With our almost Spring like weather during the day, I’ve been slowly introducing more Summery foods into the diet in the hopes that the weather should stick around. At our visit to Spice Temple several months ago, Christie recommended me a recipe for Neil Perry’s Cucumber with smashed garlic. I’d meant to make these for months and it wasn’t until I made another batch of the cucumber pickles that I was reminded of these. They’re easy and fantastically healthy and the perfect cooling side dish or precursor to a Chinese meal.
She pointed me to the Gourmet Traveller website where they featured a few of Perry’s recipes and the best pasrt? The time taken to make these is negligible and most of it is in waiting for it to drain. I loved the cleansing sensation of cucumber and the garlic lends a richer tone to it. It was gobbled up in no time by Mr NQN. I had intended to keep some in a jar to pick at for a healthy snack but he liked it so much that late one night I opened the fridge to snack on some to find the empty container in the fridge. Yes he had stuck the empty container back in the fridge. Luckily for him it was his birthday so I couldn’t get mad at him and he probably knew it.
So tell me Dear Reader, what’s your flatmate’s/husband’s/wife’s worst habit?
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August 8, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I was in my pajamas and my carrots were old.
This is not the way I like to start any post admittedly but it’s the brutal truth. It was a Sunday morning and it was cold. I was awoken by the loudspeaker from the Balmoral Burn charity run nearby and I wasn’t in a great mood. And because I had woken so early I had an excess of time and my first instinct was to cook. I needed to make a soup for my husband’s lunch that coming week and the carrots I had in the fridge were starting to look a little less appealing. They weren’t awful but they lost that smooth bright orange coat that they had only a couple of days before.
A friend and I were discussing the inevitable Winter weight gain. Well lamenting it was more like it. Stews, pastas and roasts are de rigeur whereas salads and sorbets are out. One way to try and counteract it is with this soup which is very low in fat but full of flavour. Other benefits are of course that it can be made vegetarian and is very inexpensive to make so there’s no reason not to try a bit of detoxing. If only for a meal or two.
Tell me Dear Reader, what are your tactics to avoid Winter weight gain or weight gain in general? Or do you surrender to Winter and come Summer take action?
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June 14, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
On our recent trip to Billy Kwong, Kylie Kwong’s restaurant (story to come soon), we ordered a starter which was simple but delicious. The eggs were crispy at the bottom with a river of creamy egg yolk meandering across the plate. Was that too lyrical? Perhaps – but I was bowled over by the beautiful texture. Little did I realise how simple it actually was. When I looked up some recipes on her website, I realised that it could be done with about 4 ingredients plus oil and seasoning and finished in under 10 minutes. Please excuse the lack of “in progress” photos – quite honestly it was over before it even began!
I’ve spoken often about my fear of deep frying, yet I overcame it for this dish as it’s that good and simple. I had a surplus of eggs and some crunchy fresh birds eye chilis and fresh spring onions so it was an easy choice. And provided your rice is already cooked you can have a simple dinner for two on the table within 10 minutes (with most of the time spent waiting for the oil to heat up and whilst it’s doing so you can chop up the chilis and spring onions).
I couldn’t find Biodynamic eggs anywhere so I used free range eggs instead. Of course using birds eye chilis will mean that it is super hot so of course you could use less or you can use the larger chilis which are milder. I served these with the cooling cucumber pickles I made earlier that week and some fresh rice noodles which were cooked for 2-3 minutes in the microwave and then drizzled with soy and hoi sin sauce so I can say with absolute confidence that dinner was ready within claimed 10 minutes. I know the inevitable question for fellow deep frying phobics is “Will this work with just pan frying the eggs?” and I have to say that it does work well although the eggs aren’t quite as crispy on the bottom (although they still are crispy) but that is the only concession. The only thing I can suggest though is that you try this dish, either deep fried or shallow fried. It will soon work its way into your week day cooking repertoire.
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May 26, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
I remember my first dinner party clearly. I was younger, obviously, and at university and it was while my parents went away. I didn’t have a big alcohol filled party but instead had a dinner party where I invited 7 of my nearest and dearest over for a 3 course meal. I had no idea how to have a dinner party really, and my mistake was making a risotto. I couldn’t sit down and enjoy the company of my guests – instead I was the one chained to the stove stirring the rice and adding ladleful after ladleful of stock. I hated being stuck in the kitchen while everyone was having a good time – and worse still I had chained myself to the stove so I had no-one to blame but myself.
I was talking to a friend about this and she told me some clear and easy instructions for a baked risotto where you simply put everything in an oven proof baker and bake it for 40 minutes. The ratio is this: 1.5 cups of arborio rice to 4.5 cups of stock. That’s it and you can make all sorts of variations and whatever flavour that you usually like. No pfaffing about and stirring or standing there checking to see whether the rice has absorbed the liquid (about the culinary equivalent of watching paint dry). This is set and forget. Ever since then I’ve made it loads of times, with different flavours. Today I was making a three cheese version, only because I had some cheese that needed to have been used.
I used the Small Cow Fettice Feta that I bought from the Easter Show although once I saw how cute the little imprint was, I almost didn’t want to use it. I also used some reggiano and tallegio although you could really use whatever cheeses that you have. There is one condition though and that is that you don’t leave it to sit for too long. As you can see I did as the phone rang and I started another one of my usual long phone calls and it got a little dryer than I would have liked. Eat it straight away and you will be rewarded.
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May 24, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
“Use the chopsticks!” my mother used to always tell me when I was little and would take a jar of these out of the fridge. I never listened of course, as I knew I’d eat my size in these delicious pickles so there was never any need to take them out of the jar with a clean pair of chopsticks. For some reason I was never a child that hated vegetables and the regular ingestion of a jar of these would prove testament to this.
Since moving out of home I realised that I hadn’t eaten these for years and years and with a glut of cucumbers I pestered my mum for the recipe. And this is where the dance began. My mum is quite protective of her recipes and she is also one of those “a bit of this and that” cooks so when I asked her by email she responded
Hi Lorraine,
All you have to do is to peel and slice the cucumber and add salt ,vinegar and sugar. Usually I just do it by trial and error i.e. I’ll taste it then add in more of what is required to my satisfaction.
I think you need more sugar than the other two. Lastly, add in chilli, pepper and sesame oil.
Bye,
Mum
If you do have some cucumbers I do urge you to make one batch of these. They are so good indeed. And don’t be put off by the amount of sugar in it – most of it ends up in the pickling liquid which you don’t drink. After a bit of back and forth she gave me the quantities and I was pleased to note that it tasted pretty much just like I remembered it. Perhaps she is coming round. Dare I ask her for more recipes? Tell me Dear Reader, is your mum or grandmother similarly protective or quantity-vague when it comes to sharing recipes?
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May 16, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
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