Category: stuff

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Merguez sausages

One of my favourite sausages is the merguez sausage.

This is a North African spicy lamb and beef sausage that is really nice and meaty with a hot and spicy taste.

Merguez sausages

Merguez is made with lamb or beef, and flavoured with a wide range of spices, such as sumac for tartness, and paprika, cayenne, or harissa, a hot chilli paste that gives it a red colour.

I have had Merguez sausages in Cafe Rouge and have had trouble finding them for sale in my local suppliers.

However was pleased to find them in Taste.

Just grilled they were delicious.


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Goat’s Cheese and Bury Black Pudding

Went out for dinner tonight, a spur of the moment kind of thing at a local pub.

For starters I went for what sounded like an interesting dish.

Goat’s Cheese and Bury Black Pudding

It consisted of slices of Bury black pudding topped with goat’s cheese and cranberry sauce.

Overall it was interesting but not really anything special. It lacked flavour and there was way too much salad on the plate.

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Really, really, is this real!

I did a double take when  first saw this kitchen gadget in John Lewis recently.

I could not believe that such a device existed.

Well it does and here is the photograph to prove it!

Egg Toaster

It is a toaster which you can use to also poach an egg!

Bizarre!

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My second quiche

Well having made my first quiche, I went ahead and made another.

Quiche

I was inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe I saw on his At Home series, though this is not quite the same as he used potatoes and asparagus  in his.

First I cooked the pastry case blind, I will admit to using ready made pastry; well it is easier and faster at times.

Once this has cooled, in a pan I cooked some onions off with red pepper, mushrooms, parsley and pancetta.

These were then placed in the pastry case.

I then in a jug, mixed four eggs, some cream and a splash of milk.

This I poured into the pastry case.

I then placed the quiche in the oven, and topped up the egg mixture (which I may have spilt if I did this before I popped it into the oven).

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and has gone slightly brown.

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Cheeseburger

Well not sure that was such a good idea.

On the train (a First Great Western high speed train) and decided to have something to eat from the buffet car and ordered a cheeseburger…

Hmmm, well that was not such a good idea.

It was not very nice and rather salty as well (contained nearly 5g of salt, when you consider that your recommended daily allowance is 6g then that’s a lot of salt).

It reminded me of the burgers I use to make and sell at Travellers Fare Buffet back in the late 1980s…

So things haven’t changed that much!

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Fancy a bit of squirrel?

So there I was driving to Bristol on the A38 when I pasted Taste. I decided to pop in and see what was available.

As well as all the nice fish and deli stuff on sale, the butcher’s counter was selling squirrel for £2.90 ($5.80).

Hmmm.

Decided it wasn’t for me.

It’s not  as though I am not willing to try new foods, I remember eating octopus in Venice once and alligator in an Old Orleans restaurant in York back in the early 1990s.

However squirrel did not appeal.

Probably because I think of squirrels as just rats with good PR and I don’t think I want to eat rat!

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Asparagus Quiche

As I was making this asparagus quiche, it occurred to me that I hadn’t ever made a quiche before.

Asparagus Quiche

So this is my first quiche.

I was inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe I saw on his At Home series, though this is not quite the same as he used potatoes in his.

First I cooked the pastry case blind, I will admit to using ready made pastry; well it is easier and faster at times.

Once this has cooled, in a pan I cooked some onions off.

These were then placed in the pastry case.

I then in a jug, mixed four eggs, some cream and a splash of milk.

This I poured into the pastry case.

I then added some cooked asparagus.

I then placed the quiche in the oven, and topped up the egg mixture (which I may have spilt if I did this before I popped it into the oven).

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and has gone slightly brown.

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Coleslaw variations

I have been trying some different variations on the coleslaw I usually make.

One variation was to use savoy cabbage over the pointed or white cabbage I usually use which worked well and looked very nice as well as tasting slightly different.

My latest variation was to use red onion as well as a traditional onion and add some finely grated parsnip to the mix which added a subtle difference to the flavour.

Coleslaw

You can add a variety of root vegetables and brassicas to coleslaw so why not try something different to the usual cabbage, carrot and onion.