Change After Forty Years
My middle son, who is in his forties came round for supper last night.
For the first time ever, he had a cup of tea. Normally, he drinks coffee!
Gluten Free Ready Meals On Eurostar
On the Eurostar from Paris, I was very hungry. I had thought that there was no gluten-free food was available, but late in the journey on reading their on-board magazine, I found that they had two Waitrose ready meals in the cafe-bar.
They were not labelled as gluten-free, but was this an omission?
Mushroom Risotto is here on the Waitrose web site, where it is labelled as suitable for those avoiding gluten. The Chicken tikka masala shown here is also labelled as such.
It strikes me, that Eurostar are making a mistake somewhere.
Gatslow
There used to be adverts that talked of Gatquick, but on my flight out, it was one of the slowest experiences I’d had in any of London’s airports.
As I was travelling economy and the airport was extremely busy, I found it very difficult to find anywhere to sit.
One mistake I did make was to eat at Carluccio’s in Islington before I left for the airport, as I thought this would be easier, than queuing up at Jamie Oliver’s in the airport. It was easy and I had a good lunch, but if I’d gone to Jamie’s I’d have had somewhere pleasant to sit.
I thought Gatwick was getting better since it was sold, but it still isn’t fit for purpose!
Not Pure Genius
I needed a snack this afternoon and thought some Genius toast with some strawberry jam would do nicely!
Not Pure Genius
These were the first two slices I got from the packet! So they were discarded.
On the subject of holes, I’m always reminded of a story about a former MP, who died some months ago.
A friend of a close friend of my late wife’s was at a party when she was chatted up by the MP. He thought he had struck lucky and escorted the lady up to a bedroom.
Everything went fine, until he took off his shirt to reveal a grey vest with large holes in it.
Catkucios
This unusual spelling was used by my son, when he was suggesting where we might go for supper.
Is it a restaurant that serves moggies?
Clapham Uncommon
This company was featured on the BBC London News. It concerns the growing of speciality vegetables and herbs in one of the deep level air-raid shelters under Clapham. Wikipedia says this about the shelters.
Each shelter consists of a pair of parallel tunnels 16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m) in diameter and 1,200 feet (370 m) long. Each tunnel is subdivided into two decks, and each shelter was designed to hold up to 8,000 people.
So they’re quite large! And there’s eight of them in total! But some have already been used for other purposes!
Canada Bans Marmite
I have some sympathy for the Canadians about this story on the BBC, as I can’t stand the stuff. C, on the other hand, was an addict, and I miss taking her, her morning cup of hot Marmite every day.
Is this discrimination against the British, as there is nothing in the article about banning the similar product from Australia; Vegemite? But according to Wikipedia, Vegemite is also banned.
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
This is a Lindsey Bareham recipe that I did for supper yesterday. I’d decided to do it in the morning, but when Waitrose were selling 400g packs of diced braising steak for just £2.25, I couldn’t resist making two portions of the ragu, with one for supper and one for the freezer.
I started by taking the whole pack of diced braising steak, which I seasoned and browned it in a couple of tablespoons of hot oil in my Le Creuset shallow casserole.
Browning The Diced Steak
The meat was then scooped out of the casserole and then 100g each of finely chopped onion and celery, together with some garlic, a tsp of thyme and a pinch of chilli flakes were then gently softened in the meat juices and tossed for five minutes.
Cooking The Onion, Celery And Spices
I then took 100g of finely chopped chestnut mushrooms and added them to the pan. I cooked this until it was all dark and juicy.
Cooking The Mushrooms
I then chopped the meat and added this to the pan.
150 ml of red wine was added and it was allowed to bubble up for a few minutes, before stirring in a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes.
It was then baked in the oven for 60 minutes at 160°C.
I served it with some of Carluccio’s gluten-free pasta.
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
My one mistake was perhaps not to put in quite enough wine, so it was perhaps a tad dry.
I shall make this again, I see the diced steak on offer at Waitrose. I know I don’t need to economise, but it shows you can make a delicious meal for two with £2.25 of steak, an onion, some celery, a tin of tomatoes, some spices and some wine.
This recipe also shows the usefullness of my shallow casserole. It is definitely something that I don’t regret buying.
A Delicious Way To Cook Salmon
Last night i cooked one of Lindsey Bareham’s recipes. it’s called Roast Salmon with Paprika, Garlic And Parsley.
I just put the salmon in a dish and after brushing it with olice oil gave it ten minutes in the oven at 200°C. I then covered the fish with a mixture of paprika, garlic abd fresh parsley.
Roast Salmon with Paprika, Garlic And Parsley
It was delicious.
Some might not like the broccoli I served with it, but that is personal taste. C wouldn’t have put her mouth, nose or fingers near it!
lindsey incidentally, has a new cookbook out called Just One Pot. You can buy it here from her web site. I shall be getting a copy!
Spitalfields For A Gluten-Free Meal
As I found at Nottingham recently, restaurants that can do a good gluten-free mea, tend to cluster. I’ve eaten in three places in Spitalfields; Carluccio’s. Leon and Pizza Express, but a new one called Canteen has opened.
Canteen In Spitalfields
All gluten-free meals are marked and they also state.
Other dishes can be made gluten-free on request.
Why don’t a lot more restaurants say that, as I know from experience many good chefs can make food gluten free.
The Anonymous Widower 