Not a Bagel in Sight

June 21st - Home alone again - husband en route to Peru,  son in Spain, daughter in Salcombe.....even  my mother is off on the razzle! Usually I resort to bagels and cream cheese at this point but I had some fish in the fridge and fancied something tasty.  Over the years I've bought a load of cooking magazines and a while back I started keeping cuttings in a old fashioned book.  One of the recipes I'd always wanted to make was Cod with Tomato Salsa.  The salsa was a mix of decent tomatoes (holidays abroad make you long for ripe, juicy tomatoes that actually taste of tomatoes don't they?), finely chopped red onion, corainder and olives mixed together with some like juice.  The cod was simple brushed with oil, seasoned and grilled. Light and lovely!

Midsummer day.....half way through the year....and this is the resolution that I've kept the longest.

A Daube of Tuna

June 19th - The hunter-gatherer returned....from the fish van....with fresh tuna. What to do with it?  Usually I just grill it and have it with salad but here was an opportunity to try something new. I found a recipe for Tuna Daube in Bill Granger Every Day.  I gently fried thinly sliced onions in some olive oil until they were soft, then I added 4 anchovies, a small chopped red chilli, 4 chopped garlic cloves, some parsley and a tin of tomatoes.  This was simmered for about 25 minutes then I seared the tuna steak for a minute each side before placing it in the sauce, removing it from the heat.  The dish was sprinkled with basil before serving. I had worried that the fish would dry out but it was beautifully tender, just cooked through gently and there was a nice background heat with the chilli.  You could imagine eating this by the Mediterranean!

Getting a bit Flash!

June 19th - Well, the back story to this bit of flashiness is that my husband is off to Peru for a month and so I wanted to make a nice meal before he left...and my daughter is still telling me about all food Greek.......so here is a Kos inspired starter, just because the Co-op had some fresh figs in. I got the recipe off the internet. Fresh figs were split open, stuffed with a creamy, mild goats cheese and then wrapped in Parma ham.  They were then drizzled with olive oil, and grilled! Mmmmmmm!

A Little bit of Greece

June 14th - Well, my daughter has just returned from Kos full of chat about lovely meals she has eaten....so here is a bit of a Greek inspired meal from Bill Granger - Couscous with Feta and Cumin.   Lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, paprika and chilli were combined in a bowl and mixed with salt and pepper. This was then used to dress the couscous, with added cooked carrots and parsley. The feta was diced and mixed with half a finely sliced red onion, toasted pinenuts and sumac (a new ingredient for me) I added some grilled chicken...and we scoffed it so fast I completely forgot to take a picture!

Viva Espana!

June 7th - My son has gone off to Spain with 300 euros and a backpack to look for a summer job and improve his Spanish. Wish it was me......but good on him having to he confidence to just get up and go! I miss having him at home to cook for though because he is always so appreciative of home cooking.  So it was a bit of a coincidence to see a recipe for Andalucian-style Chicken in a magazine.....'spicy, sweet and fragrant, bursting with Moorish flavours' sounded just what was needed in unseasonably cold Scotland! A large pich of saffron was soaked in 100ml of boiling water with some chicken stock powder added. Then  a small onion was fried and chopped chicken added and browned.  A large pinch of cinnamon and a chopped red chillie was added with 2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar (or your alternative!!), a tablespoon of clear honey, cherry tomatoes and a tablespoon of raisins then the golden, saffron infused stock.  When the chicken was cooked, chopped coriander and toasted pinenuts finished the dish.

Birthday Pud

May 29th - My mum has been on Islay for the past week partaking of a variety of whiskies at the whisky festival, which happily coincides with her birthday.  Naturally I made a bit of a birthday tea.....and she likes a bit of a pudding so I decided to try out something new. One of my favourite recipe books is The Freerange Cook by Annabel Langbein, which I got for Christams one year from my brother in New Zealand.  I use her recipes a lot, but sadly not in this blog since the whole deal is trying out new recipes! Shame.  However I had never tried the Honey Lemon Cream Puddings which looked a bit like lemon posset which I love but have never made...and my mum is a bit of a honey fiend. 600ml of cream, 8 tablespoons of honey, 50g of sugar were put in a pan over a medium heat and brought to the boil until the sugar dissolved.  Then the mixture was simmered for 3 minutes.  Once off the heat, 100ml of lemon juice was added and the lemon cream strained through a sieve into glasses. They need about 4 hours to set.  I really wish I had some of the lovely old fashioned tea cups to serve it in! It was divine! Do try it.

Even More Chicken!

May 20th - The chicken thighs are definitely in vogue in my house just now....and I'm getting back into new recipe mode. I found another recipe using chicken thighs that was prefect for an easy weeknight tea, especially as we are getting fresh eggs from the school! Bill Granger's Roast Chicken Salad with Chive Mayonnaise was on the menu.....though I decided that I would leave my first attempt at making my own mayo for another day! The chicken thighs were seasoned and sprinkled with lemon juice before putting in the oven for 45 minutes. The salad of iceberg lettuce, celery batons and boiled eggs was easy, as was mixing chives from the garden into the mayonnaise. The recipe had chunks of toasted ciabatta, which I left out.  The result was nice, but a bit dry...could have done with more of a dressing on the leaves. However this picture looks remarkably like the one in the recipe book so I was pretty chuffed!

Cheap and Cheerful Chinese Chicken

May 17th - Having come back from our holiday in Canada, I'm trying to watch the

pennies so I bought a packet of chicken thighs from the Co-op. Not that I have anything against them, actually they are often more tasty that chicken breast.  I found a recipe for Spicy Chicken Thighs with Cucumber and Cashew Salad that looked straightforward. The chicken thighs were marinated in a mixture of fish sauce, black pepper, crushed garlic, finely chopped red chillie and a little sugar.  They were then fried in a little oil. Cucumber, mint, shredded spring onion and mangetout were dressed with a lime and sugar dressing. The recipe in the book used vermicelli noodles blut I am trying to cut down on the carbs so I left them out. Finally crushed cashew nuts were sprinkled on top.  Very simple, very tasty!