a real treat

Iceland ChateaubriandWe had planned a day out on Sunday, to do some City of Culture stuff, watch them take Blade out of Queen Victoria Square, have lunch. But it was raining, and we had work to do, so we didn’t. That’s the joy of self-employment, it’s either famine or feast.

We have an Iceland pretty much at the top of our street, and I use it a lot; I find the quality very good. Curiously, on Saturday, a Facebook friend sang the praises of their Chateaubriand with Red Wine Sauce. For a tenner, if you please. So I trudged through the rain to buy one (and a teeny tiny fillet steak that will make a Stroganoff later), really to make up for not having lunch out, and also because I really, really,  fancied red meat (we don’t eat it very often).

After I’d thawed the meat  (in several changes of water), I dried it off, then coated it in garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper. Have I told you about garlic powder? – such a useful thing to keep in! Then I seared it in hot oil, and popped it into a pre-heated cast iron dish for about thirteen minutes. Then it had a rest for five minutes or so, wearing a tin foil hat (the beef, not me).

My friend had said the red wine sauce wasn’t great, so I jazzed it up with more wine, some gravy granules, some thyme, and a good dollop of dijon mustard.

We ate it with braised red cabbage from the freezer, a head of broccoli, and potatoes roasted in olive oil. To be honest, we weren’t expecting it to be spectacular because, you know, a tenner.

Readers – it was gorgeous.

Beautifully tender meat, and really flavoursome. We’ll be having it again (and again, I should think).

 

potatoes dauphinoise with embedded ham

potatoes dauphinoise
This is not my dish, but it looked just like this.

I bought a gammon from Iceland for the Christmas festivities – it was … OK, but not great, and very salty, so it languished in the fridge. There was also half a chunk of Gruyere, as I had done dauphinoise potatoes with the Christmas lunch, and some cream.

So last night, Pete sliced potatoes very thinly on the mandolin (which terrifies me, so I make him do it), while I chopped red onion, tackled the Gruyere with a potato peeler (easier than grating for this sort of thing), and diced up leftover gammon.

Into a nice cast iron dish went a layer of spud, then onion, gammon, garlic powder, black pepper, Gruyere and some cream. We added another layer of spud, more cheese (always moar! cheese!), more cream, and a sprinkling of rosemary. Bunged in the oven for an hour, and readers – it was gorgeous. And there was enough left for lunch today, accompanied by home made lentil/veg soup.

We had it with brussels sprouts (don’t care – we love ’em), mixed with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, and roasted in the oven. De-li-cious.

pie!

pie!
This is not *the* pie, but it is a similar pie that we made.

We had a slow cooked joint of beef for our Christmas lunch this year, and while it was very nice, we’d had a couple of cold meals from it, and were a bit bored with it. So we made A Pie.

I sautéd diced carrot, onion and courgette, and then added some mushrooms and cooked it all down. Then a splash of red wine, some garlic powder, some Bisto granules (or Aldi equivalent), and some mixed herbs. Diced up the beef, bunged it in the pan, and let it all simmer for about half an hour.

We used ready made puff pastry (I know, I know), which Pete rolled out because I’m useless at it, no idea why.  It was very nice, and did us for a couple of days’ worth of meals. Never underestimate pie!

rhubarb ginger sponge pudding

rhubarb ginger pudding

We were invited to Sunday lunch with some friends at the weekend, as Piers had a new toy to play with, and he wished to mandolin lots of potatoes to make a dauphinoise. It would have been churlish not to pop over and help them out with the consumption of same. So we did. As an aside, Piers is a damn good baker, and I hope his plans to start doing it commercially start to come together soon, once he can beat the beasts of bureaucracy into submission.

Anyway. I’m not great at puddings, and my repertoire is small (ooh er, missus), but I nipped or popped into the greengrocer on Friday to see if anything inspired. And there was Yorkshire rhubarb, so I bore it home. We almost always make a crumble with rhubarb, but I wanted to do something different, so here’s what I did.

450g forced rhubarb, cut into 1in/2.5cm lengths
110g soft brown sugar
110g butter
2 tsp freshly grated ginger (or more, if you like things gingery)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
70g ground almonds
2 eggs
50g self-raising flour (or plain, and ½ teaspoon of baking powder)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Spread the rhubarb out in an ovenproof dish (one about 6x8in/15x20cm). Now, I never add sugar to rhubarb, but if your tooth is sweeter than mine, scatter some brown sugar over the fruit.

Cream the butter and the rest of the sugar until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the spices, almonds and then eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour (if you are making this in a food processor then just pulse in the flour, stopping as soon as it is amalgamated).

Spoon the mixture on top of the rhubarb, spreading it out lightly. I scattered some flaked almonds over the top too, as an afterthought.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until golden brown and more or less cooked through. It will still be a bit gooey in the middle, which just makes it better. If you let it sit for an hour (just about the time to drive from Hull to Doncaster, as it happens), it’ll firm up a bit more.

We warmed it through again when we got there, and ate it – all of it, I’m ashamed to say – with double cream.

Which after roast beef, pommes dauphinoise, cabbage and peas and beans was quite piggish. Particularly as we followed it with two sorts of cheese, two sorts of crackers, and some grapes. But, in our defence, Pete and I didn’t eat again until Monday lunchtime …

chocolate aubergine cake

chocolate aubergine cake

This recipe comes from Harry Eastwood’s book Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache, and is entitled by her Chocolate Heartache Cake. There are some cracking recipes in there, but the style of writing makes me clench my teeth, so I prefer to write up my own version without the schmaltz!

roughly 400g of aubergine
300g best dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), broken into squares
50g good quality cocoa powder
60g ground almonds
3 medium eggs
200g clear honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 180 degree C. Line a 9″/23cm loose bottomed tin with baking parchment and lightly brush the base and sides with a little oil.

Cook the aubergines by puncturing the skins a few to,es with a skewer, then placing them in a bowl covered in cling film. Microwave on high for 8 minutes until they are cooked and soft. Discard any water at the bottom, and leave the aubergines to stand in the bowl until they are cool enough to handle. I used my nice red Lakeland microwave steamer to do the business.

Next, skin the aubergines, then puree them; blender if you have it, or a tedious time with a sieve. It’s easier to peel them before microwaving, so I hope you’re reading this recipe before you start!

Once the warm aubergine is pureed and smooth, add the chocolate, which will mingle and melt slowly. Set aside, covered once again in cling film, until all the chocolate has melted.

In a large bowl, whisk up all the other ingredients for a minute until well introduced to each other and slightly bubbly. Fold the melted chocolate and aubergine mixture into the bowl with all the other ingredients. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place it in the bottom of the oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in its tin for 15 minutes before turning it out on to a wire rack and peeling off the parchment, then turn it onto a plate (the right way up). I covered mine with a combo of cocoa powder and icing sugar, but I might try ground hazelnuts next time.

This cake keeps really well, is very rich, and freezes beautifully (just as well if there’s only two of you, or you’ll go into a diabetic coma before you can see it all off); I wrapped it in two layers of tin foil, and then put it in an airtight plastic box. We ate it with local strawberries and good vanilla ice cream.

a squeaky breakfast

halloumi breakfast

Our local cafe, run by an affable Romanian named  Ricardo, does a splendid breakfast of halloumi, roasted veg, hash brown, a sausage patty, tomato (for those that want it – I certainly don’t!) and toast, for £4.99.  It’s delicious, but by the time you’ve bought coffee, you’re up to thirteen quid or so for two, so I decided to have a go at home.

  • two chipolatas from the local butcher, baked in the oven
  • One red and one green pepper sliced, four cloves of garlic, one sliced onion, a handful of mushrooms, cooked down slowly in some olive oil on the hob {1}
  • half a block of halloumi, sliced and dry fried
  • some left over cooked spuds, sautéd in some olive oil

Readers, it was delicious, and we shall do it again. And probably again. And there is enough vegetable left to do for tomorrow’s lunch – I shall sling in a can of chickpeas to boost it up

{1} The pepper mix was very liquid. I might actually roast the veg next time, but we live and learn.

chicken pesto pasta

chicken pesto pasta

Here’s another 20 minute recipe (although, to be fair, I used cooked chicken – you’d need to allow a bit longer if you used raw; if you do, cook it off as the first stage).

Put some olive oil in a deep frying pan and heat it up (just low-medium is fine), chop up a courgette, add it to the pan.

Put a pan of water on to boil for the pasta; I used spaghetti for a change, but any pasta will do. Don’t forget to add it when the water is boiling 🙂

Chop an onion, ditto. And some garlic. Add them. Saute the veg gently in the oil. When all the veg are softened, add the chicken, and keep stirring. I added a little splash of white wine at this stage, but it’s not compulsory.

When the pasta is done, drain it, and add it to the veg, and add some pesto. I was cooking for two of us, with 150g of pasta, and I used three teaspoons or so. Stir it all together, dump in a bowl, scoff. Really nice for a hot summer evening, and very little time standing over a hot stove.

 

a timed supper

 

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As my regular reader will know, Tuesday night is pasta night. I just open the fridge and concoct something from its contents. For people who don’t have time to cook, here’s a 15-20 minute supper.

Bear in mind I have an ceramic hob, so you can skip the “put the rings on” bit if you’ve got gas.

  1. Switch on the big ring, put a deep frying pan on it, add a slug of olive oil
  2. Switch on the medium ring, put some cold water and salt in a pan, set it on the ring
  3. Slice up a big leek and put it in the pan with the oil.
  4. Weigh out the pasta (if you do such things – we do, because carbs/diabetes)
  5. Slice up some mushrooms, and add to the leeks
  6. Notice pasta water is boiling – add pasta, set timer for ten minutes (this is dried pasta – your pasta may vary)
  7. Remember you haven’t put any garlic in, so quickly peel and chop two cloves and throw them in with the vegetables
  8. Put a colander in the sink for drainage purposes
  9. Grate black pepper into the veg
  10. Open the fridge for some lemon juice, find a bottle of white wine open, and add some of that instead.  Too much, so turn up the heat to boil it down a bit
  11. Remove block of feta from fridge and cut up about one third of it
  12. When timer goes, drain pasta then add it to vegetables, together with the feta.
  13. Stir it all together, decant into bowls, scoff.

prepayment meters

We knew this house had a prepayment electric meter. It was with EDF and, as they were the supplier in our previous home, I phoned them and asked them to put in a proper credit meter, which they did within two weeks. I also asked them to transfer the gas from British Gas to themselves, without realising that that meter was also a prepayment one, so the replacement process is rather more convoluted.

The gas meter had a £57 debt on it, and when I put my card in, with its £30 of credit, I only got £3’s worth of gas; I was horrified. Long conversations with BG later, I found that if I paid off all the debt, so the meter was clear, they would refund it all; we’re very lucky we could afford to do that – many folk couldn’t.

Also, it was costing about £4 *per day* to run the central heating for a few hours, and deliver hot water (two showers and three lots of washing up daily – cooking is all electric here). Truly, those who have nothing, have to pay more. Quite outrageous that prepayment gas and electric should be so much more expensive than metered.

However … the weeks we spent having to pay in advance (and through the nose) made us extremely aware of how much it was costing, and we have become far more frugal and careful in our use of power, which is no bad thing, I suppose.