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Homemade bean dish

I originally called this dish a cassoulet. However I didn’t think it was an authentic cassoulet, so checked for a definition of what a cassoulet is.

Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked stew originating in southern France. The food writer Elizabeth David described it as “that sumptuous amalgamation of haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton and preserved goose, aromatically spiced with garlic and herbs”.

Yup, what I cooked wasn’t a cassoulet. I didn’t use haricot beans, mutton or goose, and didn’t slow cook it either. Maybe something to try at another time.

I did though make a dish with beans, pork belly, and Polish sausage. 

In a large deep frying pan, I have a lovely large pan I got at IKEA which is ideal for this.

I added a splash of olive oil to which I added some pancetta. After cooking this for a while I added chopped garlic, with diced red onion, peppers and mushrooms.

I cooked the pancetta, onions, peppers, and mushrooms until the onions and pepper were softened. I then added some flour, stock, and some tomato puree. I cooked this for a while (ten minutes) before adding some sliced Polish sausage and some cooked pork belly chunks. The pork belly I had slow roasted in the oven for an hour.

After ten more minute I added two packs of beans, one cannellini, and one borlotti. As they are already cooked I was just warming the beans through.

I served this with some roasted potatoes and cooked vegetables.

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What should I have?

I was in Bristol and looking for some lunch. As it was a Monday there was no Finzel Reach or Temple Quay street food markets. I headed off to the St Nicholas Market to see what was available. There is a wide choice of places to eat there, though not all are open on a Monday. As per usual there was a long queue for Matina for their excellent Kurdish wraps, even with the recent “dramatic” price increase. I remember the time they were less than a fiver, now they are over eight pounds each. Well I suspect costs have risen for them, they had to rise at some point, but they appears to be rising quite a lot over the last couple of years.

I still have to try the MOMO bar, but decided that wasn’t going to be today. I did consider going for the Low and Slow barbecue box, but in the end headed to La Lola.

The last time I ate at La Lola I had the crispy squid, but wasn’t too enamoured with their chipped potatoes, which were like thick crisps.

This time I went for their seafood paella. I was served quickly, and this a good looking paella with a nice amount of seafood, which included prawns, squid, and mussels.

paella

This was a delicious paella, lots of flavour. 

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Nice Cortado

It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I headed to Portishead for a walk around the marina.

I decided to go for coffee, my first choice was Mokoko Coffee & Bakery, however though the queue wasn’t too long, there appeared to be a lot of people waiting for their coffee. So I left and headed to Costa, which was a lot less busy.

I ordered a Cortado and didn’t have to wait long before it was ready.

It was a nice coffee.

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Missing my Wild Mushrooms

mushrooms
Photo by Sweetyoga Justine on Unsplash

Back in the day, my local Tesco use to sell wild mushrooms.

Since the lockdown in March 2020, they’ve obviously had trouble getting them in, and have stopped selling them.

On a visit to Oxford earlier in the year, there was a stall in the covered market which was selling wild mushrooms, however I was just passing through on my way to London, so didn’t have the option of getting any.

Locally I have tried a few places, such as farmers’ markets, farm shops, but not really seen the kinds of mushrooms I use to be able to buy from Tesco.

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Demise of Cranside

Next month I am off to Glasgow for a conference. When I attended the conference last year I had some nice meals up there.

I had a nice meal at the Cranside Kitchen. I had a really nice Seafood Cha Han and some delicious Bao Buns. 

I thought I would check out the menu at the Cranside Kitchen, and I was little saddened to see that they had closed in the summer.

Well I will need to find somewhere else to eat.

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Gluten Free Pasta Salad

gluten free pasta salad

This is a dish I make on a regular basis.

Firstly I cook the gluten free pasta according to the instructions on the box.

In a separate pan I cook off the onion, peppers, and mushrooms. I prefer to have cooked onion in the salad, but of course you could just add raw diced onions and pepper. Sometimes I add pancetta to the salad. Once cooked I let it cool. I usually do this by removing it from the pan and placing it on a cold plate.

Separately I dice some cucumber and place this in a bowl.

Once the pasta is cooked I drain and then rinse the pasta in cold water to stop it cooking and cool it down.

I then combine the ingredients and dress the salad with salt, pepper, olive oil, and white wine vinegar.

The only downside I have found, is that the gluten free pasta generally doesn’t last, and goes somewhat chewy and tough if you leave it until the next day. I certainly didn’t have this issue when I made pasta salads using wheat based pasta.

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Fries of Mine

I wasn’t really that hungry walking around the streets of Amsterdam but I was a little peckish. 

A few places caught my eye, but the prices were, well not eye watering, but not in my budget. 

I noticed that Ter Marsch & Co was quite popular, so looked at the menu, they did burgers. I wasn’t in the mood for a burger, but the signature fries looked interesting. You could also see into the serving area and I liked how they were making the signature fries.

I decided to go for the Fries of Mine, which had been winner of best fries 2020 (in the Netherlands). This was fries with truffle mayo, grated parmesan cheese, cheese-nut crumble, diced pork sausage, and fried parsley.

Despite the queue, it moved quite quickly and it wasn’t too long before I was ready to place my order. I ordered my fries at the counter and then took a seat. When my fries were ready, my number was called and I collected my fries.

They looked fantastic.

I was provided with a little wooden chip fork, personally I would have liked a bigger fork. The twice cooked chips were hot, with a crisp outside and fluffy inside. The topping was generous, but not overpowering. You could tell it was just the right amount as by the time I finished the box of fries, there was a small amount of topping left in the box. I never felt as though I was just eating plain fries.

This was a lovely place to eat fries, it was rather cosy, but that just added to the charm of the place. The service was welcoming, friendly and efficient.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to have, but I really glad I went here and I enjoyed my signature fries.

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Coffee at Kaldi

canal in Amsterdam

I was visiting the Netherlands attending a conference in Amsterdam, I had some time before my flight home to explore part of Amsterdam.  After walking around a bit more discovered Kaldi.

cafe frontage

This was a cosy nice looking coffee place. There was a short queue, and it wasn’t too long before I placed my order and then I could take a seat.  I had ordered a double espresso Cortado.

coffee

It didn’t take long for the coffee to be served, well they put it on the ledge in front of my table and I had to take it from there. That did make me smile. It was served in a nice china cup.

It was a great coffee.

Alas I drank it probably too quickly, and it was finished.

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Homemade Salad

Salad

This is the kind of salad I will throw together when cooking a meal for the family.

On a bed of mixed leaves I will add sliced cucumber, sliced pointed red pepper, tomatoes, radishes, sliced spring onion, mini mozzarella balls, and avocado.

A lot depends on what we have in the fridge and what else we’re having with the salad.

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Funghi di Bosco

I was looking through my email when I saw that there was a message about a pizza special offer for 7.99 and to try out some new pizza. I checked the Pizza Express app on my phone and saw the pizza offer.

I was thinking about what to do for lunch, so headed to Pizza Express at Cabot Circus. There was plenty of room, and I was given a warm welcome. I wasn’t exactly in a hurry, but I wasn’t really in the mood for a long slow lunch, so was pleased with the speedy efficient service.

I looked over the menu, and didn’t see any new pizza, well maybe I misread the email. The last time I was at Pizza Express I had the Fiorentina, so this time I wanted to have something different. I did quite like the idea of mushroom pizza, so decided to order the Funghi di Bosco on a Romana base.

The pizza arrived quite promptly and looked good.

Pizza

There were plenty of mushrooms. I liked how they used chestnut mushrooms; I much prefer chestnut mushrooms, personally I think they have a nice texture and flavour. The base was nice and thin, I do like the Romana base.

What was amusing was the email was actually from Bella Italia and not Pizza Express. So Bella Italia had new pizza on their menu. Well maybe next time I am out for lunch and fancying pizza I will visit Bella Italia.