Creamed Courgettes & Mushrooms : by far and away the most delicious thing to do to a courgette

Sunday dawned and I had every intention of making the Ratatouille Pasta Bake to accompany the roast bacon that I had planned.

The trouble is, it didn't happen that way as around 3pm my "get up and go" just got up and went, without letting me know.

Which was all very inconsiderate, as it left me wondering what the heck I could come up with instead of the ratatouille pasta bake, using courgettes, mushrooms, tomatoes and broad beans.  So the thought process went like this :

"What have I got to use as carbs, if I don't use pasta?".
"Hmmn, I've got some muddy Jersey Royals in the cupboard, doing nothing ...".
"Okay, well, if I use those - maybe I could use them in the pasta bake, instead of the pasta!"  (Which goes to prove it was the pasta that I didn't want, rather than the vegetables!).
"No, that won't do.  It wouldn't be right, I'd better use them alone and not in with the veg".
"So - what veggies can I make?"
~ponder~
"Oh wow!  Courgettes ... and mushrooms .. and yes, I've got a bit of cream left in the fridge .. and some worcester sauce in the cupboard!".
"Oh thank you God, I can make Creamed Courgettes & Mushrooms!  Oh, and maybe add some peas and broad beans".  (As an afterthought).

Creamed Courgettes and Mushrooms is one of the most delicious and simple things you can do, to a courgette.  I first had this veggie side dish when my Mum cooked it to accompany (I forget exactly) either a chop or a piece of steak.  I fell in love with it then and repeatedly asked for it, only to have it rejected because "cream is too fattening" or "it's too expensive, with the cream involved" - which are all valid points, but not when you're 12 or 13 years old.

I have to admit that I appreciate both those arguments now and as such, it hasn't appeared on our menu list more than around 4 or 5 times in the last 14 years.  However, I am just so glad I remembered it in time to take advantage of the ingredients.

Showing promise!

The roast bacon that I served it with, was truly gorgeous.  I had boiled the bacon in a 50:50 apple juice/water mix, with an added cinnamon stick, pepper and an onion for around 30 minutes.  I then put the bacon into a medium oven (160 deg C) in a roasting dish that was sealed over with baking foil and with a little of the boiling broth inside.  I didn't look at it again for an hour and a half, whereupon it then sat in a warm place to rest for another 20 minutes before uncovering, cutting off the fat and attempting to carve it.  In truth, it just fell apart and turned into a "one lump or two?" carving method and you could have cut it with a spoon, it was so tender.  Amazing.

It went absolutely perfectly with the sweetness of the courgette pieces, the earthiness of the mushrooms and the creamy, savoury sauce.  Goodness, it's making my mouth water just thinking about it!

There'll be another day for the rejected Ratatouille Bake - but it wasn't to be on Sunday!


CREAMED COURGETTE & MUSHROOMS  (Serves 2-3)


Ingredients :


A large knob of salted butter
a splash of olive oil
3 small courgettes, sliced into 5mm rounds
6 or so, chestnut mushrooms, sliced
150ml double cream
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper.


Method :


1.  Take a non-stick frying pan and melt the butter and add the olive oil to heat through.


2.  When the butter is bubbling, add the courgette slices and fry, cut side down, until they have obtained a lovely golden colouring on the one side.


3.  Flip each one over to the other side and continue to fry, but add the mushroom slices to the pan.


4.  When you think the courgettes will have obtained a good colour, mix the mushrooms in so that they are all touching the bottom of the pan (as much as you can) and continue to fry, but reducing the heat a little.


5.  When the mushrooms have become opaque and wilted and the courgettes are softened all the way through, add the cream and the Worcestershire sauce and stir through.


6.  Add the freshly ground black pepper to taste and once everything is piping hot, serve.


.

 

Creamy Kabanos Pasta

This is a Rachel Allen recipe, which I have tweaked slightly to appeal to our taste in tomato sauces - which is that a tomato based sauce should taste of tomato.

Regarding the Kabanos sausage, we are fortunate in that Bournemouth Asda stocks a good range of Polish ingredients (Indian, too!) and in their delicatessen range are these Kabanos.  Asda used to stock their own version, but replaced it with the much more authentic type.  If however, you can't find Kabanos in your locality, do not despair as Chorizo would do just as well, as would Kielbasa.  In fact, we've got our eye on some of the Polish Kielbasa (known as "Hunter's Sausages") for a dish next week.

I chose this recipe for this day because it appeared to be simple to prepare, didn't make much washing-up and could be eaten whilst sitting in an armchair watching Strictly Come Dancing.  *chuckle*  As it was, it fitted all those requirements admirably!

I was a teensy bit worried about how the cream would amalgamate with the tomatoes without a) splitting and b) tasting disgusting, but in fact it mixed in without a problem and turned what was beginning to be a quite aggressive tomato sauce into a toothless tiger of a sauce (but not in a derogatory way!).  Once you add the sausage and it has bled its flavour into the surroundings, the whole thing comes together in a delicious amalgamation that was right up there in the flavour stakes, but without any of the tummy-curling acidity that can sometimes come with tomatoes and chillies in the same spoonful.

Definitely a do-again, in our house!

CREAMY KABANOS PASTA (serves 3)

Ingredients :

A knob of butter or 2 tbsp olive oil
225g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
1 tsp chopped rosemary
1-2 tsp sugar
225g kabanos sausage sliced into small logs
pinch dried red chilli flakes
80ml single cream
a few drops of Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp chopped parsley
300g spirali pasta
4 tbsp grated parmesan

Method :

Melt the butter or olive oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic & rosemary and allow to infuse.

Add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt & pepper and to taste with the sugar.  Cook the tomatoes until they have begun to soften, or for about 5 minutes.

Add the sausage to the pan with the chilli flakes, cream, chopped parsley, worcestershire sauce and tomato ketchup.  Simmer with the lid off until the mixture has reduced by half, 10-20 minutes, stirring frequently.  Take off the heat and check and adjust the seasoning.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water until it is slightly al dente (according to pack instructions).  Once cooked, drain and toss with the sauce.

Scatter each serving with the grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Good with garlic bread!

Stuffed Peppers

I'm not quite sure which came first in my mind, the stuffed peppers or the Ottolenghi Fennel gratin, but they seemed to be compatible, so that's what we had.

I have tried making stuffed peppers in the past - a long, long, time ago, so long in fact that it could well have been in another life.  These attempts weren't terribly successful, as they involved a Bolognese-type mince mixture stuffing which turned out to be quite one-dimensional.  I'd since given the idea up as lost, however just recently the germ of an idea had been growing in my mind.  This time, I'd go for a relatively dry stuffing mixture - one involving rice, still with beef mince however this time mince which had been caramelised to promote that lovely beefy flavour.  Beyond that, I ran out of definite ideas.  All I had was an impression of how I wanted the flavours to be.

So, I reached for my computer keyboard and consulted t'internet.  Various stuffing mixes floated past, each one had its merits but wasn't the one I was looking for.  I liked the goat's cheese versions, but that didn't help with my desire to include beef.  Then, I lit upon a recipe for stuffed butternut squash - which didn't include beef but sounded so wacky, it had definite potential.  So thankyou, Foodista, for the original idea - here's what it turned into.

I recommend you do all the chopping and vegetable preparation before you get cooking, as everything happens fairly quickly.  Oh, and many apologies - like the Ottolenghi Fennel dish, we were too keen to get tucked in and completely forgot to take a photograph.  Next time!

STUFFED PEPPERS (feeds 3-4)

Ingredients :

3-4 big fat red or yellow peppers, top removed and bottom levelled

400g beef mince

2 celery stalks, chopped fine

1 medium leek, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 mushrooms, diced

2 cups cooked white rice

2 cups crisp breadcrumbs

handful of raisins or cherries or cranberries

1-2  tsp Worcester sauce

1 full to heaped tsp dried sage

olive oil

 Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven at 190deg C.

2. Put the mince on to brown in a deep frying pan, using a teaspoon of vegetable oil, to prevent sticking.

3. Meanwhile, rub some olive oil inside and out of the peppers, season and place in a roasting dish.  Bake for as long as it takes to prepare the stuffing mix.

4. Sauté celery and leek until soft.

5. Add garlic and mushrooms and continue cooking for some 5 minutes.

6. Add rice, breadcrumbs, raisins, Worcester sauce and sage and mix to combine.

7. Stuff and bake for 30 mins turning once or twice to ensure even baking.

Home made Pizza

The final articles

In days gone by, when we still lived in Kent, I would make pizza from scratch on a regular basis.  However, with the advent of frozen pizza becoming £3.00 for 3 in Asda, I just couldn't compete with that kind of price and home made pizza became too expensive to produce.

Recently though, the frozen pizzas have become sickly and more than a little bit yuk, which has put us off from buying them and leaving us pizza-less.  With a 12 year old boy in the house, this is something of a critical situation to be in.

So, hubby decided to have another go at making them from scratch.

Three pizza bases, ready for action
They look alright to me!

I won't go into the pizza bread base, as I know that hubby wasn't terribly pleased with it, although both son and myself had no problem with it and declared the whole thing just gorgeous.  However, I know there's no point in giving you the recipe until he's completely happy with it.

Ooooh, you saucy things!

He made the tomato sauce himself, comprising a tin of tomatoes to which he added a teensy bit, like a quarter of a teaspoon, of dried mixed herbs, dried oregano, salt & pepper to season, a teaspoon of tomato ketchup and a couple of drops of Worcestershire Sauce.  He then simmered it until it had reduced to the consistency of a thick passata and allowed it to cool.

Of course, everyone had different ideas about what they wanted on their pizzas.  Son was the easy one, as he just wanted pepperoni, plus mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.  However to make it a bit more meaty, we'd bought a Pepperami which hubby had sliced up for adding to the pizzas.

Mine (left) and hubby's (right)
all ready for the oven.

Hubby had pepperoni, pepperami, green pepper, mushroom, green olive, mozzarella and cheddar.  I had all that, plus a leetle bit of black pudding, sprinkled here and there.

Gosh, but they were good.  :)

I don't mind having Pizza more often, if they're going to wind up being THIS good.

DIY Big Tom tomato juice

Now you know me - or you should do by now - in that if there's something in my fridge that's leftover, or superfluous to requirements, I'm going to try to think of a way of including it in a meal.  I just can't bear to throw stuff away, you see.

Hence, three quarters of a carton of tomato Passata had been forlornly looking back at me, every time I opened the fridge door, as it was without a home to go to.  Poor thing, this just couldn't last. 

So I got to thinking.

We're not doing any tomato-based meals for the forseeable future.  Nor will it go with any breakfast items planned.  However, it IS just tomatoes, sieved.

Hmmmn .... so it's just (basically) thick tomato juice.

Now we like tomato juice, so maybe if I watered it down a bit with some chilled fizzy mineral water ... but it needs something more than that to make it into a nice drink.

Hmmm, oh I know - what about Worcestershire Sauce and a grind or two of freshly ground black pepper?  Oooh, yes, now we're talking!

Hmmn, it might get to be a little bit like Big Tom tomato juice then ... but it needs a hot kick.  AHA!  Ancona Chilli Sauce.  ~rubs hands together with glee~  Oooh, now that's going to be NICE!

So, off to the kitchen I went.  Cue opening of bottles, the fizz of the mineral water, the chinking of teaspoons against glass, pause to taste.

O. M. G.  That is truly yummy!

Now I have to say that this is really a work in progress, as it's not finished yet.  I need to get hold of some celery salt and then try it - but it's darned good even in its current incarnation!