Center Parc

We went to Center Parcs.  I was cooking Friday, so decided to use the butternut squash.  I realised that I didn’t have many options for the squash, and the BBC Food website (normally a good fallback) didn’t really have much more.  It seems that the basic options are roasting, or boiling.  Then either serve like chips, or mash and add to something.  I went for the latter option, and mixed with cream, goat’s cheese, white wine and served over spaghetti and buttered cabbage.  It was too sweet, but not bad.

CP also supplied the usual good Sunday lunch.  We had haddock tart (for G – not bad) and goat’s cheese and onion tart (for N- looked really good) with some brilliant vegetables.  Roast potato, roast carrot and parsnip, cauliflower cheese, gravy, Yorkshire puddings, horseradish sauce.  Lovely.

No sprouts box

The next box didn’t contain sprouts! It had

• Half a butternut squash


• Savoy cabbage (it was massive)


• Potatoes


• Carrots


• Lettuce


• Onions


• Leeks

Sprouts to shout about

I had nowhere to run.  N, with the help of B and S, made me eat sprouts tonight.  I was shamed into it.  B liked them too, but S pulled a face.  They weren’t anywhere near as bad as I remember.  They were just boiled, and they tasted like mild small cabbages.  Flush with success, N has been looking for new, “exciting”, recipes for sprouts.  Great (in a Fast Show Jazz Club way).

Pumpkin dilemmas

It’s pumpkin season.  But what to do? I’m never enthused by pumpkin soup.  I tried adding it to a bake, but to be honest, it wasn’t very nice.  I roasted it for ages, and whizzed really smooth.  Added stock and ground black pepper.  I haven’t tried that yet.

Left-over

Left-over aubergine fried with garlic, left-over tinned plum tomato, and chopped roast pumpkin.  Added some cous cous, cumin and coriander.  Baked topped with Sykes Fell cheese, left-over sliced baked potato and left-over chopped black olives.  There was none left-over.

Melton's for N's birthday

Saturday we went to Melton’s (again). I made much better choices this time. I had beautiful goats’ cheese gnocchi (more like little dumpling) with tomato coulis. Then I had a fish platter with cream sauce, aubergine and red pepper. It was absolutely gorgeous. We also had a taster butternut squash soup, bread basket, and small cakes.

Posh dinner

We had Jeremy and Clare over for dinner.  I had learnt from some mistakes made when Andy and Becky came over.  So we had blini (fried in butter – just brilliant) with beetroot chutney (grated beetroot, vinegar, sugar, water, dash cream) and topped with soured cream.  Then aubergine rolling buffalo mozzarella, with leek cous cous and tapenade.  N made a really nice key lime pie with a chocolate digestive base.  Drunk too much wine then – hangover city.

The sprout box!!!

• Purple cauliflower


• Leeks


• Potatoes


• Carrots


• Savoy cabbage


• Sprouts (aaahhhhh)


• Onions

Slater - eat your beetrroot out

Trying to do a Nigel Slater, I bought some beetroot from the market on Saturday.  Boiled, peeled, grated, mixed with cream, cottage cheese, mustard (too much for S and B), piled on buttered jacket potatoes.  It was good.

A few left-overs

What to do with left-over sliced aubergine and red wine.  Fry an onion, garlic, aubergine, courgette, tomato, red wine, cumin, coriander.  Baked with pasta, cheese and mustard. Not bad.

A weekend of eating

On Friday night we had a test out for Saturday night’s meal for Andy and Becky.  It was a great success.  We had courgette fritters (with egg and fried in shallow olive oil) with a tomato chutney (roast and tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, vinegar, sugar) and watercress first.  Then thin-sliced (fried) aubergine wrapping buffalo mozzarella, with leek cous cous and tapenade (black olive, caper, garlic).  N made a fabulous Baileys and chocolate cheesecake.  

Lessons: don’t heat the mozzarella (I grilled the rolls), keep it fresh.  Cous cous will form a shape really easily with any sort of bowl.

Sunday friends in Leeds made us a really nice spinach, mascarpone and walnut cannelloni with salad, and a really nice smoked haddock pate (mashed haddock with Philadelphia cheese and horseradish).

Nice feedback on a feature

I sent a short ‘feature’ to the Evening Press, an expanded version of my Culinary Alchemy blog.  I heard nothing for a week, and then got a really nice reply from the Feature’s Editor, saying it was interesting and well-written.  That really was a nice thing to say.

Box in from the rain

• Carrots


• Potatoes


• Leeks


• Tomatoes


• Courgettes


• Onions


• Broccoli


• Soggy box

bad bad place

It was Mum’s 60th birthday, and we all went to a pub restaurant, the Plough and Harrow in Shentone, Lichfield.  It had a good write-up from a local paper.  An ominous sign was how empty it was at 1pm on Sunday lunchtime, indeed it was empty.  The food that arrived was not bad, N and I had aubergine and mozzarella grilled.  This was served with salad.  But, we had ordered mozzarella and aubergine parcels on a tapenade (spelt tampeanade) with potatoes and vegetables.  The main problem was the speed of service.  We waited almost one hour for our main courses, and bearing in mind it was empty this is way too long.  Even our puddings took 40 minutes, which were mainly ice cream and pie to serve out.  At one point they brought the ice creams for 3 of the 4 children.  S got left out – poor thing.  Anyway, Dad and I complained to the manager, who barely registered the problems.  She gave us £20 off the bill, which I thought was merely a gesture.  I want proper duress, more than obviously never going again.

Next box

Box contained:

• Leeks


• Potatoes


• Carrots


• Broccoli


• Cucumber


• Lettuce


• Onions

A classic salmon tea

Following the stressful day, tea was not top of my list.  Darling N had made oven poached salmon, mashed potato, roast onions with carrots.  It is a classic, and of course all the girls ate heartily.  I was less enamoured, but due entirely to preoccupation.  Anyway, back now, and hopefully the atmosphere will dissipate around here.

A favourite

On Tuesday N cooked a family favourite – pasta with pesto.  Yes, I hear you yawning, but this had some fried onions and red pepper which made it a little different.

Reviews

I’ve had a troublesome few days with work.  I don’t normally let work bother me too much, but the threat of imminent redundancy tends to focus one’s mind.  So, eating has not been a high priority.  Thank goodness the milk/OJ deliveries have resumed, but they are now being hidden, I guess to defend against further theft.

After today, things should get back to normal.

Lazy Monday

Get home Monday evening + had a hard and tiring day + kids have already eaten
= take away curry.

Veg Thali from Lal Quila is brilliant.  It is reasonable authentic Indian food (from experience).  Vegetable fried rice, chapatti, 2 vegetable curries (often one with spinach), a lentil dhal, yoghurt.  What a feast!

Sunday lunch and tea

Lunch on Sunday was looking to be a difficult affair.  The City Screen café was full, so we wandered.  We saw a place called Dusk (? From Dusk ‘til Dawn).  It was small, not busy, and a little cold.  But the food was magnificent.  N and I (shared with MIL) a bread and antipasti platter.  It had olives, brie, chutney, roast aubergines, artichokes, homous, oil and vinegar.  Girls shared this and chips with us.  FIL had a burger (“nice”).

Sunday tea was a Yorkshire pudding roast (mashed potatoes, roast carrots, fried onions, peas).  Filling, nice, and reasonably wholesome.

Laws and in-laws

Tonight for us and in-laws I made a cous cous, roast potato, squash, leeks, garlic, butter, onion mix.  Put in a dish and grilled the top with Sykes Fell Lancashire cheese.  Served with Savoy cabbage.  Went down well with all I think.

After Melton's

We had a fabulous meal.  Table booked for 7:30pm.  We were seated upstairs, which on of us knew existed.  Then we had breads and a Thai fish soup taster.  My starter was scallops in open ravioli (don’t get me started).  It was really gorgeous.  It was also the first time I had scallops.  N had mint and courgette fritters.  Then for main I made a mistake and ordered more open ravioli.  This was with some boring parsnips and carrot, and her butter.  Pud was a crème brullee.  Coffee and small nibbles of cake followed.  Brilliant.