Freestyle Friday #14

I think this is the first Freestyle Friday dish that I can actually call a 'dish', or 'recipe'. As in, it isn't just assembling a load of things to make a salad or something. And while that is always good, I am quite proud of this one. Once again, the original vision in my head had totally changed by the time it got to the table, but I don't see this as a bad thing anymore! I would tell you how I got from my orignal idea to what I actually ended up eating, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to be sitting here for hours...

So anyway, this is what I ended up with. A rather nice hash of couscous and red lentils, mixed with my Spicy Banana Chutney, lemon juice and an egg. Garnished with onion crescents. I had planned to serve the egg on top, so after I had cooked the lentils and couscous in chicken stock, in a saucepan, I just broke it on the top and put the saucepan lid on to cook it. Then I remembered I hadn't mixed in the chutney or lemon juice. Whoops. While I was pondering what to do, I realised that when I scooped the mixture out of the saucepan into a bowl, the egg would probably break up anyway. Or at the very least, it would end up skewiff and sideways and not perched neatly on the top. So I mixed it in with the chutney and lemon juice. It was quite nice to come across bits of egg through the spicy chutney and fresh lemon. The best way I can describe the end result, is that it reminded me of pease pudding. Which, as pease pudding is made from mashed lentils, not totally off the mark.

Some more of the motley crew of ingredients.

Just how I wanted them- in the end. Originally I was going to thiny slice and sweat them for a long time. But hey, if you can't try something different on Freestyle Friday, when can you?!

This is what happened when I tried to take a photograph of the egg cooking! You have to be extremely quick to take photos of things that are hot, it must be done before the lens steams up! I got one of the onions though, so I wasn't a total failure.

Hearty and filling, but still summery. Delicious.

Smooth Soup, A Cool Dish from Cuba and A Satisfying Salad

Although the soup I had for tea on Monday and Tuesday wasn't the prettiest dish, what it lacked in looks it certainly made up for in flavour. Especially for a peanut butter freak like myself. The soup really was smooth, even the onions were grated and sauteed with flour to a smooth paste. There weren't many ingredients, basically just onions, milk, stock and smooth peanut butter, so it was quick to prepare. Also, unusually for a soup, it was quick to cook. I didn't time it exactly, but about twenty five minutes start to finish I think. It's therefore perfect if you want a soup on a weekday after work! I love peanut butter, so I was sure I'd like it, but even if you're not as mad on it as I am, I reckon its still worth a try.

Actually, I've changed my mind, I think it looks fabulous. Like a giant bowl of melted peanut butter. Which can only be a good thing.

 

 

Tonight I went to Cuba for tea. But only in my head (unfortunately!). I don't cook much Cuban food, so I was keen to give this a go, especially when I saw it had bananas in. The banana was cut into chunks and fried, and then added to cooked rice along with some onions. A fried egg perched on top completed the meal! I don't usually cook fried eggs, as a huge amount of oil is usually needed, but I recently saw a method where a lid is placed over the egg so the yolk and top of the white is cooked by steaming! I brushed the pan with a minimal amount of oil, so while technically it's a fried and steamed egg, I would definitely do it again. The egg was cooked perfectly as well, the white was completely cooked but not overdone, and the yolk had just set a little round the edge but was still runny inside. The combination of the runny part of the egg yolk and the banana was quite strange, but not in a bad way. To be honest though, I like pretty much everything I put in my mouth. I can't think of a single food that I won't eat. I will admit, it is perhaps not for everyone, but if you are feeling adventurous... 

I love the smell of cooking onions, one of my top kitchen smells.

Just beginning to turn golden brown, nearly there...

I would eat this on it's own...

The mixture of rice, onion and banana keeping warm whilst the egg cooks.

My large saucepan lid was perfect, it fitted the frying pan and didn't touch the egg!

The finished product.

You may well know by now that I like a salad, and will eat them even when it's freezing outside. And salad is what I have for tea tomorrow. With the temperatures reaching into the early thirties, I think that it is a sensible choice! Apart from boiling an egg, there isn't any other cooking, just assembling- grating carrots, and then mixing with mustard seeds, olives, lemon juice and the boiled egg. Simple as. The original recipe serves four, and needs 800g of grated carrot. I was getting bored grating my 200g. I think if I ever did a larger amount I would be looking for a willing kitchen helper!

 

Tantalising Textures

I haven't had a baked potato in a while so I was quite looking forward to tonight's evening meal. It is perhaps a slightly unusual combination of ingredients, but, being the adventurous cook I am, I had to try it/ It is, quite simply, a baking potato baked (obviously!) in the oven, topped with avocado and crumbled bacon. The sweet, fluffy baked potato, the salty, crunchy and chewy bacon and the creamy coolness of the avocado made for an interesting and extremely satisfying meal. My avocado is in weird sort of slices, as I thought I was going to be mashing it, but on reading the recipe again I realised it said cubed! I would definitely cube it next time, as some of the smaller slivers got a little lost in the fray.

So next time you pick up that can of beans or spaghetti hoops, that block of cheese or tub of butter to go with your baked potato, consider this recipe. I'm sure you won't regret it.

By the way, this recipe, along with the other jacket potato recipes, was listed under the snack section. It is perfectly substantial as a meal on it's own, with no accompaniment! Saying that, some days I do get really hungry...

A Perfectly Planned Ploughman's

It is 28 degrees here today. I love the hot weather. Luckily, I had an appropriate tea for such weather planned, a Ploughman's. But not just any Ploughman's. A 'Hot Ploughman's'. You may ask why I would want a warm meal on a hot day, but it just worked somehow, especially with my little salad bits on the side. I use the term salad loosely, as it was just tomato and carrot! The recipe book version used a 'small, uncut loaf' to serve four people, but I just bought a nice crusty-ish roll to serve one. It worked out pretty well, as the twenty minutes it was in the oven was just the right amount of time for me to shower and wash my hair and cut the vegetables. I love it when a plan comes together.

Fresh out of the oven- it smelled so good; a combination of baking bread, sweet pickle and cheese!

 

Look. How could anybody not want that?!

Freestyle Friday #13 and Saturday's Salad

Sooo, it's here again, Freestyle Friday number 13! Friday the 13th, unlucky for some... but not for me because I had a rather nice salad for tea. I had originally thought of an idea a few days ago, but then I realised I would have beansprouts that needed using so I changed my plan. And anyway, it's not really freestyle if you plan, is it?! I will keep my first idea under wraps, I may yet use it another day...

As is the case on most weeks, my idea stemmed from one ingredient that needed using, in this case the beansprouts. I would usually do some sort of a stir fry, but I have had one for the past two days for tea. And although I really love stir fry, I thought I'd have something different today! And so came the salad. I named it Rollercoaster Salad, because it is so random you don't know where it will take you next, just like a rollercoaster. With the beansprouts, I put (takes huge breath)... white cheese- both grated and cubed-, avocado, bacon, a hard boiled egg, a few black olives and some toast croutons. I also mixed a little dressing of equal parts of English mustard and honey, plus a splash of water to loosen it up a little. I don't really know what to say about it to be honest! Some of the egg yolk sort of mushed into the dressing a little bit at the end, which was nice. It tasted good... so, yeah. Here's some pictures!

Imperfectly shaped (the shell cracked!), but perfectly boiled.

Nearly burnt to a crisp, just the way I like it!

The rollercoaster of randomness itself.

 

 

This is part of tomorrow's lunch. I was going to say it is a similar salad, but it's not really... Well, it has cubed cheese and avocado in, and a hard boiled egg, but that's all really! The other components are bulgur wheat, cucumber, grated carrot and raisins... I think that's it! No dressing. I had originally planned to use cous cous, but didn't think I had any. I then found it in the cupboard whilst looking for something else. Oh well. That's the way it goes sometimes!

Lovely Lasagne and Sweet and Sour Stir Fry

A couple of nights ago, I made lasagne for tea. Not just any lasagne though. It is from a vegetarian cookbook, so I used Quorn! I have never cooked with it before, and I was quite curious so I thought I'd give it a go. You can't really taste the difference when it has been simmering in the sauce for half an hour or so, but the texture is quite soft and not as chewy as actual meat would be. This may have been because it was simmering for so long though. I have some left over so I will definitely try cooking it different ways. I liked it though, it made a nice change and I would have it again. There aren't any pictures though... I ate it too quickly...

For tea last night (and tonight!) I had a sweet and sour stir fry, again from the vegetarian book. The recipe called for a red or green pepper, but I bought an orange one to be different! In hindsight, I wish I had got red, as the stir fry had orange carrot and green cucumber. So it wasn't as colourful as it might have been but it was still tasty. The other main ingredients were beansprouts and pineapple. I always love stir frys, and this was no exception. Healthy, filling, sweet, sour, crunchy, soft.... Something for everyone, how could you not love it.

The sauce ingredients bubbling fiercely away!

A small point. After stir frying, the cucumber skin looked like gherkin skin... insignificant, but thought you might like to know :-P

Final Freezer and Felafel

The last few weeks have been quite busy, what with work and moving and what have you. But I just have to tell you about the last meal I made with the things from my freezer.

I ended up with a couple of random bits, like you do, that I had saved because I don't like waste and/or because I thought they might be useful one day! I had five stuffing balls, an egg white, some diced smoked bacon and some frozen mixed vegetables. I had the idea of a of bubble and squeak hash type concoction which I would cook in the pan, and then grill. I cooked the bacon first, and partly cooked the veg, then just added everything to the bacon pan and mixed it all up. Once it was all in the pan, it was clear one egg white wouldn't be enough to bind it, but I added it anyway. As it wasn't really 'sticking together' I only grilled it for a few minutes, just for the hell of it, as I knew the top wouldn't really go crispy, and hey, I was hungry... Anyway, it was absolutely delicious! Stuffing is one of my favourite things ever, and the whole thing was almost like a roast dinner in a bowl. Which is no bad thing.

From this...

...to this!

 

 

 

And now for tonight's meal which is... Rough Felafel. I don't know whether smooth felafel exists, but that's what it's called! Quite simply, you just mash everything together, egg and flour it and fry. Chickpeas, spices, an onion. It is served with a pitta and veg, I was already buying cucumber so I just had it with that, also suggested were shredded lettuce and tomato. Next time I will try to try it with these as well! I personally feel that youneed the freshness of the accompaniments to cut through the carbs, but I'm sure it would be just as nice without any. The best way to describe it is as a kind of spicy chickpea burger in a pitta, but that really doesn't do it justice. I will definitely be having it again... although with what sort of accompaniment I don't yet know!

Extra felafel that wouldn't fit in the pitta (I destrpyed that but getting it out of the pan anyway!)