Oh, those sleigh bells! That roasting turkey smell! The constant feeling of bloatedness and indigestion ... yes, Christmas time is here again!
My traditional dinner didn't disappoint. This year I added some sort-of mulled red cabbage (from Nigella's Feast book, but massively changed to suit my own tastes and ingredients!). I shredded some red cabbage and cooked it in a saucepan with red onions, red wine, sultanas, cinammon, black pepper, nutmeg, brown sugar and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar. I have no idea of the quantities - just keep bunging it in and tasting as you go along! It's great because you can just put the lid on, leave it on a very (very, very) low heat and come back in about an hour and a half! Also, I tend to leave it in the saucepan overnight and heat it up again for Boxing day, to go with the cold meat and bubble & squeak.
My other exciting discovery this year is champagne cocktails, made by heating a little bit of brandy with cinammon, cloves, nutmeg, a bit of sugar, some star anise perhaps ... all the things normally used to make mulled wine, basically. You then leave it to cool before adding a teaspoon to each glass of chilled champagne, with a splash of Angostura bitters. It gives champagne an extra Christmassy kick and looks really pretty in the glass, too!
I also discovered Loyd Grossman's nuts. He doesn't show them on his website so I can't provide you with a link, unfortunately. For about £3 one can purchase a decent-sized bag of mixed roasted nuts with caramelised red onion; I bought them from Tesco but I think most supermarkets probably sell them. They've probably got a lot of added salt, but they're delicious and it *is* Christmas, after all!
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Friday, 21 December 2007
Eating dates
Veering away from food ever so slightly, just for a moment ...
If you haven't got a calendar for 2008 yet, or even if you have but it's really, really boring, perhaps you should consider buying this one. It's a full-colour entertaining calendar produced by Wheelybird, a regular contributor to b3ta, the infamous comedy website. Each month features a very funny illustration of a particular day, event or celebration. There's plenty of space for writing notes, too.
And it mentions tea several times, which is nice!
If you haven't got a calendar for 2008 yet, or even if you have but it's really, really boring, perhaps you should consider buying this one. It's a full-colour entertaining calendar produced by Wheelybird, a regular contributor to b3ta, the infamous comedy website. Each month features a very funny illustration of a particular day, event or celebration. There's plenty of space for writing notes, too.
And it mentions tea several times, which is nice!
Thursday, 20 December 2007
The goose is getting fat and he's not alone
Christmas = food, in my world. I'm always wildly excited about all the possibilities and new recipes, then end up having the same stuff year after year. Not that I'm complaining - traditional Christmas dinner is one of my favourites, closely followed by bubble and squeak with leftover turkey and pickles!
But, ever the adventurer, I've been through all the supermarket magazines and good ole Nigella's book to find some new stuff to try.
What's your favourite Christmas dinner or recipe? What are you most looking forward to eating over the festive period? Or do you hate it all and long for the traditional January cut-down?!
But, ever the adventurer, I've been through all the supermarket magazines and good ole Nigella's book to find some new stuff to try.
What's your favourite Christmas dinner or recipe? What are you most looking forward to eating over the festive period? Or do you hate it all and long for the traditional January cut-down?!
The steaks are high
I'm always very tempted by beef stroganoff. It has a lot of easy-eating, comforting, warming appeal and seems suitable whatever the season. Imagine my annoyance, then, when attempt after attempt to make it produced mediocre results!
I've followed numerous recipes - this one from the Waitrose website was just strange and bland. Delia's recipe wasn't bad but still didn't give a satisfyingly meaty and flavoursome outcome. The sauce always seemed to be too creamy and flat, and the meat overcooked.
Now, meat being overcooked is the worst possible thing for me, so I decided to take action! I bought some lovely-looking fillet steak for my next attempt. But it looked so plump and so delicious I just couldn't bring myself to cut it into strips! And thus a delicious dinner was born!
I made the stroganoff almost as usual - I gently fried some sliced red onions in a great big frying pan, then added a little bit of brandy and turned up the heat to help it reduce. Then I added some slices of mushroom and stirred in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a shake of black pepper and a crumbled beef stock cube (this addition of stock really helps). Lastly I mixed in a small tub of creme fraiche and left it all to simmer for a little while.
Rather than adding steak to the mixture I cooked the medallions of fillet steak just on their own, for about six minutes (but most people probably need it to be cooked for a little longer than that). I gave them a tiny crust of black pepper before putting them into the griddle pan, too. This means I get perfectly cooked, seared-on-the-outside steak, rather than leathery, cold strips!
I always use wild rice with stroganoff, so I cooked this in the meantime and, rather than placing it onto a plate and adding the other stuff on top, I mixed it into the frying pan with everything else for a couple of minutes. This means nothing gets cold and gets rid of any excess water from the rice. So,serving this all becomes very simple: great big dollops of rice and stroganoff mixture onto a plate with a medallion of steak plonked on top!
And, of course, a massive glass of red wine by the side ...
I've followed numerous recipes - this one from the Waitrose website was just strange and bland. Delia's recipe wasn't bad but still didn't give a satisfyingly meaty and flavoursome outcome. The sauce always seemed to be too creamy and flat, and the meat overcooked.
Now, meat being overcooked is the worst possible thing for me, so I decided to take action! I bought some lovely-looking fillet steak for my next attempt. But it looked so plump and so delicious I just couldn't bring myself to cut it into strips! And thus a delicious dinner was born!
I made the stroganoff almost as usual - I gently fried some sliced red onions in a great big frying pan, then added a little bit of brandy and turned up the heat to help it reduce. Then I added some slices of mushroom and stirred in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a shake of black pepper and a crumbled beef stock cube (this addition of stock really helps). Lastly I mixed in a small tub of creme fraiche and left it all to simmer for a little while.
Rather than adding steak to the mixture I cooked the medallions of fillet steak just on their own, for about six minutes (but most people probably need it to be cooked for a little longer than that). I gave them a tiny crust of black pepper before putting them into the griddle pan, too. This means I get perfectly cooked, seared-on-the-outside steak, rather than leathery, cold strips!
I always use wild rice with stroganoff, so I cooked this in the meantime and, rather than placing it onto a plate and adding the other stuff on top, I mixed it into the frying pan with everything else for a couple of minutes. This means nothing gets cold and gets rid of any excess water from the rice. So,serving this all becomes very simple: great big dollops of rice and stroganoff mixture onto a plate with a medallion of steak plonked on top!
And, of course, a massive glass of red wine by the side ...
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Such a beautiful horizon ...
I was on holiday in Spain recently, which partly explains why I haven't posted so much of late. But holidays for me are a string of eating and drinking opportunities connected by sleep and travel, so it did actually create a fair few topics for discussion!
Our first port of call was Barcelona. This was the first visit for all of us, so I thought it would be a good idea to try and find out about some fallback restaurants and bars before we arrived. I was delighted to discover that Toptable now offers bookings in several cities abroad, including Barcelona. I even got some bonus points for booking it!
We ended up going to Trobador Rambla Catalunya, part of a chain of restaurants across the city. This one was just on the corner at the start of las ramblas and only a short walk from most of the exciting-looking bars.
The food was good ... for Spain! It was good-quality, reasonably good value, reasonably well-presented, but still only average overall. Spanish restaurants just don't seem to do things with quite so much style as most Europeans: silver service, for instance, is practically unseen. Our veal steaks were served shish kebab-style, which just seemed an odd style of presentation!
One thing stood out, though: this restaurant had proper puddings. A lot of Spanish restaurants simply have a colourful laminated card showing pictures of pre-prepared, frozen desserts from their chiller cabinet. Here we were offered a choice which included an apple tart, crepes with chocolate sauce and other proper-sounding dishes.
Generally I'd recommend Toptable's service more than the restaurant itself, as it's nice to have a meal planned for the day of arrival. In high season this'll probably be even more of a benefit.
More of Barcelona hereafter ...!
Our first port of call was Barcelona. This was the first visit for all of us, so I thought it would be a good idea to try and find out about some fallback restaurants and bars before we arrived. I was delighted to discover that Toptable now offers bookings in several cities abroad, including Barcelona. I even got some bonus points for booking it!
We ended up going to Trobador Rambla Catalunya, part of a chain of restaurants across the city. This one was just on the corner at the start of las ramblas and only a short walk from most of the exciting-looking bars.
The food was good ... for Spain! It was good-quality, reasonably good value, reasonably well-presented, but still only average overall. Spanish restaurants just don't seem to do things with quite so much style as most Europeans: silver service, for instance, is practically unseen. Our veal steaks were served shish kebab-style, which just seemed an odd style of presentation!
One thing stood out, though: this restaurant had proper puddings. A lot of Spanish restaurants simply have a colourful laminated card showing pictures of pre-prepared, frozen desserts from their chiller cabinet. Here we were offered a choice which included an apple tart, crepes with chocolate sauce and other proper-sounding dishes.
Generally I'd recommend Toptable's service more than the restaurant itself, as it's nice to have a meal planned for the day of arrival. In high season this'll probably be even more of a benefit.
More of Barcelona hereafter ...!
Friday, 16 November 2007
Monkeying around!
I spotted this blog post the other day, from The Monkey Blog.
Doesn't Monkey's lifestyle sound strangely similar to mine ...?!
Doesn't Monkey's lifestyle sound strangely similar to mine ...?!
Comfort food
Yesterday a colleague advised me to "just go home and have some beans on toast". So I did (almost) exactly that!
I had three slices of toasted white bread with baked beans on top (Branston baked beans are the best - far nicer than Heinz!). I normally splash a bit of worcestershire sauce into the beans as I'm cooking them, just for a laugh. I topped it with some grated cheddar and some black pepper.
Ok, so you don't need a recipe for beans on toast and it's not exactly tricky or fancy, but it was delicious comfort food and it goes really well with Scrubs repeats on TV!
I had three slices of toasted white bread with baked beans on top (Branston baked beans are the best - far nicer than Heinz!). I normally splash a bit of worcestershire sauce into the beans as I'm cooking them, just for a laugh. I topped it with some grated cheddar and some black pepper.
Ok, so you don't need a recipe for beans on toast and it's not exactly tricky or fancy, but it was delicious comfort food and it goes really well with Scrubs repeats on TV!
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