Meal 83 - October 8th - White Fish Tagine, Carrot, Mint and Clementine Salad
I've recently started a new job which brings with it many perks. One is that I earn more money. Another is that I get home in time to watch Pointless. I can also now make it to the fishmongers before they close on a weekday. So why not kick off a new era of 15 minute meals with a good old fish dish?
Showing posts with label mint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mint. Show all posts
10 Sept 2013
Winter Squash Penne, Mint & Avocado Chopped Salad
Meal 76 - September 10th - Winter Squash Penne, Mint & Avocado Chopped Salad
It's not quite winter admittedly but I've taken to donning a jacket when I go to work and I make the rules so decided to have a bash at this wintery pasta recipe. We'd also received what was apparently a "pattipan squash" in our veg box and I thought I could substitute that in for the butternut squash. Upon further investigation, the pattipan variety is actually quite different to the butternut equivalent and is in fact more like a courgette, but I'm beyond worrying about such details so decided to press on regardless. To be fair this was another of the notorious "book exclusives" so god only knows how it might turn out.
It's not quite winter admittedly but I've taken to donning a jacket when I go to work and I make the rules so decided to have a bash at this wintery pasta recipe. We'd also received what was apparently a "pattipan squash" in our veg box and I thought I could substitute that in for the butternut squash. Upon further investigation, the pattipan variety is actually quite different to the butternut equivalent and is in fact more like a courgette, but I'm beyond worrying about such details so decided to press on regardless. To be fair this was another of the notorious "book exclusives" so god only knows how it might turn out.
25 Mar 2013
Keralan Veggie Curry, Poppadoms, Rice & Minty Yoghurt
Meal 28 - March 23rd - Keralan Veggie Curry, Poppadoms, Rice & Minty Yoghurt
I've been getting pretty good lately at maintaining some degree of order in the kitchen as I cook my 15 minute meals. Occasionally this is at the expense of going very slightly over 15 minutes but I've definitely developed a bit of a technique for minimizing mess. And so I was surprised when, taking a step back to survey the damage and assess the amount and difficulty of washing up that lay in store for Lolz, that the kitchen resembled some kind of bomb site. The picture below I feel does not really do it justice, but the rather large glass of wine is telling.
I've been getting pretty good lately at maintaining some degree of order in the kitchen as I cook my 15 minute meals. Occasionally this is at the expense of going very slightly over 15 minutes but I've definitely developed a bit of a technique for minimizing mess. And so I was surprised when, taking a step back to survey the damage and assess the amount and difficulty of washing up that lay in store for Lolz, that the kitchen resembled some kind of bomb site. The picture below I feel does not really do it justice, but the rather large glass of wine is telling.
10 Jan 2013
Crispy Parma Pork, Minted Courgettes and Brown Rice
Meal 2 - Jan 9th - Crispy Parma Pork, Minted Courgettes and Brown Rice
Ooh brown rice healthy. After making a "safe" chicken dish first time round, I decided to venture into slightly less well known territory for meal 2: pork fillet. It's a cut of meat that to me always looks a little scary in the butchers. My first difficulty was sourcing different coloured courgettes. I knew yellow ones did exist but could not find anywhere that stocked them. Waitrose do a variety of round/baby courgettes in addition to the more traditional variety but none that are not green. I decided to go half and half with aubergine (that's egg plant for all my American fans out there).
In another minor diversion from the book, I used standard brown rice as opposed to the pre cooked option (with brown rice taking some 25 mins to cook this does admittedly defeat the 15 minute object of the recipe). Lolz was out running (seriously!) so I cooked the rice in advance and left it to cool. When Lolz returned from her run I began the recipe proper. The pork got prepped, veg sliced. You need a very big pan for all that veg! It all went rather smoothly. Warming the rice through in the pork pan with a bit of lemon juice and sundried tomato paste was a fantastic touch.
Once on the plate Lolz was immediately requesting extra yoghurt (Jamie seems to have adopted natural yoghurt as his condiment-du-jour) saying the dish was a little dry (although she was at pains to point out that this was not due to my cooking skills/ interpretation of the recipe, but down to the lack of any kind of sauce item in the recipe). She also thought that the chilli/ garlicky-ness of the courgettes overpowered the flavour of the meat, and on this point I would have to agree.
Lolz gave it 6/10. Difficulty factor 4/10. Leftover courgette and rice warmed through made a good next day lunch (although come to think of it I should probably not be reheating the rice so many times...)
Liquid Refreshment: I accompanied this meal with a bottle of St Peters Golden Ale. I can't really claim to be any kind of ale connoisseur but I did like the shape of the bottle and it was on offer in Waitrose.
Ooh brown rice healthy. After making a "safe" chicken dish first time round, I decided to venture into slightly less well known territory for meal 2: pork fillet. It's a cut of meat that to me always looks a little scary in the butchers. My first difficulty was sourcing different coloured courgettes. I knew yellow ones did exist but could not find anywhere that stocked them. Waitrose do a variety of round/baby courgettes in addition to the more traditional variety but none that are not green. I decided to go half and half with aubergine (that's egg plant for all my American fans out there).
In another minor diversion from the book, I used standard brown rice as opposed to the pre cooked option (with brown rice taking some 25 mins to cook this does admittedly defeat the 15 minute object of the recipe). Lolz was out running (seriously!) so I cooked the rice in advance and left it to cool. When Lolz returned from her run I began the recipe proper. The pork got prepped, veg sliced. You need a very big pan for all that veg! It all went rather smoothly. Warming the rice through in the pork pan with a bit of lemon juice and sundried tomato paste was a fantastic touch.
Once on the plate Lolz was immediately requesting extra yoghurt (Jamie seems to have adopted natural yoghurt as his condiment-du-jour) saying the dish was a little dry (although she was at pains to point out that this was not due to my cooking skills/ interpretation of the recipe, but down to the lack of any kind of sauce item in the recipe). She also thought that the chilli/ garlicky-ness of the courgettes overpowered the flavour of the meat, and on this point I would have to agree.
Lolz gave it 6/10. Difficulty factor 4/10. Leftover courgette and rice warmed through made a good next day lunch (although come to think of it I should probably not be reheating the rice so many times...)
Liquid Refreshment: I accompanied this meal with a bottle of St Peters Golden Ale. I can't really claim to be any kind of ale connoisseur but I did like the shape of the bottle and it was on offer in Waitrose.
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