Tarragon Chicken
This is another of Lindsey Bareham’s recipes from The Times. The original is here.
I started by chopping an onion in my little chopper.
An Onion In My Chopper
I continued by gently frying it in some butter in my frying pan.
Spftening The Onion
This should take about 15 minutes. Whilst it was cooking, I cut up three mini chicken fillets into small pieces.
A peeled, finely chopped and crushed garlic clove with a pinch of salt was added to the onion and cooked for a couple of minutes.
The chicken was then added, turning the pieces as they changed colour.
Cooking The Chicken
A teaspoon of flour was then sprinkled over the top and stirred. 150 ml. of chicken stock was added and the mixture was allowed to bubble up and thicken. Season as required, add one teaspoon of chopped tarragon and three tablespoons of thick cream and then stirring occasionally, let it cook for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
Finally adjust the seasoning to taste, with salt, pepper and lemon.
Dinner Is Served
It was good and I served it as Lindsey suggested with green beans and new potatoes.
A Cause For Complaint In The Scottish Capital
I was checking a Carluccio’s restaurant for lunch today in London and not that they now have two in Scotland; Glasgow and Aberdeen.
I wonder if they’ve had any complaints signed Disgusted in Morningside.
Which Is The Best UK University For Students With Coeliac Disease?
When I went to Liverpool University in the 1960s, I hadn’t been diagnosed with coeliac disease, but this article from the BBC web site about students with nut allergies got me thinking.
In my travels around the country, I find cities and towns vary with their knowledge of the disease. For instance, London, Brighton, Cambridge and Liverpool are easy cities for a coeliac and others like Ipswich, Blackpool and Middlesbrough are difficult.
I think drinking could be the biggest problem, as it is only in a few places you can drink a pint of something gluten-free, like real cider. At least these days, there is a wide availability of microwaveable meals from the major supermarkets that are gluten free and there are now reliable Indian restaurants, who cook with gram flour everywhere. And you can usually find a Pizza Express. Who’d have thought that good gluten-free pizza would be available nearly everywhere, a few years ago?
I think in the 1960s, being a coeliac, would have been a real problem at university and I probably would have taken an easy option to stay in London with my aunt. I couldn’t have lived with my parents in Felixstowe, as there was no University in the county.
So my life as a coeliac would have been totally different. I certainly wouldn’t have met my wife and would have missed out on forty very happy years.
A Wet Night In Islington
I needed supper last night and although I had food in the fridge, I went to Pizza Express at the Angel.
The great advantage is that the bus stop is right outside the restaurant.
So although, the rain was amazing, I didn’t get too wet.
The gluten-free pizza was good too!
Food Or Surveillance?
I saw this van on Upper Street in Islington.
Food Or Surveillance?
Is it Kennedy Spies or Kennedy’s Pies?
The Munch Museum
After the National Gallery, I took the metro to get to the Munch Museum to see the other half of the Munch 150 exhibition. It runs to October the 13th, so you’ve about four weeks.
I was also able to get some excellent Swedish meatballs at the museum.
Munchies At The Munch Museum
Were they Munchies?
No Clocks In Terminal Five
Terminal Five at Heathrow doesn’t seem to have any clocks.
There wasn’t even one in Carluccio’s in Departures.
Surely a few obvious clocks, would help people get to their plane on time.
Chorizo Hash
This is a recipe based closely on Lindsey Bareham’s recipe of the same name, but for one person. i.e. me!
I started by assembling the ingredients.
Chorizo Hash – Ingredients
Note the small 200 g pack of Waitrose potatoes and the 120g double pack of chorizo.
I chopped the potatoes and then boiled them for five minutes, before draining them.
The onion was then softened in about a tablespoon of olive oil over a medium heat, ater which the potatoes and the chorizo was added and heated until the potatoes and sausage were nicely crusty.
Chorizo Hash – Cooking The Onion, Potatoes And Sausage
The mixture was then turned out on a plate, the tomatoes were then added and everything was topped with a fried egg and some herbs. Lindsey used chopped parsley, but I just sprinkled marjoram on the top.
Chorizo Hash
I enjoyed it and will cook it again.
Eating Alone In Restaurants
It is usually several times a week, that I eat a meal or have a drink in a pub or restaurant alone. I often do this in places where I’m known and may annoy the staff a bit, by talking to them too much!
But that is a problem of loneliness!
I remembered yesterday a story from my past. I think I’d driven to Bristol to do a presentation in something like 1990, and I’d not eaten particularly well. It was before my diagnosis as a coeliac, and I think lunch had probably been something like an egg salad sandwich and a Coke. Not what I’d eat now!
I was driving back by a cross-country route to Suffolk about seven and I knew that I’d told C that I was going to be home late and not to cook for me.
So somewhere in probably Oxfordshire, I happened to pass was looked to be a village pub with those magic words of Real Ale and Home Cooked Food on a sign. There were a couple of good cars in the car park and it all looked pretty welcoming. So perhaps I could have a pint and meal.
I walked in and approached the bar and ordered a pint of something real and after choosing a ham steak and chips, I asked the landlord where I should sit.
He told me to sit on the large table along the side of the bar, as that table was reserved for people eating and drinking alone, who might want to socialise.
I’m not sure what we talked about, but I did have a pleasant hour or so in that very friendly pub.
I just wonder why, so few pubs and restaurants seem to treat single people in a creative manner.
An Elegant Design
One problem I have with my gammy left hand, is eating on the move, as salads can be a bit much to manage, as I really need a plate and a knife and fork.
I saw this excellent spoon/fork/knife in Cotswold in Islington this morning.
An Elegant Design
At only two pounds, I bought one.
The Anonymous Widower 