What are you cooking now?

[vinteuil]

I've been in the laboratory this morning, working on a mushroom stew. I had a box of exotic mushrooms, white, yellow and pink oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms and I think chestnut mushrooms (rather than shiitake). Lightly sautéed the mushrooms with a shallot in Flora's new plant 'butter' (free pack from Coop) and added some garlic, chili flakes and thyme. Then a glass of white wine. It's usually a bit watery so I thought I'd mix up a bit of cornflour with … something else. As caradamom was the only spice in powder form I mixed it with the dry cornflour and then added cold water to dissolve without lumps. Currently on a very low simmer with the cover on. Nice pale yellow colour. Shall serve with rice. Off to greengocer to get some fruit for afters.

... weeeeellll, I shall wait to hear your verdict. But my feeling wd be that with something as delikit as your mushroom - and pertick'ly with such poncey 'shrooms as what you have there - you really don't want to mess them around with too much else. So the addition of - garlick, chilli, thyme, cornflour, cardamom (?!!) - wd seem, I dunno, brave?? You will be losing the suttlety with all that added vibrato. But of course I may be wrong and it may prove a triumph. I was not the chef at the Battle of Marengo....

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[french frank]

... weeeeellll, I shall wait to hear your verdict. But my feeling wd be that with something as delikit as your mushroom - and pertick'ly with such poncey 'shrooms as what you have there - you really don't want to mess them around with too much else. So the addition of - garlick, chilli, thyme, cornflour, cardamom (?!!) - wd seem, I dunno, brave?? You will be losing the suttlety with all that added vibrato. But of course I may be wrong and it may prove a triumph. I was not the chef at the Battle of Marengo....

.

You may be right, o vinteuil. My last stew with these fungoids suggested an elusive flavour. I wonder what would enhance such flavour as they have? I may have been over enthusiastic with the chili flakes today … but I would stick with the thyme and garlic. Possibly more garlic than I used as I couldn't taste it at all; and a few bits of fresh chopped chili instead of the flakes. And I won't bother thickening with cornflour again though it was no competition for Mrs Cravat's gravy.

Meanwhile, at last a packet of pork belly in the clearance cabinet at Coop. As it must be used by today I shall have to start cooking the rillons de Tours now. These need no experimentation.

[vinteuil]

... it was no competition for Mrs Cravat's gravy.
.

" …I thought my mother was a bad cook, but at least her gravy used to move about. Yours just sort of lies there and sets”.

But that surely was aimed at Griselda Pugh (Hattie Jacques) rather than Patricia Hayes as Mrs Cravatte?

[french frank]

" …I thought my mother was a bad cook, but at least her gravy used to move about. Yours just sort of lies there and sets”.

But that surely was aimed at Griselda Pugh (Hattie Jacques) rather than Patricia Hayes as Mrs Cravatte?

Griselda Pugh? I'd quite forgotten that name

[Pulcinella]

I'm not sure that I'll bother with Coronation Quiche:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/17/king-charles-camilla-coronation-quiche-signature-dish

Cooked spinach, chopped, as one of the ingredients?
Wouldn't the spinach cook in the mixture anyway?

[Barbirollians]

I think Pulci cooking raw spinach would produce lots of water which would spoil the custard . Cooking the spinach in advance and squeezing out the water would prevent that.

[Barbirollians]

Frankly, I am less enamoured of the broad beans rather a waste of their delicate flavour.

[Pulcinella]

I think Pulci cooking raw spinach would produce lots of water which would spoil the custard . Cooking the spinach in advance and squeezing out the water would prevent that.

That's true.

[vinteuil]

Frankly, I am less enamoured of the broad beans rather a waste of their delicate flavour.

Yes. I'm a big fan of your broad bean. If fresh, pleasant to pod them sitting at a table outside in the sunshine with a glass of white to hand.

The dilemma I find : if they're really young, no need to remove the outer layer ; if old and big and tired, very necessary to remove the outer layer. But the ones I get frozen from the supermarket are often of a middling sort, and sometimes I feel no need to hull them - but then sometimes regret not having so done...

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[HighlandDougie]

Yes. I'm a big fan of your broad bean. If fresh, pleasant to pod them sitting at a table outside in the sunshine with a glass of white to hand.

The dilemma I find : if they're really young, no need to remove the outer layer ; if old and big and tired, very necessary to remove the outer layer. But the ones I get frozen from the supermarket are often of a middling sort, and sometimes I feel no need to hull them - but then sometimes regret not having so done...

.

Tsk ... but I know what you mean. Having pounced on broad beans in Leclerc last week and having podded them, the range of sizes among them led to the temptation not to peel all of them (for a risotto) but then the voice of Rowley Leigh intervened ("No, they must be peeled") so, at least an hour later, a huge bag of them was reduced to what seemed like virtually nothing. But, worth it, as the risotto was not at all bad.

[vinteuil]

I'm not sure that I'll bother with Coronation Quiche:

... I think the always-excellent Felicity Cloake agrees with you -

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/apr/17/more-like-spinach-pie-felicity-cloake-tests-king-charles-and-camillas-coronation-quiche

.

[french frank]

if old and big and tired, very necessary to remove the outer layer.

What do you do with the outer layer? I don't throw away anything that's edible, especially cauliflower stumps and beetroot tops. Not sure about pea pods or broadbean pods. When the greengrocer gets the fresh ones in I'll have to experiment.

[Barbirollians]

What do you do with the outer layer? I don't throw away anything that's edible, especially cauliflower stumps and beetroot tops. Not sure about pea pods or broadbean pods. When the greengrocer gets the fresh ones in I'll have to experiment.

Buy double and make Jane Grigson’s broad bean soup in which she throws in some pods

[french frank]

Buy double and make Jane Grigson’s broad bean soup in which she throws in some pods

Was thinking last weekend of Sophie Grigson's chickpea and tomato salad with tahini dressing (plus some green herbs). Got all the stuff and shall make it later in the week - served on a bed of watercress, perhaps. Or rocket.

[french frank]

Was thinking last weekend of Sophie Grigson's chickpea and tomato salad with tahini dressing (plus some green herbs). Got all the stuff and shall make it later in the week - served on a bed of watercress, perhaps. Or rocket.

I made this yesterday - pretty good, but I had half the watercress left over so today I thought I would try a watercress soup of some kind. I found a recipe which suggested the sweetness of carrot went well with watercress, so:

I sweated an onion in some olive oil and added the carrot cut into matchsticks (the recipe said grate it, but I didn't). I added some garlic and some fresh chopped ginger. When it was softening I added a vegetable stock (from a cube) and simmered it for long enough to more or less cook the carrot - about 10 mins; then I chopped up and added the watercress and simmered that for a further five minutes. Most of the recipes I saw wanted to liquidise, blend, blitz or purée the mixture but I don't like that as I prefer the solids to remain solid. I added some (plant) milk to add a bit of depth to the colour and topped with my favourite soup topping: dry roasted flaked almonds which I rather burnt through inattention. I didn't add any salt because the stock cube has enough.