The Truscott Arms
This lunchtime I went for a gluten-free beer at the Truscott Arms in Maida Vale.
The beer was a Belgian one called Daas Blonde. I would certainly drink another and one night I’ll go to back to the pub for dinner.
Is This Humour From A Coeliac?
I took this picture on Walthamstow Central station.
Is This Humour From A Coeliac?
As a coeliac, I found it funny!
An Interesting Idea
I’ve just read about the web site, EatWith.com, where you eat meals in other peoples’ homes.
I know of quite a few people, who might like to have a go at this, both as diners and cooks!
Creamed Chicken With Asparagus And Peas
This was another of Lindsey Bareham’s recipes from The Times. The original recipe is here.
The original serves four, but it was only for me, I cooked a small half quantity and modified it to be gluten free. I also used various Waitrose products to avoid having to use skills I don’t have.
I used the following.
- 100 g of asparagus tips
- half a bunch of spring onions
- half a pack of Waitrose’s mini chicken fillets
- one tbsp of gluten-free flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
- 100 g of frozen petit pois, although mine were actually garden peas. It’s about a third of a standard Ipswich Town mug.
- 25 g butter
- a very small glass of white wine
- 2 tbsp of St. Helen’s Farm, goats double cream.
The method is as follows.
Trim the asparagus tips and boil hard for 2 minutes in about 250ml of salted boiling water. Scoop out of the water and set aside. Keep the water aside.
Slice the spring onions thinly.
Slice the chicken into strips, about 5 cm. x 1 cm. and toss in the seasoned flour.
Chicken Prepared For Cooking
Melt a few grams of the butter in a large frying pan and gently soften the onions, then scoop onto a plate.
Cooking The Spring Onions
Add the rest of the butter and increase the heat slightly. As soon as the butter has melted, cook the chicken in batches, so that each piece has a thin, pale golden crust.Return all the chicken, add the wine and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to mix the flour from the chicken into the wine, cooking until thick and syrupy.
Cooking The Chicken
Return the onions, add the asparagus cooking water and bring to the boil, stirring constantly to end up with a thickened sauce.
Adding The Onions And Water
Add the peas and simmer gently, cooking for about 10 mins until chicken and peas are tender.
Cooking The Chicken And Peas
Stir in the cream and then add the asparagus.
Adding The Cream And Asparagus
Let the asparagus warm through and serve.
Creamed Chicken With Asparagus And Peas
I served it with some of Waitrose’s microwaveable pearl potatoes.
It was delicious.
Grand Central Up And East Coast Down
I went up to York on Grand Central in First and came back down in Second on East Coast.
As you can see, both trains were forty-year-old InterCity 125s.
First Class on Grand Central might have been affordable at £49.50 and it was a convenient train in that it got there just before the museum opened, but it was a very poor offering. I got an uncomfortable seat with a narrow table in a group of four and the only refreshment I had was two cups of tea.
Coming back I’d booked an open Off Peak ticket at £32.00, so I could come back at a convenient time.
I managed to get a more comfortable window seat in a group of four, with a bigger table than I had on the way up. The train seemed to be fairly newly refurbished and was probably in better condition, than it had been in all of its long life. The trolley came through twice and I bought just a bottle of water.
Both trains were on time.
It is interesting to compare these two journeys with the Copenhagen to Hamburg trip I did recently in a diesel German ICE TD.
I was in First on the German train and the seat was marginally more comfortable, than that of the seat in Second on my journey home yesterday. I also had a bigger table. But the ride was no better on the newer German train, which incidentally tilts, and there was nothing to choose between the views through the wide windows on both trains.
But the real problem on the German train, was the total lack of a decent drinks service. The trolley on East Coast was much better. But I have feeling that the layout of German ICE trains effectively rules out a trolley. food on all three journeys didn’t include anything that was gluten-free, but that is coming if my taste of Virgin is anything to go by.
I doubt I’ll be travelling on Grand Central again, and certainly never in First. Unless I have no choice!
She Blew The Bloody Door Off!
Echoing the classic Michael Caine line from The Italian Job, Margaret Goodwin has shown our intrepid boys how to do it, as reported in the Telegraph.
But she was only using rhubarb chutney!
As I write various would-be terrorists are experimenting with their mothers’ chutney recipes. It has been reported that in some places, rhubarb is now in short supply!
Roast Cod, New Potatoes And Peas
This is another Lindsey Bareham recipe from The Times. If you have a subscription as I do, it’s here.
I modified it slightly to be for two people, although in the end, I cooked a half quantity for just myself.
Roast Cod, New Potatoes And Peas
I used the following.
- 400g. cod fillet
- 2 tbsp of Carluccio’s olive oil with lemon.
- 200 g. cherry tomatoes.
- 100 g. of frozen peas.
- 100 g. gren beans.
- 200g. small new potatoes
- 3 anchovy fillets in olive oil.
- A few fresh mint leaves.
You just cook the fish with the oil and tomatoes in the oven at 200°C for 6-8 minutes with the olive oil and tomatoes.
Preparing To Cook The Fish
The vegetables are cooked in two saucepans and then everything is combined.
The Combined Vegetables
As the first picture shows, you just make a mound, put the fish on top and then garnish it with the tomatoes.
I Don’t Want Another Card
I am trying to declutter my life.
I Don’t Want Another Card
So the one thing, I don’t want is another card. In fact these days, I don’t bother with loyalty cards. If I don’t get decent service, I go elsewhere. Shops, restaurants, train operators and airports, have to earn my loyalty.
If I look at Heathrow, I might go out from there if I could use Terminal 5, as there is a decent gluten-free restaurant there.
An Incident In Pizza Express
Last night, I went to a new-for-me Pizza Express in Curtain Road, close to Shoreditch High Street station.
I always have the same meal in Pizza Express, and that’s a bottle of Aspall Cyder and a gluten-free caprisiosa pizza. The pizza comes on a slate.
Gluten-Free Pizza At Pizza Express
It was of the usual high standard and was exactly like the one in the picture, which I took in their restaurant in Islington.
But when I started to cut it, with their pizza cutter, the action set up a vibration, which meant the various bottles and glasses on my table started to migrate about.
I didn’t notice what was happening, until I heard the half-drunk bottle of Aspall cyder fall on the floor, where it didn’t break, but proceeded to spin, spilling some of the cyder on the floor.
I retrieved the bottle and I judged very little had been split, despite the fall as it virtually filled my half-pint glass. A half-pint glass is 284 cl. and the bottle of cyder is 330 cl. But I had had a long drink before the bottle fell.
I think the incident shows the strength of the Aspall bottles, which were brought in to save glass.
An Excellent Reason For A Coeliac To Subscribe To The Times
A few weeks ago, The Times had a revamp and put Lindsey Bareham’s Dinner Tonight recipe at the bottom left of page 2. It makes the recipe easy to cut out and keep. Here’s one I cut out earlier!
A Recipe Cut From The Times
The great thing about her recipes, is that many are naturally gluten-free or can easily be made so. This new position, means you can check the recipe before buying the paper.
This morning, I got to asking myself if they now print properly, as in their old position in the paper, it meant you had to print about six sheets of paper, most of which went in the bin.
I am a subscriber to The Times, as I like their sudokus and other puzzles, so I logged in and found the recipes. To print now, is a lot easier, as if you only print the first page, you only get the recipe and none of the garbage, that you often get when printing a page from the Internet.
Dinner Tonight Recipes From The Times
This morning, I printed three recipes, that have appeared in the paper in the last week.
As
The Anonymous Widower 