Fish Paste Sandwiches Updated
I’ve just made myself some sandwiches for the journey to Ipswich for the football today.
Fish Paste Sandwiches Updated
The bread is Genius, the pate is from Pinney’s of Orford, the butter is Benecol and the cucumber is an organic one from Waitrose.
So different to the fish paste sandwiches that were a treat on Sundays in the 1950s.
W H Smug
This was Private Eye’s name for W H Smith and I’m not sure if the magazine still uses it.
I find them an irritating store, as they do lots of things that annoy me.
Take yesterday, I paid for my copy of The Times by putting my subscriber’s voucher in the quick pay pot, as one assistant had told me to do a couple of weeks ago. Then I saw that the March edition of Modern Railways had arrived, picked it up and then went to pay for it. But I was then told, I’d have to pay for both items in the same place. So in the end, I left the magazine on the counter and walked to St. Pancras and bought it there. It wasn’t actually an extra trip, as I wanted to visit Boots to see if they had an Eat Nakd bar. They didn’t! Boots please note!
Paying for the magazine was then the usual No-No-No conversation, as I declined evething on offer and gave all the bits of paper back to the assistant.
Next time I travel, I’ll make sure I get my travel supplies before I leave home.
Ice Cold in Cornwall
I went to Cornwall for the weekend with friends.
Cold wasn’t the word for the weather.
Icicles at Boscastle
This was the walk by the river in Boscastle. In the end we retreated to the Wellington Hotel for some delicious hot chocolate. We also had an early dinner there before returning to London. The menu was very coeliac and vegetarian friendly.
I had some delicious liver and bacon. All that B12 seems to have freshened up my skin quite a bit.
Daura in the Angel, Islington Waitrose
The Estrella Damm Daura was there all the time, but rather hidden away at the bottom of the Free From section. The bottles and packaging are very red by the way.
I think shops need to think how they sell GF beer. Sainsbury’s put it with the special beers and Waitrose have done the opposite. Perhaps they need some clever stickers on the shelves to point people in the right direction.
The Angel Waitrose is very small, so they have a space problem. I’m sure there’s a labelling or web solution, which would help the stores and shoppers alike.
Carluccio’s Have Formalised the Gluten-Free Breakfast Menu
I was in the Upper Street branch today and the manager showed me a copy of their gluten-free breakfast menu. Effectively, they’ve had it for some time, but it’s now properly printed.
He also said that they are doing a lot of gluten-free meals.
Carluccio’s to Sell Gluten Free Pasta in Their Delis
I have just received this message from Carluccio’s.
I just wanted to drop you a line to say from this week we have added the Gluten Free pasta into our range across all the delis and so it is available to buy for £2.95 for 500gm packet.
It ceertainly is pretty good pasta. I’ve just got to learn how to cook it properly.
Boots Help Coeliacs to Keep Marching
I’ve complained in this blog about the lack of suitable gluten free snacks for coeliacs, when you’re on the move. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when I discovered EatNakd bars in Waitrose.
They aren’t stocked in too many obvious places, but I did find that Boots in Liverpool Street station had an extensive display in their takeaway food section.
In some ways this is bad news, as the bars are a bit addictive, despite being a delicious way to fill a hole.
I’ll be contacting Boots to find out their policy on this issue.
A Dickensian Tavern
As I passed through Clerkenwell, I walked up Britton Street to the north of the famous meat market and had a drink in the Jerusalem Tavern. The tavern is owned by St. Peter’s Brewery and serves their gluten-free ale.
If you’ve seen any period dramas, based on the stories of authors like Charles Dickens, you’ll recognise the style of the pub. But of course it doesn’t have footpads and low-life of the period and is probably a lot more hygienic.
So any coeliac who likes their beer and visits London, should put this unique drinking establishment on their list of places to visit.
Give Peas a Chance
And coeliacs too, it would appear, judging by the menu.
The Manager at Hummus Bros
I came across the Southampton Row branch of Hummus Bros as I walked towards Euston from Holborn.
Hummus Bros, Southampton Row
I had a good coffee for just 50p, as it was their price for after 2:00 pm and it is certainly somewhere, I’ll try again.
Cassoulet
Today was my housewarming party, so I cooked a gluten-free cassoulet in a big Le Creuset casserole.
I’ve always liked cassoulet and in the past, I’ve even eaten one cooked by a Michelin-starred chef. This was the second time I’d used this recipe which is based on one from Michele Barriemore-Johnson’s Everyday Wheat-Free and Gluten-Free Cookbook, which is really the only cookery book, I use these days. I’m not sure, if the book is still in print, as it was first published in 1998. The author, now runs a comprehensive free-from food site called foodsmatter.com.
The ingredients are as follows and the quantities serve from ten to twelve.
- 500 g dried haricot beans – one pack in Waitrose
- 8 rashers of streaky bacon – One pack in Waitrose
- 4 carrots, scrubbed and skiced – I actually chopped them into sticks about 5 centimetres long and then quartered-them lengthwise, as I found this easier with my gammy hand.
- 4 onions stuck with between about eight and ten cloves each – Surprisingly, I didn’t find this too difficult, but I did make a small cut in the onions with the point of a knife and the cloves were newly bought.
- 3 large onions roughly chopped – Effectively, I just peeled them and cut them into small chunks.
- 6 cloves garlic, halved – I find peeling garlic difficult, but this was easier than crushing them.
- 20 or so peppercorns and salt
- 50g butter
- 2 Bath Pig chorizo sausages with garlic and herbs. I was recommended by and purchased these from the de Beauvoir Deli. You have to dice it for the recipe.
- 1 Kg of lamb, trimmed of fat and cubed – The original recipe recommended leg or shoulder, but the butcher in Waitrose recommended using some neck cuts. Both these and the chorizo worked well.
- a tube of tomato puree.
- 500 g of chicken stock. I diluted it a bit with a small amount of water.
- 4 slices of gluten-free bread – I used Genius, as I had a loaf handy.
- 4 tbsp of whole grain mustard – Check it’s gluten-free.
The method is as follows.
- Soak the beans in cold water for a minimum of four hours. I did it overnight.
- Drain the beans and discard the water. This isn’t quite as easy as it should be, as the beans soak up a load of the water. In the end I used a saucepan with a strainer built into the lid to get rid of the excess water, but it might have been better to soak the beans in the saucepan in the first place.
- Line a big casserole with the bacon rashers.
- In a bowl mix together the beans, carrots, the onions stuck with cloves, half the garlic and the peppercorns and salt.
- Spoon the mixture into the pot with the bacon, just cover it with water and bake it with the lid on at 160 degrees for 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy-based pan and brown the garlic sausage and the lamb. Stir in the chopped onion, the rest of the garlic, the tomato puree and the stock.
- Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
- Turn the mixture into the bean pot, stir all well together and return to the over for another 30 minutes. Taste and season as required.
- Spread the bread with mustard. Lay on top of the casserole, mustard side up and push them down, so that the bottom of each slice absorbs the juices. Return to the over for 20-25 minutes to heat and crisp the topping.
I served it with some green vegetables, but everybody just took lots of beans.
There was enough left over to make three small individual meals, which I froze.
The Anonymous Widower 