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!
Coffee And Seats At Manchester Victoria
The upgrade at Manchester Victoria station is approaching completion and as I passed through yesterday, the refreshment room was open and their were extra chairs everywhere in a Northern Rail promotion.
It’s just a pity that the coffee shop, just had to be those tax-avoiders; Starbucks.
Restoring Manchester Victoria Station
I took these pictures as I passed through Manchester Victoria station today.
Some might think, that we spend more time and effort on getting the heritage details perfect, than we do on improving the experience for passengers.
My only hope is that if this space gets used as a restaurant, then it gets one with a bit of quality.
Carlisle
When I got to Carlisle it was nearly four and too late to go the long way back to Preston via the Settle and Carlisle Line to Leeds and then the Calder Valley Line.
I think to be fair, if I’d planned the trip better, I could have relied on getting the 16:18 to Leeds and then the 20:05 back to Preston. But the Calder Valley Line is probably best done with the scenery illuminated!
So I decided to have a walk round Carlisle city centre and then get one of the numerous fast trains back to Preston.
The centre is compact with most places you’d want to visit within easy walking distance of the station.
What surprised me was the very big Marks and Spencer, which unlike Preston had plenty of gluten-free food, including sandwiches. The shop was several times better than Preston. I can now understand why Preston was found to be the most unhealthy High Street in the UK.
Am I The Supermarkets Worst Customer?
There has been a lot of reports lately about misleading special offers in supermarkets, like this one in the Independent.
As I’m a 67-year-old widower living alone, who because I don’t drive, has to carry everything home from the supermarket, I only rarely buy any bogofs, but then only with something that doesn’t have sell-by date like washing tablets, soap, tissues or bottles of cider or olive oil.
If I’m cooking a casserole that needs one onion, one carrot, a leek and say two hundred grams of mince then that is what I buy.
I also have given up on fresh herbs and use the dried ones in pots , as I don’t like throwing the unused ones away.
As I regularly complain about the bags in Waitrose at the Angel, they must consider me a bad customer, especially as I usually enter with a half-full bag of bread, biscuits and lemonade from the Marks and Spencer next door.
The UK’s Unhealthiest High Streets And Gluten Free Food
In this report on the BBC, they published a list of the healthiest and unhealthiest High Streets. This is the unhealthiest list.
1. Preston
2. Middlesbrough
3. Coventry
4. Blackpool
5. Northampton
6. Wolverhampton
7. Grimsby
8. Huddersfield
9. Stoke-on-Trent
10. Eastbourne
Of these I have only ever been looking for gluten-free food in the first four and Wolverhampton.
In the first four, I drew a blank even in Marks and Spencer on getting anything tasty, except for a gluten-free quiche in Middlesbrough. Although, I did get a gluten-free pizza in Pizza Express in Preston and a Polish gluten-free pastie using a cabbage leaf in Wolverhampton.
What makes things worse in these places, is that none has a Marks and Spencer Simply Food at the station. Preston is so bad at the station, that when I got stuck there once after football in Blackpool, I went home via Piccadilly, so that I could have supper in the Carluccio’s there.
It would be interesting to see how many coeliacs have been diagnosed in these towns.
The Anonymous Widower 