This week I have mostly been eating.....

I would never describe myself as a cook or even a foodie, but I do love my grub (and something to wash it down with of course) and over recent weeks I have had several conversations with people about food where I have noticed a pattern. Often these are just the normal office chats about what to cook for tea that night, but when we start comparing notes, I find that people are surprised by the variety of what we eat and also the fact that I plan all my meals out. Mr Owl has also reported several similar conversations in his office recently, mainly revolving around 'what else can I cook with chicken' and 'how can I spend less on my food bill'.

At the same time as this we have been trying to make more effort to expand our diet to include more vegetables and to push ourselves to try more recipes (this is largely due to me spending far too much time reading amazing food blogs like the beautiful Manger at http://mimithorisson.com. I am soo jealous of everything on there). The trip to River Cottage a few weeks ago just helped to encourage this.

My mum was a great cook and always cooked us a wide variety of meals, so I guess I get a lot of it from her. I remember in the months before I first went to university she would get me in the kitchen every time she cooked something that she thought a student could do, and made me cook it. When I actually went, I had a little notebook with lots of basic recipes all written down. Thanks to her I found I was spending lots less on food than everyone else while eating what I thought were nicer meals (Stag Chilli anyone?) This habit carried on when I left uni and over time I like to think I have got better and more adventurous with what I cook. Mr Owl also enjoys his cooking and now it is one of the most relaxing parts of our evening when we get home from work and can cook a meal together - ideally while playing a few tunes. (that sounds a bit twee when I write it down but it is true)

The meal planning is due to the fact that there isn't a supermarket that near to us and I don't want to waste lots of my time driving back and forth to one. Additionally if I plan the meals out then we find that we spend less, waste less and eat more healthily. For example we ate 2 Southeast Asian meals last week because I knew I would have more beansprouts, and coriander than I could use in the one we had thought of, so rather than waste them we did a second meal- less cost, less waste.

So I am hoping to positively use the pressure that comes from sharing online to try and encourage us in this even further, and to possibly show any readers that it is feasible to cook a variety of dishes in the week. Hence 'This week I have mostly been eating..'  every time I write that I start craving taramasalata!!

Here is the basic idea- once a week I will be listing the meals that we had the previous week- in theory this will be on a Monday but no promises. I am not going to detail recipes but I will endeavour to state or link the sources for them where they exist. If anyone does read this and wants more details then please just comment. If you are lucky you might get a photo or two as well.

Assumptions: I have not made the basics e.g. pasta, rice, noodles, chips bread unless stated. Everything else is made from scratch unless marked as bought (b)

Monday: Minestrone Soup (b)

 Covent Garden Soup

Tuesday: Cod with Laksa Noodles

 Rick Stein - Seafood Odyssey (photo below)

Wednesday: Carbonara

 Jamie's version with cream and cheese rather than the purer egg only version. We used mushrooms    rather than courgettes

Thursday: Thai Salad

 My own recipe

Friday: Troncon of Turbot with an Olive Vierge sauce
 Rick Stein - Seafood Odyssey (photo below)

Saturday: Ate Out (Artisan Manchester)

Sunday: Lasagne

 My own recipe

Little Owl 

 

Galettes

I am sure everyone is sick of reading posts on pancakes, but mine are galettes and crepes so that makes it different right? As a child pancake day was always a tradition, with Dad manning the frying pans while we all sat waiting like starving chicks for our turn to come around. We always had sweet ones after tea with lemon and sugar and we were all allowed one with Grand Marnier on too! However after a holiday in Brittany a few years ago Mr Owl and I discovered galettes and decided to take pancake day to a whole new level. So now we start our meal with savoury pancakes (galettes) stuffed with potatoes, onion, bacon, mushrooms and cheese in a white wine and cream sauce, and then end with the traditional sweet ones.
I use the same batter mix for both: egg, milk and plain flour in a ratio of 1 egg to one cup of flour and one cup of milk. Blitz up, ideally a couple of hours before cooking, and leave to stand.

Meantime in a frying pan, fry the bacon, then add onions, mushrooms and diced potatoes. Add a generous splosh of white wine and cook down before stirring in some double cream. Season with salt and pepper, I also like to add some thyme and parsley. This is your galette filling.

Then you need to get busy making your actual pancakes. I tend to make them all in one batch and keep them warm under foil in the oven on a low temperature. Once cooked then you can stuff your galettes (pancakes) with the filling and grate cheese on top. Pop them back in the oven for 10mins to melt the cheese. I normally do 2 per person as they are large pancakes. This gives you time to pour a large glass of the wine you had to open in order to cook with - what a shame!

Pudding is easy- the remaining pancakes covered in a sweet filling of your choice. We went simple this year with lemon and sugar to try and offset our full stomachs!
Do you have any alternative pancake ideas or suggestions for other savoury fillings?

Marmalade

January is marmalde time as it is the only time you can get the tangy Seville Oranges needed to make it over here. So last weekend we took advantage of the rain to make this years batch. I thought I would share the recipe with you as it is so straightforward to do and makes lovely marmalade that lasts through the year.

Ingredients:
1kg Seville Oranges (I get mine from Waitrose as no one else up here seems to stock them)
2kg Preserving Sugar (not Jam sugar)
1 Lemon

Stick your whole oranges in a large pan of hot water and simmer for 2 hours until they have gone all soft.
Once cool enough take off the ends and remove all the pips. Throw the pips back in the pan of water and bring to the boil for 5mins.
Meantime chop up your orange skins very small (I use the food processor but careful not to totally blend it)

Remove the pips from the boiling water and make it up to 3 pints.
Then add your chopped/blended orange peel and all the sugar and juice of the lemon. Stir this around until all the sugar has dissolved. Then bring the pan to a rolling boil and let it boil for about 45mins

While that boils place some plates in the freezer- you can use these to check it has set. Make sure your jars are clean and sterilise them by placing them in the oven for a few minutes. I collect my jars over the year so always have an odd assortment of them.

Once the marmalde has been boiling for about 45mins you can start testing it. Spoon a small amount onto an icy plate from the freezer, then push it to see if it wrinkles. If it does then your marmalade is ready to go, if not let it boil another minute or so and try again. You can then fill up your hot jars and put the lids on.

The marmalade should keep for a year or two if well sealed and kept dry. Let me know what you think!

Burn's Night

Due to having a Scottish part of the family and a natural fondness for turning food into occasions (or vice versa) we have got in the habit of celebrating Burn's Night. This year we couldn't do it on the day itself due to a triple birthday party, so we delayed until Sunday instead. We tend to use this as an excuse to eat and drink anything that we can vaguely link to Scotland, but always with haggis, neeps and tatties for the main meal. We had a MacSween haggis and I find the easiest way to cook it is in the microwave. Neeps and tatties (potato and swede) are just cooked and mashed. It may not look like the most appetising dish but it tastes fantastic, the spicy flavours of the haggis balanced by the creamy potato.

It wouldn't be Burn's Night without a wee dram or two of whisky, and luckily Mr Owl and I have a fairly large collection to choose between. Seeing as it was a 'school night' we had to resist the urge to do a complete taster session and instead settled on the Glenlivet to start as it is very smooth. We then finished after the meal with a spicier Dalmore along with our oatcakes and cheese (the French have always been allies of Scotland right?) and shortbread. I could do it all again this evening! Do you have any occasions or events you like to celebrate with food/drink, or any suggestions for how we could improve our Burn's Night next year?

 

Mince Pies

One of the best bits of Christmas is all the delicious food. I love any excuse to use food for an occasion (I regularly like to cook food to match the film we are going to watch!) and Christmas has to be the ultimate food occasion. For me it normally starts in September when I make christmas cakes for both halves of our family and also mincemeat, the earlier you can make it all the longer it has to mature (e.g. have brandy liberally added to it). So I thought I would share my recipe for mince pies, once I start making these I know Christmas is almost here.

Ingredients:

Mincemeat
Plain Flour
Butter/Lard
Egg
Icing Sugar
You need double the weight of flour to butter, I normally find 8ozs flour to 4ozs butter makes around 12 mince pies.

Rub the butter and the flour together until you have a crumble like mix. Then add 3 tbsps water and work into a dough. I would then suggest chilling it for 30mins if you have the time.

Then roll out your pastry and cut out your mince pie tops and bottoms. Push the bottoms into a greased cupcake baking tin and fill each one with a generous teaspoon of mincemeat.

Then pop their lids on and brush with a beaten egg so they go nice and golden

Bake them in an oven at about 180 C for about 20-25mins until all golden. Dust them with icing sugar and serve. I love eating them when they are still warm from the oven sat by the fire with perhaps a cheeky sherry to wash them down! Enjoy