Mushroom, cauliflower and chickpea curry with rice

Lots going on at the mo... not all good.  recipe for this curry ... saute onions and any other "hard" veg.. add garlic and curry paste/spices - add other veg (mushrooms, cauliflower florets, potato, green beans)... prepared as you would that veg for any other stew - add in tin(s) of beans.. we had chick peas + marmite + tomato puree + tin toms/ carton passata... simmer until all veg soft.  Serve with rice. That's it for today - tired and emotional. g'night

Black bean and ginger noodles with chicken

Speechless today I'm afraid.  Made some dinner.

Prawn and pepper risotto

Gently fried chopped onion, runner beans and pepper.  After a couple of minutes added rice and stir until every grain is turned in the oil.  Then added crushed garlic, a pinch of herbs, a tiny pinch of chili flakes and a splash of white wine.  Added stock, a ladle full at a time at first... probably about a pint or so.  Stirred in thawed prawns and frozen peas.  Left on a low heat for about 10 mins until rice is done.  Black pepper to taste, in our case a lot.

Lamb steak, crushed new potatoes with humous with spring veg

Greek inspired dinner - inspired also by fresh new potatoes from Sue, and tiny harvest of veg from the garden - infact we had 2 x runner beans and 10 micro tomatoes - with some chives and mint, so supplemented this with organic veg from the box and some stuff from the fridge.  Thanks Sue for the potatoes - fresh from the garden - delicious.

Method - boil new potatoes for 15 ish minutes, meanwhile chop and saute in olive oil spring onion, garlic, 2 yellow courgettes, about 8 runner beans and a big handful of cherry tomatoes.  Add tbsp olive oil, oregano and a cup of water - simmer for about 20 mins.  Marinate lamb rump steaks in olive oil and greek type herbs and spices - cumin, garlic, mint, black pepper, tiny bit of cinamon, oregano.  Pan fry on high heat for about 4 minutes each side until there is a nice caramelised crust and the centre is still slightly pink.  Mix together tbsp olive oil, I heaped tbsp humous with about the same of greek yogurt and a good squeeze of lemon, grind in black pepper, salt and loads of chopped chives.  Crush boiled potatoes and stir in sauce while still warm.

The best lamb I have ever tasted I think - but victim wanted hers cooked a bit longer.  The lovely new potatoes didn't really need dressing, but this garlicky yogurty sauce rang the changes and moistenned the dish.  A success all round I would say.

Retro cod and peas dinner

OK - when I started this blog it was going to be more than just what I rustled up for dinner.  Because, though dinner (and breakfast, tea, lunch, supper and snacks) is important - other stuff happens too.  I started it for a number of reasons -.... it's interesting (in many facets from a shared interest - technology, community, definition of social, message, medium and conduit), it's an outlet away from the day job to record (or shine a light on areas for development) my other obsession(s) and well - just for fun.  I have not, here, commented on the riots/organised looting ... but maybe I should - because I do have an opinion.  I have managed to tweet / retweet a couple of sentences, but that is hardly well thought out social commentary.  So, bear with me, ... is that going to change?  am I going to write more?

Honestly, I don't know.

But I think that the winds of change are gathering speed.  The looting/ opportunistic thieving young (mostly) adults who engaged in criminal behaviours last week fall into a number of "categories" gangs, dissaffected, marginalised, spoilt, angry, resentful, misled, undisciplined, disillusioned, desparate, greedy, ... .  

And I think of myself... educator, loyal, professional, adaptable, willing, cooperative, flexible, intelligent, inspiring (no really, other people have said these things)... and grumpy, busy, form filler (they have said those too) ... educator for me the most important - or rather facilitator of people gaining more knowledge and skills through a supportive (and accredited) framework... and feel the slump in morale around me, and the slump in goals for those we are trying to support and it all seems to get more desparate.

But if you can't work the "recipe" out - boil new potatoes (cut into bite sized piece) for about 20 mins, boil cod and parsley sauce accrding to packet instructions, steam asparagus for about 8 minutes, boil frozen peas for about 4 minutes.  Cheered me up somewhat!

Cranberry and seed cookies

These biscuits are very quick, and almost healthy!  Cream 200g softenned butter with 175g light brown sugar - beat in 1 egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.  Add 300g sifted self raising flour and whatever dried fruit, seed and/or nut mix you fancy - about 200g but it's not critical.  This time I used dried cranberries and a seed mix which calls itself "Omega mix".  Shape into sausages and wrap in cling film - leave in fridge to firm up.  Cut into thick "coins" and bake at about 180 degrees for 10-15 mins. Yum.  Victim had gone to bed early, so will have to get verdict tomorrow.

Keema curry

Shed loads of mince in the freezer - and not really feeling like spag bol or chili, or any of the usual mince stand-bys - I remembered at Uni when we used to have Keema curry at about midnight after a pub crawl - it was called keema curry - but really it was mince and peas - with assorted levels of firey heat.  I remember some of the assembled rabble would show off and order it so hot it made their eyeballs sweat!  Anyway, this was my much tamer version - which has a lot more veg in it.
Chop and fry onion, celery and carrot - brown off minced beef - add garlic, ginger paste and chili flakes and a good shake of curry powder/paste (biryani mix in this case) - add chopped mushrooms, red pepper, courgette and green beans.  Add big squirt of tomato puree, another big squirt of tomato ketchup and about a pint of stock.  Simmer for 30 mins.

Stroganoff mark 2: Chicken and vegetable this time

The green bowl doesn't help - but honestly this didn't resemble a bowl of sick so much in the flesh - and was, infact, better than the beef version from earlier this week.  However, I don't want you to focus on this pic too long, so recipe very brief - saute onion garlic, celery, courgette, chicken and bacon, also added pinch of dried chili flakes at this point, which I think was a good addition - add herbs, paprika and stir in a sprinkle of flour, add chicken stock and simmer - boil the pasta.  Add frozen peas and seetcorn to chicken mix with a splash of Lea and Perrins.  Drain pasta, take chicken mixture from heat - stir pasta into sauce, stir in 2 tbsp cream and 3 tbsp low fat greek yogurt.  Check seasonning and serve with plenty of black pepper.  Victim approves - which is good because it was her idea, hence the appearance of stroganoff twice in four days.

Potato bake and vegetable cheese

Why should cauliflower have all the fun?  Sliced, and layered potato, onions and bacon pieces - olive oil on the bottom, seasoned between layers and poured in pint of chicken stock.  In medium/hot oven for an hour or so.  Steamed carrots, runner beans and brocolli florets.  Made cheese sauce with mustard, soya milk, cream cheese, cheddar and parmesan.  Victim had seconds, and then stole a bit more.  Not the most calorie free dinner, but very tasty.

You couldn't call it paella

But ricey stuff with polish sausage isn't much of a title either.  Or gloop, which was victim's suggestion.  Victim was less than impressed with dinner, and later requested tuna salad sandwiches.... tssk - but it wasn't half bad - she just has an unreasonable objection to smokey paprika flavours - and the combination of smokey Polish sausage and added paprika and saffron was too much for her taste.  Also gloop does not do justice to the loving attention to detail entailed in removing green borad beans from their grey jackets!  Anyway, usual start fried chopped onions and crushed garlic with celery until soft.  Added chopped mushrooms, artichoke hearts and sliced sausage.  Stirred in handful of paella rice, chicken stock and some paprika and a pinch of saffron with a grind of black pepper.  Added tin of chopped tomatoes and left to simmer happily away for about 15-18 minutes.  Meanwhile boiled broad beans for a couple of minutes, then drained and removed the little buggers from their jackets.  Stirred the beans into the ricey mixture and glooped into a bowl.  Jobs a good 'un.

Beef, mushroom and green bean stroganoff

Had a massive 4 bean harvest from pot of runner beans - so while they weren't going to be the main ingredient they featured in the dinner.  Also, veg box is not due for a couple of days, so there were not so many choices - hence curly kale and peas were added instead of more traditional stroganoff main stays.  Still, it was tasty.  So, chop and saute one onion in olive oil, add 1 clove chopped garlic.  Chuck in about 400g of steak, in bite sized pieces,  brown, then add other veg you are including - in this case mushrooms and green beans.  Stir in tsp grainy mustard, a stock cube and about a tsp of paprika.  Season, sprinkle with about 1 tbsp flour - stir until flour coats other ingredients, then add about a pint of water.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, ensuring that it doesn't go dry.  Meanwhile cook pasta according to packet instructions.  Chuck softer veg into sauce mix - ie. frozen peas and chopped curly kale, simmer until pasta is done.  Take off the heat, drain pasta and add to sauce, stir in 2 tbsp creme fraiche and 4 tbsp natural yogurt  (in this order, if the yogurt goes in when it is roasting hot it will curdle).  Served, sprinkled with a bit more paprika.  No comment at all from victim.

This, hopefully, is the first of some more regular posts - the gap being due to holidays, and not having the camera handy, rather than some kind of month long fast.  Some intersting meals were had whilst camping eg. rabbit macaroni and competition picnic-ing at outdoor firework concert, but sitting down to write a blog post was considered as boringly too much like work :) by other holiday maker(s).