftly on...

Chickpea & Spinach Coconut Curry

I like to serve this with my Relaxed Raita and a basket of warmed chapatis, all the better to scoop up the curry and transfer it, slurpily, to waiting mouths...

250g slow-cooked onions or 1 can EAZY fried onions
150g curry paste (and see above)
2 x 420g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 400ml can coconut milk (use 'light' if you prefer)
1 160g bag baby spinach leaves, washed

Now, this really is the easy bit.  Put the onions in the slow-cooker pot and mix with the curry paste.  Add the chickpeas, stirring well to coat them in the oniony, spicy, oily juices.  Tip in the coconut milk and mix well.  Refrigerate overnight at this point, if you like.  Cook on LOW all day.  Ten minutes or so before you want to eat, fold the spinach leaves through the curry in the pot, then replace the lid until time to serve.

Cath xx

Saturday 9th of March 2013

Weekends, by my choice, invariably find me in the kitchen.  This morning, after my breakfast of muesli, toast and coffee,  I sorted out the chicken stock which had been cooking overnight in the slow-cooker.  I find this the easiest way to make stock these days; putting the bones in the pot which a halved shallot or two (leaving the skin on to colour the stock a rich brown colour), covering them with water and leaving them to blip on LOW while we sleep.  Then, in the morning, all I need to do is strain the stock into a pan and boil it to reduce to a litre or so.  I usually make chicken stock once a week, and this method allows me to do it even when we are really busy, which is pretty much all the time.  I also took the opportunity to make a bara brith this morning, as I had the oven on anyway, baking bread rolls for lunch.

We usually eat our main meal of the day at lunchtimes on the weekend. Today for lunch we enjoyed a meal of Simple Tomato Soup and a basket of cheese-topped Fast & Furious Rolls , which I topped with some grated parmesan after brushing on the melted butter.  I served it with the remaining Herby Cheese from Thursday's dinner and a bowl of pea shoots.

Then, after I took the children to the village playground to run off some energy in the sunshine, we returned home for a lovely, relaxing afternoon.  I love just 'being' with my boys, while they  do their own things; pottering around playing, reading, drawing or watching a film together. It's sometimes the smallest moments that matter the most...

Cath xx

Wednesday 6th of March 2013

Always reliable in this house, risotto... I won't lie and say that it's not one of my most regular go-tos for dinner.  Over the years,  I've mentioned risotto numerous times on the blog, but tonight's was a goodie.   I try, every week, to cook at least one meat-free meal (though this one ultimately failed when I used some homemade chicken stock that I had in the 'fridge, oops) and it seems to have paid off because my boys are huge fans of vegetables (although, as I've written before, they fall on most foods as though ravening beasts,  so they're possibly not the best examples to give).

Anyway,  here's a good recipe for a vegetarian risotto (if you use vegetable stock). Saying that though,  frankly,  water spiked with a bit more of the same white wine would serve admirably...

large lump of butter
4 leeks, halved and sliced
200g chestnut mushrooms,  quartered
2 cloves garlic,  minced
300g arborio rice
glass of white wine
1 litre hot stock
chopped parsley
grated parmesan

Melt most of the butter in a large,  heavy pan.  Fry the leeks and mushrooms until soft. Add the garlic and then the rice,  stirring well.   Pour in the wine and stir well until absorbed. Add the stock a cupful at a time,  stirring often and waiting until each batch of stock is absorbed before adding the next.   When the rice is tender,  stir in the remaining butter,  diced,  along with the chopped parsley and the parmesan. Stir vigorously and then leave the pan, covered and off the heat, for five minutes or so.  

Serve with crisp green salad leaves.

Cath xx

Oh Snapz!

Children always seem to want to snack, don't they?  I suppose it's because they are such busy little bees, but my boys always seem to be re-fuelling.  So I am always interested to find out about new snacking options for them; ones that are good for them, or at least not bad for them, and which have a touch more kid-appeal than the usual 'healthy' options seem to.  I received a parcel from Healthy Supplies this morning, containing a selection of the interesting and nutritious goodies stocked on their website.  First on our taste-testing schedule were some Snapz fruit and vegetable crisps... 

Baked, rather than fried, they are still crisp and really rather delicious.  We first tried the beetroot crisps and the carrot & paprika crisps.  It's fairly obvious which is which, huh?  The children were torn as to which they preferred but ultimately Chris liked the beetroot crisps best (as did I); sweet and crunchy as they were, while James preferred the carrot & paprika version.  I found these tasted very strongly of carrot, which would be a big plus for most people (and especially my carrot-addicted children), but I've never been a huge fan of cooked carrots , vastly preferring them raw, so I couldn't eat more than a few.  However, the two types were hugely complimentary when mixed together which was an interesting option, and the paprika added a pleasant piquancy to the earthy-tasting carrots.  We often eat root vegetable crisps as a pre-dinner nibble, but these weren't salty or greasy like some we've tried and tasted so clearly of the vegetables rather than the seasonings alone, that it was a completely new experience

Next,  I suppose, we moved on to 'pudding', and tried some of the apple fruit crisps.  One the left in the picture are the regular Crunchy Apple variety, the Apple & Cinnamon crisps on the right are strongly flavoured with cinnamon.  Rather too much cinnamon for my taste, but the children adored them and were pretty close to licking the dusty scraps out of the bowl after they'd polished the actual apple-slice-crisps off.  The cinnamon-flavoured apple crisps were noticeably thicker, and chewier, than the au naturel version, which were delicious and, somehow tasted even more of apples than do actual untouched apples.  Go figure!  The children rated the selection as follows.

Chris

• #1 Beetroot
• #2 Apple & Cinnamon
• #3 Carrot & Paprika
• #4 Apple

James

• #1 Carrot & Paprika
• #2 Apple & Cinnamon
• #3 Apple
• #4 Beetroot

As for me?  I preferred the beetroot and the carrot & paprika crisps when they were mixed together as a savoury option.  I wouldn't choose to eat the apple & cinnamon crisps again, but I might nibble on the odd pack of the plain apple crisps in the future.  I can see these finding a home in lunchboxes for school trips and the like in the future.

Cath xx

         

Feeling Greeky

I have been remiss with trying out recipe ideas recently, so I've taken advantage of the latter, less busy, part of the half-term holidays to try out some new things.  Now, I know that this kind of pie is nothing new (sorry spanokopita), but I like to think that there is a place for my distracted version; mainly just stirring stuff together, but with a nice bit of pastry layering to feel like I've done some 'real' cooking (what a ludicrous phrase that is - all cooking is real cooking, unless it's merely re-heating, I suppose... but what else am I supposed to do with leftovers?)

'Greek-Style' Cheese & Spinach Pie

For the 'hard cheese' specified, I use a roughly half-and-half mixture of parmesan and cheddar, but either would be fine on its own, or use a different, well-flavoured hard cheese.  I do wonder about blue cheese as an idea, too, maybe with walnuts replacing the almonds?  Perhaps another day...

600g spinach, (2 big bags from the supermarket)
handful flaked almonds
good pinch dried oregano
3 eggs
200g feta cheese (or similar Greek-style' or 'salad' cheese)
150g hard cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
good grating of fresh nutmeg
50g or so butter, melted
1 (supermarket) packet of filo pastry - 12 sheets

Wilt the spinach in a couple of batches by plonking it in a colander and pouring a kettle-full of boiling water over it.  Remove it to a big bowl and leave to cool.  Repeat with the second batch.  When the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much liquid as you can, being careful in case there are any 'hidden' pockets of hot water.  Set aside.  Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan until just golden, remove to a dish and add the dried oregano immediately.  Stir, and the delicious aroma of the herb will be released. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the cheeses, the garlic, a little black pepper and plenty of nutmeg (lush with spinach).  You don't need to add salt, the cheese is plenty salty enough.  Finally, add the nuts/herb mixture and the roughly chopped spinach.  Mix well.

Brush the inside of a pie dish with melted butter and lay a few sheets of filo over to cover the base and overhang at the sides.  Brush with butter again, then top with some of the spinach mixture.  Repeat with another layer of buttered filo; another layer of spinach filling . Finish with a nice thick layer of buttered filo sheets.  Sprinkle with another pinch of dried oregano, for pretty, if you like.  Bake at 180°c for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.  Serve with a cucumber or tomato salad (or both, or something else entirely, if you like, hehehe).  We nibbled on some black olives and feta that I'd marinaded in garlic oil beforehand.

Cath xx

In the Mood

So, what do you think of the new look?  Freshened things up a little, hasn't it?  I've been in that sort of mood today and , after redesigning the page this afternoon, I was entirely ready for some serious kitchen action.  I say serious, but, despite the loooong list of ingredients below, please know that I put this meal together tonight in little over half an hour.  All the ingredients, bar the meat, are standard storecupboard and 'fridge stock in my home, and I usually have some minced lamb in the freezer.

Frankly, I think that this dish is perfectly flavoursome without the lamb, but the males of the household prefer it with, so there we are.  Rice and lentils are a great combination anyhow and adding just a handful or so when cooking 'plain' rice gives a new dimension of texture and taste to an ordinary side dish. Lentils are a great, inexpensive source of protein and the children have loved them since they were very small.  One of their favourite weaning foods was this Cheesy Lentil Savoury.  Type 'lentils' into the search bar above to see more of my recipes using this often-underappreciated (in the West, at least) ingredient.



 Spiced Rice & Lentils with Lamb

2 tbsp oil (I use rapeseed)
2 x 1” pieces of cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
3 cloves
5 cardamom pods
1 large onion, quartered and sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
5cm piece ginger, minced
1 tbsp cumin seeds
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp cayenne pepper,
250g minced lamb (optional!)
175g red lentils
200g basmati rice
750ml  water
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp  melted ghee or butter
1 tbsp lime juice (bottled, in my case)
Chopped parsley


Heat the oil in a heavy pan and briefly fry the cinnamon, cloves, bay and cardamom.  Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, then mix in the garlic, the ginger and the other spices.  Add the lamb, if using, to the pan and brown it well, then tip in the rice and lentils and add the water.  Bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer for15 minutes, until  the rice and lentils are tender.  Using a fork, stir in the garam masala, the melted ghee (or butter), the lime juice and plenty of parsley.  Serve with some sort of flatbreads (pitta, naan, chapati...) and some raita or natural yoghurt.

Cath xx

Antipasto Antipasta?

The pairing of tuna and butter beans makes for a classic Italian antipasto, and a combination that I adore.  It also works well as a suppertime pasta dish and this is a simple recipe using mainly storecupboard ingredients, except for an onion, some parsley and a lemon (and if I can pick those up in our tiny, though fabulous, village post office then I'm sure no-one else will find too much of an excursion in them). As for the pasta, I am currently having a total linguine moment, so I used that tonight, but cavatappi and fusilli have worked equally well for me in the past.

Pasta with Tuna and Butter Beans

250g dried pasta (and see above)
200g can good-quality tuna in olive oil
1 small onion, halved and finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled
 can butter beans, drained and rinsed well.
chopped fresh parsley
grated zest of one lemon and a spritz of its juice
Cook the pasta.  Meanwhile, drain the tuna and reserve the oil.  Heat the oil in a heavy pan and fry the onion with the whole garlic cloves until the onion is very, very soft.  Tip in the butterbeans and turn in the oil until they are warmed through, then add the tuna to the pan with some parsley and the lemon zest.  Fold it all together carefully; try not to break the tuna up too much or the dish will lose its pleasing texture.  Drain the pasta (reserving some water from the pan) and toss it with the tuna-and-bean mixture, adding a little of the pasta water and a squeeze of lemon juice to bring the flavours and consistency together.  Please, no cheese...

 *****

We went to Pizza Express in the half-term holidays while we were on a shopping jaunt to Carmarthen and the children were freshly, as always, enamored of the famous dough balls with garlic butter.  Ever since, they have been regularly nagging me talking about them and finally I thought it was time I knocked up a home-style batch; driving to Carmarthen just for an order of dough balls would be extravagantly decadent in the extreme!

Dough Balls

450g strong white flour
7g sachet easy-blend dried yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
250ml warm water
 flour, fine semolina or cornmeal, to dust

garlic butter, to serve

Mix all the ingredients for the dough together and knead for 5 minutes.  Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Knock the dough down and knead for another 5 minutes.  Re-cover and leave for another 30 minutes or so.  Divide the dough into 16 and roll into balls.  Place on a floured baking sheet and dust them with a little bit of flour (or, even better, a little fine semolina or cornmeal/polenta flour).  Leave for 30 minutes until puffed up and then bake at 200°c for 15-20 minutes until tinged with gold.  Serve warm, with dishes of cool garlic butter on the side.  Dip the balls into the butter, or break them open and spread with the butter; your style, your choice.

Cath xx

Fakin' Bacon

OK, so it's only just barely a recipe, but it is very useful especially if, like me you do your supermarket shopping after school and then get home needing to prepare supper.  These mushrooms are super quick to prepare; if you use the soya bacon chips I specify, it takes less than five minutes to get it all ready and then you can just bung the dish in the oven.

The other rather amusing(well, to me anyway!) thing is that this dish can be serve to vegetarians as the 'bacon-flavour' soya chips are 'suitable for vegetarians'. If you know a veggie who (rather oddly, in my opinion) wants to eat something bacon-flavour, then this could be just the ticket. Obviously you could replace the soya chips with real bacon if you're somehow 'spooked' by them, just grill until very crisp and crumble or chop when cool.  I rather love them and have mentioned this before, plus anything that saves a bit of time is always welcome in my kitchen...

Cheesy Baked Mushrooms

500g white mushrooms
about 10 tbsp BAC~Os
fresh parsley, finely chopped
150g strong Cheddar cheese, grated
black pepper

Grease an ovenproof dish, which will just take the mushrooms in one layer, with a very little oil.  Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and - don't waste them - set them aside to use in another recipe (I'm planning to add them to a veggie lasagne I'll make later this week).  Lay the mushrooms, hollow-side up in the dish and add a good pinch of BAC~Os to each mushroom 'cup'.  Scatter chopped parsley over all the mushrooms and cover with the grated cheese.  Season with pepper.  Bake at 180°cfor 20 minutes.  All you need to go with are some nice bread rolls and a green salad.

Cath xx

Colourful Cookery

Sometimes, changing just one thing can make something rather dull into something really rather fabulous.  On a shopping trip last week, the children and I popped into the local heath food store to buy some spices.  While we were there, we spotted this gorgeous-looking lumaconi (meaning: snail's shells) pasta.  Unable to resist any sort of novelty, we just had to bring some home...

This red-and-white pasta bake is something I have made for the children before,  but trust me, it has finally achieved greatness and become all that it can be with the introduction of the new pasta; the sauces pool inside them, still remaining pleasantly separate and allow the surface to crisp beautifully.

 Red-and-White Pasta Bake

I usually have keep tomato sauce in the freezer in 500g portions, but you could just as easily use 400-500g's worth of some ready-made stuff.

300g lumaconi
500g tomato sauce
25g butter
25g plain flour
1 tsp mustard powder
3/4 pint milk
40g Red Leicester Cheese, grated
80g Cheddar cheese, grated

Boil the pasta in lots of salted water until just al dente.  Meanwhile, put the flour, mustard powder and butter into a saucepan with the milk and bring to the boil, whisking continuously.  When the sauce has thickened, stir in half the Cheddar cheese and set the pan aside.  Mix the rest of the Cheddar and the Red Leicester together.  Drain the pasta into a colander and transfer it to an ovenproof dish (the pasta should, ideally, sit in one layer).  Pour the tomato sauce unevenly over the pasta, leaving some areas bare, filling some of the hollows and not others, etc.  Repeat with the cheese sauce; you should have a pleasant 'patchwork pasta' effect (or something like that, anyway!).  Scatter the mixed cheeses over and bake in a 180°c oven for 20-30 minutes, until the surface is crisp and browned.

The great thing about a pasta bake like this is that you can assemble it, up until the point of baking and then either pop it in the fridge for the next day, or even freeze it.  In that case, I suggest lining the ovenproof dish with a large piece of heavy-duty kitchen foil.  Once, cool, overwrap the food and pop it all in the freezer (only if your dish is freezer-safe; most are, but do check!).  Then, once the food is frozen solid, you can slip the food out of the dish with no difficulty and transfer the foil-wrapped parcel to a big ol' freezer bag.

Cath xx

Comforting Food. Again.

OK, Back to it.  This is what I cooked tonight, making use of the contents of the 'fridge... After using it as an accompaniment for my Fruity Spiced Chicken last night, I had loads of leftover brown rice sitting in a box, waiting to be used, so that had to go somewhere.  Rootling around in the depths of my brain, I decided that it would be just the ticket for a vegetarian 'baked rice' recipe.  So I dug some garlic butter out of the freezer (I always make masses at a time and freeze it in portions to use, not only for more garlic bread, but also in more general cooking),  and got to thinking about mushrooms and what sort of binding sauce would be good.  Obviously, you can just use regular butter and add in a few cloves of minced garlic when you fry the 'shrooms, then add some chopped herbs to the dish later, but the ready-homemade-and-frozen garlic butter plan is, I beseech you, truly the way forward.

Cheesy Mushroom Rice

700g cooked brown rice
50g garlic butter (with herbs, if possible)
400g mushrooms
40g butter
40g plain flour
1 tsp English mustard powder
500ml milk
200g Cheddar cheese

Melt the garlic butter in a large frying pan and cook the mushrooms until very brown and what I call 'squeaky'; there should be no liquid left in the pan at all and you will know just what I mean when the mushrooms, almost, seem to squeak  Meanwhile, make an all-in-one white sauce by putting the butter, flour, mustard powder and milk into a saucepan and, whisking continuously, bring it all to the boil.  Turn the heat down and simmer briefly, then remove from the heat.  Add half the grated cheese and stir well until it has melted into the sauce completely.  Put the cooked rice into an oven dish, add the mushrooms and mix the cheese sauce in thoroughly.  Top with the remaining cheese and bake at 200°c for 30 minutes or so, until the top is somewhat crisp.

It was really, really nice - I cannot sufficiently explain how much I wanted to eat, well, ALL OF IT.  This one is definitely a keeper...

Cath xx

For Goodness Sake...

Making this for supper always reminds me of that old advert for British Lion eggs, where the guy is listening to his flatmates debate what they could make for supper with the paltry contents of their fridge and he exclaims, in a really broad west of Scotland accent, "for goodness sake, you could have a courgette frittata".  Don't mind if I do, actually...


I've mentioned my other half's liking for attempting to 'do' accents before.  He found (and still finds) it hilarious the way the chap says "for goodness sake", and apes him, even now, at every opportunity which presents itself. He is also currently rather keen on the accents of the Big Brother narrator and the guy from the Co-Operative adverts who says "Haalf- Priiiice".  So this, dear readers, is the soundtrack of my life...

Potato and Courgette Frittata

You need, really, to use a frying pan with a heat-proof handle for this recipe so that you can put it under the grill safely.

olive oil
2 large courgettes, sliced
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
about 300g leftover cooked potatoes, sliced
8 eggs

Lay the sliced courgettes on a baking tray with just a spritz of oil.  Roast for 15 minutes, turning the slices over once.  Meanwhile, soften the oil in a good slick of olive oil, adding the mustard seeds and garlic.  When the onion is soft, add the potatoes to the pan, followed by the courgettes.  Beat the eggs with some ground pepper, then pour the eggs into the pan.  Preheat the grill to a medium heat and let the frittata sit, without stirring or fiddling with it, on a medium hob for 10 minutes. Turn the pan occasionally if, like mine, your hob has some spots hotter than others.  When the frittata is set around the edges and almost on top, stick the pan under the grill to cook the top.  This will take barely a couple of minutes.  You could, I suppose, turn it out onto a plate or a board to serve it, but that strikes me as too much hassle, having the potential for disaster as it does, so I just leave it in the pan.  In any case, let it cool slightly before slicing or serving it as this does improve it.   Cut into wedges and serve with a leafy salad.

Cath xx

Old Tarts

Still getting back to normal after #operation roof, I'm cooking really 'proper' meals again, but I must admit that the heat is stifling the family's appetite somewhat, not to mention fraying the children's tempers!

Tonight we ate my (immodestly) super Courgette and Goat's Cheese Tart, which was just enough cooking to satisfy my needs, but not too much, if you know what I mean....  This is a regular summer supper for us; it's filling and delicious without being heavy or stodgy in any way.  Really needing very little in the way of accompaniments, it makes a lovely portable dish for a contribution to a picnic or any other communal meal at this time of year  I made the pastry this morning and blind-baked the case so that I only had to fry some sliced courgettes and throw the rest together at five o' clock.  Blind baking is a contentious old thing,and I must admit that I don't usually bother for a midweek meal.  I will, however, confirm that the tart is almost always nicer if you do.  Sorry!  Do be sure to dice, or crumble, any cheeses that you add to the filling of a tart; this avoids the problem of 'cheesy cement' sinking to the bottom of tarts and coming to rest on the pastry case.  Grating cheese over the surface of the egg-custard mixture is, however, fine and dandy.

Cath xx

(In fact, the tart was so good tonight that I'm seriously considering making another tomorrow, for snacking on during the week!)

Intermission-lude

It's been a while, I know, and the reasons are far too many and varied to go into at length.  Suffice it to say that our bathroom ceiling collapsed during a storm a few weeks ago and, ever since then, we have been busy picking up the pieces - both figuratively AND literally!  Now, however, the roof has been replaced and order is (just about) restored. After what feels like weeks of quick dinners, I'm ready to return, with a vengeance, to the kitchen.  I've missed real cooking terribly and I can't wait to find some more lovely things to share with you...it's nice to be back to writing to you again!


On that note, try this for a midweek supper in the hot weather.  Based on our great lunchtime favourite, this brings a teeny tweak of sophistication to the classic Welsh rabbit.  I can even imagine this being served, to people rather less greedy than us at any rate, as an elegant starter on a 'waffeur-thin' croûte with a delicate side salad. Ha!

Mushroom Rabbits

200g hard cheese, grated (such as a good, strong cheddar)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 tbsp plain flour
1 egg and 1 egg yolk, beaten
2-4 tbsp milk 

6 large flat mushrooms

Beat the fisrt 6 ingredients together. Pile onto the mushrooms (gill sides), place on a baking tray and bake at 180°c for 15 minutes until the  mushrooms are tender and filling is slightly risen , browned and bubbling. Pop onto a piece of sourdough toast or a halved ciabatta roll and eat warm, with a salad to accompany.

Cath xx

Slow and Spicy

Anyone who might be reading my blog with anything approaching interest and/or regularity will have realised by now that I love and rely quite heavily on my slow-cooker and have done for a long time.  It never ceases to surprise me with some of the lovely things that can so easily be made and I never seem to stop recommending to people that they should get themselves a slow-cooker, pronto!

This morning I threw this little number together.  The really great thing about using a slow-cooker (apart from the food, natch) is that nearly all of it is that lovely throw-it-together sort of cooking; no stress, no fuss. A 'proper' recipe is a bit difficult to give (hence why I haven't written about it before), because every time I make this sort of curry in the sainted machine I use just what we have in the house, vegetable-wise.  In other words I don't shop specifically for it.  So I've finally decided just to give you tonight's interpretation; what follows is just one version of an ever-changing favourite.

Slow Vegetable Curry

I should probably note here that I used frozen cauliflower today. I usually put some frozen veg in these curries, but no more than one sort, generally.

1 tbsp fat (oil, butter, ghee, whatevs)
2 onions, halved and sliced
3 tbsp curry powder, or to taste (I used Steenberg's Tikka Masala, choose your favorite)
2 carrots, chopped 
2 sticks celery, chopped
150g-ish mushrooms, quartered
200g-ish cauliflower, in small florets
 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
 can chopped tomatoes
80g creamed coconut, chopped and dissolved in 200ml boiling water

Soften the onion in the fat.  I have to say that I always pre-soften onions for slow-cooker dishes in the popty ping (Welsh slang for microwave),  which is actually one of the very few times I use it.  Stir the curry powder into the onions.  Put these, and all the other prepared vegetables, into the slow cooker.  Mix really well, then pour over the creamed coconut liquid and pop the lid on the cooker.  Cook on LOW all day, or HIGH if you start it at lunchtime.  Serve with rice or bread if you like (my hubby and children do), or just eat a bowl of it on its own, which is what I do.

Cath xx

Bunking Off in the Garden

Lovely, isn't it? To see the signs of Spring appearing everywhere, to feel warmth from the sun on your bare arms, to hang your laundry out in the breeze and even to be brave enough to eat supper out on the patio... I have been outside for so much of the last couple of weeks, often just sitting and breathing in the glory of nature (hence no posts - sorry about that, I do feel sort of bad). I have attempted to get our little garden in some sort of order and made plans for summer bunting and outdoor picnics (rather than the carpet picnics we have been restricted to for what feels like years, rather than months!).

Tonight's supper was a slightly spicy little number. We ate my version of Keema, a simple spiced meat dish, accompanied by the Spiced Potatoes with Spinach which my boys love so much. It somehow felt so right to be eating it outside.


Spiced Potatoes with Spinach

This, I suppose, is my approximation of the Indian restaurant classic Saag Aloo, which I love, love, LOVE!  Anything with spinach is A-OK with me, especially if the children love it too!

2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 bay leaf
1 onion, halved and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
2cm piece ginger root, minced
 400g potatoes, cut into 2cm-ish cubes
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp kalonji (AKA black cumin or nigella seeds)
140g bag baby spinach leaves

Heat the oil in a large pan (it needs to be one with a lid).  Frizzle the bay leaf and mustard seeds briefly, then add the onion to the pan and fry until soft.  Stir in the garlic and ginger and fry for a moment more before adding the spices.  Stir well, add the potatoes and then pour in 150ml water and clamp on the lid.  Turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes, then stir the spinach through the potatoes as best you can.  Lid back on, heat back up and cook for 3 minutes or so until the spinach has wilted down.  Try not to eat it all straight out of the pan before serving it (though this is the hardest part of the recipe for me).

Divine with a dollop of raita; my lazy version is here.  Enjoy!

Cath xx

Nifty and Thrifty!

It's getting to that time of year... The time when I drag my spring clothes out of the wardrobe and wear them in defiant abandon of the weather.  I take my umbrella with me everywhere, but (happily) have rarely had to use it lately. It' the time of year when a rainbow of colour begins to resurface, when chunky costume jewelery sparkles again, when cooking begins to lose a little of that wintry comfort-food edge

At this time of year you can often find over-ripe (albeit imported) tomatoes, bought too early by over-enthusiastic retailers, going for a song because they can't yet be sold to customers still hunkered down against the cold weather.  I spend happy afternoons cooking these fruits into batches of lovely sauce and freeze them, all the better to enrich mid-season meals like the simple tomato-and-mozzarella pasta bake we enjoyed this evening. This tastes sooo much better than jar-sauces and even sauce made with tinned tomatoes (my cold-weather standby); it is totally moreish and takes very little actual work, honest; just be around to 'poke' it occasionally.

Thrifty Tomato Sauce

Obviously adjust this to the quantity of tomatoes you have, but I thought framing the recipe for one meal's-worth of sauce would probably be the most helpful.

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped 
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 kg tomatoes (overripe, somewhat squishy is fine. Mouldy, however, is NOT )
1 tsp mixed dried herbs
2 tbsp tomato purée
seasoning, to taste

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic and dried herbs and cook until the onion is soft, but not brown.  Add the tomatoes and crush lightly (with a potato masher or similar) to pop them and release the juices.  Stir in the tomato purée and cook very gently over a low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour, giving it an occasional spoon-tweak to check it doesn't stick, until the tomatoes are very soft, Purée with a (hand) blender until smooth, then season to taste and cool before freezing.

Cath xx