My First Takeaway Since Before The Covids
The pictures show my first takeaway since well before the Covids hit!
Note.
- Leon are now following UK railways and doing takeaways in a paper bag with handles.
- We all used to laugh at British Rail catering, but their invention of the paper bag with handles is still the only practical way of gong up and down a train carrying a hot drink.
- I do like Leon’s chilli sauce, so I bought a bottle.
- It was only a snack, which I followed with a plastic of strawberries.
As there is a Leon, where I change from train to bus to come home, I should do it more often.
Marks And Spencer’s Chicken Kiev Has Been Renamed Chicken Kyiv
I took this picture in Marks and Spencer at Liverpool Street tonight! Note the name!
I didn’t buy one as it isn’t gluten-free.
There have been lots of articles like this one on Birmingham Live, which is entitled Tesco, M&S, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Asda Under Pressure To Rename Chicken Kievs ‘Kyiv’.
So perhaps, pressure works.
Rats Are More Intelligent Than We Think
I heard this story from a retired gamekeeper, who was very much a proper countryman, after I said I had had a stroke and was on Warfarin.
When you raise chickens, especially free-range ones outside, rats can be a problem, as there’s nothing they like better than a nice piece of chicken.
So Warfarin is put down to poison the rats.
Anybody like me, who is on the drug, knows you must ignore Vitamin K, which is found in leafy green vegetables. I do generally eat my five a day, but they are mainly fruit, tomatoes, beetroot, beans and potatoes.
Apparently, modern chicken feed contains high levels of itamin K, as there are probably a lot of green forage crops in its ingredients.
So as the rats are also looking for their vegetables to go with the chicken, they’re eating the chicken feed.
And the Vitamin K in the chicken feed, could be giving them protection against the rat Warfarin-based rat poinson.
I also suspect, there could be a bit of natural selection at work!
A Delicious Meal For A Coeliac In A Fast-Food Restaurant
When I was diagnosed as a coeliactwenty years ago, fast-food restaurants were all gluten-full and alcohol, especially beer that I prefer was absent.
But look at these pictures of my lunch.
I ate in Leon in Leadenhall Market.
Gluten-free food has certainly changed for the better.
Why Would You Ever Wash Chicken?
My mother always told me, that you should cook all meat properly.
C never washed any meat either. In fact she didn’t really liked touching it, so often I was the one to put it in the dish for cooking.
So I have never washed any meat before cooking.
So now with reports that washing chicken actually spreads disease, I’m tempted to say my mother knew best.
Last Week Was Chocolate Week
last week was Chocolate Week and Lindsey Bareham celebrated with five recipes using chocolate of which four were savoury.
I cooked this Catalan Lamb Stew With Almonds on the sixteenth.
Catalan Lamb Stew With Almonds
I had a problem in that I couldn’t find any blanched almonds, so I had to use plaked ones and it was a bit gritty. My little chopper also made a bit of the mess with the sauce, so I can’t say it was a great success. I’ll try it again sometimes, with the blanched almonds.
And then on the nineteenth, I cooked Chicken Chili With Chocolate.
Chicken Chili With Chocolate
It was good and I put half in the freezer for later. I did cheat though, by using microwaveable rice.
Next time I’ll cook it with proper rice.
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.
Antonio’s Pepolata
I had a problem last night, in that I couldn’t find a suitable sauce for my pies. Last time I used one from Bay Tree, that had been in my cupboard for some time. This time though, the only one i could find was Antonio’s Pepolata from Carluccio’s.
Antonio’s Pepolata
The pies worked out fine, or at least the one I had for supper did.
Chicken, Bacon And Potato Pie
But even Carluccio’s didn’t really have a suitable sauce.
Dinner From The Microwave
The Times today is having a go at microwave cookers. It didn’t stop me from eating one of Marks & Spencer’s Fuller Longer meals tonight. It was called Chicken in a Smoky Tomato Sauce.
It was surprisingly, quite well-endowed on the chicken front, although the sauce didn’t appear very smoky. But I could do without that! The only allergen was a small amount of cow’s milk. Here’s a picture.
Chicken in a Smoky Tomato Sauce
Note the Estrella Damm Daura beer.
I will have one of these again.
Ginger Chicken with Lemongrass
This recipe was published in The Times yesterday. It is one of Lindsay Bareham’s and I’ve used hers before, as they are simple, quick and delicious on the one hand and often gluten-free on the other.
The ingredients are as follows and the quantities serve two.
- 20g ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 onions, 145g in total
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 chicken thigh fillets
- 300g potatoes
- 2 tsp lemongrass paste or 1 large lemongrass
- 300 ml water
- 100g frozen petits pois
The method is as follows.
- Peel and thinly slice the ginger into scraps the size of shirt buttons.
- Slice the garlic into thin rounds.
- Finely slice the onions.
- Heat the oil in a lidded pan, stir in the onion, ginger and garlic.
- Cook, stirring often, over a medium-low heat, encouraging it to soften without browning.
- Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into the semi-cooked onions.
- Peel and slice the potatoes into 50p-size pieces. Quickly rince and add to the pan.
- Stir in the lemongrass paste or buised lemongrass, then add the water.
- Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, semi-cover the pan and cook gently for 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender, the chicken cooked through and the liquid slightly reduced.
- Season to taste.
- Add the peas, bring to the boil, immediately reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes until the peas are tender. Serve in bowls with crusty bread and butter.
I think I’ll give it a try this week.
The Anonymous Widower 