food, reviews and of course coffee
Cooked and had some chicken olives from Waitrose. These are boneless chicken thighs stuffed with a pork, apple, walnut and sultana stuffing.
Already prepared, all you need to do is cook them in the oven for about thirty minutes.
They were quite nice, but think I prefer the bacon-wrapped chicken legs stuffed with pork and pistachio that I have made before.
Interesting video from BBC News on Mumbai’s amazing culture of outdoor eating.
Had another one of those dishes from Marks and Spencers’ The Cook Menu range: Atlantic Lemon Sole fillets with Shallot and Tarragon butter and Cherry tomatoes.
A simple dish, pan fry the fish for a few minutes with the tomatoes and then add the butter. Serve.
I served mine with some fresh pasta and steamed vegetables.
It was simple to cook and importantly very quick. Yes this is a dish you could throw together yourself from raw ingredients, but unless you have all the ingredients can result in either an expensive dish or one missing that vital piece of the jigsaw.
I am not a fan of precooked cook chill products you bung in the microwave, however this range from Marks and Spencers (and other supermarkets like Waitrose and Tesco are now doing them too) are quick and easy, but also give you ideas and inspirsation for when you do have the time. They are also just the ingredients and are raw products that need cooking.
Cooked and enjoyed Marks and Spencers’ Pork Medallions with a cider and shallot sauce last night
I normally prefer to cook my own sauces than use shop ones, but this Marks and Spencers isn’t too bad.
Whatever you fancy for dinner and whatever the occasion, M&S’s NEW The Cook Menu has something to offer. You’ll find a variety of exciting dishes, inspired by flavours from around the world, which all use the very best ingredients: fresh vegetables, sustainable fish and quality cuts of meat from M&S-approved farms. The preparation work has been done for you, so you can concentrate on the enjoyment of cooking and add an individual touch.
So what do you get?
Well you get some pork fillet sliced and a sachet of sauce, not enough sauce really, more would have been nice.
So you pan fry the pork and then remove from the pan and heat through the sauce.
I served mine with some fresh pasta and steamed vegetables.
It wasn’t that bad actually, quite good really.
Yes you could do this all yourself, however I didn’t have a huge amount of time, and nor did I have the ingredients for the sauce and that’s the real time and money saver with these.
Would I buy it again, yes I would.
I saw recently at a supermarket a Shwartz Spice Blend in a small metal container (not the usual Schwarts glass jars) a Coriander, Ginger and Mango Spice Blend. I thought that looks interesting, so I bought it.
Taking some fresh chicken breast, I diced it and then in a bowl added some sunflower oil (a more neutral flavour than olive oil) and mixed in some of the spice blend with the chicken.
I then put the chicken on skewers and grilled them.
Very nice.
I do like this dish which is simply the spicy Spanish sausage, sautéed in red wine.
I have started using Tesco’s Cooking Chorizo which is not as hard (or as chewy) as the traditional dried chorizo which you can buy from most supermarkets.
Just a note you are buying the whole sausage and not the thinly salami style sliced version.
My method is to cut the chorizo into slices about quarter of an inch thick. Fry in a large frying pan until sealed on both sides and just starting to go a little crispy. At this point I add the red wine (Spanish red wine is best, but I am sure you can use any good red wine).
Cook the chorizo for a few more minutes.
Serve as part of a tapas or with salad. The red wine with the chorizo makes a wonderfully spicy sauce which you can dunk warm soft bread into.
I have been enjoying Illy coffee in my espresso machine. It is still probably my favourite coffee.
When I use to visit Italy a lot I would always try and ensure that the coffee I drank when out and about was Illy.
Even today when looking for coffee, if I see an Illy sign, I make a beeline for that cafe over any other.
Recently at Wagamamas I had the seafood ramen. It is ramen noodles in a vegetable soup topped with grilled smooth dory, prawn, squid, kamaboko, wakame and seasonal greens. garnished with menma and spring onions.
Very nice it was too.
I got a couple of cookery books for Christmas, one of them was Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen
What do you fancy for dinner tonight? Italian? Chinese? French? With so many varieties of cuisine on offer in our globally-growing lives, Gordon Ramsay has put together an amazing book featuring his favourite recipes from around the world. Each chapter features a different country’s dishes that we love to eat, and would love to learn more about. Gordon delves into Middle Eastern, American, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, and even our own British. There are recipes for starters, mains and desserts. In addition, he explains certain techniques to go along with each type of cuisine. For example, he shows how to make Pasta, which is then transported into his recipe for Spinach, Ricotta and Pinenut Ravioli, and Curry Paste which is used for a Fragrant Green Curry with Beef. Also, each chapter begins with information on one of the best ingredients each cuisine has to offer, and five ways in which to enjoy it, like his Spanish-inspired five ways with piquillo peppers. Once again Gordon Ramsay provides an innovative range of recipes to be cooked every day, and no matter what you are in the mood for, this book has it covered. With stunning photography by Chris Terry, this is a fresh, modern addition to the ever-popular F-Word collection.
I was surprised by how “traditional” many of the recipes were, but then again maybe I eat too much world cuisine already? Nice recipes, great photographs.
I mentioned before how impressed I was with the new crisps (potato chips) from Burts with no added salt, but unlike other unsalted crsisps they have flavours; plain, ketchup and vinegar.
They are really nice crisps and if you are trying to keep your salt intake down a nice choice if you like crisps.
However…
I have decided that though I like plain and vinegar, I am not such a fan of the ketchup flavour.
Think in future I will go for the unsalted only crisps.