food, reviews and of course coffee
Most people probably think pasta is pasta isn’t it?
Well sorry no it isn’t. Cheap pasta is cheap and nasty. Good pasta makes a huge difference to the taste of a pasta dish.
Part of it is the flour which used, another key is the dies used the “form” the pasta.
If all you ever eat is cheap pasta, treat yourself and get some decent good pasta and see if you can tell the difference.
So here I am at the same place with the same vending machine I was last week.
Must remember do not buy the KitKat Crunchy!
It’s horrible.
According to a recent survey, we as a nation in the UK throw away 1.3m unopened yogurts every day.
The BBC reports on the survey:
More than a million unopened pots of yogurt and yogurt drinks are thrown away in the UK every day – that’s 484 million a year, according to recent research.
And it’s not just yoghurt!
4.4 million whole apples and 1.2 million sausages are thrown away each day.
What a waste!
What are you throwing away?
Photo source.
I am going through a risotto phase at the moment.
This is my original lemon risotto recipe.
In a large frying pan, place some olive oil and butter. Then add some finely chopped onion and the zest of two lemons.
Soften the onions.
Bring up the heat.
Add the risotto rice and ensure that the rice is coated in the oil and butter.
Add a splash of white wine.
Now add some chicken stock.
Keep topping up with stock to ensure that the rice doesn’t dry out.
Once the rice is virtually cooked, add the juice of the lemons, a large handful of grated parmesan, some roughly chopped rocket and some freshly ground black pepper.
Serve, garnish with a few slices of lemon.
One of the things I like to have with a meal is a nice and simple green salad.
A few mixed leaves, maybe some tomato. Dressed with olive oil and white wine vinegar and some freshly ground black pepper.
Simple yet delicious and refreshing.
I do quite like poaching chicken, it allows me to cook chicken quickly and keep is tender and moist.
However the downside is that it can look a bit unappetising.
Here is what I did recently when poaching chicken, though it might be worthwhile talking about the poaching itself.
I take a pan of water, add some herbs, some onion, a carrot and if I had other veg I add that.
I bone the chicken and place in the pan and simmer for ten minutes.
Remove allow to dry for a while.
I then place the cooked chicken onto a roasting tray, and drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
I then roast them in a hot oven for ten minutes to give them some colour.
As a result quickly cooked moist and tender chicken with colour.
I served it with a vegetable risotto.
Done.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother.
I was feeling peckish, so having very little choice from the vending machine, I went for the KitKat Crunchy.
This is basically a BIG single stick of KitKat.
For me it most certainly did not hit the spot.
I don’t know why, maybe it was the mood I was in, but it didn’t feel quite right.
So next time, either no chocolate, or possibly an original KitKat!
I made this dish as part of a tapas selection. The key is to make the sauce and add the prawns at the last minute.
In a frying pan, soften some onions, after they have softened add some Cajun spices. I don’t like adding the spices too early as they can burn.
Add some chopped tomatoes and some tomato puree.
Cook for a while.
Add raw prawns and let them cook.
When they are firm and pink they are cooked, be careful not to overcook them, as this will make them rubbery.
Done.
I am currently eating and enjoying some Thorntons’ chocolates. Very nice they are too.
One downside, means that I don’t really like eating (cheaper) boxes of chocolates from the likes of Nestle or Cadburys.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in today’s Guardian writes about the golden wonder that is the apricot.
A juicy, ripe apricot, eaten straight from the tree, is one of the sweetest treats summer has to offer. But this brilliant fruit pays dividends in other ways, too …
I was only thinking yesterday that I usually only taste apricots either in a yoghurt or fromage frais or in apricot jam.
Think I might need to look at this fruit again.
Photo source.