Another Food Blog

I very much enjoyed our food bloggers meal at The Waterside Inn last week, but I don’t think that I can better the excellent write-ups already given by my fellow diners. Although, I have to say that the cheese trolley was one of the finest that I have ever had the good fortune to appreciate.

I want to touch on a different perspective of the meal. I don’t think that the review would be complete without mentioning the wonderful surroundings and faultless service.

Allowing for artistic license and ignoring the rain, the walk down Ferry Lane from out pre-dinner drinks was delightful as was our reception at the restaurant. The design of the restaurant was elegant and the views of the lake, again ignoring the rain, were perfect.

The service was very friendly and efficient without being intrusive and it all made for a wonderful evening for a small group of hungry gastronomes.

This is one of the simplest desserts that I know and always looks impressive.

Preheat oven to 150C. Beat the whites of 3 large eggs until forming soft peaks and then gradually beat in 6 ounces of caster sugar. Place the mixture in a circle on to a lined baking tray and place in to the pre-heated oven. Turn the oven down from 150C to 140C and then cook for 45 minutes to one hour. I like to use the conventional oven of my microwave combi for this as the rotating cooking plate gives a wonderful even finish.

When the pavlova is cooked and cooled place on to a serving plate, cover with whipped cream and fruit of your choice.

Much to the curiosity of Douglas the kitten I decided to have a go at cooking mussels recently. Having spent a very fiddly hour taking the beards off and thumping them against the side of the sink to ensure that they closed, I left them to soak in cold water for another hour and then discarded any that remained open.

I gently sautéed a finely chopped leak and medium onion in about 2 ounces of unsalted butter until soft and then added a couple of bay leaves and a couple of sprigs of thyme. The mussels were then added (about 3lbs) with half a pint of dry white wine and then cooked on a highish heat for just over 5 minutes (until the mussels opened). For the last minute of cooking I added about half a pint of double cream and finally scattered over some chopped parsley.

The mussels were served with lots of crusty bread to soak up the wonderful sauce, and were a great success.

Having elected to spend St. Valentine’s evening at home I pondered what I could cook to make for a romantic dinner that would not require me spending half a day in the kitchen. Marks and Spencers came to the rescue. They had a fantastic offer for the day of ‘Dine for Two for £20′. So at 9 am yesterday I took myself off to Putney in search of this bargain. I was not the only one, M&S was full of people who had thought likewise, in fact my sister tried to take advantage of it at 3.30pm only to find the shelves at her local M&S completely empty of the ‘deal’ dishes.

Anyway, for our £20 Tim and I enjoyed, Coquille St. Jacques and Peppered Sirloin Steak with Caesar Style Vegetables – I bought some extra herby potatos as only one side dish was included in the deal, followed by Belgian Chocolate Soufflé for dessert. This was accompanied by (also included in the deal) a bottle of pink fizz and a single red rose. It all turned out to be a relatively effortless and delicious St. Valentine’s dinner.

This curry makes a great and quick supper. To serve six people, dice an onion and fry in olive oil for about 10 minutes, then add a crushed clove of garlic and continue to fry for another minute. Next add two jars of Sharwoods Bhuna sauce, rinse each jar with about 150mls of cold water and add to the pan. Bring this to the boil and add fine green beans, a can of chickpeas and some cooked peeled prawns. Bring back to the boil and simmer, covered for 15 to 20 minutes. Finally, drop in a couple of good sized handfuls of baby spinach and allow to wilt. Serve with naan bread, raita and some mango chutney.

As a New Year’s resolution I have been trying to be better at using up leftovers. One of the more successful results is the frittata.

This one started off with softening some onion in butter in a non-stick frying pan. To this was added sliced corgettes, skinned chopped tomatos and some diced leftover ham. After cooking for about 5 minutes I added 6 beaten eggs seasoned well with salt and freshly ground pepper and mixed with a tablespoon of extra thick double cream that I had found lurking in the fridge. When the egg mixture had cooked on the hob for about 10 minutes (without stirring) and the underside was a golden colour, I popped the pan under a hot grill for another 5 minutes until the top was golden too.

Sliced and served with a green salad this tasted great and made me feel very smug about using up the leftovers.

The spell of cold weather that we are going through in the UK just makes you cry out for comfort food. An Evans family favourite is cottage pie.

There are many variations to this dish, mine is quite simple. Dice and saute a medium onion in oil for about 4 minutes, add about 700g of lean beef mince and brown. Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper then an 5 good sized tablespoons of red-currant jelly, 300mls of beef stock and 300mls of red wine. You can add more fluid than this if you want to make some rather tasty gravy. Then simmer the mixture for about an hour and a half. To get the best from this dish, if you have the time, this is then best left to cool and stand overnight to let the flavour develop. Put the meat mixture and some of the gravy into a largish dish and then top with potato mashed with pepper and butter. Finally, pop it in to a pre-heated oven (190oC) for about 30 minutes or until the top begins to go golden and crispy.

Some simple vegetables such as sliced runner beans complement this really well.

Last night we were invited to some old friends for a pot luck supper. Our luck was certainly in! The most wonderful home made Paella and Focaccia bread were on offer.

Sadly, our friend does not cook by written down recipes, so I will have to pin her down another time to find out her secrets to the most wonderful tasting Paella I have eating in a very long time.

With a little more help than was needed, I started to cook supper last night.

As I am trying to get the Evans household on to a bit of a healthy eating kick I went for a chicken dish. Preheat the oven to 220oC, chop a mixture of tomatoes, corgettes, peppers and onions and place in to a large oven proof dish. Season well and drizzle with olive oil. Finally, place the chicken breasts on top and cook for 25 to 30 minutes.

The vegetable juices and olive oil mix together wonderfully during the cooking process and can be enjoyed with some crusty bread or mashed potato.

Strangely enough my dinner party standby dessert is one tucked in to the back of a Rick Stein fish cookery book. His baked chocolate mousse cake is quickish to make and always goes down well.

First line a 20cm cake tin with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 160oC (I have a combination microwave oven that works perfectly for cakes as the turntable gives the most even distribution of heat that I have ever experienced). Then melt 150g of good dark chocolate and set aside to cool. Cream together 150g of unsalted butter with 150g of caster sugar, then one by one beat in 3 large egg yolks. When cool add the chocolate to this mixture. Finally, beat the 3 egg whites until they stand in soft peaks, then carefully so not to knock out the air mix the egg whites in to the chocolate mixture. Fill the lined cake tin with the mixture and then cook for 45 minutes to an hour until the top has formed a crust.

When cool dust with icing sugar and serve with extra thick double cream.