Pasta Masta

Ok, very quick update

Pasta with bacon, olive and sun-blushed tomato

I had the picture so thought I would upload it - took all of ten minutes to make as do most quick pastas when you haven't the energy to prepare anything lavish.

For two people:

Half an onion finely chopped
One garlic clove
1 Red Chilli - deseeded and chopped
Bacon - a couple of rashers chopped
Green Olives (about ten halved)
Sun Blushed Tomatoes (like sun-dried but only semi-dried - not as strong)

1. Boil a pan of water and begin cooking your spaghetti

2. fry the onions for a bit, then add the bacon till it starts to crisp.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan, and cook through

4. Add half a cup or so of the pasta water to the frying pan to create a sauce

5. Drain, then add the pasta to the sauce and serve with parmesan, salad maybe.

Double Stir Fry

I hadn't made a stir fry in ages - the closest I come to Chinese food is normally from the take-away or an obssession I have with Miso soup - as it is completey NOM!

So anyway, Becky (my long suffering girlfriend of almost 11 years) wanted a stir fry so I obliged. Fortunately I had the staple flavourings to hand, light and dark soy sauce. Or if you are Spanish, 'Soya' sauce. It's all the same thing though, comes from soya beans if you hadn't guessed.

What else did I put in it:

Pepper
Mushroom
Carrot (use a mandolin or julienne yourself if you have the patience)
Baby Sweetcorn
Spring Onion
BeanSprouts
Pak-Choi
Egg Noodles (softened in boiling water)

About a tablespoon of light and dark soy sauce (or to your own taste). Fry the lot, adding to the pan in the order above.

I ended up making two stirfries on different days as I had too many vegetables left, the first I made with Sardine Fish Cakes - which worked ok, but the cakes were too thick so it was difficult to cook through/firm up without charring the outside as you'll see in the photo. If I were to do it again I would flatten the cakes out thinner. The second stir-fry was using left over chicken from my Roast dinner on the Sunday (which I also made a stock out the carcus but that will come up in another post I'm sure).

So why sardines? Well, for quite a few reasons really. One is because they are high in Omega-3 oils even when out of a tin unlike Tuna which loses most of it's Omega-3 when canned. Omega-3 is great for the brain, it helps with depression, concentration, reduces possilibity of Alzheimers and loads of other benefits, supposedly anyway. Omega-3 fatty acids are used in the cell membranes of neurons. They make the membrane more flexible allowing ions inside to change shape, and let electricity pass from one cell to another. Lack of Omega-3 leads to stiffer membranes, making it more difficult for electricity or 'information' to pass across. Your body can actually create a substitute that is just about the same as Omega 3 DHA, called DPA, but it's not supposed to be as good as the real stuff. So in essence, it makes you smarter'ish.

Another reason is that I'm allergic to white fish, I can only eat oily fish and shellfish, so no Fish and Chips for me. When I was a kid, the doctor's thought my Mum had poured bleach on my face after I ate some fish, so I went through most of my life staying away from all fish.

Cue one drunken night in my twenties, and a girlfriend who happens to be a dietitian and we determined that there has hardly ever been a case of a person allergic to Oily fish, so we opened a tin of Sardines and I helped myself to no ill effects. Since then I tested myself on most kinds of fish to determine where my allergy lies. What better way to test this than a list which had two columns, one for dead, and the other for alive. Fortunately, my allergy from being a kid seems to have reduced to a severe intolerance. I learnt very quickly that my allergy lies with White Fish, causing major abdominal pain, imagine the worst indigestion ever and you'd be getting close. Bit of a shame really, as the sea bass I tried was amazing.

So thats the main reasons really, plus we had a tin of sardines in the cupboard as well.

Oh, and just for the record, I'm also allergic to certain tree nuts. I cannot eat brazil nuts and walnuts. I am most probably, but not ever made a decent attempt to confirm whether I am also allergic to cashew nuts, almonds and hazelnuts. I can however eat peanuts, and pistachio nuts so it's not all bad.

Wow, essay! Ok, so quickly here's the recipe for the fishcakes, then some pictures

2 potatoes
Lemon rind
Parsely
Lemon Juice
Tin of Sardines in Spring Water
Salt/Pepper

Mix the lot together, make into cake shapes, and dust in flour then fry for 10-15 minutes. I made too much by accident with this mixture, so I'd probably reduce to one potato and half a tin of sardines.

Stew Pudding

A fancy name for stew in a large yorkshire pudding, and no I didn’t make the yorkshire pudding as I'm lazy!

Stewing Meat - Shin beef is the best but they didn't have any so I used a mixture of stewing steak and braising meat. Mix the chopped meat round in flour

1.5 Medium Onions, chopped into large chunks
3 carrots
1 Parsnip
1 Leek
2 Potatoes
Mushrooms
Gravy Granules
Oxo Stock Cube
An amazing Le Creuset Casserole Dish - or some cheap imitation copy. Pfft!

1. Brown off the floured meat in at least two lots, ensuring you brown each side, then transfer to a bowl whilst you get on with the rest.
2. Gently fry the onion and carrot in the same dish trying to get a bit of caramelisation on the oninos and carrots, it all adds to the flavour.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, adding salt and pepper to the dish to get some of the water out of the mushrooms
4. Add the potato, parsnip, leek and meat to the casserole dish, and cover with the gravy mix (which you should make seperately in a pyrex jug or whatever you have to hand. You want the gravy quite thick, but not sludge!
5. Add boiling water ensuring that all the stew items are covered, then cover with the casserole lid, and transfer to an oven at about 140 degrees.
6. Leave for as long as possible, about seven hours if you can (start cooking it in the morning, and have it for tea)

If I get the time, I'm making stirfried vegetables and Sardine fish cakes for tea, Nom Nom Nom Omega 3 Nom.

Minted Lamb and Olive Burgers

These burgers were immense, not only in taste but seeing as I only made two out of the mixture, also in size. Oh well!

I normally make a slightly different recipe with Feta cheese crumbled into the mixture which has always been a favourite in the summer over the barbeque. This time I didn’t fancy the feta in the mixture though.

1 small pack of minced lamb
1 smallish onion - finely chopped and sweated in a little olive oil
1 chilli - finely chopped and sweated along with the onion
1 slice of bread whizzed up in theblender to make breadcrumbs
A large handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
About ten green olives, coarsely chopped
1 egg
Salt and Pepper to season
Burger Buns - I used Ciabatta bread but you can use whatever floats your boat

Ad the lot together, the egg will help to bind. Mix it around for a while, then shape into burgers as big or small as you like.

Cook in a frying pan, griddle pan, grill or BBQ. Takes about 12-15minutes to cook through if you have them as big as I did!