22 January, 2016

Weeks 2 and 3

Week two's book was Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. And overall it went really well. The one slight glitch was that my butcher didn't have the cut of meat I wanted on the day I wanted it. So I had to rejig the planning mid-week and then Tom decided to pop to London for a night, so one night we just had an easy pasta.

Monday: Braised eggs with lamb, tahini and sumac
Tom and I thought this was delicious - girls were a little less enthusiastic. But you know, whatever, that's tough! Broadening their food horizons...

Tuesday: Latkes with a carrot and beetroot salad and sour cream
I don't remember enjoying cooking this but the day was a bit frazzled and so was I. Tasted good and all vanished very fast.

Wednesday: Herb pie
This is a filo pastry pie with ricotta and other cheeses plus loads of herbs and greens. To be honest, I just do what I usually do so I'd say my version was inspired by Jerusalem rather than the recipe being slavishly adhered to.

Thursday: Leftover pie

Friday: Easy pasta - mozzarella, pesto and cherry tomatoes

Saturday: Slow cooked veal with prunes and leek
Oh my lord. This was amazing. I think I may have let the sauce get too thick early on though I rescued it with stock and it wasn't burnt. I didn't use veal. I used beef shin and three thick slices with bone and marrow weighing over 1kg came to around a fiver. And it made this fabulous meal.

Sunday: Leftovers

Funny thing about this book - it looks a tad scary. Long wordy recipes. Long lists of ingredients. But actually everything was really easy to do and tasted so good. Especially the beef.

Which brings us to Week three.

Slightly tricky week. The boiler stopped working and there was a cold snap. Thick frost outside. Really cold inside - I live in a barn so big spaces which are hard to heat at the best of time and the insulation could be better. The boiler started again on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile I chose the Ballymaloe Cookery Course Book which is one of my go-to references but actually kind of failed to inspire. It is wonderful at telling you the definitive way to do things and it does have a plethora of recipes. I just couldn't work out what to cook that would get me excited to be in my kitchen. We have eaten - just not from the book. So next week - another book. And tonight an egg curry with dhal with cabbage and rice.

1 comment:

just Gai said...

I'm glad of your comments on Yotam Ottolenghi. I've enjoyed watching him on TV and reading his columns in the Guardian, and am convinced his food tastes amazing but, like you, have been put off by the long lists of ingredients. You've persuaded me to give him a go one day when the cold and wet makes a couple of hours in a warm kitchen a welcome proposition.