I felt like a slight fraud writing about ice cream. You see I make plenty of it but I have never been able to eat a whole scoop of the stuff. In fact like the child that plays with the box rather than the toy (that was me, I love boxes) I prefer to eat the waffle cone dipped in chocolate than the ice cream itself. It was like when I missed the point of a toy and would prefer making noise and banging on the boxes. Nevertheless Mr NQN, who was the child that never got toys, prefers the toy itself-the ice cream. He can eat vast quantities of it, his mother telling us that the first time he ever ate ice cream, he had a serious makeout session with it and consumed 16 ice creams.
I first heard about the idea for this cornflake milk ice cream which is served at Momofuku Milk Bar and created by dessert chef Christina Tosi. When I used to eat cereal for breakfast as a child I loathed the actual cereal which got soggy so quickly but loved the sugary, flavoured milk. It was as though Christina was sitting next to me at the plastic floral yellow tablecloth covered table and scrunched her face up at the same time as we when we had to eat the cereal part. Even today I eat cereal but only dry and often with a spoonful of peanut butter.
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| January 17th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
This is one of those recipes that I didn’t consider putting here until Mr NQN’s repeated requests for it and insistence that it was worthwhile convinced me otherwise. To me, it was a stew and I didn’t think people wanted stews that were simple to make but they were indeed something that people were after. The fact that my recipe for Beef and Beer Stew was so popular and stumbled upon repeatedly was a testament to that. This recipe is one that I call the Happy Husband Maker. If the Beef and Beer stew was a Marriage Maker, this is the Part II. How to have a Happy Husband.
This is great as it’s a real storecupboard freezer meal. I always have sausages in the freezer on standby and they’re more often than not Italian ones. The rest can really be from the pantry as you can see so it makes for a great emergency meal.
The quantity that this makes is enough for 4 or for as we like to have it, for the two of us over two nights for dinner. It’s very versatile, sometimes I prefer to use cannellini beans or whatever vegetables I may have or are in season (zucchini added in at the end works well too). You could also do this in a pressure cooker or slow cooker. The black olives are essential though so please don’t forget these, they provide a saltiness and a texture to this that is wonderful. I confess that I do sometimes make this without them if I don’t happen to have them.
So tell me Dear Reader, what’s your Significant Other’s most requested meal?
Italian Sausage Stew
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 3-4 Italian sausages
- 1x425g tinned chopped tomatoes
- 3 large carrots, chopped diagonally
- 3 cups chicken or beef stock
- 1/4 cup chopped black olives
- 1 cup Pearl Couscous (or orzo/risoni)
- Parsley to serve
1. In a large saucepan fry sausages on medium heat until browned on the outside. Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel. Then add oil and fry onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Add carrots, tomatoes, stock and black olives. Chop sausages into bite sized pieces and add these too. Simmer for low heat with the lid on for 30 minutes stirring occasionally (I’ve even left this without stirring and it has been fine).
2. Add pearl couscous and simmer on low heat for another 10 minutes. Test for seasoning, if it needs some salt and pepper add it (usually it does benefit from some). Serve with pasta, rice or with some lovely bread to soak up the juices.
| December 11th, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
Our last meal in Canberra was set to be a great one. If only I hadn’t made a pig of myself and succumbed to the vanilla slice winking at me from the marble table in our hotel room. Allow me to rewind a few hours if you will. Earlier that day we’d visited the Braidwood Bakery and then gone to the Old Bus Depot Markets and then settled our weary selves into Hotel Realm. Booked thanks to the lovely people at Toyota it was a toss up between the Hyatt and The Realm and they had chosen The Realm because of its modernity.
It’s modern indeed with nice touches and I take off my heels and sink my feet into some comfortable padded slippers. In the room there’s no bath, the view is of a construction site, there’s no porter to speak of and the gym and sauna is privately owned so when Mr NQN wants to use the sauna at 4pm on a Sunday like a good Finn he is told that it is shut. The positives is that the room is very nice and modern, they happen to stock Pickwick’s Earl Grey tea which I happen to love, there are complimentary Byron Bay cookie company biscuits and cable stations are great. And for dinner we don’t have to go far except for downstairs which is a winner given how exhausted we are.
So fast forward and one vanilla slice down the hatch we make our way down to the restaurant to meet with Todd from Toyota and his wife Melissa. There’s one other table dining tonight and so we have a booth to ourselves. This is their first time dining with a Foodus Bloggerus and I accepted Todd’s invitation for dinner after asking if they would mind the whole photo taking experience.
Rigatoni with pork sausage, ham hock, tomato, garlic and chili $20.50
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| December 6th, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
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