A Day Not To Be Alone
I’m not moaning, but I don’t think today, is going to be a good day.
I quite like my own company, but on a day like this when it’s only 16°C, overcast and the sun is on strike, there isn’t much to do. You can only go round your favourite museums and galleries so many times and it’s not the day to explore parts of London, I don’t know well at all.
My son and his partner are both working and where my three grandchildren I never see are, I know not. Two I’ve never seen and I’ve not really seen the only granddaughter since the death of my son.
There isn’t even any decent football or cricket on the television. Although after cricket yesterday, I would probably give that a miss if it were on. I won’t be watching the Derby on the television, as it’s on Channel 4 and I don’t do adverts. I’ll probably go down the betting shop at the corner to watch the race, if I’m at home.
I’ve even done all my household chores, washed my smalls, tested my INR and had my weekly bath. The last is actually a lie, as I do bath more frequently than that!
We’ve also had a run of distinctly poor films over the last few weeks, so going to the cinema is probably not an option.
I’ve a choice of things to do for the rest of the day.
I can go and have lunch in Carluccio’s at the Angel and do a bit of food shopping for tomorrow. But I was there last night with a friend.
I will have to go and get a few things at the shops anyway. The most pressing is probably two boxes of man-sized tissues for my permanently running nose. At least, I’m probably down to a box a week now!
At least this evening, I can watch a program on BBC3 called England’s Worst Football Team. Now there’s a program for the lonely and miserable if ever there was one.
I could really put the cap on the weather, by giving up on one of my principles. I’ve never had a raincoat since I was about twenty or so. As I can afford it, I should perhaps go and buy one that I could wear over my favourite jacket. I can at least afford the best!
I think, it’s probably a good idea to do some cooking. I need to make a pie on the one to eat and one for the freezer basis. My only problem is to decide on the flavour to make. Should it be fish, fish, shepherd’s or sausage? Or perhaps a new variety!
Fish Pie With Swede And Potato Topping
I regularly do Jamie Oliver’s fish pie and thought it was about time I found another. Especially, as I wanted one that was more in tune with my 0.6L Le Creuset dishes.
I found this one on the BBC’s Good Food website, which was ideal to make two pies.
For the two pies, I used the following.
- 500 g potatoes, cut into chunks
- 400 g swede, cut into chunks
- 200 g tub low-fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs
- 150ml vegetable stock
- 4 tsp cornflour, blended with 2 tbsp cold water
- 500g skinless, boneless cod, cut into large chunks
- 100g cooked peeled prawns
- 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
This is the method.
- Cook the potatoes and swede in boiling water until tender (about 20 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 190°C. While the potatoes and swede cook, put the soft cheese and stock into a large saucepan and heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon, until blended and smooth. Now add the blended cornflour and cook until thick.
- Stir the fish into the sauce with the prawns and parsley. Season with some pepper.
- Tip the mixture into the dish or dishes. Drain the potatoes and swede, mash them well and season with black pepper. Spoon the mash over the fish to cover it completely. Bake for 25-30 minutes until piping hot, then transfer to a hot grill for a few minutes to brown the top.
- Serve with frozen peas or sweetcorn.
I served it with frozen peas and a Celia.
Fish Pie With Peas And A Celia
The second pie went in the freezer.
Haddock On A Bed Of Asparagus
It seems that the shops have a surfeit of asparagus. As I had some haddock, I looked for a suitable recipe and found this one here on SparkPeople. It took me about half-an-hour to cook it.
For two people you need the following.
2 fillets of haddock
1 pack of asparagus
2 cups of frozen peas.
1 large onion (finely chopped)
2 tomatoes (chopped into quarters)
Salt, freshly-ground black pepper.
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp vegetable stock powder.
As it was 2 small fillets, just for me, I used a pack of English asparagus tips. None of your air-freighted stuff for me!
I started by heating the oil in a saucepan and then adding the onion.
Cooking The Onion
I cooked it, until the onion was reasonably cooked. I then added the tomatoes, seasoned it all with black pepper and let it cook on a gentle heat for a minute or so.
Adding The Tomatoes
I then added a cup of water, the vegetable stock powder and the frozen peas (from frozen).
I left the peas to cook for five minutes before adding the haddock fillets to the sauce.
Cooking The Haddock In The Sauce
After another five minutes the haddock was cooked.
As the haddock c0oked, a cooked the asparagus in the way that Heston Blumenthal used in this recipe.
Cooking The Asparagus
I just fried them in a little olive oil with some seasoning.
It was then just a matter of arranging the asparagus on a plate, putting the haddock on top and then adding the sauce and some of the peas.
Haddock On A Bed Of Asparagus
I also added some potatoes.
I think others might modify this to their taste, perhaps by adding lemon juice. But I liked it the way it came.
Cooking With Celia
Some of my friends will chuckle at this.
Cooking With Celia
I’m actually cooking the fish with beans and peas, I cook regularly.
It Was Fish Pie Tonight
As I hadn’t cooked pone for some time, I decided to cook one of my version of Jamie’s Oliver’s Fish Pie.
It Was Fish Pie Tonight
I could have perhaps put a few more potatoes on top, but otherwise it was good.
My other worry, is that how long will the remainder keep in the fridge!
What’s The Difference Between A Sardine And A Pilchard?
A sardine comes in a flat tin and a pilchard comes in a round one.
I found that answer here.
Baked Eggs And Sardines
This recipe came out of Saturday’s Times and explains the tins of sardines and bread earlier. When I saw the recipe, I thought I hadn’t had sardines for years, so this recipe seemed a good one to rectify that omission.
Baked Eggs And Sardines
All I did was put a crushed clove of garlic, a complete tin of sardines in tomato sauce and two eggs into a buttered ovenproof dish, which then went in the oven at 180°C, until the eggs looked cooked.
I did buy some parsley to chop on the top, but I forgot to do it.
I shall be cooking it again! Especially as sardines are suposedly nutritious and considered by some to be an aphrodisiac. The dish is also so easy to cook. The most difficult thing was opening the tin of sardines!
Even the washing up was fairly minimal!
From Bratislava To Vienna
I left Bratislava on Wednesday morning. Not by train, but by taking a fast boat on the Danube.
The fare was just twenty euros and it was a very pleasant trip, that took you from one city centre to the other in about seventy-five minutes. As there are three ropund trips a day, you could easily stay in one city and visit the other.
I was particularly fascinated by the fishermen’s cottages along the banks, where they use nets to get the fish.
I have tried to nake all of the bridges, but information on the web is a bit lacking.
Canary Wharf CrossRail Station
Coming home, I stopped off at West India Quay DLR station and took these pictures of the new CrossRail station at Canary Wharf.
Note Billingsgate Fish Market in the background. That was the setting for this BBC news item about a seal, who lives by the fish market.
Cod Fish And Raisin Pie
Our excellemt guide in Corunna mentioned that this was a meal she liked.
It sounded good to me, so I just had to look it up. I found a non-gluten-free version here.
This recipe isn’t gluten-free, but I suspect it could easily be made so.
The Anonymous Widower 