It’s definitely autumnal today – there was ice on the car for the first time this morning. This means its definitely time for stew, and so I’ve got the slow cooker out. While I’m at work, my beef and Guinness stew will be gently cooking away. It’s a slightly adapted Ministry of Food recipe which you can find here.
I’ve added some mushrooms to the mix and instead of putting it in the oven, I’ve put it in the slow cooker on low. By the time I get home it will have been cooking for about 10 hours.
An easy 20 minute meal of tuna steak, haricot beans and courgettes tonight. The tuna was covered in oregano and lemon, the beans were flavoured with chopped chilli and garlic, and the fried courgette was mixed with rocket and red wine vinegar. Simples!
Last night I made rice pudding from a recipe that I’d found on the fab blog, Domestic Sluttery. As usual I was using things up, this time some milk that was heading for its use by date.
Recipe:
40g pudding rice
650 ml milk
25g sugar
A little butter
1tsp vanilla extract
A shake of cinnamon
It all went in the oven for 1h 30 at 160c in a covered dish. Tomorrow I’ll heat it up uncovered so there’s a bit of a brown top and serve it with some strawberry jam. I couldn’t resist trying a bit last night even though it was 10.30pm. It was gorgeous, so I can’t wait until dinner time!
While we were in Bath I was very keen to eat at the River Cottage canteen. I quite enjoy watching the River Cottage programmes on TV, even though Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall seems to be getting more and more upper class by the series! We went for dinner (or perhaps supper if you’re as posh as Hugh!) on Saturday night, after booking earlier on in the day. The Canteen advises you to book in advance, but I’m not sure it’s necessary, or even usual given the reaction by the staff. Us: “We’d like to book a table for later, please” Them (in a slightly shocked voice): “Book a table?” “yes” “for later?” “yes” “for the two of you?” “yes”. Cue confused looks, scrabbling for paper, repeating the questions again. It was all very polite, but left us feeling as if we’d committed some enormous faux pas!
The slightly strange booking experience didn’t matter though, because when it came down to it the food was fantastic! I had Devilled Crab on toast, followed by Roast Mackerel Fillets with Salsa Verde Mayonnaise and Dressed Leaves and finally, after much deliberation, a Chocolate and Beetroot Brownie with Clotted Cream ice cream.
The devilled crab was lovely, not much toast, but loads of lightly devilled crab. It was a great starter, not too much of it and full of flavour, so it left me really excited about my main course. Mr M’s starter of blue cheese, walnut and beetroot salad was also incredibly tasty and a brilliant combination of sweet and earthy.
The mackerel was amazing, and it also came with some of the leek and white bean salad which was another option on the menu and a little tomato salad which was amazingly tasty. The staff brought us out some beautiful sauteed potatoes too. Mr M went for Sydling Brook Meguez Sausages with dressed Puy Lentils, Tomato Salad and River Cottage Yoghurt which were a pretty spicy option and he said he was glad of the yoghurt to balance things out.
I had enjoyed my main course so much that I wasn’t entirely convinced about having a pudding, in case it spoiled things! But in the end I decided that I didn’t want to miss out on the brownie and I’m glad that I didn’t. It was sweet and rich, but also light with a few really gooey chocolatey bit thrown in for good measure. Putting a little bit on your plate from the other dishes was obviously a theme, because there was some crumble topping sprinkled over the ice cream which added a lovely crunch to the plate.
All in all the food was exactly what you would hope for: fresh, simple, top quality ingredients put together in a way that complimented their natural flavours and made me all smiley inside. Loved it!
There’s not much that’s easier than a stir fry. When I was a student I practically lived on vegetable stir fry. Tonight we needed an easy meal as we were going out for a run. Cue stir fry with some prawns, rice noodles and a really tasty Tesco limited edition stir fry sauce with chilli, lemongrass and coconut milk. 
Tonight’s dinner was primarily designed to use up some cherry tomatoes that we’d grown in the garden and some bits and bobs that were lurking in the fridge!
First of all I chopped up a couple of small red onions and a clove of garlic and fried them in olive oil with a bit of salt. Then I added the quartered cherry tomates (skin and all) and some pepper to the pan and let it all simmer for a while.
Once the sauce had thickened up a bit I added a bit of fresh basil and served it with some mushroom tortellini, a bit more fresh basil and some cubed mozzarella.
My birthday treat was sushi at Teri -Aki in Cambridge. I love sushi and the food that we’ve had here has always been very good. Tonight we had vegetable tempura, beef sashimi, soft shell crab rolls, egg rolls and salmon rolls. Not satisfied with that, we ordered some tuna and some pickled plum rolls. The pickled plum rolls weren’t something that we’d had before and I don’t know that we’d order them again as they were very acidic however, everything else more than made up for one bad choice. My favourite things are the beef sashimi and soft shell crab rolls they really are wonderful!
Fabulous cupcakes and coffee from the Angel food bakery
From front to back: chocolate orange, cookies and cream and devil’s food cake with peanut butter frosting. They were as good as they looked.
We had a late lunch at Waikiki Moo Cow: Carrot, Orange and Ginger juice and pitta bread filled with grilled halloumi, salad and sweet chilli sauce with sweet potato wedges. Yum!
Bill’s produce shop is near to the north Laines in Brighton. After a soaking wet walk, we were shown to a comfortable table in a room that is more farm shop than restaurant. The menu is equally rustic, with lots of simple salads, stews and hearty dishes. With some olives and Chilean Merlot on the go, I ordered the beef lasagne. This was a bit of an unusual choice for me, but seemed appropriate comfort food to have on a wet and miserable evening. When it came, it was topped with a crispy parmesan crust and some nice peppery rocket. The sauce wasn’t over-loaded with too much beef which let you really taste the tomatoes.
One of the great things about the desserts was that you could go and look at them before you chose which one you wanted. Seduced by the yummy looking fruit on top, I chose the baked cheesecake. It was very filling and had quite a pronounced cheese tang which helped cut through the fact that it was really very rich.
All in all Bill’s was perfect – friendly, homely and a haven from wet, windy Brighton.
Another meal from the Jamie Oliver app tonight. This was a new try and was pretty good. I used shiitake and oyster mushrooms, but I think it may well have been better with some chestnut mushrooms in the mix. I also used wholemeal pasta so it was good and filling. A glass of Isla Negra merlot and all’s good.
What shall I eat today? 