Supper With Celia
I had supper in a restaurant called Švejk Restaurant U Karla, which I found by typing “gluten free restaurant Prague” into Google.
The food is traditionally Czech and I found it excellent.
I don’t think you call the Celia gluten-free lager or the gluten-free bread traditional, but it is also Czech and excellent.
The only problem with the restaurant is that due to Prague’s maps and information, I found it difficult to find. In the end I was just on the point of giving up, when I found it.
I was certainly very pleased that I persevered.
Supper By Krakow Castle
I had supper at a restaurant called Pod Baranem, that I’d found with Google.
It was excelklent and so was the Cydr Lubelski
Cydr Lubelski In Krakow
Just sat down to supper with a bottle of Polish cider. Excellent and only 4.5% alcohol. I didn’t know they brewed it.
An Almost Vegetarian Lunch At Chimera In Krakow
I found Chimera in the pocket guide of Krakow I took with me.
There is some tuna in the salad, but for vegetarians, that is of course optional.
It is well worth a visit, as this review in Trip Advisor says.
As to location, the restaurant is just a short walk from Rynek Główny.
Supper In The Main Square
The Poles are proud of their food in much the same way as country people in the UK. Every chicken, animal, potato or leek you see, seems to have been brought up as a labour of love and I’ve never seen what you might call bad food in Poland.
If like me you’re coeliac, usually in a restaurant there is someone, who understands your needs and if that fails, I take a Polish Gluten-Free Card. But usually, only the top line gets read and the waiter or often the chef will say, have the duck or we can do the fish, in perfect English.
I took these pictures as I had supper.
I only had a main course, as I inevitably do, as I’d had an ice cream earlier.
An Unusual Supper- Goat’s Cheese, Strawberry And Basil Salad
Usually, I have fruit with a main course for my supper. Partly because of laziness, but C also preferred fruit rather than cooking something. My mother-in-law was also someone who cooked compulsory heavy puddings and although I hadn’t been diagnosed as a coeliac before she died, much to her annoyance, I always refused to have any. I wonder why? So for many years my pudding was strawberries, raspberries, pineapple or mango, with or without ice crem or lately yoghurt.
I am also not a particular lover of salad, but I do know that I should eat more. It’s the green leaves I’m not struck on, but but on the other hand, I eat most green vegetables, except pak choi. The latter is on the banned list, as I seemed to get it every day in hospital in Hong Kong. On the other hand, I could eat sprouts all day.
So when I got my copy of The Times this morning and it said that the comic would have a lot of salads, I took a detailed look at the cover.
A Strawberry Salad
Is that a salad I see before me without any lettuce, that uses strawberries as the main ingredient?
On opening the paper, I found it was a goat’s cheese, strawberry and basil salad. As I had all the ingredient’s in my kitchen and some ham hock to go with it, I thought I’d give it a go.
I don’t think there would be any chance, it would gluten me, let alone kill me!
After all if it had been disgusting, I could have always put mustard on the ham hock and eaten the strawberries au natural.
But it was absolutely delicious! All I need now is an attractive lady to sample it with me, when I cook it again!
I think that I might buy The Salad Bowl by Nicola Graimes. It might contain another equally delicious and unusual salad.
I’ll certainly go to Waterstones tomorrow, to try before I buy!
My First Lasagne
I cooked this lasagne last night using this recipe on the BBC Good Food web site.
The verdict from my guests and myself.
1. I thought it tasted fine and my guests even ate some of it, with one having second helpings.
2. I made too much and got the timing wrong, as the recipe isn’t that precise.
3. I think it could also have done with more bechamel sauce.
4. I also left it in the oven too long, but that was more because I was having my hair cut at the same time. Not a good idea
5. The M&S pasta sheets may be a short cut, but they are easy to use and don’t taste any different to gluten-rich ones.
6. For lunch today, I had it cold. It was very good, tasting a bit like a meat and pasta cake.
7. I did add some tomato sauce and although not very correct, it was a better taste.
I’ll cook it again soon, but next time I’ll do half the quantity, which should give me enough for two portions. So I could share it with a guest or have one hot and one cold.
Serial Cooking – Basmati Rice For One
My basic cooking lessons at home from my mother didn’t include cooking basmati rice. Rice was for making puddings, not as a substitute for potatoes.
So when I found this method of cooking basmati rice in this recipe from Lindsey Bareham, I had to try it. As it worked I’m posting it.
It may of course be a standard method, but it worked well and isn’t much more difficult than putting a packet in the microwave.
But it’s a bit more impressive, even if it is slower.
The great thing about this way of cooking rice, is that it takes twenty minutes from of virtually hands off cooking, from when the water boils, so is easy to slot into other cooking, talking with guests or drinking.
It is also very easy to scale up for a particular number of people.
Serial Cooking – Basmati Smoked Haddock With Curry Sauce
This was another recipe from Lindsey Bareham in The Times, which I modified to be a supper for one made from a single smoked haddock from Marks and Spencer.
To cut down the number of pictures, the cooking of the rice is in a separate slide-show, but in some slides you’ll see the rice cooking on the stove.
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It is an interesting way to make a kedgeree like dish.
I enjoyed it, although I didn’t make a nice smooth sauce.
It was also the first time in my life, I’ve ever poached an egg in a pan of boiling water.
No Wonder Lyle’s Is On The Evening Standard Shortlist
I was walking to Dalston Kingsland station today, when in a small park, I saw a guy picking elderberries from a tree in the children’s play area.I asked what he was doing and he said he was a Glaswegian chef from Lyle’s restaurant, and he was collecting it for cordial.
I read today in the Evening Standard that Lyle’s is on their short list for New Restaurant of the Year.
No wonder if the chef goes foraging in Hackney!
The Anonymous Widower 