One of the things I like to have with a meal is a nice and simple green salad.
A few mixed leaves, maybe some tomato. Dressed with olive oil and white wine vinegar and some freshly ground black pepper.
Simple yet delicious and refreshing.
Poached Chicken
I do quite like poaching chicken, it allows me to cook chicken quickly and keep is tender and moist.
However the downside is that it can look a bit unappetising.
Here is what I did recently when poaching chicken, though it might be worthwhile talking about the poaching itself.
I take a pan of water, add some herbs, some onion, a carrot and if I had other veg I add that.
I bone the chicken and place in the pan and simmer for ten minutes.
Remove allow to dry for a while.
I then place the cooked chicken onto a roasting tray, and drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
I then roast them in a hot oven for ten minutes to give them some colour.
As a result quickly cooked moist and tender chicken with colour.
I served it with a vegetable risotto.
Done.
KitKat Crunchy
Sometimes I wonder why I bother.
I was feeling peckish, so having very little choice from the vending machine, I went for the KitKat Crunchy.
This is basically a BIG single stick of KitKat.
For me it most certainly did not hit the spot.
I don’t know why, maybe it was the mood I was in, but it didn’t feel quite right.
So next time, either no chocolate, or possibly an original KitKat!
Cajun Prawns
I made this dish as part of a tapas selection. The key is to make the sauce and add the prawns at the last minute.
In a frying pan, soften some onions, after they have softened add some Cajun spices. I don’t like adding the spices too early as they can burn.
Add some chopped tomatoes and some tomato puree.
Cook for a while.
Add raw prawns and let them cook.
When they are firm and pink they are cooked, be careful not to overcook them, as this will make them rubbery.
Done.
Thorntons
I am currently eating and enjoying some Thorntons’ chocolates. Very nice they are too.
One downside, means that I don’t really like eating (cheaper) boxes of chocolates from the likes of Nestle or Cadburys.
Apricot Delight
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in today’s Guardian writes about the golden wonder that is the apricot.
A juicy, ripe apricot, eaten straight from the tree, is one of the sweetest treats summer has to offer. But this brilliant fruit pays dividends in other ways, too …
I was only thinking yesterday that I usually only taste apricots either in a yoghurt or fromage frais or in apricot jam.
Think I might need to look at this fruit again.
Photo source.
Chicken and Irish Sausages
Well I mentioned I had purchased Paul Rankin’s Irish Pork Sausages again.
This time I roasted them in the oven with chicken, red pepper, mushrooms and pancetta.
I served it with a lemon risotto.
Long era of cheap food is over
BBC reports on the end of cheap food…
Peering just a few months ahead to estimate food prices has been a tough game recently.
Pringles are “not crisps”
BBC reports on a court ruling which says that Pringles are not crisps.
Pringles, the popular snack food in a tube, are not potato crisps, a High Court judge has ruled.
Their packaging, “unnatural shape” and the fact that the potato content is less than 50% helped Mr Justice Warren make his crunch decision.
This is all a tax avoidance issue and nothing really to do with crisps and non-crisps.
Photo source.
Gala Pie
How on earth did pork pie with egg come about?
Did a baker one day, go oops…. dropped an egg into that pork pie mix, ah well maybe no one will notice…
Special request perhaps?
Are there other variations which didn’t work, and as a result never saw the light of day…
Ah pork pie with strawberry yoghurt, hmmm nope that doesn’t work for me.
And why is it called a Gala Pie?