One side dish I have been eating a lot recently is a very simple dish of steamed green beans and carrots.
Sometimes I add some olive oil, other times butter, usually though I leave them as is. I find that organic is the most tasty.
Redbush Tea
I am currently enjoying a cup of Redbush Tea, which isn’t really tea at all.
It is made from a plant only grown near Capetown in South Africa. Redbush tea tastes a little bit like normal tea, but with a slightly earthy, naturally sweeter taste.
I drink it with milk, but you can drink it without.
It’s a refreshing change from normal tea.
Bargain
Well I got a bit of a bargain yesterday from the deli counter at Sainsburys.
They had some cooked mini Turkey joints (around 500g) reduced from £9.99 to 99p, a nine pound saving. It wasn’t as though the use by date was yesterday either, bought yesterday on the 29th December, to be used by the 1st January.
It was cheaper than buying a couple of slices of the cooked turkey (which is why I was at the deli counter in the first place).
It wasn’t the best or most tasty turkey, but it works well in sandwiches. Of course we didn’t have turkey at Christmas, so we didn’t have lots left over like those poor people who buy and cook those HUGE turkeys!
Young’s Premium Scampi
Okay so I succumbed to the advertising outside my local supermarket and I went and purchased a bag of Young’s Premium Scampi.
These frozen scampi take seventeen minutes in the oven and are typical scampi to be honest, nothing special and nothing really to write home about (or a blog entry, oops).
I don’t know maybe, my expectations were too high, but I was thinking they would be extra special, but they didn’t really hit the spot, reminded me more of the scampi I would get from the local chippy.
Not going to go on my shopping list again.
Roasting Sweet Potatoes
I like sweet potato and though I know a lot of people mash them, I much prefer to roast them.
My preference is simple to cut into slices and roast in the oven with a splash of olive oil. They then have a natural sweetness which really adds to a meal.
Remember to thaw out the puff pastry…
Just a tip really, when cooking boeuf en croute (beef in puff pastry) remember to get the frozen puff pastry out in plenty of time!
Trying to thaw out puff pastry quickly basically doesn’t work, it will either break into lots of pieces, or go funny in the microwave.
Even if you manage to overcome those problems, it cooks okay, but not perfectly.
So tip of the day, go out and buy fresh puff pastry, make your own, or if you are using frozen puff pastry get it out of the freezer in plenty of time and not thirty minutes before you want to start cooking.
Ugh
Have just been watching Rick Stein on BBC Two and to be honest nothing I saw was remotely appetising!
Maybe it was where he was, but most of the dishes I saw I didn’t like the look of, so much so I turned it off!
Bizarre!
There are some good food programmes on television, there are some really good programmes, there are some poor offerings and then there is the downright bizarre!
In the Ready, Steady, Cook slot is a bizarre programme called Food Poker!
Basically chefs play a weird kind of poker to pitch a dish from ingredients that are on their cards.
As a result you get weird dishes like oriental haggis!
It is just bizarre.
I know, but they taste so nice…
I am generally very much as fan of fresh produce, organic tasty home cooked food and a proponent of home baking.
So why do I enjoy Mr Kipling’s Bakewell Slices so much?
They taste so nice!
I know I could cook a “better” bakewell tart, one which contains a lot less sugars, additives and probably a lot more taste (and more natural almond taste).
There is something I guess nostalgic for me about these slices and it is that memory I am enjoying again through the slices rather than the actual taste.
Sweet Potato
I have really got back into sweet potato.
I use to eat it a lot and as with anything you eat too much of, got kind of bored of it. Recently I have got back into it. My preference is simple to cut into slices and roast in the oven with a splash of olive oil. They then have a natural sweetness which really adds to a meal.
I do also quite like them mashed, but roasted slices will always be my first choice.