The griddle is a nice way of cooking medallions of pork.
It chargrills the surface, adding flavour, whilst keeping the meat moist and tender.
Very nice.
Deep Fried Combo
Sometimes I wish pubs that serve food had a little more imagination.
Look at this combo starter for sharing.
Most of the stuff on that platter is deep fried!
I guess that is what most people want from a combo starter, 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. I know there’s some salad and at the far end is some chicken and garlic bread, but why not take a leaf out of the Spanish tapas cookbook or a Greek meze cookbook and be more creative.
Griddled Chicken
I took some chicken breast and between two sheets of cling film and flattened it with a rolling pin.
I then brushed the chicken with olive oil and seasoning.
This was then placed onto a hot griddle and cooked for a few minutes on each side.
Delicious.
Starbucks VIA Ready Brew
Now I don’t drink instant coffee if I can help it. If no real coffee is available I will drink tea. I have “accidently” drunk instant coffee now and again, well I have taken a sip and then put it down!
Though I did see these Starbucks VIA Ready Brew not only in my local Starbucks but also in my local supermarket.
I decided that I would give them a go. As well as instant coffee the sachets also include microground coffee, which I hoped would make it better than instant coffee.
Made a cup…
Okay, even though it is better that most instant coffees, it still tasted like instant coffee. It’s okay and would do at a pinch. I can see taking some when staying at hotels in order to have coffee in my room. In the meantime I will continue drinking real coffee!
Italian sausage and red wine tortelloni
Tried the Italian sausage and red wine tortelloni from Morrisons.
After cooking it in a pan of boiling water for about two minutes I drained the pasta and added a couple of spoonfuls of creme fraché. I served the pasta with some freshly grated parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.
Though the texture was good, I did feel that the pasta lacked any distinctive flavour. I certainly couldn’t taste any red wine in the pasta filling and the sausage was not very apparent in the filling. Overall I was disappointed with the pasta.
More Paella
Took some courgette, onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them together in a large heavy pan with a splash of olive oil.
I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I added a splash of white wine. I then added saffron and chicken stock. The saffron I had infused in hot water. This helps to bring out the traditional yellow colour in the paella.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
A few minutes before serving I added cooked prawns and slices of chorizo. I was using cooking chorizo which I had cooked separately. A handful of chopped parsley adds flavour and colour.
The dish was the put together and served.
I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns to hand, nice to have used squid and mussels.
I made mine quite dry this time, in the past I have added tinned tomatoes which makes for a more “wet” paella.
Sausages
I cooked some Sainsury’s Taste the Difference Ultimate outdoor reared pork sausages.
They were quite nice, meaty, not too salty and didn’t go bang!
Lentils with Chorizo
This is warming dish, usually suited for winter, but also ideal for those cold wet autumn days.
In a large frying pan, saute some diced onions, pepper and pancetta. I added some stock and tomato puree and simmered for about ten minutes before adding the sliced cooking chorizo. This I cooked for a further five minutes.
The next stage was to add the lentils, I usually use tinned green lentils. I finished the dish with some basil, though parsley would have been better. I did in fact (as you can see from the photograph) serve this with some cooked sausages, but this probably isn’t necessary.
Duck
I recently had duck at a hotel restaurant.
Slightly overcooked and slice, it was served on a bed or oriental vegetables in a overpowering and salty oyster sauce. Bizarrely it was served with deep fried potato balls rather than rice, which would have been my preference.
I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
Continental Breakfast
So do you fancy a continental breakfast?
There is something very nice about a proper freshly baked croissant in the morning with coffee.