Saturday 30 November 2013
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is, of course, the famous
English pre-historic monument. It is in
Wiltshire – only 8 miles north of Salisbury (which is famous for its cathedral)
The
first time I went there as a child you were able to walk right into it and even
touch the stones. Now it is all cordoned
off. I guess they had to do that to
preserve the stones.
Quite
apart from the mystery of what it was for, the mere fact that it was built so
long ago makes you marvel at the engineering skill!
Friday 29 November 2013
Food on Friday: Bread
ON
I
have an admission to make. I have never
baked my own bread (I don't count baking par-baked bread rolls). So I am in awe of all of you who do!
Bread goes well with:
Avocados
|
Bacon
|
Beef
|
Butter
|
Caramelised
onions
|
Cheese
|
Chicken
|
Eggs
|
Extra
virgin olive oil
|
Grilled
eggplant
|
Ham
|
Jam
|
Marmalade
|
Mayonnaise
|
Olives
|
Pate
|
Roasted
sweet peppers (capsicum)
|
Rosemary
|
Salad
leaves
|
Sardines
|
Smoked
fish
|
Soup
|
Spreads
and dips
|
Tomatoes
|
Vegemite/Marmite
|
To
add your bread post, just pop your name and the name of the dish/recipe into
the first Mr Linky box and paste the url for your post into the second one.
I
will be pinning the dishes to this Pinboard
as fast as I can. This will help you check out other dishes.
Have
a bready good time!
Thursday 28 November 2013
Need some inspiration? Try Eggplant
Baked Eggplant with Pistachio Pesto and Goat Cheese |
There were over 120 links in Food
on Friday: Eggplant! Just
fantastic! I have selected a small
number that caught my eye. To see the
other great dishes just hop on over to the original
post or to this Pinboard.
The
first pic is of Baked
Eggplant with Pistachio Pesto and Goat Cheese by Citron Limette.
Light
Summer Eggplant Burgers by Nuts About
Food
Ratatouille
by The Home Heart
Eggplant,
Tomato & Pesto Puff Pastry Tarts by Thibeault's Table
Indian
Spiced Eggplant Yoghurt Dip by Farm
Fresh Feasts
Wednesday 27 November 2013
Coconut and Boysenberry Concoction
This
Coconut and Boysenberry Concoction
took less than a minute to whizz up and was very tasty. The coconut flavour was a nice addition (but
not one for every day since that coconut milk is not very slimming!)
I
just put the following ingredients into a jug and blended them with a stick
blender.
Small
can of coconut milk
2
frozen tangelo juice blocks
2
smallish pieces of frozen banana
Juice
of 1 lemon
1
tin of boysenberries in syrup
Capful
of brandy (obviously optional – I didn't want to taste it so didn't use much)
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
At Home: A Short History of Private
Life by Bill Bryson was a great
read. Bryson manages to tackle all sorts
of subjects in a very readable and accessible way.
I
was left with a few anxieties after reading the book – for instance, he says
that every time you flush the toilet all sorts of bacteria escape into the air
and so you should always have the lid down when you flush. I did this for a while but just couldn't make
it a habit so now I just wonder about it.
Tuesday 26 November 2013
Curry Easy Corn
This
side dish, which I have called Curry
Easy Corn, was the second dish I have cooked from Madhur Jaffrey's book
Curry Easy.
I
followed her directions pretty closely (for a change) and was pleased with the
result. The corn was not too creamy and
had subtle spicy flavours that melded together well and had a pleasant
afterburn in your mouth that built up gradually.
I
used 3 sweetcorns on the cob, but you could use canned kernels or frozen ones
(Jaffrey says that if you use frozen you need to let them thaw and then drain
before cooking).
I
suggest you prepare all the spices/flavourings first because when it comes time
to cook it all happens very quickly.
From beginning to cook to the completed dish takes no more than 5
minutes – super.
So
in one little bowl put:
1
tsp mustard seeds (I used yellow ones)
4
cardamom pods (whole)
4
cloves
1
in stick of cinnamon
2
bay leaves.
And
in another little bowl put a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger and 1 or 2
teaspoons of finely chopped green chili (seeds left in).
You
heat up some oil in a frying pan (I used leftover duck fat but pretty much any
oil will work).
When
the oil is hot throw in the first bowl with the mustard seeds etc (when I say
throw in the bowl I meant throw the contents of the bowl in!). The mustard seeds will start popping almost
straight away. Just give it one stir and
then add the chilli and ginger. One more
stir and put your corn in.
I
pre-cooked the corn and then took it off the cob before hand.
A
quick stir for a minute and then add the naughtyish ingredient 150ml (5 fl oz)
of cream and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Lower
the heat and stir away until almost all the cream has been absorbed. This won't take long. Do keep stirring at this stage – you don't
want the cream to catch on the bottom.
Now
you are done – just fish out the cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves
before serving.
Monday 25 November 2013
Capital City of the week – Warsaw
This
is the National Stadium in Warsaw
Royal
Baths Park looks like a nice one – another reason to visit Warsaw
This
is the Palace on the Water
The
Chopin museum is in Warsaw – Chopin moved to Warsaw before he was 1 year old.
And
Marie Curie was another famous inhabitant of Warsaw.
So
where in the world is Warsaw?
Warsaw
is the capital of:
The Drifters
The Drifters, in their various
incarnations, had 13 chart hits spanning a number of years. Over 60 different musicians were in the
Drifters at one time or another.
The
group's make up may not have been stable but who can forgets hits such as:
There Goes My Baby
This Magic Moment
Save the Last Dance for Me
Up on the Roof
Under the Boardwalk
Memories are Made of This
Sunday 24 November 2013
Roast chicken leftover "enchilada" invention test
What
do you do with leftover roast chicken.
We usually just have it cold with vegetables … but I wanted to do
something completely different. I had
some garlic naan bread in the freezer and for some reason an enchilada type
dish came to mind. I have never cooked
enchiladas but did know they involved tortillas. I substituted the garlic naan for the
tortillas and it worked out pretty well.
Here's
what I did:
Sautee
½ an onion (chopped up) in olive oil together with a chopped chilli (add more
if you like it hot), ground cumin and coriander seeds and a chopped up slice of
red bell pepper (capsicum) for extra colour.
(If the naan hadn't been quite garlicky, I would have added garlic as
well)
While
that is gently frying, shred your chicken with two forks (then let the better
half pick at the bones for a treat). Chop a spring onion (scallion).
Mix
the shredded chicken up with your onion mixture. Add a little sour cream and cream of chicken
soup (just enough to get a moist but not sloppy texture). I also added a small handful of grated pizza
cheese.
Put
the mixture into your naans and roll them and pop them into a lightly oiled
baking dish (seam side down - so they
look pretty).
I
let them sit like that in the fridge for a while, figuring that the flavours
would meld that way.
I
didn't have any store bought sauce – let alone enchilada sauce so I made my own
with what was on hand. I mixed up some
tomato sauce, chilli powder, a hint of a Cajun spice mix, a small amount of the
cream of chicken soup, ½ a tub of sour cream and some water.
I
then poured it over the top of my naan cum enchiladas, sprinkled grated cheese
on top, seasoned with salt and pepper and sprinkled some paprika on it as
well. Then back into the fridge until it
was time to bake it for dinner.
This
is what it looked like going into the oven.
I
baked it in a medium oven for about 35 minutes.
To
compare it with a packet enchilada pack I made one using pork mince instead of
chicken. I did add an extra chilli. It tasted and looked nice – but not as nice
as my invented dish. The tortillas
though had a much better texture than the naan.
This
is what the more mainstream enchiladas looked like.
Saturday 23 November 2013
Need some extra inspiration? Try Pies and Tarts
Yesterfood's Homemade Apple Pie |
Food
on Friday: Pies & Tarts was a biggie – we ended up with over 280 in the
collection! So, as you can imagine,
selecting just a few to tickle your tastebuds today was not easy.
I
do recommend that you hop on over to this Pinboard
or to the original
post to check some more of them out.
The
first dish that you see at the top of this post is Yesterfood's Homemade Apple
Pie
Heirloom
Tomato & Cheese Pie by Taking On
Magazines
Candied
Ginger Tropical Fruit Tart by True Blue
Baking
Homemade
Chicken Pot Pie by
Persnickety Plates
Pear Pie
by Susan Can Cook
Quiche Lorraine by Eating Adelaide
Old-fashioned
Custard Pie by Docaitta
Friday 22 November 2013
Food on Friday: Picnic food
ON
It
may not be picnic weather where you are but there's no harm in thinking about
what makes good picnic food.
To
add to the collection just pop your name and the name of the dish into the
first Mr Linky box and paste the url for your post about it into the second
box. Your post doesn't have to be a
recent one.
To
make it easier for you to check out the other dishes I will be pinning them to
this Board
so you can see them at a glance.
And
a reminder – previous Food on Fridays are still open for entries – so please
add your dishes as you like. To make
sure I pin them to the appropriate board please leave a comment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)