Catalan Butifarra sausage pasta with chestnuts - thank you, Quiet Waters Farm

Wow.  These are by far and away the best sausages I have ever had the very great pleasure of sampling.  However, having said that, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.  As my Dad would say, "start at the beginning".

My lovely friend Marcus Bawdon, he of "Country Woodsmoke" blogging fame and a mean old barbecuing pal (if you've not been to his blog, do go - but be ready to salivate a LOT), has been singing the praises of Quiet Waters Farm and their produce, particularly the sausages, a fair amount just recently.  So when I spotted - on the Quiet Waters Farm Facebook page - a competition to win some of their sausages, I was quick to slip a late entry in and crossed my fingers.

Lo and behold - and much to my surprise - I trotted in as one of the runners up and won three packs of sausages!  Yay!  I even had a choice as to which sausages I would like and went for the Catalan Butifarra (a delicate balance of black pepper and sea salt in a pork sausage), the Toulouse (garlic and white wine) and the Siciliano (fennel, garlic and lemon).

Now because of Marcus' bigging them up on his blog, they had an awful lot to live up to.  However, I trust Marcus and know that if he says something is great - it's probably a little bit better than great.  So I was super excited to receive and try these sausages.

They arrived on the day they were supposed to, tightly packaged and still frozen inside a polystyrene box that made it very easy to put them straight into the freezer.  Because we'd arranged the day of delivery, I had been able to include them in this week's menu plan and had opted to try the Catalan Butifarra ones first.  Now I had also done a little research about the Butifarra/Botifarra sausage in general and discovered that there are a number of different kinds of Butifarra sausage that originate from different areas of the world - hence the slight difference in the spelling.  Having the "Catalan" bit there in the name enabled me to pinpoint the research and establish what the primary flavours were likely to be and what, generally, people put with them.  Of course, it goes without saying that whatever the general method of cooking and serving was, I would wind up doing something different.  However, I learned that these sausages are often eaten with broad (or fava) beans - so earthy type flavours - and did not necessarily require pan frying, as they were often simply placed into a stew type of dish and allowed to cook gently for a long time.

So, "earthy flavours" eh?  Immediately - and that'll be because of the time of year - my thoughts flew to chestnuts.  I adore chestnuts and so do piggies, so chestnuts were a definite.  Naturally, chestnut mushrooms were hot on their heels and would be just perfect, but I needed something that would give colour and sweetness whilst retaining that "close to the earth" theme.  Peas were no good, sweet yes but earthy?  No.  Butternut squash was the answer, but because it can be slightly bland I thought I'd roast it to gain that lovely intensity of flavour that roasting a butternut can bring.

So I'd got my main ingredients, but as of yet no sauce.  Pasta has to have sauce.  I also had no input from any herbs - and I love herbs.  The obvious choice for herbs was a pesto - and I debated red pesto versus green pesto versus home made herb pesto but with a nod towards the fact that I'd quite like you to be able to reproduce the recipe, I went with a common or garden basil and pine nut, green pesto.  The pesto would give the background herb flavour that I had in my imagination, whilst saucing the pasta - but I wanted more than just a potentially greasy pesto.

At this stage, I was still envisaging the contents of the sausage pan being mixed into the pasta prior to serving.  Right up until I had a flash of inspiration and considered saucing both the sausages and the pasta, but with different sauces that would combine sympathetically in the bowl.  Aha!  We're onto something now.  It was a simple matter of adding a small amount of quite intensely flavoured vegetable stock to the sausage mixture, which would deglaze the pan and gather all those lovely sausagey, savoury flavours that would otherwise be lost.  Then, serve the pesto pasta into the warm bowl and add the sausage component next, with its light sauce that would trickle through the pasta just perfectly.  A small sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley over the top to underline the freshness of the herb flavours and a light grating of parmesan for its umami and salt and I was there.

All this just totally relied upon the sausages being ace for pork flavour and not exceptionally fatty.  Now flavour is a subjective thing and all I could do was hope, however the fat content of the sausages I knew about, as in talking to Quiet Waters Farm on their Facebook page, I'd established that the fat ratio ran at around 75/25 percent lean to fat.  Well that sounded okay to me - I'd just keep an eye on the fat that was accumulating in the pan and use as little as possible to begin with, then prior to adding the stock, if there was too much I could easily remove some by spooning it off.  Perfect.

You see, I had thought about this recipe before attempting it.  Just a little bit.  *chuckle*

Oh my goodness - or ERMAGHERD! - it worked and it worked absolutely beautifully.

These Catalan Butifarra sausages are incredible.  There is a claim on the website that "we know you will not have tasted anything quite like them before" and they are absolutely right.  After I had tasted a piece during the cooking, I described them to hubby as having a porky flavour that is more roast pork than sausage pork and that they are quite intensely porky.  He got a bit concerned at that, as he hates (with a passion) sausages that taste of "old pork".  You know how pork can sometimes taste really "piggy" more than porky.  Well not these babies.  Having tasted their succulent gorgeousness, he declared himself both surprised and relieved at the cleanness of the flavour.  The black pepper is slow to rise to the surface, behind the gorgeous richness of the intense pork that is subtly supported by the sea salt.  However, when it does, the flavours just dance across your tongue.  The robustness of the sausage is everything you would hope it could be - even without their natural casings to contain them (which I removed), there's no falling apart, no mushiness (that'll be the lack of cereal, then!), just firm, succulent, tasty sausage.  Oh happy days.  Hubby even went so far as to declare that they were the best sausages he had ever sampled (and he's a sausage connoisseur, let me tell you) - and I agree.

Having done "the fancy thing" with the Catalan Butifarra, we both then had a terrible hankering for a couple of them, pan fried, in between two slabs of doorstep Farmhouse bread, with lashings of real butter, HP sauce and a huge mug of builders' tea.  Which, at some point, just HAS to be done. 

Now, having got all the superlatives out of the way, let's have a think about any "Cooks Notes" I might have for you.

Firstly, if you should invest in some of these wonderful sausages (whoops, another superlative slipped in), which I heartily recommend, then you can follow the recipe as written.  However, if you're intending on using another type of sausage, go for as high a percentage pork as you can afford.

Secondly, when cooking the shallots it is important not to think "the pan is a bit dry, I'll add more oil".  No, add a splash or two of water, so that the shallots steam for a while before returning to frying.  You can do this several times, without any fear of loss of flavour.  The most important thing is to keep the oil to a minimum.

Thirdly, as with the oil, you need to keep the salt to a minimum.  The sausages have a natural saltiness in their recipe and you have the potential to make the whole thing over salted if you take into account the stock, the salt in the pasta water, the salty pesto and lastly the saltiness of the grated parmesan - so you definitely don't need any additional salt.  Tie your hands behind your back of you think you're likely to over season!

If you fancy it, to up the gorgeousness, you could add some porcini mushrooms along with the chestnut mushrooms - and use their soaking water to make the vegetable stock mixture.  They would add another layer of earthy flavour along with making the recipe a little bit more special.

So there you have it!  I cannot recommend these sausages enough - do, please, to go the Quiet Waters Farm website (just click on the name) and check out their Farm Shop where you'll find the hundreds of different type of sausages that are on offer.  The next ones to cross my cooker will be the Toulouse - and I can't wait!

CATALAN BUTIFARRA SAUSAGE PASTA WITH CHESTNUTS   (Serves 3)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp olive oil, split into 3 tsp
half a butternut squash (the thin end is best)
2 banana shallots, finely chopped
200ml warm water and 300ml warm water
1 pack of 6 Quiet Waters Farm Catalan Butifarra sausages, skinned and broken into small pieces
5 chestnut mushrooms
1 tsp vegetable stock base
250g pasta (spirali is good)
2 tbsp basil and pine nut pesto
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
parmesan cheese, for grating
sea salt and black pepper.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 220degC/425degF/Gas 7.

2.  Cut and peel the butternut squash, then slice into small bite sized cubes.  Put one tsp of olive oil into a bowl with the butternut pieces, add a touch of seasoning and stir until the pieces are all coated in the seasoned oil.

3.  Tip the butternut pieces out onto a baking tray and roast for 20-25 minutes.

4.  Fill a large saucepan two-thirds full with water, add a pinch of salt and place on to boil.

5.  In a large frying pan, add the last two tsp of olive oil and the finely chopped shallots.  Do not add any salt, as between the butternut and the sausages, you already have a fair amount of salt there.  Sweat the shallots down for 5-10 minutes or so, if you find the pan is a little dry, add 100ml of warm water to add a little steam which will hurry them along a bit, without the threat of excessive colour.

6.  Once the shallots are softened, but not coloured, add the broken sausage pieces.  Increase the heat to keep the pan going, otherwise the cold sausage pieces will reduce the heat in the pan and everything will just boil instead of fry.  

7.  Once the sausage pieces have started to colour, add the mushrooms to cook alongside.  Cook everything until the sausage pieces have changed colour and are just cooked through.

8.  Once the water in the saucepan has boiled, add the pasta and cook to manufacturer's instructions.

9.  Back to the sausages.  Add 300ml of warm water and the vegetable stock base.  Stir to combine and cover the pan.  Reduce the heat and simmer for as long as it takes for the pasta to cook, then remove the lid and stir.  If the contents are particularly wet, leave the lid off to evaporate some of the liquid while you deal with the pasta.  If there is just enough liquid to form a glossy sauce, replace the lid - you're ready to go.

10.  Once the pasta is cooked, drain it well and add the pesto.  Stir through.

11.  Serve the pasta into warmed bowls, then add the sausage mixture on top.  Then sprinkle on a tsp of chopped parsley and grate a little parmesan over the top.

12.  Sit, eat and enjoy.

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Experimenting with Trofie pasta ....

I didn't set out to experiment with Trofie pasta, but it just turned out that way.  I was planning the week's meals and wanted a pasta meal.  I'm a bit bored with all the "something and bacon" or "leek and something" or "something in tomato sauce" pastas that we've had lately (well, you'd know if you've been following along on the blog's Facebook page!  *wink*) when I remembered that useful substance that is pesto.

I hasten to explain, that I was also looking for an easy pasta dinner.  I am just so fed up with meals that take for EVER to cook and mean I spend the whole day - in instalments - in the kitchen thrashing around, washing up, getting over it, doing it all over again - you get the picture.

So having remembered pesto, I had a quick peek on the Asda's online shopping website to see what types were available to us and decided upon their Ricotta and Red Pepper pesto.  It sounded rather less aggressive than other red pesto (sundried tomato can be a bit caustic on the tummy) and I just didn't want to go for the green in this instance.  I noticed that the label made mention of the fact that it hailed originally from Liguria in Italy.

I knew we didn't have any pasta in the cupboard that would be suitable for pesto, so had a look - well, I was there already - on the website for something suitable to put on the shopping list.  Lo and behold, there was one which hailed originally from Liguria!  Well, it had to be done.  So now you know how come we wound up with Trofie pasta.

Trofie is very cute, being small pieces of pasta dough that have been rolled on a small dowelling to make an interesting shape that is tapered - a bit like a tiny, straight, croissant.  When they cook - and they take a bit longer than the normal 9-10 minutes - they wind up a little chewy, with the thicker part - in the middle - remaining al dente.  This is not the sort of pasta to throw down in a hurry because you have to be out soon!

Now, I had pasta, I had pesto - but pesto and pasta doth not a dinner make.  At least, not in our house.  I pondered on what meat to use and after quite a bit of consideration, decided on gammon.  I reckoned that a couple of gammon steaks, cooked in the slow cooker (easy peasy) and flaked into the pasta would work.

Hmmn, what about veggies?   Had to include some veggies - it's just not proper otherwise.  Mushrooms were a definite - lightly fry some mushrooms off while the pasta cooked.  Yup, that'd work.  No need for onion or garlic, as it's all in the pesto.  I had a half a jar of griddled red and yellow peppers that were in olive oil, so they could be sliced and added too.  Sounds like a plan!

Well, it all worked very nicely.  While the pasta was cooking, I got on with the mushrooms, then added the gammon, sliced peppers and pesto to warm through.  I added a couple of ladlefuls of the pasta water (so make sure not to over salt it!) just to let the pesto down a little and once the pasta was drained, mixed the contents of the two pans together and we were ready for the off.

Son and heir really hates olives, so I plated up his portion and threw a handful of olives into the remainder for hubby and I.  Some parmesan cheese on top finished the dish.

The verdict?  It was really rather scrummy.  I think it would go nicely with gnocchi as well as the Trofie pasta - and can see the Trofie pasta being really good with a tuna/lemon combination in the summer.

As an easy to prepare, tasty, comforting dish - it absolutely hit the spot.  Can't ask for more than that!

GAMMON, MUSHROOM & PESTO PASTA   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

550g gammon steaks
sufficient stock to cover
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
300g Trofie pasta
1-2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
5-6 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
half a jar of griddled peppers, sliced
300g red pepper & ricotta pesto
a handful of green olives, rinsed and halved (optional).

Method :

1.  Pour the stock into your slow cooker and switch to full.  Add the bay leaves and a good pinch of pepper, then lay the gammon steaks in.  Close the lid and leave to cook for 5 hours.  At the end of the cooking time, remove from the slow cooker and flake, taking care to remove all the fat.

2.  Fill a large pan with water and add a small pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil and add the pasta - cook according to packet instructions.  When cooked, drain - but retain some of the cooking water.

3.  Heat the oil in a frying pan and lightly fry the mushrooms until just softened.  Add the flaked gammon, sliced peppers and pesto.  Stir to combine - if the mixture is a bit stiff, add a ladleful of the pasta water to let it down until it becomes saucy.  Keep the mixture on a low temperature until the pasta is ready.

4.  When the pasta has been drained, return it to the saucepan and add the contents of the frying pan and the olives if you're using them.  Toss to combine and add a little more pesto if required, or a little more of the hot pasta water, depending on your preference.

5.  Serve into hot bowls and add some grated cheddar cheese or parmesan (to your preference).  Tuck in!

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Sorrel Pesto - what a pleasant surprise!

Well!  What a pleasant surprise this turned out to be.

We have had a Sorrel plant in our garden for around two years or more now.  Last year, it got terribly broken after it was squashed by a workman's toolbox and then sat on (regularly) by a dog who decided it would make a comfy bed in which to enjoy the sun.

So, before the winter, we uprooted it and put it in a pot and hoped for the best.

This year, it came back with great vigour and was just begging to be used for something.

The obvious use for it would be as a salad leaf, but unfortunately neither son & heir nor I are particularly keen on bitter tasting leaves in our salad.  Our Sorrel, being a species known as Blood Sorrel (because it has dark red veins through the leaves) is particularly bitter, by all accounts.

When we were trying to think of a fairly easy meal for a Monday evening, hubby hit upon using gnocchi with some pesto made from the Sorrel.  What a great idea!  Well, it seemed to be a great idea ...

Hubby set to on the Monday morning and following a serious Sorrel harvest, with much whirring and stirring, made the pesto.

He appeared beside my computer desk here, with an "I'm really not sure about this" look on his face, a bowl of green - very green - pesto and a spoon.

My initial reaction to the flavour was "yeuk!", followed by "salty!", followed by a slightly more positive "oh, I dunno!", rounded off by "garlic!".

I tried again.  Same flow of reactions.

If I could just get past the initial "yeuk!" that was caused by the intensely bitter flavour, followed by the mental message of "hmmn, weeds!", I thought I could get to like it.  However, in quantity, on gnocchi?  No - I had no confidence about that.  Hubby was the same.

So we abandoned the idea of using the pesto on the gnocchi and made a cheese sauce instead.

However, we were determined not to abandon the pesto entirely and left it until the following day - when we tasted it again.  Aaah, it had lost that "weeds" taste, the garlic had mellowed and it was a lot better.

So we bought some filled pasta (gorgonzola and walnut, to be precise - which is my favourite) and had it for lunch - with the pesto.

Do you know, it was very nice indeed.  No, seriously, it was!  We both ate every little bit and following some initial suspicion, enjoyed it.  So there you have the lesson - make the pesto the day before you're going to want to use it!

Now all we've got to do is figure out a use for the other half - or get more pasta on Tuesday!

SORREL PESTO

Ingredients :

50g Sorrel, washed and with the central rib removed (that's 50g ~after~ the ribs have been removed but ~before~ washing)
20g washed and finely chopped parsley
1 crushed garlic clove
30g finely grated Parmesan cheese
100 - 150ml extra virgin olive oil
25g lightly toasted pine nuts
salt and Pepper
1 lemon wedge.

Method :

1.  To a food processor, add the pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan and whizz until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.  Now add the sorrel and the parsley and continue to whizz whilst pouring the olive oil, in a thin stream, into the mix.

2.  Continue adding olive oil until you reach your desired consistency.  This is a matter of personal taste and so more or less oil may be required depending on how you like it.

Note : You will probably need to stop the whizzing periodically to scrape the sides of the whizzing bowl down.  Use this opportunity to check for and adjust seasoning as you go. Remember that Parmesan is salty stuff though so go easy on the salt.  Add a squeeze of lemon during the final whizz, just to lift the flavours a bit, before decanting into a suitable container.

Make the pesto the day before use to allow the flavours to properly develop.  The pesto should keep for about 10 - 15 days in the fridge. 

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Pesto crusted cod with roast vegetable giant couscous

As you no doubt know, I've been looking for low calorie, healthy recipes with a view to us all trimming a little of the Christmas-induced waistline width.

I am also very keen to include more fish in our diet.  Amazingly, we all like fish - and we just don't make as much of it as we could do, because of the price in the supermarket.  We do have a fishmonger down in Lower Parkstone that we've spotted, but disabled access to the shop is quite difficult.  I think I'm going to have to send hubby in there to have a recce before I try staggering across the road and standing up long enough to view all the fish on offer (and absorb some of the prices!) before attempting to stagger back to the car, without bursting into tears or hyperventilating.  It'd be great to find a fishmonger (or fishmungler, as they're known in this house) because then I won't be restricted to cod, haddock or river cobbler.  I'd absolutely LOVE to get my hands on a crab or two, plus sardines - well, all manner of fish and shellfish!

In the meantime, however, I've been attempting to make something of the frozen fish on offer at the supermarket.  It is, at least, almost affordable in price even if it does require copious amounts of kitchen paper in order to squeeze the water from it!

I had decided to make some oven-baked fish - and cod won the toss, in this instance.  You could just as easily use any other type of firm fleshed white fish - haddock is perfect.


The preparation is really easy - just take a nice pesto and spread a teaspoonful across the top of each fillet or piece of fish.  Then, mix together some grated parmesan and breadcrumbs with a little black pepper and pat onto the top of the pesto.


After some 20-25 minutes in the hot oven, the fish was opaque and the crust crunchy.  Delicious!


I'd originally decided to make a roast vegetable couscous, however during the week I'd found some Mograbiah (or giant couscous) and decided to use some of that instead.

I had diced some parsnips, carrot, onion, courgette, red pepper and a baby aubergine which I roasted in olive oil, together with some thyme and garlic.  I cooked the Mograbiah in vegetable stock and simply tossed it together with the vegetables, a little lemon juice and some chopped mint and parsley.  Of course, you don't have to use Mograbiah - normal couscous would do just fine.  As such, I've written the recipe for normal couscous as it's more easily found in the shops.


The two recipes worked very well together.  Hubby found that the mint was a bit too heavy, however I was perfectly happy with the flavours - but then, I love mint!


Considering that the two recipes were either conceived on the spur of the moment, or with fingers crossed (as to whether the fish would be soggy), I was very pleased with how it came out.  Son & heir ate all his fish but was selective about the couscous.  Hubby would eat it again, but with less mint.  I would eat it again, just as it was!

PESTO CRUSTED COD with ROAST VEGETABLE COUSCOUS   (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

3 fillets of firm fleshed white fish
3 tsp pesto
a handful of breadcrumbs
a handful of grated parmesan
freshly ground black pepper
150g couscous
120ml vegetable stock, boiling
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced 
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 courgette, diced
1 baby aubergine (or another courgette), diced
1 red pepper, cut into 2cm squares
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried thyme
small handful of parsley, chopped finely
2-3 sprigs of mint, leaves removed and chopped
sea salt.


Method :


1.  Pre-heat the oven to 200deg C (fan)/400deg F/gas 6.


2.  Place the parsnip and carrot cubes into a bowl with the garlic and thyme.  Drizzle with olive oil and add a pinch of sea salt.  Toss to mix thoroughly, then turn out onto a baking tray and put in the oven for 15 minutes.


3.  Add the remaining vegetable cubes to the bowl you've just used (which should still be a little garlicky) and drizzle with olive oil, to wait its turn in the oven.


4.  Place the fish into a baking dish, allowing a little space between the fillets.


5.  Spread a tsp of the pesto over each fillet, then in a small bowl mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan and pepper.  Pat the breadcrumb mix into the pesto, taking care to leave the crumbs loose enough that they will crisp in the oven.


6.  Remove the carrot & parsnip from the oven and add the remaining vegetable cubes to the tray, spreading to an even layer.  Replace to roast for 20-25 minutes.


7.  Put the fish in the oven for the same 20-25 minutes.


8.  In the meantime, in a deep bowl, add the boiling vegetable stock to the couscous.  Cover with cling film and leave to absorb the stock for 10-15 minutes.


9.  Uncover the couscous and fluff up with a fork.

10. Remove the fish from the oven and keep warm whilst you finish off the couscous.

11.  When the vegetables are fully roasted, browned and lovely, add them to the couscous and gently stir through.


12.  Add a squeeze of lemon juice and the chopped parsley & mint.  Taste and add a pinch of sea salt, if necessary.


13.  Serve.

Chicken, bacon, chicken & prawns, chicken, pork, chicken twice over : Looks like it's chicken, this week!

I do seem to have gone a bit mad on the chicken in this week's Menu Plan, but that's just the way it happened.  ~shrug~  I suspect that it's part and parcel of trying to think of meals that aren't too "bad for you".  Inevitably, you wind up with an awful lot of chicken - especially as fish has rocketed in price just lately.

Now, to finish off last week - we had the Chicken, Fennel & Tomato Ragu on Sunday evening, which had a mixed reception.  A third of the way into making the dish, hubby announced that he's never found a chicken/tomato recipe that he's really enjoyed - and although he loves fennel, he wasn't sure how it would all come together.  Well, he was right in a lot of ways - although just after suffering from food poisoning wasn't perhaps the best time to try this recipe out!


Just cutting up the chicken had me wishing we'd had sausages for that meal instead, but I soldiered on.  Incidentally, I've discovered that when cutting up ingredients that are fresh from the fridge, they have the capacity to make my hands lose sensation.  You can't imagine how difficult it is to chop up chicken breasts when you can't hold the darned things still!  I've still got all my fingers though, so my strategy of dunking my hands in warm water to thaw them out, obviously worked.


The dish was nice enough - the fennel was lovely and made a very pleasant change.  Having been a bit acidic, the addition of a teaspoon of sugar helped to iron that out.  However, "okay" wasn't really what I was going for with it, regrettably.


Incidentally, the Maribell jacket potatoes were gorgeous.  Rub them with olive oil, cover with salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven for an hour - fabulous!


Now then, what different incarnations of chicken are we having for this week's menu plan?  I hear you ask.  Well, maybe you didn't, but I'm going to tell you anyway.  Here's how it shapes up :

Tuesday : Pesto chicken with roast tomatoes and couscous

Wednesday : New Potato Salad with Bacon & Goats' Cheese

Thursday : Spanish Paella-inspired ricey thing

Friday : Sticky chinese chicken & thai carrot salad

Saturday : Pork with lemongrass & cinnamon, with rice (from Adora's Box)

Sunday : Pot roast chicken, roast parsnips & potatoes, broccoli & peas

with sausagemeat stuffing balls

Monday : Coronation chicken, pitta bread and salad.

<insert short break to collect a glass of Canti Zinfandel Rose>

Now, where was I?  ~sips daintily~  Ah yes!  The Pesto Chicken.

It being Tuesday, we've done the shopping and so begins a new week of striving to produce delicious dinners that don't cost the earth, that everyone enjoys and (no point in lying) that will be interesting to blog about.

I must just recount what happened to us today though.  Hubby will probably have my hide for telling you this, but part-way through the shopping, I went back to the herbs aisle to see if some Basil had been put out as there wasn't any on our first pass.  As I turned around to go catch up with hubby, I saw an unaccompanied trolley that looked to have inside it everything that we'd selected earlier.  "How funny!" I thought.  Can't be OUR trolley, because hubby's driving that further up the shop - so I didn't say anything about it.  Fast forward to hubby loading the shopping into the car and looking for the sausage rolls he'd bought.  He came to the conclusion that he must have left a bag of shopping behind, but couldn't believe he could have done so, so we didn't go back to check.  Upon getting home and emptying out all the bags, he discovered that a whole bagful was missing.  "It's got the ham, the fruit fools, the cheese spread, the greek yoghurt ...." he was saying, when I got a flashback to that trolley I saw.  Sure enough, he'd made off with someone else's trolley (which had to be empty at the time, as we didn't have any odd shopping), leaving ours to sit - where I spotted it on my trip back for the Basil!  How much do I wish I'd have said about it?  It would have saved another trip (to Sainsbury's, this time) for shopping!  Still, it's quite funny, all the same.

So, after seemingly shopping all day, I made the Pesto Chicken and couscous.  My hand problem made stuffing the chicken breasts with the squidgy pesto/mascarpone mixture nigh on impossible, but at least some of it got in there!  I am so going to have to get a piping set!  It's a really lovely dish, this one, in that the chicken stays beautifully moist and the roast tomatoes are just divine.  The couscous was made after the style of Ottolenghi's Green Couscous, but to my own recipe this time.  I used all Italian flavourings, like basil, grana padano cheese and pine nuts along with sliced onion & mushroom fried in a little olive oil.  Add a squeeze of lemon just before serving and everyone approved.  Well, except for son & heir's hate of the humble mushroom.  He was able to remove his mushrooms fairly easily though.

Watch the blog, as I'll be detailing the recipe as my next blog post.

I'm really quite excited about tomorrow's salad, as it was created with the help of four or five Twitter pals, whose suggestions for "a salad that doesn't involve salad leaves" came together in the dish I'll be making on Wednesday.

It's going to involve Jersey Royal new potatoes - but roasted, not boiled.  Some gorgeous butcher's bacon grilled until crispy, mushrooms, roasted red onion and watercress & spinach salad (neither of which count as a "salad leaf", alright?), all dressed in a mustard & red wine dressing, with creamy goat's cheese crumbled over the top.  I can't wait!

Hubby has a recipe in mind for Thursday, which involves something along the lines of a Spanish Paella, except with just chicken and prawns.  You know when you have a picture in your mind and a flavour on your tongue, but you can't quite put it into words?  Well that's it.  We'll just have to wait and see what turns up at the end of it - but it should be good, as we've even invested in some saffron!

Oooh dear, then it's Friday.  ~quake~quiver~  I'm skeered of Friday, because Alfie the Amalfi Lemon Coloured Skoda goes in for his MOT.  I may very easily not have any fingernails left, after this day.  Nor any cash left in my bank account.  However, I will be having a lovely dinner - consisting of yummy Sticky Chinese chicken with a lovely Thai carrot salad, which involves rice noodles and peanuts.  Yum!

Photo c/o BBC Good Food website

The chicken is simplicity itself to make - I just need to remember to make it early so that it can marinade.  The salad is just a matter of grating a whole heap of carrots, soaking the rice noodles and assembling the rest of the ingredients.  I should be able to do that, even with a diabolical stress headache - which I anticipate being the owner of, by then.

Still, the happy news is that by Saturday it will all be over and we'll know where we stand regarding the work that Alfie needs to have done - and more to the point, how much it's going to cost!

To celebrate, I'm planning on making use of the lovely Adora's Box blog, where her Pork with Lemongrass and Cinnamon has caught my eye.  You can find the recipe here.  Looks good, doesn't it?  I'll let you know how I get on with it!

I've stayed away from roast dinners for quite some time now, and this coming Sunday we'll be having a pot roast chicken for two reasons.  One, because I am missing roast chicken, two, because I'm missing roast parsnips and three, because we can have Coronation chicken for tea on Monday!

Son & heir adores Coronation chicken and I have to admit that I'm a sucker for it myself.  Hubby isn't quite so enamoured of it, but I'm hoping that if I make sure that the pitta breads are more manageable than the usual "resembling a bus crash" that I usually turn out, he might look upon the whole experience in a more favourable light.  In fact, thinking on, I could always make them into Coronation chicken wraps, instead!  Still a bit messy and squidgy, but at least they're capable of being eaten with a knife and fork!  Do you know, I may well do that.

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