A Use for Muntjac
These imported deer are not the cuddly Bambis that some think they are. For a start, they are quite vicious and would give anything that tackled them a good mauling.
But the real reasons I don’t like them is the damage they do to trees is immense and round here in Suffolk, they cause no end of car accidents.
So when Alex James in the Independent says that they are nice to eat, I give a couple of cheers.
Heroic Stories?
Someone had an e-mail read out on BBC Radio 5 because they were having to take a train from Edinburgh to Nice. I’ve done most of that journey.
Here’s my reply.
A few weeks ago I had a small stroke and was banned from flying.
I went from Cambridge to Nice for a holiday and back by Eurostar and TGV. It wasn’t too bad, but TGV food is rubbish compared to Eurostar. Especially, if you’re a coeliac like me and need a gluten-free meal.
I’m off to Holland at the May Bank Holiday and booked the train, as I find short haul airlines not worth the hassle and I’m smuggling gluten-free bread mix back into the UK.
They didn’t read it out.
You may ask why I’m smuggling gluten-free bread mix into the UK. My prefered mix, Dr. Schar, is now no longer available in the UK.
Tuna Steak with Tomatoes and Mushrooms
I found this recipe in a blog called Dining Alone. I know the feeling!
She got it from a book by Robin Miller, so to put it up again may be a bit like overkill. As it is an American recipe it’s all cups and ounces. And you know how I feel about non-Metric units! But Robin does have several recipes for people like me; impatient, bad cooks who like good food.
So I used the basis of the recipe to create a sauce for my tuna steak. It was good.
First I pan-fried the seasoned tuna steak for a couple of minutes either side in a small amount of olive oil and then put it aside.
Then in the same frying pan, I took some very nice chestnut mushrooms that I’d bought in the Farmer’s Market at Wickhambrook and sliced and fried them in the pan with a few chopped shalots. Note that I have one of Delia’s little choppers, which I used for the shalots.
Some dried thyme was then added and stirred in. FinallyI put a small tin of chopped tomatoes, a couple of slurps of white wine and the tuna in the pan and simmered it for five minutes.
It was delicious and to make matters better, all I had to wash up was one small frying pan.
A Gluten-Free Lunch at Newmarket
I went to Newmarket races this afternoon. Judging by the number of cars in the car park, a lot of other people had the same idea. I blame the sunshine! It was cold though, but people were wrapped up well, as this photo shows.
Newmarket Races
Note the large number of cars in the background.
I needed lunch and went to the Bistro. If I’d done this some years ago and asked if the liver was gluten-free, I’d have got a blank look. But for the last couple of years, they’ve known what was in any of the meals.
The liver was excellent and as I was driving I washed it down with a pint of Diet Coke. The cost was even reasonable for a racecourse, or even any sit-down meal with service, at twenty pounds. That service was very much on the good side of four out of five.
They only charged two pounds for the Coke, which is about the same you’ll pay for it in a motorway service station. And in that case you don’t get a glass and you have to pour it yourself.
I Like This Poster
Innocent have been using rabbits to advertise.
The Innocent Rabbit
Why do we like rabbits, when they are so destructive?
For instance, they tend to dig holes in fields, which horses put their feet in and then suffer damage like broken legs.
Give me hares anytime!
A First Risotto
I like risotto, but I’d never made it until last night.
The problem started because, I only had limited fresh food in the fridge and I needed to conjure together something from a pack of smoked haddock, asparagus, sprouts, tomatoes and spring onions. I found this recipe for spring onion and smoked fish risotto on the BBC Good Food site.
The ingredients I used were.
- 500g smoked haddock, cod or trout
- chicken stock, fresh, cube or concentrate, made up to 1.5 litres
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 450g risotto rice
- 1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced diagonally (green included)
- 150g mature cheddar, grated
These quantities make enough for six, but as I’m only one, I made half and froze the other two packs. Will they be OK? Only time will tell.
I should say that the Waitrose risotto rice was a month past its sell-by date and I had to cut the mould off the chess. But then if you are a non-driver in the middle of nowhere, you have to be thankful for small mercies.
The method was as follows.
- Put the fish in a large frying pan. Pour over enough chicken stock to cover, bring to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes. Allow the fish to cool a little in the stock, then skin and flake it. Add any leftover chicken stock to the poaching liquid and keep hot. (If you’re using trout, just skin and flake it and heat the stock).
- To make the risotto, cook the onions in a little butter then add the garlic and risotto rice, stirring well to coat in the butter. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring each time to bring the starch out of the rice and give the risotto a creamy effect. When the rice is almost cooked, stir in the fish and spring onions. Stir in an extra knob of butter and the cheddar and serve.
The rice took 20-25 minutes to cook, but it was worth it. It wasn’t very difficult to get right either and it used just one frying pan. The latter is always welcomed.
The out-of-date food had no effect either.
Whether the frozen risottos are any good, I do not know.
The Princess of Shoreditch
One of the problems of being a coeliac is that you have trouble with eating on the hoof. Today, I was walking through Shoreditch, just looking at the buildings, when I came across a (gastro)pub called the Princess of Shoreditch.
The menu looked that one or two of the items were gluten free, so I thought I’d go in and see if I could have a meal. I entered and found that they had Aspall Cyder on draught, which is always a welcome sign for me. And probably for a lot of other coeliacs too!
I asked whether the poached cod on the menu was gluten free and this was checked with the chef. I got a friendly thumbs up sign, so I ordered it.
Poached Cod
It was very good and the whole lunch including a pint of Aspall and coffee cost twenty pounds. I’ll go again.
Since I’ve got home, I’ve checked Time Out. They like it too!
A Quick Caserrole
On Saturday night, a quick meal was in order, so we took a tray of vegetables to be baked in the oven from Waitrose and put two small lamb steaks in it and then livened it up with a slurp of red wine. It took forty minutes in the AGA and was delicious.
An Inappropriate Delivery from Waitrose?
Because I can’t drive at the moment, I ordered a load of stuff from Waitrose. There was no problem, but they felt that they’d send me a promotion – A new Hovis loaf!
I suppose I have to be grateful for small mercies.
The Anonymous Widower 