FEELING INSPIRED!

I don't know whether or not it's because I discovered that The Food Network was rerunning Jamie At Home or not, but I've been a bit inspired this week with cooking.  Well, I say inspired, more enthusiastic probably.

I started the week with buying a reduced price celeriac, 4 red peppers, 8 large garden tomatoes, a punnet of baby plum tomatoes, bunch spring onions, 2 red onions, large punnet mushrooms, small fennel bulb, 2 bunches of spinach, 2 packs of feta, 1 pint of double cream, large fresh green chilli and a humongous jar of red peppers.  That lot cost approx £17 give or take a few pennies, but was spent across a couple of shops.

My Bargain Red Pepper Jar

I also had half dozen celery sticks, half dozen rhubarb sticks, leftover slow cooked lamb and venison hock plus gravy.  Also the usual potatoes and onions.

Decided, as not done for ages that I'd do a dauphinoise of potatoes and celeriac. Slice up the potatoes, quartered and sliced the celeriac and placed in large bowl with fresh chives, thyme and rosemary from garden, 300ml cream and 300ml of milk.  Hands in and tossed together to coat all the veg before placing in a roasting tin, topped with grated cheese and cooking for about an hour at 180C.

Before

After

Served this with green beans (frozen) tossed in chive butter and the meat mixed with gravy and warmed through for half an hour with the dauphinoise.

Tuesday I fancied veggie food and as I had lots of nettle in the garden I toddled off to pick the tips to add to the spinach I'd bought.  Prepared the nettle by washing thoroughly (use marigolds for this) and then pouring a kettle of boiling water over them through a colander to kill the stings.  Then I sweated 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, large tsp of paprika and once onions transparent added a big squirt of tomato puree and 2 tins of chopped tomatoes.  I had a large tin (probably the size of 2 standard tins) of white beans in the cupboard, so added those (you could use any white bean) and cooked for about half an hour before adding chopped washed spinach and nettle. This was seasoned with salt, pepper, fresh parsley and mint from garden.  To go with this for the boys, I glugged some olive oil in a small baking tin, added salt and pepper and a tsp of paprika.  Rubbed 3 chicken breasts with the oil and cooked for 25-30mins at 180C in the same baking tin whilst beans and spinach was cooking.

Remember the tomato and pepper salad I did last week, well my son liked it so much that I cooked it again but on a larger scale to go with pasta on Wednesday.  Earlier in the day I baked 6 small potatoes in the oven so I could scrape out the innards for some gnocchi for me as I can't eat pasta and avoiding 'grass' foods in general so gluten free pasta is also out.  The gnocchi was made with the cooled 'mash' from potatoes, 1 egg, salt and pepper, Parmesan cheese and potato flour to form a 'dough'.  A teaspoon of mixture was then made into a 'ball' and these dropped into boiling, salted water until they rose to the surface meaning they were cooked.  The sauce for the pasta was made with sliced red onions, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, sliced peppers, halved plum tomatoes, quartered normal tomatoes and cooked down until soft.  Then a large glug of balsamic vinegar added along with chopped black olives, fresh basil leaves and crumbled feta.

Thursday's dinner wasn't such a success.  Pre cooked some rice and green lentils (separate pans) and presoaked mixed dried mushrooms.  Later on fried off bacon until crispy and chopped.  Sweated down onions and garlic and chopped fresh mushrooms adding the soaked and drained (keep liquid) and cooking till soft(ish).  I mixed the mushroom mixture separately into a casserole dish of rice and another of lentils and divided up the soaking liquid.  Bacon was added to the rice and both dishes were put in the oven for 30mins at 180C.  Meanwhile I fried off mussels in butter and the remaining bacon fat from pan and these were served on top of the dishes.  So I had lentil and mushroom mixture with mussels, partner had rice and mushroom/bacon mixture with mussels and my son had rice and mushroom/bacon mixture as he doesn't like mussels.  I have to say that it was ok, but nothing to really write home about so probably won't do again exactly that way.

However, so as not to waste potato skins from yesterday, I fried off a couple of rashers of bacon until really crispy and chopped small, roughly chopped a couple of tomatoes and divided these between the skins, grated lashings of cheese on top and grilled until melted and brown.  Son and myself had these for brunch and I can definitely say I'll do these again.  Need to add tomato as otherwise a bit 'rich'

Brunch potato skins

I have to admit that this week, although busy, hasn't been hectic, so I've managed to do some prep work in the day which is always handy.

Oh and look what I picked up in a charity shop for £3.  Do love books and especially cookery books.

Am looking forward to experimenting with the lavender one as I have two bushes in my garden.

Still have fennel, celery stalks, rhubarb, a few tomatoes and the chilli left.

SUNNY DAYS AND "WHERE'S THE COCOA GONE"?

Hiya

Before I start I would like you to note that I cook Monday - Thursday each week for myself (obviously), my partner and my teenage son; both of whom are strapping lads of nearly 6ft or over and, therefore, have huge appetites.  I often feel like I'm feeding 6 rather than 3, haha.  Fridays my partner always does something and chips and Sundays he always does a roast (no matter the weather!).  Saturdays he tends to 'wing it' with whatever is in the freezer so could be anything from ready made pizza to home made fish pie (something he is making tonight, by the way).  I normally cook for myself on Fridays as I don't want chips every week and, depending on what he is doing on a Saturday, I might cook for myself again.

I love cooking, but trying to think up something that everyone will eat can be difficult and I know many household cooks will agree with me on that.  It often isn't the cooking itself that is a problem, it's the idea in the first place.  And anyway, as we tend to share household chores, cooking became something else we share.  There is, of course, the added issue that I'm gluten free (trying a 'grass' free diet at the moment) and no-one else is. Also I'm not a huge meat eater, neither is my son, but my partner is.  He is pretty much a meat and two veg man whereas I like Asian, Indian and European foods; in fact I like to experiment with all sorts of food.

Anyway, I'm digressing (as usual) so here we go:
It's been a mixed week weather wise with most days being sunny, but there has been a couple of overcast days and the wind has been particularly chilly towards the end of this week. This meant I was out in the garden a fair bit and managed to plant spring onion, mixed lettuce, spinach and pea seeds in my small salad veg plot.  The peas I'm growing are for pea shoots, peas proper will be grown in one of the bigger veg plots up the garden.  I've also got pots of rosemary, sage, oregano, lemon thyme and ordinary thyme, parsley, fennel, lemon balm and mint near the back door with an additional sage and rosemary in the veg plot for cooking and pest control.

L to R: parsley, sage, fennel and rosemary

L to R: thyme, lemon thyme, lemon balm, oregano

So what did I start with this week?  There is the obligatory sack of potatoes by the kitchen door and a bag of onions hanging on the wall.  Then the veg drawer contained carrots, celery, cabbage, leeks and rhubarb and then the fridge contained asparagus, spring onions, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, little gem lettuce, half a cucumber and 2 red peppers.  There was also left over home made pork gravy, cheddar cheese, feta, olives and gherkins. We buy as much veg as we can from farm shop and use from garden if we have it.

Monday I was out and about, so dinner needed to be quickish and easy which meant jacket spuds.  I know, not exactly cooking, but we all get those days when prep time is virtually impossible.  Tuna was mixed with shop bought mayo (something I need to start making as it contains sugar!), lots of grated cheese, plenty of butter to mash into the potato or, my particular favourite, spread over the empty skins and my son wanted baked beans!!

Tuesday was a lovely day and I spent most of the afternoon in the garden.  Dinner was chopped carrots, leeks, celery, spring onion slowly cooked with fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, a pinch of dried chilli and a touch of olive oil, then I added whole lemon balm leaves (I had no lemons), chopped lemon thyme and parsley and placed frozen salmon fillets on top.  Lid placed over pan and gently cooked so that any liquid from the salmon went into the veg and herbs underneath.  Once cooked, I removed the salmon and strained the veg leaving the liquid.  I added this liquid to cooked and drained mung bean noodles and then served with the veg and flaked salmon on top with buttered, griddled asparagus on the side.

Mung bean noodles

Wednesday I had a lot more time to prepare, so attempted a lasagne-style dish but without the pasta.  I soaked a large mug of red lentils for an hour in cold water.  Then peeled the outer large leaves off the cabbage and blanched them to use as my 'pasta' layer.  Chopped carrots, onion, celery, sliced mushrooms and the remaining chopped cabbage were then fried in a little olive oil and curry powder added (I make my own), then seasoned with salt and pepper.  Once lentils had been soaked I cooked them in the leftover pork gravy and some water until soft and added half a mug of chopped mixed nuts.  A bechamel sauce was made with a pint of milk, 2 tablespoons of gram flour, a large handful of grated cheese and nutmeg.  I tend to make my cheese sauces in a microwave I admit as I find they are less likely to 'boil over' and the glass jug is easier to clean; also it can be done in an all in one method.  Once thick I beat in an egg. Then the whole lot was layered starting with cabbage leaves, mixed veg, lentil mix, cabbage leaves, etc until used up and the cheese sauce poured over the top with extra cheese grated on top of that. It was cooked in the oven for approx 45mins on 190C until sauce was bubbling and I could see bubbles through the glass casserole dish. NOTE: I'd probably omit the nuts next time as didn't like the texture.

Thursday was baking day!  Rhubarb and orange cake and chocolate brownies!  Although I discovered that I didn't have anywhere near enough cocoa powder, so did a combination of 2tbsp cocoa powder (well, I shoved the remaining powder into a sieve, but it was approx 2tbsp) and 2tbsp of espresso coffee powder instead.  Tonight was a help yourself dinner of sausage rolls, chicken strippers, remaining tuna mayo from Monday, green salad of little gems, spring onion, celery and sweetcorn, marinated cucumber in cider vinegar and fresh mint and a warm salad of cooked sliced onions, halved baby tomatoes, sliced red pepper, paprika, chopped olives and crumbled feta cheese plus a tray of potato wedges and jars of gherkins, pickled turnips and more olives if wanted.

Now not much left veg wise except a few carrots and some mushrooms.  Luckily another 'shop' will be done later today or early tomorrow morning.

'Grass' Free Chocolate and Coffee Brownies
Melt 150g of marg in a largish saucepan
Add 250g of granulated sugar beet and stir until melted
Sift together 2tbsp cocoa powder, 2tbsp espresso powder, 75g buckwheat flour, 50g potato flour, 25g gram flour, pinch of salt, 1tsp bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl and then once sugar has melted tip into saucepan and beat together.  Remove from heat.
Beat together 4 eggs and 1tsp of vanilla extract (I do tend to glug this in rather than measure) and beat this mixture into the chocolate mixture.
Chop 150g of plain chocolate and stir this quickly into the mixture.
Pour into a tin foil square tray (£1 for 3 at Wilkinsons) and bake for 20mins at 190C.  Allow to cool.

This recipe is adapted from a Nigella Lawson Everyday Brownie recipe which, so far has been pretty foolproof when altered.  I've used pre mixed Doves Farm Gluten Free flour before and it's always worked.  The original recipe contains 75g of cocoa powder.

NEW BLOG PAGE!!

At this time of year, I'm normally in the garden as well as the kitchen as it's planting time!!!  This means I'm not online as often as I am in the winter, so trying to do daily posts isn't that feasible so I've decided to do a weekly blog and if I'm online I might just add a few bits and bobs to my Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/TheWingItCook/

Anyway, this is just an introductory post and I'll post proper tomorrow when I have more time and it isn't so late.