A second week of holiday food.

Saturday

We went to the Scilly Isles today and were back late so had supper out – A Cornish Fish Trio of lemon sole, gurnard & monkfish fillets with a cream and prawn sauce.

Sunday

Quinoa, rice and chicken stirfry.

Monday

Another crab.

Tuesday

Ed’s birthday, we went out locally for dinner  started with a scallop and bacon salad, followed by lobster.   We had specially ordered the lobster on Saturday when having supper – the fisherman was at the bar in the pub and had promised us a good one – sadly my camera battery went flat when I tried to take a photo.    Suffice to say that a 4lb lobster is a lot of lobster and a treat probably best enjoyed once per year!   (We managed yet another crab at lunchtime)

Wednesday

Megrim – a type of sole bought in Cadgwith.

Thursday

No photo – fish chips which we ate in the car before flying the new power kite!

Friday

One last crab for our last night’s supper!

With 2 weeks away and a busy week back in London I am horribly behind with my food diary.

Saturday

We had pollack and chips in the pub in The Lizard where our holiday cottage was.   No photo.

Sunday

Sticky chicken with fried rice, recipe to come, but the stir fried chicken had a large dollop of chutney in it to add flavour and a sticky coating.

Monday

Slow cooked herby lamb shank .   The weather was appalling so we were in the cottage all afternoon, so I slow cooked a lamb shank with fresh mint and thyme.

Tuesday

A simple supper of caramelised peppers, capers and pasta.

Wednesday

We went on a wild food foraging walk today (more on this in a later post), I added some elderflowers from our garden to a salad, which was followed by simple fried mackerel fillets fresh from sea that afternoon.

Thursday

Our holiday suppers now become rather repetitive, Danny, the fisherman, who caught the mackerel that we ate on Wednesday also catches crabs that are cooked and dressed at Kynance Crabs a 5 minute walk from our cottage, for £3.50 per dressed crab containing about 10oz of meat we decieded that crab would be a regular for the rest of the holiday.   They were incrediably fresh and utterly delicious.

Friday

The Lizard Village has an excellent butcher, We bought some of their sausages (which they make in the shop) and roasted them with thyme, butternut squash and tomatos.   They were excellent.

Saturday

Ed was away, I had been hard at work sorting out the flat all day so I ordered a pizza in.

Sunday

I can’t remember what we ate and did not take a photo!

Monday

Warm garlically puy lentil salad with roasted beetroot, feta, and Dijon mustard dressing.  Delicious.  I cheated and used ready cooked beetroot which only took 10 minutes to roast.

Tuesday

A very quick supper of smoked mackerel, poached egg and cous cous – delicious and very simple.  I usually hate poaching eggs, so was very pleased at how this one turned out.

Wednesday

We were away again, but had a lovely fish pie and peas.

Thursday

We had the June Daring Cooks Challenge (to be revealed on the 14th) with a dish of griddled asparagus with charred capers and balsamic vinegar.

Friday

BBQ – sausages, chops, burgers and butternut squash (which BBQs well) followed by the June Daring Bakers Challenge to be revealed on the 25th!

Week ending Friday 29th May 2009.

Saturday

I had been out all day so had a Pizza Express Pizza from the freezer, with a spinach salad.

.Sunday

I spend the day at the Spitalfields City Farm at their wool festival.  It was far too hot to cook so this was an easy freezer to microwave to plate meal. 

Monday.

My first try at tempeh, simmered then fried with soy sauce, herbs and liquid smoke.  I thought that it was delicious; but appreciated that it could be an acquired taste.

Tuesday

Favourite comfort pasta also know as pasta with anchovy, capers & chilli, with the addition of a few tomatos.   We eat this every few weeks.

Wednesday

We were away, staying in Cambridge with Ed’s sister, supper was soy glazed griddled beef with roasted pepper salad & red rice and quinoa.  

Thursday

 I met a friend in Cambridge for supper and we feasted on a rare treat of tasty (but unhealthy) bar bites, washed down with a bottle of pink summery wine each!

Friday

We were still in Cambridge with Ed’s sister and had a delicious apsaragus risotto for supper.

Saturday

Sumac crusted baked tofu with a pomegrante dressing on cous cous and pea shoots.   I had found a recipe for sumac coated feta in the Ottolenghi cookbook, which looked delicious, sadly this wasn’t.  I need to experiment, but the sumac coated baked tofu was bitter and oddly tasteless at the same time.

.Sunday

Pasta with charred peppers and capers, this has the potential to be delicious, but needs twice the quantity of peppers.   Watch this space for the reworked recipe.

Monday.

We were out for supper, a non cooking friend prepared a feast of baked potatoes, cold meats and fish, cheese and salads.  All washed down with far too much fizz and wine!

Tuesday

We were away last minute and had supper at the local Chinese – crispy duck pancakes, followed by beef in black bean sauce.

Wednesday

We were still away, supper was asparagus, followed by fishcakes then strawberries and ice cream – 3 course suppers are a treat mid week!

Thursday

A quick freezer led supper, fried  mixed rice & cous-cous, aduki beans, peas & corn and green olives.  Served on wilted spinach with nutritional yeast, chill flakes and soy sauce – simple, delicious and instant.

Friday

Having been away for half the week I had missed my kitchen.

Golden Syrup & Plum Cake I loved this,  Ed took most of it sailing and it was greatly appreciated.

Lunch was a ciabatta (bought last week reduced to 25p and frozen) filled with the  frozen left over filling from the black bean and butternut squash tortillas.   Fiona the Fugal Cook would be proud of me.

Supper was 3 types of veggie burger that I found in the freezer, One each of a chickpea, black bean and mung bean base, served with queso, which; although vegan tastes of cheese and has the texture and colour of a cheesy dip and is utterly addictive and delicious.

The original queso recipe is from the talented Crystal of Vegan Explosion, I have changed the recipe to make it more UK kitchen friendly and have simplified the cooking and will be posting my version soon.

So here goes with week ending Friday 15th May 2009.

Saturday

.Blackbean & butternut squash tortillas

.Sunday

Spinach dal with mixed grains (rice and bulgar) and banana chutney.  The dal was from the freezer.

Monday.

A friend came for supper and I made Puy Lentil Lasagne with the extra filling and pasta dough that I froze after the Daring Bakers lasagne challenge.

Tuesday

Mixed grain smoked mackerel pilaf with a caper and horseradish dressing.  Delicious and will be made again and blogged about soon..

Wednesday

My kitchen sink has been dripping into the cupboard underneath for months! It is an old sink and the new metric piping does not fit the old sink.  A new sink was ordered and Ed set about plumbing it in on Wednesday.  I went out for the day and left him to it.   I got back to chaos.

I was somewhat surprised at just how much stuff I had shoehorned into my under sink cupboard (there was much more in the sitting room too) and just how many plastic freezer trays I own.

I phoned for a pizza which was delicious.   For anyone in West London, Pizza At Home does do splendid pizza..

Thursday

Still no kitchen sink.  I went out for martinis at Duke’s Hotel (the best martinis in London) with my friend Veronica, the last time we went there we all got horribly drunk and they stopped serving us.   It was a long time ago and I have only just dared go back.   During this time Veronica has had 2 childen!

After the martinis we had steak frites at Chez Gerard, my last Chez Gerard was also a long time ago, I was generally disappointed, I am not sure if it was the standard of the food or the fact that as I am largely vegan these days I have lost the taste for meat?

Friday

Ed finished the kitchen sink at about 7pm, after 2 more trips to Homebase.  The dishwasher is plumbed back in,  so no more washing up in the bath.

This is a simple one pot of lemon roasted potatos with tomato puree, based on a recipe in Veganomicon.    Simple and delicious.