Dinner this evening was one of our favourites - fennel (from the garden) roasted with red onions, cherry tomatoes, olives and lemon. It should have had feta crumbled over it, but I forgot, and Mr RoS didn't complain. Apple crumble and custard for pud.
It should have had feta crumbled over it, but I forgot, and Mr RoS didn't complain.
Friday night is curry night in our house and one week, when I was getting used to the new recipe, I forgot to add the green curry paste to my green curry. Mr Nen didn't make any observation at all - not even, "This doesn't taste quite like it does usually."
I break up the week's routine on a Sunday by doing our cooked meal at lunchtime, so I've just done a load of preparation so that it can all go into the oven at the appropriate times, in between Zooms with the Nenlets and some coffee morning friends. Sunday is a busy Zoomy day.
There is sun here today, so will probably go for a walk later. Both my husband and I feel like we drank too much last night, witch is very unfair as we're doing dry January!
When I manage to peel myself off the sofa I'm going to do some Pilates that should wake me up, but I don't have a lot of motivation at the moment.
Dinner tonight will either be a stir fry or a rice salad thing depending on whether its my husband or me cooking it.
The Organist - thanks for the steak cooking instructions. I had venison steak tonight that was OK, but yours sounds better. Fortunately I have another than needs to be cooked win a few days so I will try your suggestions.
A sunny morning here but now looking overcast. I had a lie in this morning so didn’t have time for a walk before church so I am scooting off now in case it decides to rain later. Then I will potter in the garden for a while.
Beef casserole is in the slow cooker (unfortunately minus mushrooms, which we both forgot when shopping yesterday), and a hotcrossbunbread and butter pudding is resting in the fridge to be cooked later.
There’ll be a pizza for lunch.
@Priscilla Add some dried mushrooms to your store cupboard: they taste more mushroomy than fresh and a few added to fresh in a casserole gives a real depth of flavour.
I'm not a great fan of curry, but I did enjoy a Curried Fish dish at a local restaurant many years ago. The spiciness was quite restrained IYSWIM...
The manager told me that it was a Bangladeshi recipe, but that they had to use a different fish, the actual fish used in Bangladesh not being found in our Sovereign Waters...
@daisydaisy I do a leek and carrot pasta thing. It started using dairy products for me but has evolved to become vegan. Cook pasta as normal (GF here). Sweat the leek, washed and cut into 2" ribbons in butter or olive oil, in a covered pan. Then add ribbons of carrot on top - I peel them first then keep using the peeler to make ribbons. Cook until soft and the leeks are slightly caramelised. Add pepper and cheese grated/thinly sliced/taken off the block using the peeler, if using dairy, allow to melt, then mix into the pasta and serve. If not using dairy I mix a tbsp of tahini with a little Vecon stock mix, tamari (GF soy sauce) and GF Worcestershire sauce to taste - to make a tangy salty creamy mix.
Ottonlenghi's Flavour, which I'm enjoying cooking from, has some turnip recipes. I haven't had any in the veg box so haven't experimented yet.
Yesterday's test recipe was chilli butter roast cauliflower with charnoy carrots, which was worth doing again. I'd already tested the carrots, which are roast in olive oil with apricots and spices, then added hot to a dressing with lime juice, sumac, apricots and theoretically maple syrup, which I'm currently substituting with honey, served cool (or whenever I've finished cooking any additional foods.
@TheOrganist thank you for reminding me to add more dried mushrooms to the shopping list. I finished the last couple yesterday lunchtime in a stir fry with cabbage, carrots and fresh mushrooms, added after allowing to steep in boiling water to soften, and using the steeping liquid instead of stock.
@Priscilla Add some dried mushrooms to your store cupboard: they taste more mushroomy than fresh and a few added to fresh in a casserole gives a real depth of flavour.
Thank you for this idea - I buy a lot of fresh mushrooms every week and it's a struggle to fit them all into the fridge. Are they readily available? I haven't seen them in our local Tessie Cohen but, to be fair, I haven't been looking.
I am contemplating the dull grey day, knowing I should get out for a walk before our next Zoom at 5pm but feeling I just want to stay indoors in the warm.
It's a milder, rather showery day here. This morning we sallied forth in search of CHEESE (we returned victorious with Abondance and Brie). Lunch was a wild boar casserole.
Whether or not we go for a wander later will depend on what time Captain Pyjamas wakes up from his nap. Curfew in these parts is now 6 pm.
@Curiosity killed and @TheOrganist thank you - I’ll see if I can work these 2 ideas together, using vegan cheese. I’m not a huge fan of soup - find I need something chewy and hopefully crunchy (without being burnt but that’s asking rather a lot) as a main meal.
I missed today’s opportunity for a sunny walk by getting started on a lace motif for a golden wedding anniversary card that is for next weekend - cards are not essential, it seems and the choice in the local supermarkets doesn’t extend to wedding anniversaries. So I’ll have a dusk walk instead.
In my local Tesco's the dried mushrooms are with the tins and jars of olives, sun dried tomatoes and other delights. I use the jars of sun dried tomatoes to add flavour too, including the oil to cook with, and there are jars of mixed mushrooms.
We got out for a morning walk for which the weather was lovely, but it was so busy, so many parked cars in all the forest car parks. Plus all the bikes and joggers competing on the narrow tracks. Note to self, walk that route in reverse next time as the first section was less busy.
We got out for a morning walk for which the weather was lovely, but it was so busy, so many parked cars in all the forest car parks. Plus all the bikes and joggers competing on the narrow tracks. Note to self, walk that route in reverse next time as the first section was less busy.
The busy paths really put me off walking and I didn't go out today - I'll wait until home schooling is going on. On my Friday late afternoon walk alongside a local canal a family stopped at the narrowest place, expecting me to pass them at about 6 inches right where dogs slither into the water. If they had stepped back along the path only 2 feet we'd have had space (about quarter of a mile behind me to do the same). I'm less concerned about catching anything now I've had my first jab but I do try to keep my distance in case I might pass something on. After trying/failing to explain to the parent and grandparent why I didn't want to risk slithering dog like into the canal, I passed them as carefully as I could but certainly not the required distance.
I had a nice little amble down to Tesco's, having realised that I'd probably need dishwasher tablets and bin-liners before the week is out, and also topped up the fruit and veg supplies.
I seriously wonder if I'm the only person in Linlithgow who doesn't have a dog; every time I'm out the pavements seem to throng with people taking their pooches for a walk. Not that I mind: I love other people's dogs, and today enjoyed following a very cute (if rather vocal) West Highland terrier and his humans - they really are the most appealing wee dogs.
My curry turned out quite well, although I really ought to be a bit bolder with the spices (especially the ones that are more aromatic than hot, like cardomum, coriander and cumin). There's enough for tomorrow, so I won't need to cook when I get home from work except to do some rice, which is no bother at all.
I took advantage of the dry, sunny morning to cut down a bed of swiss chard to just above the growing points, and to cover them with horticultural fleece, in the hope of good regrowth during the spring, in the gap before the next new seedlings are ready for planting.
I'm very happy to have that done, but unfortunately all the bending aggravated my bad back, so I was unable to do anything for the rest of the day.
Much of tomorrow will be spent sorting through two big supermarket bags of chard leaves and stems, separating the decaying from the edible and preparing the good stuff for eating or freezing.
Ok hive mind - I have turnip, leek, carrot. What shall I have for dinner?
So what did you have for dinner?
So, sweated leeks with thinly sliced turnips and carrots plus a tin of tomatoes, with spiral pasta brought back from Sicily 2 Christmasses ago (along with dried mushrooms and tomatoes, but I’ve already used those up), topped with slices of vegan cheese. Enough for 2 servings, so tomorrow is sorted. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think I’m missing the texture and flavour of meat, but really don’t like cooking it or the thought of eating it. However, I’ve discovered the pretend chicken which is quite ok but a bit dear.
. Note to self, walk that route in reverse next time as the first section was less busy.
Makes me think of the Goons song “I’m walking backwards for Christmas”!
Thanks for the suggestion about dried mushrooms - we’ll have a look when we next go out shopping.
(The casserole and the bread and butter pudding were both good)
Tinned jackfruit is weird, in looks and texture it is like tinned tuna! I think it makes a good meat substitute in a curry (but I'd rather eat meat).
Usually monday morning of admin and planning. I need to phone a student and prep some marking this afternoon.
Just back from a seven mile walk. Very nice and not too many other people to negotiate. The rest of the day I intend to be pretty lazy.
I've tried jackfruit a couple of times, and just don't get it. Trying to be vegan after many years of being vegetarian its cheese I really miss. Oh and butter and eggs in cakes.
There's a Cranks aubergine, kidney bean and tomato casserole that tastes meaty to me, and a Ottolenghi recipe for Portobello mushrooms stewed in the oven and served with butter bean mash and stir fried greens that has satisfyingly umami tastes and textures. I haven't tried it yet, but there is a pulse and mushroom mince equivalent recipe in the Ottolenghi Flavour book, which he calls his tray bake ragu suggested for serving with pasta.
The other thing we've found satisfying, but a faff, is another Ottolenghi recipe for red Romano peppers treated as schnitzels - faff as they need braising in flavoured oil, peeling, flour, egg and crumbing then frying.
Tinned jackfruit made a reasonable curry, but I’m not sure I’d use it in anything else. I think that, rather like tofu, it needs strong flavour added. Mushrooms are amazing, especially the different flavours from the varieties and dried ones. The replacement chicken isn’t bad at all (I think it’s called “This”) in terms of taste and texture. I need to experiment with adding nuts etc to give more of a chew.
@Curiosity killed the Ottolenghi recipes look inspiring. I must try them out.
The path outside my home, a popular family walking route, is quiet enough for an afternoon walk.
Just back from a seven mile walk. Very nice and not too many other people to negotiate. The rest of the day I intend to be pretty lazy.
I've tried jackfruit a couple of times, and just don't get it. Trying to be vegan after many years of being vegetarian its cheese I really miss. Oh and butter and eggs in cakes.
I've tried vegan *CHEESE* (not sure what it's made of), and it was really very tasty - and strongly-flavoured! Quite like Cheddar in texture, but perhaps a little crumblier...
@Bishops Finger do you know what make of vegan cheddar? I'd love to find one I like, the only only semi-reasonable one we found from Holland & Barrett has disappeared without trace and I can't track it down. It was still on the mild side for my tastes.
The vegan cheeses that I don't find too disgusting are the feta or mozzarella equivalents, but they have disappeared from the local Tesco's too, hence I'm creating tangy savoury tastes and textures with tahini.
@Bishops Finger do you know what make of vegan cheddar? I'd love to find one I like, the only only semi-reasonable one we found from Holland & Barrett has disappeared without trace and I can't track it down. It was still on the mild side for my tastes.
The vegan cheeses that I don't find too disgusting are the feta or mozzarella equivalents, but they have disappeared from the local Tesco's too, hence I'm creating tangy savoury tastes and textures with tahini.
No, I'm afraid I can't help. I can't even recall when and where I sampled it, but I fear it was a good many years ago...
The ASDA vegan cheddar is the one that Good Food and Good Housekeeping are rating best, but it still doesn't melt to cook and is not the sort of level of taste I'd buy if I was buying cheese, so very mild to my taste. (And I have to travel to both ASDA and Sainsbury's although the latter is sort of walking distance, like only 6 miles on tracks.)
I don't think cheddar is worth buying unless it scores a 5 or more on the strength scale, 4 at a pinch. What I really liked was the tasty from the local cheese board weekly market stall, with the cooking a bit much to eat, when I lived there and that market still existed.
I certainly agree with you re cheddar - anything less than 5 might just as well be soap...but I didn't realise that the Asda vegan cheddar was so mild.
I wonder if the cheese I mentioned had, in fact, been home-made?
The vegan 'cheddar' we've been using (Koko) is ok in things like toasted sandwiches as long as you have some strong chutney with it, but a bit bland on its own. I've bought some pretend parmesan, but haven't opened yet as e have some real parmesan to use up.
There’s a fast food vegan restaurant in Manchester. I has burger and chips - it was absolutely delicious!
Deliveroo has several vegan burger options locally and I'm tempted to try one. I'd have to persuade the rest of the household though but I could opt for The Chosen Bun which does meat and vegan burgers (and fabulous shakes).
Comments
Absolutely. We pass the factory when driving to the Craigmillar Lidl.
Have you tried them with Crowdie cheese?
I break up the week's routine on a Sunday by doing our cooked meal at lunchtime, so I've just done a load of preparation so that it can all go into the oven at the appropriate times, in between Zooms with the Nenlets and some coffee morning friends. Sunday is a busy Zoomy day.
It looks like a dull but decent day here, so I may go for an amble later.
When I manage to peel myself off the sofa I'm going to do some Pilates that should wake me up, but I don't have a lot of motivation at the moment.
Dinner tonight will either be a stir fry or a rice salad thing depending on whether its my husband or me cooking it.
There’ll be a pizza for lunch.
@daisydaisy - do you have any herbs, or condiments, to hand?
The manager told me that it was a Bangladeshi recipe, but that they had to use a different fish, the actual fish used in Bangladesh not being found in our Sovereign Waters...
Ottonlenghi's Flavour, which I'm enjoying cooking from, has some turnip recipes. I haven't had any in the veg box so haven't experimented yet.
Yesterday's test recipe was chilli butter roast cauliflower with charnoy carrots, which was worth doing again. I'd already tested the carrots, which are roast in olive oil with apricots and spices, then added hot to a dressing with lime juice, sumac, apricots and theoretically maple syrup, which I'm currently substituting with honey, served cool (or whenever I've finished cooking any additional foods.
@TheOrganist thank you for reminding me to add more dried mushrooms to the shopping list. I finished the last couple yesterday lunchtime in a stir fry with cabbage, carrots and fresh mushrooms, added after allowing to steep in boiling water to soften, and using the steeping liquid instead of stock.
My inclination would be to cook and mash together the turnip and carrot with butter and black pepper and grill the leeks.
Stir fry with chinese 5 spice and a dash of soy sauce, but parboil the turnip first.
No 5 spice? Pound together cayenne or paprika, cinnamon and cloves.
No soy? Use either Worcester sauce or a mixturs of tomato ketchup, vinegar, garlic and pepper.
Thank you for this idea - I buy a lot of fresh mushrooms every week and it's a struggle to fit them all into the fridge. Are they readily available? I haven't seen them in our local Tessie Cohen but, to be fair, I haven't been looking.
I am contemplating the dull grey day, knowing I should get out for a walk before our next Zoom at 5pm but feeling I just want to stay indoors in the warm.
Whether or not we go for a wander later will depend on what time Captain Pyjamas wakes up from his nap. Curfew in these parts is now 6 pm.
I have dried mushrooms at home but it can be a bit of a faff.
I missed today’s opportunity for a sunny walk by getting started on a lace motif for a golden wedding anniversary card that is for next weekend - cards are not essential, it seems and the choice in the local supermarkets doesn’t extend to wedding anniversaries. So I’ll have a dusk walk instead.
We got out for a morning walk for which the weather was lovely, but it was so busy, so many parked cars in all the forest car parks. Plus all the bikes and joggers competing on the narrow tracks. Note to self, walk that route in reverse next time as the first section was less busy.
Plus ...
.
.
.
.
.
Sprouts!
🤣🤣🤣
I seriously wonder if I'm the only person in Linlithgow who doesn't have a dog; every time I'm out the pavements seem to throng with people taking their pooches for a walk. Not that I mind: I love other people's dogs, and today enjoyed following a very cute (if rather vocal) West Highland terrier and his humans - they really are the most appealing wee dogs.
My curry turned out quite well, although I really ought to be a bit bolder with the spices (especially the ones that are more aromatic than hot, like cardomum, coriander and cumin). There's enough for tomorrow, so I won't need to cook when I get home from work except to do some rice, which is no bother at all.
So what did you have for dinner?
I'm very happy to have that done, but unfortunately all the bending aggravated my bad back, so I was unable to do anything for the rest of the day.
Much of tomorrow will be spent sorting through two big supermarket bags of chard leaves and stems, separating the decaying from the edible and preparing the good stuff for eating or freezing.
Makes me think of the Goons song “I’m walking backwards for Christmas”!
Thanks for the suggestion about dried mushrooms - we’ll have a look when we next go out shopping.
(The casserole and the bread and butter pudding were both good)
I tried jackfruit when I was staying at my sister's, but I can't say I was all that impressed.
Usually monday morning of admin and planning. I need to phone a student and prep some marking this afternoon.
I've tried jackfruit a couple of times, and just don't get it. Trying to be vegan after many years of being vegetarian its cheese I really miss. Oh and butter and eggs in cakes.
The other thing we've found satisfying, but a faff, is another Ottolenghi recipe for red Romano peppers treated as schnitzels - faff as they need braising in flavoured oil, peeling, flour, egg and crumbing then frying.
Or there's cauliflower steaks with spices or Jack Monroe's red kidney bean, carrot and cumin burgers.
@Curiosity killed the Ottolenghi recipes look inspiring. I must try them out.
The path outside my home, a popular family walking route, is quiet enough for an afternoon walk.
I've tried vegan *CHEESE* (not sure what it's made of), and it was really very tasty - and strongly-flavoured! Quite like Cheddar in texture, but perhaps a little crumblier...
The vegan cheeses that I don't find too disgusting are the feta or mozzarella equivalents, but they have disappeared from the local Tesco's too, hence I'm creating tangy savoury tastes and textures with tahini.
No, I'm afraid I can't help. I can't even recall when and where I sampled it, but I fear it was a good many years ago...
There are, of course, specialist vegan cheese places, but not (I hope) akin to the famous shop in Monty Python...
I don't think cheddar is worth buying unless it scores a 5 or more on the strength scale, 4 at a pinch. What I really liked was the tasty from the local cheese board weekly market stall, with the cooking a bit much to eat, when I lived there and that market still existed.
I wonder if the cheese I mentioned had, in fact, been home-made?
Deliveroo has several vegan burger options locally and I'm tempted to try one. I'd have to persuade the rest of the household though but I could opt for The Chosen Bun which does meat and vegan burgers (and fabulous shakes).