Tag Archives: new recipes

Thoughts of New Recipes

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We’ve not had pilaff for years and I, personally, haven’t made it for probably 40 years. It just faded out of my repertoire and never made it back. A lot of things are like that. At any one time I probably only use about half a dozen recipes, with a few variations to ensure we don’t eat the same thing too often.

We tend to eat a similar menu most weeks, with just a gradual change as the seasons move on. I have just started cooking quiches again now that summer is here, and vegetable stew has disappeared from the menu as root vegetables don’t seem so appealing in summer. We did have carrot in the coleslaw we had with the quiche earlier in the week, but that’s about it.

I’ve been looking up pilaff recipes today, as they seem to be a useful way of making a rice dish that uses stuff up. It’s a bit like Chinese rice, but over the years I’ve finally begun to get bored with it.

One of the recipes involved exotic mushrooms, dried mushrooms and mushroom powder. Another involved whatever mushrooms you had to hand and a stock cube. Guess which one we are trying next week?

Malta

Part of the problem is that every time I try something new, I fail to adopt it, even if it is nice. It’s much easier just to go into autopilot and make the same old thing, or a version of it, rather than doing something new.

Yes, I did make Chestnut and Mushroom Pie, and enjoyed it, but it involves dried mushrooms and chestnut which I don’t normally have in the cupboard. And the Woolton Pie was good, but the stew version is easier.

I really should try to do better.

But then, I should try to improve my blogging and poetry writing too.  They are both more interesting than filling quiches and steeping dried mushrooms.

Cactus hedge Malta

 

A Tale of Two Pies

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Vegetables – Carsington Water

And, with one blog . . .

This is 81/81.

Assuming I have enough brain cells to remember to post this, I have caught up. Of course, looking at the date, I realise it is now time to panic about my submissions for the end of the month. Fortunately I have managed to do some work on them so I may be OK this month.

Sausage and mash tonight, a favourite staple. later in the week we will be having chestnut and mushroom pie, as it’s time to extend my vegetarian repertoire. I’m also going to be doing a Woolton Pie as part of my WW2 rationing research. Currently, I’m struggling to find photos for my cheese article, so a few photos of wartime recipes will fill some gaps for me. Julia has already refused to eat Kensington Rarebit or Potato Rarebit if I make them, which is, to be honest, a bit of a relief. Kensington Rarebit is OK but mashed potato and grated cheese on toast (aka Potato Rarebit) is only marginally worse than the idea of Cheese and Tomato Kedgeree.

Woolton Pie

Chestnut and Mushroom Pie is a Hairy Bikers recipe, Woolton pie was developed by François Latry, head chef of the Savoy Hotel. I’m becoming more sophisticated as I cook . . .

I must be getting better as I’m interested in cookery again. When I’m ill I lose interest. Even worse, I sometimes become interested and never quite get round to it.

Now I need a strategy for getting ahead of he count. If I can just squeeze in an extra post each week, I will soon have a surplus and will finish with uneven production, but 365/365, which is the objective this year.

Stir Fry Vegetables

Today’s photos are what crop up when I search for “vegetables”. I wish I’d organised my phoos better.

 

 

 

 

Adventures with a Cook Book

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We had Toad in the Hole last night. During the week Julia had mentioned it and as we both like it we decided to make it. I managed to get her to do the hard work. For some reason we haven’t had it for years. We had it with some Aberdeen Angus beef sausages, broccoli and sweetcorn and rounded it off with treacle tart left over from the night before. A real festival of nursery food.

This is the first one in a cavalcade of new recipes we are planning to try. It is easy to get stuck in a rut and find you are eating the same old things week in, week out.  We had  Very Convenient Stir-fry and Noodles last week. The recipe is one bag of ready cut stir-fry vegetables, a pack of noodles and a pack of oriental-style sauce. We had sweet and sour sauce last week and will be having the same thing this week, but with plum sauce. It’s on special offer from TESCO and it’s quick and easy to make. We had it most weeks in lockdown and it was always a good night as it is tasty, healthy and easy. Those are three things I love in food. Two others are “cheap” and “fried”.

Toasted Teacakes

Tonight we had salad. Greenery, tomatoes, spring onions, red and green peppers, cucumber, pears, Stilton cheese and pine nuts. The pine nuts are really for a recipe that Tootlepedal suggested for Brussels. I’m still getting round to that, but it seemed silly to leave them there in the cupboard when I was struggling for ingredients. We haven’t got round to bringing all the kitchen ingredients, so had no olives and no dressing but it wasn’t too bad. Sometimes you have to suffer for your waistline.

This afternoon we finally got round to hanging pictures. It’s looking a bit more like a home now. We still have enough pictures to have things on the wall in Nottingham too. To be honest, we really do have to make more of an effort with this move. Living in two houses is trickier than I thought, and it’s not just books that we have too many of. Pans and paintings are also trying to take over.

To close the list of the day’s events, I have had an email and can now record my first acceptance of the year. That’s the advantage of sending out plenty of submissions – a rejection is soon balanced by an acceptance and the world seems a better place again.

Tea and mini-scones Brookfields Garden Centre

 

Wednesday 8th July Part IV

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Poppy and chamomile

The day is passing faster and faster.

Julia is on the phone to one of her needier clients. Again, I cannot describe the conversation due to issues of confidentiality, but it is circular. And long. And, as it is on something modern like an app or a zoom, it is loud and intrusive too. She might be working from home but technically this is a day off for me, even if I am treating it as a work day. Obviously in this context “work” is an expression of hope rather than fact.

I have researched a number of magazines as recipients for the articles I wish to write. I have read several of the magazines more deeply than necessary and I have made a list of possible articles. My plan is at the stage known as “getting there”. In other words it is a rag-bag of elements which don’t amount to much.

It is more of an intention or an outline. Time for some more work, but this time I will do it in front of the TV whilst watching Pointless. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Ironically that’s a very dull saying. Equally ironically, I haven’t done much work.

Back again…

Having watched Pointless and failed in a few rounds – notably the modern music and the football questions – I meant to get back to work. Instead, I watched Eggheads. It is one of the dullest quizzes around, but we had tea and biscuits and I can never resist temptation to sit and drink tea, with or without biscuits. As a late lunch we had corn on the cob (Julia went out for a walk and, as usual, nipped into a shop to buy something. She can’t break the habit. Today she bought corn on the cob.)

I am quite hungry now and have just put the vegetables into the oven to roast. Carrots, parsnips, leeks and potatoes. I will put sprouts in when I put the pasties in. It’s a meal we have nearly every week but I never get fed up of it. Apart from being year round comfort food, it’s healthy and easy to make.

It’s been eleven hours since I started “work” and I have not managed to complete anything yet, apart from some TV viewing and three blog posts.

As I started this one I noticed my total was 2,000 which means I missed the chance to write a post about reaching my 2,000th post. I may have to plough on to 2,020 before marking the occasion.

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I’m now going to put the pasties in and about 25 minutes after that will make the gravy. It’s only made with gravy granules, so is nothing exciting. Then I had better get the shopping ordered. I only have until midnight and it can be a slow process. I also get distracted easily.

I have already done the shopping list relating to the spice kits – we will be having linguine with prawns and rocket. I’m not sure why, because we make that anyway.

We are also having Iranian Vegetable Stew, which apparently takes its inspiration from Persia and North Africa. This tends to suggest it isn’t really Iranian or a proper recipe, just some vegetables to soak up some spices they wanted to get rid of. Pardon my cynicism. I keep meaning to give ras-el-hanout a try, so this is my chance.

Finally we will be having nasi goreng. I’ve wanted to try it since I read about it as a teenager reading my dad’s Somerset Maugham books. It’s typical that I’ve always steered clear of cooking it in case it didn’t live up to my expectations. Next week will be an interesting time.

I will try to take photographs before I eat everything.

Photos are recycled from here.

Eleven Photos and the Benefits of Blogging

Mint Moth

Wednesday 8th July Part I

Wednesday 8th July Part II

Wednesday 8th July Part III

Wednesday 8th July Part IV

Wednesday 8th July Part V

Making Peppermint Creams

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As part of my drive to try new recipes and skills, I made Peppermint Creams on Monday. They didn’t set after two hours in the fridge (as the recipe suggested) so I left them in until Wednesday afternoon, by which time they needed chipping off the plate.

They seemed to have set, though I was concerned that they might soften up once they were out of the fridge. I had to keep testing them on a regular basis to see how they went.  It’s a tough job but someone has to do it, and attention to detail is important.

It’s been a bit of  a learning curve. (I originally wrote “curse” there by accident, which was also pretty close to the truth).

First I learned that the mixing of peppermint creams acts as a magnet, attracting a couple of unwanted bits of shortbread from the neighbouring workstation and incorporating them into the mix in a brown spotty sort of way. It wasn’t attractive.

Next, as I kneaded the mix, (and it takes a bit of doing when the only liquid is an egg white, spoonful of flavouring and  the juice of half a lemon), I noticed it was turning blue. It’s slightly better than brown, but it’s still not what I really wanted. When I stopped to think about it I deduced that the mixture was lifting the blue dye from the checked table cover.

Third bit of learning – dry them on baking parchment, not direct onto the plate.

And four – when photographing them it might be a good idea to brush them down first and get all the debris off them (see top picture).

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Cutting out – the shapes – note coloured spots!

The good news is that they taste good. They are quite strong and were referred to as “grown-up” peppermint creams by one of the testers, which, in turn, means that most of the group don;t like them (so more for me!)

The bad news is that I’m going to have to test the recipe again due to setting and colouring problems.

But the other good news is that I will have to eat more to test them.

It truly is an ill wind that blows no good. 🙂