IEnjoyedThat Score: 8 out of 10 You know how it is. Your friends have the fancy car, the one with heated rear seatbelts and more sensors than NASA and you’re… well, you’re driving a Peugeot 106 (no offence, that’s me!). Tin can on wheels. Well, it’s a little like that with these BBC Good Food…
Month: February 2016
Menu // 29th Feb 16
Things are not going to well on “The Plan” lately… We are trying to be good, but enough said. Let’s leave it at that. Unintentionally perhaps, but the menu this week has turned into a bit of a chicken-fest: Morrocan Monday, stir-fry Friday, Sunday roast – any which way you want your bird, we…
Pasta with smoked salmon and spicy red pepper sauce
Or Linguine Avellinesi as Gino D’Acampo calls it in his “Gino’s Pasta” book. Apparently he trekked to the foothills of southern Italy for this one and didn’t even get a crease in his polo shirt. I want that job. It is pretty darn good though, so all credit to Gino for wangling the recipe out…
Pot-roasted gurnard
Gurnard? What’s that then? Ugly, that’s what. Big head, googly eyes and spiny. He’s a bottom dweller, shuffling around on front fins that have developed into leg-like appendages with his tail in the air, hunting out baby crabs and suchlike. What’s really amazing is that if, when gutting it, you open his stomach you will…
Pork and mango kebabs with salad and potatoes
IEnjoyedThat Score: 9 out of 10 Phew! After last night’s uninspiring dinner I was wondering whether Nigel would be able to pull things back. Could he magic a rabbit from the hat? Would our faith be restored? As it turned out, I think it was a bit of a triumph. Pork, mango, grain mustard, lemon….
Stir-fried chicken with cashews and brocolli
IEnjoyedThat Score: 5 out of 10 The problem, I think, with recipes that have few ingredients is that they can easily become a little one-dimensional. They often lack the complexity, depth or subtlety that is found in other, more detailed, dishes. So it is with this Nigel Slater idea. I say idea, rather than recipe, because…
Menu // 23rd Feb 16
No, we haven’t missed a week. Well, we have, but that was because we were on holiday. On holiday everything is enjoyed! Naughtiness is had, copious fine wine and hearty food is consumed, good company is fondly remembered and nothing is written down. What happens on holiday stays on holiday… However now the cold light of…
Roast red mullet with potato, olives and capers
IEnjoyedThat Score: 10 out of 10 It’s strange how circumstances sometimes come together just right; how a series of events happen that make you think “this is just meant to be!”. So it was with this fantastic roast mullet. We’d come home from yesterday’s fish filleting experience with bags of beautiful produce, most of which we decided…
Steak showdown!
It was the night of the Big Fight… In the red corner: Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Rib Eye In the blue corner: Waitrose Supreme Aberdeen Angus Sirloin The jacket potatoes could barely contain themselves and the salad was dressed for the occasion. A ripple of cress, and the griddle was lit. The temperature rose quickly across…
Mango, avocado and black rice salad with chicken
IEnjoyedThat Score: 9 out of 10 You never quite know how new recipes are going to pan out, especially those you find on the internet. So we were pleasantly surprised with this one from Ambitious Kitchen. Although having many similarities to a Jamie Oliver concoction we enjoyed a while back, I think we both agreed…
Indian-spiced potatoes with chicken thighs
IEnjoyedThat Score: 10 out of 10 Not often does a recipe get the full house, especially one that, on paper, looked so unassuming. Potatoes, chicken, aubergine and spices: we thought it’d probably be ok but it was so much more. It was just yummy. What lifts it up a level is the yoghurt dressing. All…
Menu // 7th Feb 16
The kitchen is a great place to sit and write. A grey night is drawing in and it’s going to build into a rather blustery day (as Pooh would say) tomorrow. In fact, it sounds like the rain is beginning already. But sitting here, Mrs L doing her prep for school tomorrow and a pot…
I Enjoyed That! 