A Simple Ham And Vegetable Soup
I cooked this on Friday, using the leftover vegetables from the fish pies, I cooked earlier in the week. The recipe was based on this soup from Nigella.
I started by chopping up an onion, two garlic cloves and a fresh chilli and sautéing them in olive oil until they were soft.
Onion, Garlic And Chili
I then added a diced carrot, two diced sticks of celery, one bubble of some of Waitrose’s ham hock, some chicken stock and some water. I brought it to the boil and then simmered it for an hour.
Simmering The Soup
After that, I added a few sliced courgettes, half a cup of frozen peas, a small tin of three bean mix and a generous handful of pasta and then cooked it for ten minutes, until it was nice and hot.
Cooking The Courgettes, Peas And Pasta
The only problem, was that I made it a bit thick, but it tasted good.
A Big Bowl Of Soup
I think next time, I’ll make a bigger pot of it and work out how to freeze it for later.
Delia has a page here about freezing soups and a whole list of soups. But beware, the page is full of annoying adverts.
Shopping Lists For My Favourite Recipes
I’ve been meaning to do this for some time.
Medium onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
500 grams extra-lean minced beef
2 tbsp gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Waitrose organic tomato paste
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
250 ml, beef stock
1 cup frozen peas
1 kilo of King Edward or similar potatoes
1kg potatoes
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery
150g good Cheddar cheese
1 lemon
½ a fresh red chilli
4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
300g salmon fillets, skin off and bones removed
300g undyed smoked haddock fillets, skin off and bones removed
125g king prawns, raw, peeled
A good handful of spinach, chopped
A couple of ripe tomatoes, quartered
Most of the others I do, are so simple, that I don’t need a list.
A Vending Machine With Healthy Foods
I saw this vending machine at Dalston Junction station today.
A Vending Machine With Healthy Foods
How refreshing to see foods I can eat on sale on the platform. Note the EatNakd bars. This was just what I needed at Ulm, when I was kept alive by some awful paprika flavoured crisps.
As I haven’t noticed it before, I must assume it has probably just arrived. I couldn’t find the company on the Internet and I’d be interested to know more or hear of other locations.
Islington Gets Another Cafe Without A Gluten-Free Offering
This cafe called Vivo at Islington Green looks very nice, but when I asked if they had anything that was gluten-free, the staff hadn’t a clue.
Islington Gets Another Cafe Without A Gluten-Free Offering
They probably thought I was asking for free food.
Just up the road though there is Carluccio’s and when and if it opens, there will be Romeo’s. But one of the troubles is several Euphorium bakeries, which as far as I know don’t do gluten-free food either. And of course, the company is owned by Tesco, so I would only use it in an emergency.
Searching For A Genius Loaf
I generally have a soft brown, Genius loaf in the bread bin and today, I threw the remains of the last one out, as all I had left was the wrapping and two rather battered crusts.
So as I wanted to get a paper, I thought I’d get a new one at the littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner. But they only had the soft white bread, which would not be my first choice.
I know I can usually get the desired bread at Sainsburys at the Angel, but that would have meant coming back from there in the scrum of the rush hour. so I took the Overground to Dalston Junction, to try to buy the bread at the Co-Operative store at the station.
They did have a loaf, but the sell-by date was not very far away and the loaf felt, as though it was not that fresh.
So I took the bus home.
It’ll teach me not to do all my shopping at a bigger Waitrose like Canary Wharf or Bloomsbury. I don’t think I’ll bother with buying food at that Co-operative again.
Nairn’s Gluten-Free Porridge
I used to like my porridge as a child, but I found this gluten-free instant one from Nairn’s in Waitrose.
It wasn’t too bad and certainly it was a lot better than the Ready Brek instant porridge, I sometimes had as a child.
I sweetened it with honey.
Incidentally, although it is made in Edinburgh, it uses oats from Wyoming.
Lunch At The Assiette Anglaise
I got caught in the rain this lunchtime, so retreated to a restaurant, that I’d been meaning to try for some time; the Assiette Anglaise in the Liverpool Road.
Lunch At The Assiette Anglaise
The picture doesn’t do the confit of duck justice.
It is a restaurant certainly worth a repeat visit. And they knew their gluten-free too!
The meal was reasonably priced too!
The restaurant is also ideally placed for the Emirates Stadium and as it opens from nine in the morning on Saturdays, it is an ideal venue for a pre-match meal. And this can be gluten free if needed.
Every venue needs a nearby restaurant like this!
A Pre-Match Meal In Ipswich
Yesterday, it was football at Ipswich at 19:45 due to SKY, so it was an early train to avoid the rush hour and a pre-match meal in Pizza Express on the waterfront.
PX is the only really coeliac-friendly restaurant in the town centre. I’ve yet to find a good Indian one, close to the football ground.
PX was heaving, so it does appear that the demand might be coming up in the town, which in my view and those of some of my friends is a restaurant graveyard. I always wondered if East Suffolk people go to bed early, ever since my father and I used to walk home from his club in Felixstowe at about 21:30 and see all the houses cmpletely dark.
But getting to and from the quay and PX in the dark is a walker’s nightmare, with uneven pavements and all sorts of barriers everywhere. How many drunks will tip into the dock?
However there did seem to be a lot of good development going on at the waterfront, but knowing Ipswich as I do, I doubt that it will be complete for upwards of five to ten years.
The quay might end up as a good place to go, but it’s not that close to the town centre, the railway station and the other attractions in the town, like Christchurch Mansion, the Wolsey Theatre and the football ground.
If ever a town was crying out for a free circular bus-route that ran around the town centre like Manchester’s Metroshuttle, it is Ipswich!
At least though the meal was good and walking down the hill to the restaurant from the station was easy, even if I didn’t find the quickest route back to the football ground in the dark. In the light, I’d have had the liths to guide me!
I shall go again in the light!
Back Home Via Bolton
I didn’t go directly home, but broke the journey to see Ipswich play Bolton at the Reebok stadium, which is very close to Horwich Parkway station. This meant changes on both legs at Preston.
I would have preferred to come home via Manchester, but because Manchester United were playing Stoke City, I couldn’t get a train ticket at a reasonable price.
This resulted in having to rush my second change at Preston, as the London train had already arrived, when my local train came into Preston a few minutes late.
But the train was in London at the scheduled time of 20:15.
I’ve talked about the problems of getting gluten-free food on Virgin at weekends, so I didn’t really bother, as they had one gluten-free ham salad sandwich in the Marks and Spencer’s at Glasgow Central station.
And of course, it’s impossible to get any gluten free food in a football ground.
If I’d gone home by Manchester, I could have eaten in Carluccio’s in Piccadilly station. And probably a couple of other places too!
The Anonymous Widower 