What are you cooking now?

[doversoul1]

To use up last years borlotti beans (dried), tomatoes (frozen) from the garden, and a pot of fancy tomato sauce from Sainsbury’s that has been in the fridge longer than it should have been, I’ll be making baked beans this afternoon. This uses up carrots and swede in the fridge that need using up too. Fry an onion or two and the vegetables, let the chopped up tomatoes cook a bit*, add the cooked (having soaked overnight) beans with its cooking water, and add the tomato sauce. Add some water if you like. Put it all in a pot, cover it with the lid on and leave it to cook in the oven for a couple of hours or longer as mark 2 or 3. This doesn’t make good beans on toast but useful when I need something extra on the table.
* this can be tricky when the tomatoes are solid hard but they don't have to be in neat pieces.

[cloughie]

Tonight, Tortilla Espanola with a green salad. Took me years to find. Method that produces a result I enjoy.

Its a perfect spring evening here, so this seems just the thing.

Karajan opera intermezzi and some Sainsbury’s italian plonk to go with.

Yum .

The Karajan Opera Intermezzi CD is pure orchestral schmalz - ideal for cooking and dining!

I have recently cooked this recipe - really tasty - I used spinach instead of kale and on the second occasion used chickpeas instead of the beans. A dry Southern French Grenache Rose went very well with it.

https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/cornish_gypsy_eggs_45609

[french frank]

Not so much cooking as having cooked - and eaten. Three-course Sunday lunch served, courtesy of local Coop, in the back yard: classic tarte flambée (classic, just with sour cream, onions and bacon 'vermicelli': I burnt the onions a bit when stewing them in the wine, but I picked out all the very black bits* and as the bacon caught a little in the oven, the over-coloured onion didn't matter). Then a piece of Roquefort with sourdough bread, finishing with an early nectarine - still slightly sharp but soft and juicy. All washed down with Coop's Spanish Dry White (£3.80 a bottle with a member's voucher). Then two small cups of stovetop coffee. And barely a cloud in the sky.

* shall have a burnt onion sandwich later on

[Pulcinella]

Not so much cooking as having cooked - and eaten. Three-course Sunday lunch served, courtesy of local Coop, in the back yard: classic tarte flambée (classic, just with sour cream, onions and bacon 'vermicelli': I burnt the onions a bit when stewing them in the wine, but I picked out all the very black bits* and as the bacon caught a little in the oven, the over-coloured onion didn't matter). Then a piece of Roquefort with sourdough bread, finishing with an early nectarine - still slightly sharp but soft and juicy. All washed down with Coop's Spanish Dry White (£3.80 a bottle with a member's voucher). Then two small cups of stovetop coffee. And barely a cloud in the sky.

* shall have a burnt onion sandwich later on

I don't think my local Coop offers quite the same level of courtesy, even to its members (yes, I am one!).

[french frank]

I don't think my local Coop offers quite the same level of courtesy, even to its members (yes, I am one!).

Well, I had to do the shopping and cooking. Oh, and taking everything out into the back garden. But they provided the shelves with the food on it!

I do consider myself a simple soul, and flour, water, pinch of salt, olive oil and onion, 2 rashers of streaky bacon, small pot of sour cream, two slices of bread and a small piece of cheese, a bottle of the plonkiest plonk imaginable (I like it!), a nectarine (and I remember now the nectarine came from Ali the greengrocer, and perhaps the onion) - this isn't the high life . But on a beautiful sunny day, it was very good

[Barbirollians]

Made sauce maltaise yesterday for asparagus ( a hollandaise flavoured with orange in this case blood orange ) - a rather stressful experience as I have not made hollandaise for a long time - but with lovely fresh asparagus it was a hit . Not sure I will be doing it again in a hurry though.

[french frank]

What day is it? Sunday, of course! - so it's the traditional classic tarte flambée alsacienne: with sour cream, very finely sliced onions and bacon 'vermicelli tagliati' - to avoid the less than appetising English translation

Just going down to sauté and stew the onions in a drop of white wine before adding the toppings.

[Zucchini]

What day is it? Sunday, of course! - so it's the traditional classic tarte flambée alsacienne: with sour cream, very finely sliced onions and bacon 'vermicelli tagliati' - to avoid the less than appetising English translation

Just going down to sauté and stew the onions in a drop of white wine before adding the toppings.

You can get them in Lidl from time to time. Very nice & made in Frogland..

[french frank]

You can get them in Lidl from time to time. Very nice & made in Frogland..

We do have a new Lidl within walkable distance. But can I abandon the Coop (just across the road?). I do find, no, I have found in the past, that supermarket pizza-type bases aren't very good. And, quite honestly, the reason why I often make a pizza, tarte flambée or pissaladière on a Sunday is because I find it very relaxing to make my bread dough straight after breakfast and potter about doing the other preparations because there's nothing else more pressing to do than check the news and the forum . I wondered whether to try a pichade but I've rather gone off the recipes with a tomato base, so tarte flambée and pissaladière are the current favourites.

[Now eaten: not bad]

[teamsaint]

This evening, River Cottage Summer Garden Soup, p 132.
I was just out of Freshly podded broad beans so resorted to frozen.

Will report back on results.
Stravinsky Symphony in C ( H v K ) and a can of Stella to go with.

Yum, hopefully.

[ardcarp]

Lamb tagine..with organic apricots....just coming to fruition, courtesy of Mrs A. Requested specially by one of my live-in g-kids for her 18th birthday. Excellent choice!

[french frank]

Lamb tagine..with organic apricots....just coming to fruition, courtesy of Mrs A. Requested specially by one of my live-in g-kids for her 18th birthday. Excellent choice!

Can't rival that

But my cooking does depend on what I happen to have and a bit of experimenting. Yesterday (and today - I'm making it again) I had a stir fry with a baked fillet of salmon. Instead of drizzling the stir fry with the usual soy sauce (very oriental), I poured some olive oil into the wok and then stirred in a teaspoonful of Hungarian "Strong Steve" - Erős Pista, basically a fiery paprika paste which is most often added to goulash and soups. Tossed in a mix of bean sprouts, baby sweetcorns, green pepper, chopped baby plum tomatoes, a big spring onion - et voilà! I also laid a paper thin rasher of smoked pancetta over the (lightly smoked) salmon. As I baked this in foil, it needed a minute or so under the grill to crisp up the pancetta a bit.

As it was okay, I shall have the other salmon fillet and remains of the beans sprouts &c today …

[teamsaint]

River Cottage vegetable Biryani.p274 .

As per the recipe really, though the rice instructions are a bit complex, so might cheat there .
Italian plonk and Sibelius Lemminkainen Suite to go with.

Hugh’s book hasn’t let me down yet, so an anticipatory yum.

[vinteuil]

River Cottage vegetable Biryani.p274 .

As per the recipe really, though the rice instructions are a bit complex, so might cheat there .
Italian plonk and Sibelius Lemminkainen Suite to go with.

Hugh’s book hasn’t let me down yet, so an anticipatory yum.

... which of the Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall's books is this, teamsaint?


.

[teamsaint]

... which of the Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall's books is this, teamsaint?


.

River Cottage Veg Every Day.
Came in a set with RC Fruit Every Day, which I have to admit I haven’t used so much. Perhaps will when the the new micro orchard starts producing later in the summer.

Anyhow, the veg book is great, my only complaint would be that there is no overall prep and cooking time. Quantities and instructions are bang on.
Like every other cookbook, 75% of it either isn’t for me, or is side dishes that are too much hassle,but that said, I thoroughly recommend it.

You can prolly get it from the Book People for a snip.

Good deals here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Cottage-Fruit-Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall/dp/1408859300/ref=sr_1_21?crid=21GH88VK35WIK&keywords=river+cottage+veg+everyday+cookbook&qid=1560536908&s=gateway&sprefix=River+cottage+%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-21