Roast trout with peas and lettuce

 

The new kitchen is in!  But all the stuff is still in storage ....

Today we had trout, from the lovely Paul - simply roasted with slices of lemon.  The potatoes were roasted in olive oil, and the veg was cooked with white wine stock (spring onions softened in olive oil, then added frozen peas and wedges of little gem).

Smoked haddock and spinach hotpot

 Week 11 of kitchen renovations... dinners have not been exciting, and have been aesthetically challenged in the main (scampi and oven chips is hardly inspiring!) ... but I am managing a win with most Friday dinners.  Paul's excellent fish helps big style.

The chickens have decided it's spring, and have been laying despite the recent snow - so the classic combination of smoked haddock and poached egg led to this.

Red onion

Olive oil

Potatoes

White wine stock pot

Water

Grainy mustard

Garlic

Green beans

Spinach

Smoked haddock

Eggs

1.  Sautee chopped red onion in olive oil, add crushed garlic.

2.  When a bit soft add slices of peeled potatoes, ad a handful of chopped green beans.

3.  Pour on stock made with a white wine stock pot and a spoonful of wholegrain mustard.

4.  Put the lid on a stew until the potatoes are nearly soft.

5.  Add a couple of big handfuls of baby spinach and the fish.  Lid back on a steam until fish is nearly done - about 10 minutes.

6.  Break in eggs, put the lid back on and steam for another 5 minutes.

7.  Serve, scoff ... a triumph.

Fish wraps ...

The limited kitchen is still presenting its issues, but I am determined to make the most of Paul's fish on a Friday.

This week I had some spare Jamaican jerk seasoning, so I concocted these wraps - with some "sautéed potatoes" and a tomato salsa.  They went down very well.  The jerk seasoning gave a pleasant heat, and left us with tingly lips for a few minutes.

New potatoes

Olive oil

Red onion

Red pepper
Garlic
Haddock
Spinach
White wine
Baby plum tomatoes
Radishes
Tortilla wraps
Sour cream

1.  Mix sliced red onion, red pepper and crushed garlic with a teaspoon or so of jerk seasoning.  Set aside.
2.  Slice new potatoes, toss in a drop of olive oil and a drop of water.  Microwave for 3 minutes.
3.  Now - bear in mind I have only one pan - in a normal world you could fry the potatoes and other veg in two separate pans, and speed the process up.  Fry the potatoes in olive oil, turning fairly frequently, until they are just turning golden brown and a bit crispy.  Move them to the cool side of the pan.
4.  Fry the seasoned onion and pepper for a few minutes.
5.  When the onions and peppers and nearly done, pile them into a strip, and layer the fish on top.
6.  Cover the fish with big handfuls of baby spinach.  Add a splash of white wine, and a splash of water.  Cover and steam for 10 minutes.
7.  Chop red onion, baby plum tomatoes and radish - mix to form salsa.
8.  Sprinkle a tiny bit of water onto wraps, microwave for 1 minute, turn them over, microwave for 10 seconds.
9.  Serve, ... put fish mixture and salsa into wrap, splodge with sour cream ... add sautee potatoes - scoff.

Delicious!

Eggs, potatoes and red peppers

Drawing inspiration from shashuka, but driven by the practicalities of a limited kitchen and limited ingredients ... eggs, with potatoes and red peppers ... it was delicious, actually.  Made even more delicious as our own pekin bantams provided the eggs.

Olive oil
Red onion
Garlic
Mixed herbs
New potatoes
Red pepper
Water
Cherry tomatoes
Eggs


1.  Sautee sliced red onions and crushed garlic.
2.  Slice the potatoes to about the thickness of a £1 coin and add to the onions, stir in.
3.  Chop the red pepper, add to the potatoes with a pinch of mixed herbs.  Add a glass of water and simmer/fry/steam for about 20 minutes.   Add chopped cherry tomatoes.  Keep an eye on it, add more water if it looks like it'll start sticking, turn the heat up if its too liquidy.
4.  Test the potatoes with the point of a sharp knife.  When they are done crack in the eggs.  Cover and cook for about 8 minutes.
5.  It's done when the whites are set ... serve, scoff ... yum

Leek and potato soup, with a bit of toast

Simple, but tasty, and just what we needed on this chilly evening ... the Beast from the East and all that.  Just a word about the crockery ... i) thanks to my brother and his wife for the mug - I hate aubergines, but love the colour ... it's made more than one person laugh a lot ...ii) the christmas plate should have been packed up with the other christmas crockery on 12th night, and delivered to storage with most of the rest of the kitchen ... but emerged from a bedroom last week, after a student came home for the weekend!  Anyway, given the limited stocks with the minimal kitchen, it is back in use.  We are now 8 weeks into the 6-8 week kitchen revamp and have no cooker, fridge or sink ... it'll be worth it in the end.

olive oil
leeks
potato
garlic
wholegrain mustard
water
bread
butter

1.  Chop leeks finely, rinse well and sautee in olive oil.
2. Add crushed garlic and very finerly diced potatoes.
3.  Stir in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, season well.
4.  Add water and simmer until done.
5.  Toast bread.
6.  Butter bread.
7.  Serve, scoff.

Gung hai fat choi

Happy Chinese New Year.  Even with the limited kitchen I love a good excuse for a food related celebration, so I managed this - szechuan noodle stir fry and steamed sea bream. OK - I cheated and bought the stir fry sauce, but cut me some slack, I've not got a kitchen.  The presentation is poor, the flavours were delicious.

Coconut oil
Spring onion
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Green beans
Water chestnuts
Szechaun stir fry sauce

Garlic
Ginger
Chili
Soy sauce
mirin
Sea bream

1. Chop the vegetables into stir fry sized pieces.
2.  Finely chop garlic, ginger and chilli and place in a microwavable bowl.  Add 2 tbsp soy sauce and about the same of mirin.  Put the fish into the marinade, making sure all sides have been flavoured.  Put cling film on the top, pierce, to let out the steam.
3.  Heat the "wok" (or 8 in 1 cooking thing for us) and melt coconut oil.
4.  Put the vegetables in to the "wok" and start stir frying, adding half a cup of water helps it steam cook at the same time.
5.  Nuke the fish for 4 minutes.
6.  Add the stir fry sauce to the vegetables, stir through, make sure it's all hot - you may wish to add a little more water.
7.  By now the fish has been nuked and stood for a couple of minutes - nuke it again for 4 minutes.
8.  Add the noodles to the vegetables, and stir in.  Heat through for a minute or so.
9.  Put the noodles into a dish, and the fish on top.
10.  Serve, scoff ... slightly smugly congratulate yourself for doing better than just take-away 6 full weeks into kitchen renovations.

Crisp sandwich

Amazingly delicious ... don't raise your eyebrows until you've tried it :)

Bread
butter
crisps

1.  Butter bread
2.  Layer crisps on bread.
3.  Top with bread.
4.  Serve with a crisp garnish.

Hehehehehe

One pot pasta "bake"

Alright, it doesn't look amazing - but it was tasty, and rich and comforting.  I made it with GF pasta (red lentil fusilli), but obviously you don't have to.  I also think I put too much cheese in (particularly since I am lactose intolerant) but that just made it more luscious and gooey.

Onion
Olive oil
tuscan seasoning
red pepper
mushrooms
flagolet beans
pasta
water
passata
smoked german cheese (it gives a gentle smoky flavour and a silky richness)
emmental
grated cheddar
black pepper

1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped pepper and mushrooms, sautee again for a couple of minutes.
3.  Add a tin of flagolet beans and a layer of pasta.  Pour in a carton of passata, and about a carton and a half of water.  Lid on, simmer.
4.  After about 10 minutes stir and then add chopped cheese, and allow to melt into the mmix.
5.  Serve, scoff ... blimey it was rich.

Mushrooms on toast

Even the humblest of dinners can be made really quite special with the addition of a tiny twist.  Today I made a simple meal of mushrooms on toast, but made them really garlicky and spread the hot buttered toast with really good whole grain mustard - delicious.  The better the bread, the more delicious the dinner - I only had some wholewheat bloomer, sourdough would have taken it up a notch.

Olive oil

Red onion

Garlic

Mushrooms

Butter

Wholewheat bread

Grainy mustard

Baby spinach

Black pepper

1.  Sautee chopped red onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.

2.  Add loads of sliced mushrooms and a good knob of butter, cook the mushrooms until they release their water, and start to fry again.

3.  Toast the bread.

4.  Add big handfuls of spinach to the mushrooms, and stir in to wilt.

5.  Butter the hot toast and spread with a little good mustard, load on the mushrooms and top with a grind of black pepper.

6.  Serve, scoff ... 12 minutes, start to finish.

Herby potatoes, green beans and feta

Slightly Greek inspired dinner tonight.  Had it been warmer I probably would have done potatoes with a salad, but it was a cold drizzly kind of a day, so I opted for a warm dish - some might still call it salad.

Red onion

Olive oil

Garlic

Cherry tomatoes

Green beans

Potatoes

butter

Chives, parsley

Spinach

Feta

1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.

2.  Add potatoes, green beans, tomatoes and a cup of water.  Cover and boil until potatoes are cooked.  Take the lid off and simmer to allow the water to evaporate.

3.  Add a knob of butter and a small handful of chopped herbs.

4.  Turn off the heat, stir in a couple of large handfuls of spinach to wilt.

5.  Crumble feta on the top.

6.  Serve, scoff

Tasty and refreshing.