Category Archives: Cooking

Campervan Adventures, Cooking, Travel

On our way.

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I haven’t written much on here for well over a year. AFC Wimbledon haven’t exactly inspired me to write. I haven’t been to as many away games this past season compared to earlier seasons.

We have a new Campervan though. The Big Green Bus has gone to a new owner. I hope they have as much fun with it as we did. We have replaced it with an even bigger bus, yet to be named. We had a couple of trips out to familiarise ourselves with it. This but is the big one. Three weeks in Spain and France.

I am writing this on board the MV Galicia, heading for Santander, in Northern Spain.

We drove down to Portsmouth to get the ferry last night and sailed about 21:30. We encountered a hold up at the check in gate. We got stuck behind a car that had two dogs and the wrong paperwork. Despite these issues, everything went smoothly. Our cabin is small but perfectly adequate for two nights.  The bunks are comfortable and the toilet works.

Going on board
Leaving Portsmouth – The Spinnaker Tower
On the ferry

We had supper in the lounge,  tapas and a glass of wine, then went to bed about eleven. We woke up somewhere off the Brittany coast.  Breakfast was good, nothing spectacular but perfectly fine.

This was probably the first time I had been at sea for more than a short inter-island hop since I left the Merchant Navy. We also did something that I never did during my MN years. We sailed between Ushant and the mainland. We always went round the outside. But I assume that the Master is a Breton and knows what he is doing.

The whole journey was been a pleasant experience. Diane decided to upgrade us to a Commodore class cabin, which helped. It was only £35 more than a standard cabin. It gave us significantly more space. We also had access to the Commodore lounge. This lounge is quieter than the public lounges and has complimentary tea, coffee, and cakes. At lunch time and pre-dinner wine and tapas are available, also complimentary. Well worth the extra cost in my opinion, if you are planning an overnight trip on Brittany Ferries

Biscay Sunset
Clouds over Biscay

After a very enjoyable dinner we wandered up on deck to watch the sun go down. Also to give the whales and dolphins one last chance to show up. Diane had been religiously looking for a whale or a dolphin all day.

Biscay Sunset

It was then time for bed, as we had an early start on Wednesday morning. The ship docked at 7:00, so that meant up about 05:30 if we wanted breakfast before disembarking.

Cooking

Vegan Peanut Butter & Banana Superpower Muffins (that happen to be flourless and delicious), 10p each

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I borrowed this from Jack Monroe’s blog – I actually meant to save it to my food blog so I had it easily available, but put it on the main blog by mistake – but it is good enough to share with the world. If you are interested in eating healthily and economically her blog is worth a follow.

msjackmonroe's avatarCOOKING ON A BOOTSTRAP

These are my sad black bananas. I wanted to make them happy again, by making them into supercake. These are my sad black bananas. I wanted to make them happy again, by making them into supercake.

What do you do when you have a pile of black bananas sitting in the fruit bowl? I don’t even know how this happens – I generally work from home, bananas are my go-to snack because I can reach them and don’t have to do anything except peel them and shove them in, yet all too often my darling other half leaves a small pile of them on the chopping board with a hint to Do Something About Them. Sometimes they get sliced and flung in the oven to make dried bananas for the kids, sometimes I whizz them with yoghurt, milk and oats for a breakfast smoothie, but today I fancied neither of those things. It’s freezing. And raining a bit. And I’m a bit tired and gloomy. What I wanted…

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Cooking, Food

How To Make Your Pancakes on Tuesday

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Fed up with the arm-aching tedium of beating your pancake batter? Get yourself one of these marvellous automated pancake making machines and your worries will be over.
(Courtesy of The Happy Egg Co.)

Cooking, Food

Perfect fried eggs

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I used to think that i knew how to fry an egg. I mean every one knows how to fry an egg. For Pete’s sake a fried egg was just about the only thing that my dad could cook for himself. Then I read Felicity Cloake’s article in the Guardian. I decided to try her method last weekend and discovered that until now, I didn’t actually know how to fry an egg.
Here is how to do it.

1 fresh egg, at room temperature
1 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

1. Crack the egg on to a saucer to make it easier to slide into the pan. Heat the butter in a heavy-based frying pan over a low heat, and find a slightly domed saucepan lid, ideally slightly smaller than the pan itself, so you can place it over the cooking eggs.

2. Once the butter has melted, but not begun to foam, swirl it around the pan to coat, then slide in the egg. If you’re cooking more than one, be careful not to crowd the pan.

3. Cover and leave for 3½ minutes, then check the white is cooked, lift out, season gently, and serve immediately
I served my eggs on a round of sourdough toast.
Try it, it does make a difference.

Cooking, Food

The correct way to use an iPad

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This, I am reasonably sure, is how Steve Jobs intended iPads to be used. After all they are supposed to be versatile devices.
The video isn’t in English, but it doesn’t really matter.

(h/t to Token Skeptic)

Cooking, Food

Maisie’s Baby Courgette Chutney

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This is the tale of a courgette that grew too big.

In my garden there is a courgette patch that resembles a small jungle. Venturing down to the bottom of the garden scares small children – “because there might be tigers in there.” This courgette (or zucchini if you are Italian or North American) started growing in the jungle quite while ago. It was a very clever little courgette and managed to hide itself very effectively.
There’s more including the recipe

Cooking, Food

Goat’s Cheese Salad

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I made myself a dead simple but very enjoyable light lunch today.

Ingredients

per person

Goat's Cheese Salad

  • A good handful of salad leaves ¹
  • Half a dozen cherry tomatoes ²
  • Half a Kidderton Ash Goats Cheese (sliced into rounds) ³
  • A small handful of croutons
  • Olive oil (Extra Virgin for preference)
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • A little Parmigiana Cheese (grated or shaved)

Method

  • Rinse and dry the salad leaves
  • Toss the leaves, tomatoes and croutons together with the oil and vinegar
  • Arrange the slices of goat’s cheese in an aesthetic manner
  • Grate the Parmigiana over the salad and serve

I served the salad with a chilled Hoegaarden

Hoegaarden

  1. from the garden
  2. from Sainsburys, mine wont be ripe ’till July or August
  3. any goat’s cheese will do
Cooking, Food, Uncategorized

A lower fat pasta sauce

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To appease my sister who seemed to think that my previous pasta sauce recipe would quadruple the incidence of heart disease in the United Kingdom.

This is the classic ‘Pomodoro e Basilico’. (Tomato and Basil if you don’t speak Italian), traditionally served with spaghetti or tagliatelle, but it goes with almost any pasta you can think of.

The chilli is optional, but it does give the sauce a bit of a lift, the sugar is there to counterbalance the acidity in the tomatoes.

Ingredients (for about six portions)

  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 3 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
  • ¼ – ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
  • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 large handful basil leaves, torn into small pieces
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Grated Parmesan and/or Percorino cheese, to serve

Preparation method

Heat the oil in a saucepan and gently cook the onion and garlic until softened. Stir in the tomatoes, chilli flakes, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook slowly for 45 minutes-1 hour. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper. This can be left chunky or blended in a food processor for a smooth sauce.

Serve spooned over cooked pasta with plenty of Parmesan/Percorino cheese.

Cooking, Food

My Favorite Pasta Sauce – Pancetta & Blue Cheese

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This is my favorite, at the moment, recipe for a pasta sauce. I think that it works best with Penne or Fusilli but try it with any other pasta other than possibly the stuffed pastas like Tortelloni or Ravioli and it will probably be fine.

I use Dolcelatte cheese but Gorgonzola is equally good. Vegetarians can leave out the pancetta and possibly up the cheese slightly.

It is dead simple to make and can be knocked up not much more than ten minutes

Ingredients (for 2 to 3 servings)

  • about 100 g pasta per person
  • 100g cubed pancetta
  • 100ml double cream
  • 30 g Dolcelatte cheese

Method

Cook the pasta until it is al dente. The cooking instructions should give you a clue about the length of time that will take, normally about 10 to 15 minutes for dried pasta. Ignore any instructions written in German.

While the pasta is cooking, fry the pancetta in its own fat, add the cream and the cheese stir until the cheese melts. Let it bubble for a couple of minutes, then toss the pasta in it.

Serve with good bread and a cheap Italian red.

Cooking, Food

I am glad to see that The Guardian agrees with me

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The Guardian has backed up what I wrote about porridge in a post last year.

Porridge is one of those dishes which, made well, can be ambrosial, as the French heroine of that wonderful film Babette’s Feast proved when she transformed the grim sludge that the Danes call øllebrød, a kind of rye porridge, into a delightful morning treat. Her porridge began the process of spiritual renewal through good food which transformed the life of the remote Danish village to which she had been exiled.

Couldn’t have said it better if I had tried.