So does starting with a Takeaway, constitute a meal planning fail?

Bacon pea & mint pasta

I suspect it probably does - but it had been an absolute aeon since we'd had an Indian takeaway and, although I'd been lusting after a Chicken Tikka Masala, I eventually plumped for a Lamb Biryani with Vegetable curry, together with a Saag bhajee and Peshwari naan to share amongst the three of us.

I know, it was frivolous and shameful - but boy oh boy, did it taste good!

I've posted the photograph of the meal up on Rhubarb & Ginger's Facebook page, together with a few other Facebook pages and had a mixture of reactions to it.  They range from "you eat that?" to "cor, I would!".  The funniest reaction - for me - was from my lovely friend Jasvinder Singh, who lives in Northern India and who professed that the photograph left him cold!  I keep telling him - it's a whole different world here to where he is!

Takeaway : makes my mouth water - but then I know how it tasted!

Last week got away from me before I could post up the menu plan, but we had some great meals.  Those that will be blogged in due course included a Chicken Paprikash and a Spiced vegetable and lentil soup that I loved but that left hubby feeling distinctly "meh!".

So what's on the menu for this week then?  Well, I think we've got some interesting meals coming up :

Tues : (should have been Bacon pea & mint pasta) Indian takeaway

Weds : (should have been Nasi Goreng) Bacon pea & mint pasta

Thurs : Seco de Chivo (or "Dry Goat") with either rice or couscous

Fri : Hampshire Hash with vegetables

Sat : Fish & Pea Cakes, new potatoes, carrots, asparagus & tartare sauce

Sun : Osso bucco with Risotto Milanese

Mon : Crunchy fish and slavering mice.

Of course, "interesting" doesn't always equate to "nice" or "moreish", but we'll wait and see!

To expand a little - well, Tuesday I've explained already.  Wednesday (last night) I made the Bacon pea and mint pasta and very delicious it was too.  The fresh mint in the sauce just lifts the pea flavour - and pea & bacon is a match made in heaven.  With the creamy sauce from the creme fraiche and a good dose of ground black pepper to add a little warmth in the background, it really is very good indeed.  I used conchiglie pasta this time as I had a bag in the cupboard needing using up - and I particularly enjoyed the way that two peas could snuggle up inside each conchiglie.  Add a piece of bacon on top and you were away.

The planned Nasi Goreng will have to wait until next week.  I can do so easily as most of the ingredients are storecupboard stock, plus the chicken and prawns are safely in the freezer, so can't go off.

Goat meat - looks innocent enough!

Tonight's Seco de Chivo (or "dry goat") is my first venture into cooking goat.  The lovely people at Farmer's Choice Free Range sent me the pack of goat meat to play with (along with the British Rose Veal for the Osso Bucco).  Now the obvious thing to make would have been a Curried Goat, but I just wanted to try something else - something not quite so obvious.  So, following exhaustive research - no seriously, I spent about 3 days looking at various recipes - I settled upon the Seco de Chivo.  I have opted to use the slow cooker for the recipe, which uses flavours like red onion, garlic, green peppers, cumin, chilli, tomatoes, oregano, celery, allspice and coriander - along with a light beer.  Now how intriguing does that lot sound?

I'm also exploring the idea of making a couscous to accompany it, using some absolutely out of this worldly huge and succulent dates that I found in the greengrocer just yesterday - and my new bottle of pomegranate molasses.

So, to say that I'm "stepping outside my comfort zone" would be putting it mildly, for today.

Mind you, I'm firmly back in the comfort zone with the Hampshire Hash for tomorrow.  Hampshire Hash is a minced beef and potato dish along the lines of a Cottage Pie, except instead of mashed potato on top, it uses small cubes of potato tossed in a mayonnaise/tomato ketchup mix.  Yes, I know, it sounds gross - but it is one of my real favourites.  I've made this in the past - quite a long time ago now - and haven't been too careful about the degree of grease that is involved.  As a result, I will admit that the dish has become quite atrociously greasy (but I kind of like that!).  This time, as I'm cooking it for the family and with half an eye to making it a lot healthier, it should turn out to be an awful lot lighter in calorific value! I need to ensure that I keep the flavour, whilst reducing the fat.  The minced beef can include some of the warming curry spices, so I'm hoping to wind up with a slightly different, but much more healthy version.

Hubby's in the kitchen on Saturday, when he's intending on pushing his fishcake recipe to another level.  I won't spoil his thunder by expanding on his plans - you'll just have to wait and see whether it works!

The slow cooker is back in work on Sunday, when I'll be making use of the British Rose Veal that Farmers Choice sent.  I've never made Osso Bucco, but over the years have gone from feeling revolted by the very idea (during my brief vegetarian phase), to liking the idea but being put off by the bones (some 20 years ago), until finally I'm keen to make the dish.  I was surprised at how easy it appears to be to make - but then aren't some of the best dishes the easiest?

I gather that the best accompaniment to Osso Bucco is to make a Risotto Milanese (or Saffron risotto).  Now don't be too outraged, but I'm threatening to make the risotto myself - *gasp*!  I know, I know, why make risotto when you've a Risotto Making Maestro in the house?  Well, I figure that it'll be good to know HOW to make a risotto, even if it's the only one I do ever make.

Photo c/o BBC Good Food website - that's what I'm aiming for!

So all these new and interesting meals brings us to Monday, when a dose of reality bites - and we have a day off, involving crunchy fish (haddock or cod portions in batter or breadcrumbs) and slavering mice (a.k.a. savoury rice).  I love savoury rice.  The flavour takes me back to when I owned the horses and a quick dinner of a Chicken Kiev with savoury rice was about all I was capable of, once I'd come back home at about 9 or 10pm!

As for "other news", well Son & heir has managed to win himself a School Scholarship for Bass Guitar lessons - well done him! - and his musical commitments are going to be taking up a lot of time over the next week or so.  Consequently, we won't have a lot of time left for extra makes and bakes - although you never know!

.

 

 

Failure on the compatibility front

Lancaster & Spitfire at Bournemouth's Air Festival 2010

I know the aircraft don't have anything to do with food, but I liked the photograph so much, and it's representative of what was going on over the week!

This blog post first appeared in the Bournemouth Echo's online pages, here.

Well, I can safely say that I had a collection of really nice dinners this week – well, all excepting the Sicilian Style Fish Stew, but more of that later. However, I’m not really sure that the remainder of my family enjoyed them so much.

Son's bowl of chowder, complete with bite missing from bread.
(Photograph taken by son)

We kicked off the week with a Smoked Haddock Chowder, which always goes down well with everyone. This was no exception and made a great start to the week.

Next came what was billed on the Menu as “Tuna & Sweetcorn Salad” and was one of Hubby’s cooking nights. However, it transmogrified into a Tuna Salad Nicoise (albeit made with tinned tuna) and was really gorgeous. I loved the lemon vinaigrette dressing on the salad leaves and with some crusty bread, it made a handsome meal. Unfortunately, our son has decided that he doesn’t like tuna any more. This is peculiar as tinned tuna was, along with fish fingers, the denomination of fish we used to get him started with eating it. He will now eat most types, other than smoked mackerel – and tuna, now it seems. Darn! Foiled again.

We soldiered on and menu item no.3 appeared, which was Meatballs & Pasta. Now we’ve both made meatballs in various incarnations and with varying levels of success, to the point where now we can’t really face the lengthy process of mixing and rolling the little devils, nor the difficulty of finding room in the fridge for them to chill. I seriously think that other people must have two fridges, or alternatively nothing in their fridge to begin with. However, Hubby had come up with a blinder of an idea, which was to use some “extra special” sundried tomato & herb beef burgers which he broke into meatball sized pieces, rolled into a ball and hey presto – meatballs. What a triumph! I can recommend this procedure to all those Mums & Dads out there who are also suffering from meatball making fatigue. Perfect.

You’re probably all thinking “well, that all sounds successful, what’s she on about?”. You see, it all began to go downhill from hereon in.

 Next up on the menu list was the “Sicilian-style fish stew” for which I’d bought some fresh cod fillets and frozen them in advance. Never again. We have now decided that recipes including fresh fish shall only ever feature on a Tuesday or a Friday (both of which are shopping days, and don’t require the fish to be frozen).

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it?

The dish looks a picture, and indeed I really enjoyed the broth, but the fish tasted muddy and not right and the red kidney beans were like bullets, so much so that Hubby and I both got worn out trying to chomp our way through them. Hubby declared his portion inedible and son managed to do his best with it, but more went into the bin than ever got eaten. Still, one bright note was that the brown crusty rolls we had with it, were yummy!

Saturday’s dinner was Braised Chicken & beans, served with a carrot/swede mash. I chose this one, because we were keen to try a few dishes that used white wine, and this one did. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our usual standard of chicken breast and had to settle for the supermarket’s own brand, which was salty, watery and rubbery. Not a good start. Hubby declared the carrot/swede mash inedible, although neither son nor I could detect any problem with it. Son found himself somewhat challenged by the white wine in the sauce, but I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner – problems with the chicken excepted.

Owing to the failure of the last few dinners and the dismal day, I’d decided to make the most of our crop of rhubarb in the garden and made a Rhubarb Cobbler. It isn’t the standard type of cobbler, with “cobbles” placed upon the rhubarb and baked, it is a type where you mix together a batter (made with – American cup sizes – half a cup of sugar, half a cup of plain flour, half a cup of milk, 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt) and pour it over the rhubarb. I cooked the rhubarb for 3-4 minutes in the microwave, with a couple of tablespoons of sugar added, then poured the batter mix on top and baked at 180deg (fan) for 35-40 mins. The result is almost like a sponge, but with a gorgeously chewy texture. Add that to our beautiful rhubarb, and everyone had forgotten their dissatisfaction with their first course.

I can only hope that if the Sausage & Lentil Casserole I have planned for tomorrow goes wrong, the family is as easily cheered up by the Pineapple I’ve got for dessert!

Smoked fish & cherry tomato rarebit

You see what I mean, by over-sauced!

Although delicious, this did turn out a wee bit over-sauced.  Next time I make it, I'll follow the reduced quantities I've set out below.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients for the sauce :

30g butter
40g plain flour
a dash of worcestershire sauce
400ml whole milk
75g strong cheddar, grated
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard

Ingredients for the fish :

25g butter
1 clove garlic, grated
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
120g fresh spinach, washed
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
400g undyed smoked haddock or cod, skin removed
25g strong cheddar, grated

Method :

Preheat the oven to 190C/fan 180C/gas 5.

To make the rarebit sauce, melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan and stir in the flour.  Cook, stirring, for one minute.  Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in most of the milk until combined.  Keep some milk back, so as to keep the sauce as thick as possible. Add the Worcestershire sauce, then return to the heat and slowly bring to the boil, stirring or whisking constantly, adding a little milk as you go until the sauce is unctuous and thick.  Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and add the mustard and cheese.  Season with pepper and set aside.

For the fish, melt the butter in a large, high sided non-stick frying pan, add the garlic and cook until just coloured.  Immediately add the tomatoes and toss them with the garlic butter, cooking just enough to heat through.  Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place into a shallow baking dish (a lasagne dish is perfect).  Spread them evenly.  Replace the pan on the heat and add the spinach.  Cook over a high heat until just wilted (will only take seconds), then tip into a colander and press to remove all the liquid.  Replace into the pan and add seasoning plus the nutmeg.  Arrange over the tomato layer, then cover with the fish fillets.

Spoon the rarebit sauce over the fish fillets so that they are completely covered, then sprinkle with grated cheese.

Bake in the oven for around 30-45 mins until brown and bubbling and the fish is cooked through.  You can check this by inserting a knife into the fish, whereupon the flesh should flake easily.

Serve straight from the dish, with new potatoes and peas.