food, reviews and of course coffee
In December 2009 I went to a conference in Auckland in New Zealand. A friend took me out for a meal at a wonderful restaurant. Alas I don’t recall the name or the location…
I went with the mussels.
This was a wonderfully freshly cooked Thai curry with mussels.
It was delicious.
It’s not just pubs that go for using the deep fat fryer for meals.
Sometimes I wish any place that serves food have a little more imagination.
Look at this meal I had at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Most of the stuff on that platter is deep fried!
Personally I would have liked them to use fresh ingredients rather than processed stuff out of the freezer that is then thrown into the deep fat fryer. Why not take a leaf out of the Spanish tapas cookbook or a Greek meze cookbook and be more creative.
In December 2009 I went to a conference in Auckland in New Zealand. I visited the Auckland War Memorial Museum and wasn’t going to have lunch there, but did like the sound of this dish on the menu, however it wasn’t quite what I expected or anticipated. As a result I was little disappointed.
On Channel 4 this evening is a new series from Jamie Oliver on 30 minute meals.
So what milk do you buy?
There is a lot of choice available these days. My milk of choice is usually organic skimmed.
Sometimes speed and ease is what is needed in the kitchen. I do use tinned pulses and beans a fair bit in my cooking. Though I know I can buy dried, soak and cook them myself, I do find that using tinned is quick and easy. It also allows for last minute changes to recipes or what I am going to cook for dinner.
One problem I do have is that sometimes a regular sized tin of pulses or beans is too big. So I was pleased to find these small tins at my local Waitrose of Cannellini and Borlotti Beans.
What is also nice about these is that the beans are not in brine, so less salty.
So how did I make the salad?
Well it was literally thrown together very quickly. I cooked off the pancetta in a frying pan and then mixed it with the drained beans and sweetcorn. I then dressed the salad with olive oil, white wine vinegar and freshly ground black pepper.
There is something very tasty and somewhat healthy about a freshly cooked vegetable stir fry.
It’s also so simple to do too.
Prepare the vegetables using whatever you have in the fridge. Fry in a wok or as I do in a large frying pan.
You can add sauce if you want, sometimes all I use is a little chinese five spice. I also sometimes add cashew nuts for added crunch.
Great on it’s own, but also nice with some spicy pork.
Sometimes speed and ease is what is needed in the kitchen. I do use tinned pulses and beans a fair bit in my cooking. Though I know I can buy dried, soak and cook them myself, I do find that using tinned is quick and easy. It also allows for last minute changes to recipes or what I am going to cook for dinner.
One problem I do have is that sometimes a regular sized tin of pulses or beans is too big. So I was pleased to find these small tins at my local Waitrose of Cannellini Beans.
I have used these for salads and for cooking.
What is also nice about these is that the beans are not in brine, so less salty.
I do quite like fish and chips, but rarely eat them when I am out to eat, unless I am buying a take away. Down in Plymouth in the Watering Hole down on the quay I made an exception for these.
The batter was good, the mushy peas were good. I took fries in preference to the chunky chips on the menu. I didn’t though think much of the tartar sauce. Though that may be because I don’t like tartar sauce!
Enjoyed reading this blog article about the differences between the fast food you see in the advertising and the fast food you actually get.
People around the world know fast food as one of the most reliable distributors of disappointment ever produced by the business world. We know that if we ever feel the need to complain about something, we can just grab a page out of a coupon booklet, adorned in pictures of juicy burgers, then go have a party. Why, the restaurants themselves usually plaster their walls with pictures of juicy burgers – often hanging right over your table – so that you need only open your eyes to find something to compare your food with, while you eat it. Needless to say, the results of my little project were unsurprising… which shouldn’t be a surprise.
My favourite part is that the food in many of the advertising pictures wouldn’t actually fit in the boxes that they are supplied in!
Sometimes speed and ease is what is needed in the kitchen. I do use tinned pulses and beans a fair bit in my cooking. Though I know I can buy dried, soak and cook them myself, I do find that using tinned is quick and easy. It also allows for last minute changes to recipes or what I am going to cook for dinner.
One problem I do have is that sometimes a regular sized tin of pulses or beans is too big. So I was pleased to find these small tins at my local Waitrose of Borlotti Beans.
I have used these for salads and for cooking, as with my recent pork and borlotti beans recipe.
What is also nice about these is that the beans are not in brine, so less salty.