Author: jamesclay

Posted on

Sainsbury’s King Prawns With Orzo

When I bought my paella the other day, it was part of a deal, buy two meals from the range for £5. The other dish I got was one with king prawns and orzo pasta.

Lunch

King prawns with orzo pasta, roasted red onion, red and yellow peppers and courgettes, cherry tomatoes, baby leaf spinach and a tomato dressing.

I thought this was a much nicer meal than the paella. It did taste fresh and the addition of the fresh tomato sauce worked well. If I was to change one aspect of the dish, that would be the prawns, as they were already cooked, heating them up with the rest of the dish did “ruin” them. Though all the ingredients were cooked and just needed reheating, some ingredients do better than others when reheated. Prawns shrink and become chewy. If I was got get this meal again, I would probably remove the prawns before reheating and then add them at the end.

Of course the other option is to make this dish from scratch (always challenging when at work, but easier to do at home) I would use raw prawns rather than cooked ones.

I did enjoy this dish, it tasted fresher compared to other meals from Sainsbury’s however with a standard price of £3.70 I think it is quite expensive, good value as part of the deal, less so on its own.

Posted on

Wimp!

Shandy

Not sure why I bought ten bottles of shandy… but I did…

£1.89 seemed quite cheap….

Not that nice and too fizzy…

Why….

Posted on

Sainsbury’s Paella

Yesterday I needed something quick for lunch and as I was passing Sainsbury’s I popped in thinking I would get a salad, in the end I bought a paella to bung into the microwave at work.

Lunch

Paprika and garlic chicken and king prawns with savoury arborio rice, red pepper and peas sprinkled with chorizo.

I kind of knew what I was expecting having bought paella from Sainsbury’s before.

This was very similar to that experience, but had more flavour than that version. It was nowhere near what I know I can create in the kitchen, but for a quick lunch it was pretty nice.

Posted on

Theakston’s Lightfoot

Lightfoot

Mention Theakston’s and most people think of Old Peculier, of course it’s not the only beer they brew.

I have drunk Old Peculier, Best and XB before, but when I recently saw a bottle of Lightfoot, I hadn’t seen it before, so bought a bottle.

Lightfoot Bitter was created as a tribute to Lightfoot Brewery, Masham which we acquired in 1919. The label and pump clip depict the original Brewery site, here in Masham, at the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. This is a delicious and refreshing, golden ale – brewed in the time honoured Theakston fashion.

It’s light in colour and though the website describes the smell and taste as floral, this is no Golden Glory!

I really enjoyed it, very light and refreshing, an ideal beer for the summer.

Posted on

Four Seasons

On a recent visit to Pizza Express (had some Tesco vouchers to use up) I chose for my starter, the Bruschetta Salami, for my main course I went for the Four Seasons pizza.

Four different quarters: mushrooms, pepperoni, anchovies & capers, mozzarella, finished with olives.

As is usually the case with Pizza Express the base was thin, in the Italian style and generous toppings without too much cheese. I really enjoyed the different toppings, but had forgotten how salty anchovies can be, but enjoyed that quarter. The sliced big field mushrooms worked well, as did the mozzarella. I thought the pepperoni was a little too thin, so was crispier than I liked, but had a good flavour and not too much heat. The olives finished it off.

I do like the pizza at Pizza Express and compared to other pizza chains, it is a much tastier and more authentic experience.

Posted on

Fluffy Pancakes

After posting on Twitter yesterday that I had pancakes for breakfast (well that is what the Twitter was created for) a reply from a friend asked if I had had the flat English ones, or the fluffy American style?

I had cooked the flat English kind, but inspired this morning I looked in the cupboard for the Bicarbonate of Soda… A yes I remembered that we had done some science experiments with it a while back… Hmmm, there was some Baking Powder though, not quite the same, but should have the same effect.

I added a teaspoon to my usual mix of plain flour, egg, spoonful of sugar, vanilla and milk. With the pancake pan, I did lower the heat, as these would be thicker than the flat English kind.

The result was pretty good, light, thick and fluffy. Slightly different taste, which meant though I enjoyed them, the little people were less impressed… It was a good thing I had cooked some of the flat English kind too.

Posted on

Doombar

My first experience with this Cornish beer was in Somerset, I also enjoyed a few pints in Devon, more recently I enjoyed a bottle at home here in North Somerset. One day I might get to enjoy this Cornish beer in Cornwall itself.

Doombar

It’s a very nice bitter and very smooth, making it a refreshing and enjoyable beer. Glad to find it in bottles to making it easier to drink at home.

Posted on

Poached Eggs

This morning I had poached eggs for breakfast. I don’t use a egg poaching pan, simply a pan of simmering water.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, I then stir the boiling water into a “spin” and crack the egg into the spinning vortex. Turn down the heat to a simmer, put the bread into the toaster, when the toast pops up, usually the eggs are done, firm white and soft yolk.

A lot of books I have read (and seen on cookery programmes on the TV) say that you should add vinegar to the water to “stop the egg from breaking apart” as you cook it. Personally I don’t add vinegar as I find it has a minimal or negligible effect (in other words I have seen eggs break apart even with vinegar in the water) and it has to be said it adds a vinegar flavour to the egg. I certainly noticed this when I last had poached eggs in a hotel recently.

I find that actually the best thing is to use really fresh eggs, it is old eggs that fall apart when poaching and not the use of vinegar that keeps it together, as you can see in the picture of my eggs above, still nice and whole! Just some freshly ground black pepper and serve.

Posted on

Bruschetta Salami

On a recent visit to Pizza Express (had some Tesco vouchers to use up) I chose for my starter, the Bruschetta Salami at £4.75, the menu said it consisted of mozzarella, cured Italian meats, olives, rocket and grana padano.

Reading the menu and seeing bruschetta, I anticipated seeing some toasted ciabatta topped with all the other ingredients. So I was quite surprised when it arrived…

Using a pizza style base was certainly not what I expected and was quite surprised by. However the dish as a whole worked well and I really enjoyed it.