January. Does it go by quickly or does it drag its heels? Whichever way you think the first month of the year passes, once it's gone the rest of the year gathers speed. It's going by quickly for me but at least I can look back with satisfaction about the various things I've been doing.
This is a blog about my cooking so I'll stick with that for now.
I have followed two recipes from Nigel Slater's Appetite (2000) this month, both in the same weekend. On Saturday 19 January 2019 I made sausages with mash. Delicious gravy with onions and marsala. The following day I made Nigel's hearty and warming chicken stew. Very simple: carrots, parsnips and leeks cut in chunks, onions cut in wedges. Having browned the jointed chicken, I removed it from the pot and added the vegetables. The chicken was returned to the pot, covered with water and some pearl barley (cooked separately) was mixed in. So were lots of herbs from the garden. Finally the ingredients were topped with sliced potatoes. It wasn't a strongly flavoured dish (I'm not sure whether it was a stew or a soup) but it gave the spouse, the younger offspring and me two days' worth of meals.
This weekend (26-27 January) I have made two savoury meals from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty More (published in 2014 but you can find the recipe here). The first was cauliflower cake. It was very good even though it was basically a baked cauliflower cheese.
The spouse has spoiled me for many years by bringing me breakfast in bed but these days we are taking turns to cook the Sunday kickstart. I cooked Ottolenghi's spicy scrambled eggs this morning. When I tell you that the ingredients were onions, ginger, ground cardamom, chopped fresh chili, skinned and chopped tomatoes, ground cumin, tomato puree etc, and that the garnish was sliced spring onions, chopped coriander and chili flakes, then you'll understand that there was a lot of work involved. Not that it wasn't worth it.
Anyone who has stuck with this blog - even though it has become more sporadic in recent years - will know that I like baking sweet things. The two sweet things I've baked this month were pecan toffee shortbread (from Bridget Jones' Comfort Food) and crunchy jumbles (from Martha Day's Baking). I cannot emphasise enough how delicious pecan toffee shortbread is. I posted the recipe on my FB page and people will be eternally grateful to me for sharing the love.
A new love is the recipe for crunchy jumbles by Martha Day. I haven't eaten "crisped rice" cereal in years and apart from using this snappy, crackly and popping stuff in these biscuits, I don't think I will again. I couldn't believe how sweet a single piece was. Nevertheless, the cereal was well teamed with white chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.
And if you're wondering about the title of this blog entry, the line "The supper and knives of a mood" is from January 1939 by Dylan Thomas. Rather apt, I thought.
So until next time.
All good wishes for 2019.
Minnie
This is a blog about my cooking so I'll stick with that for now.
I have followed two recipes from Nigel Slater's Appetite (2000) this month, both in the same weekend. On Saturday 19 January 2019 I made sausages with mash. Delicious gravy with onions and marsala. The following day I made Nigel's hearty and warming chicken stew. Very simple: carrots, parsnips and leeks cut in chunks, onions cut in wedges. Having browned the jointed chicken, I removed it from the pot and added the vegetables. The chicken was returned to the pot, covered with water and some pearl barley (cooked separately) was mixed in. So were lots of herbs from the garden. Finally the ingredients were topped with sliced potatoes. It wasn't a strongly flavoured dish (I'm not sure whether it was a stew or a soup) but it gave the spouse, the younger offspring and me two days' worth of meals.
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| Cauliflower cake (Ottolenghi's Plenty More) |
The spouse has spoiled me for many years by bringing me breakfast in bed but these days we are taking turns to cook the Sunday kickstart. I cooked Ottolenghi's spicy scrambled eggs this morning. When I tell you that the ingredients were onions, ginger, ground cardamom, chopped fresh chili, skinned and chopped tomatoes, ground cumin, tomato puree etc, and that the garnish was sliced spring onions, chopped coriander and chili flakes, then you'll understand that there was a lot of work involved. Not that it wasn't worth it.
Anyone who has stuck with this blog - even though it has become more sporadic in recent years - will know that I like baking sweet things. The two sweet things I've baked this month were pecan toffee shortbread (from Bridget Jones' Comfort Food) and crunchy jumbles (from Martha Day's Baking). I cannot emphasise enough how delicious pecan toffee shortbread is. I posted the recipe on my FB page and people will be eternally grateful to me for sharing the love.
 |
| Pecan toffee shortbread: joy on a plate |
And if you're wondering about the title of this blog entry, the line "The supper and knives of a mood" is from January 1939 by Dylan Thomas. Rather apt, I thought.
So until next time.
All good wishes for 2019.
Minnie
The spicy egg was indeed worth it. Thank you. x
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