Pret’s tomato soup

It’s a beautifully crisp and sunny day in London, it’s my pay day and Pret a Manger’s soup of the week is classic tomato – life is good.

The info on the soup is on Pret’s website and I’m trying to find the words to describe it other than the BEST tomato soup I’ve ever tasted. The soup has got lots of chunky tomato bits in, a rich tomatoey taste and it’s herby and creamy – yum!

Here’s a picture of London today – gorgeous weather!

Another duck salad

Not too different from my previous duck with watercress , the duck is cooked rendering the fat first for it to be a bit healthier and the skin crispier. Then served with a handful of spinach, watercress and rocket salad.

We got the salad dressing from a Gordon Ramsey F-word episode about 4 years ago (he made it for the same but with monkfish) and have been using it ever since:

Finely chop and put into a bowl 1 shallot, 3/4 of a granny smith apple, 1 lemon (peel removed). Add 3tbs olive oil, 2 tbs white wine vinegar, about 1tbs chopped tarragon (fresh is always better so they say, but I often use dried).

That’s it really, this salad is really nice with some cooked (about 4mins in boiling water) asparagus mixed in with the leaves and sautéed potatoes.

Lamb with sweet potato dauphinois

This is the first time I’ve ever made dauphinois (and I can barely spell it). I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by how easy it is.

Following a hairy bikers’ recipe for king Edward dauphinois, I boiled 1 thinly sliced big sweet potato in 384ml cream, 384ml milk, a garlic bulb cut in half, thyme, pinch of nutmeg, salt+pepper for 5 minutes. Then put in a greased dish (draining first to remove garlic, layering the potatoes and pouring the creamy sauce on top). Finally, into the oven for 25mins until bubbling.

I put a little too much cream in so when serving the dauphinois fell apart a bit but it tasted creamy and lovely, with the little hint of nutmeg really adding to the flavour. Even though there was a lot of garlic boiling with the creamy sauce it wasn’t too strong. Will definitely be making this again, next time with normal potatoes.

The lamb and veg were just incidental to be honest, veg steamed in the microwave and lamb fried in a pan with some chilli. This dinner was all about the dauphinois.

Chocolate success!

Some of you may remember my chocolate fail from last year. Since then I tried to make the chocolate nemesis again, and once again it wasn’t quite right. Tonight our friends Ben & Cheryl were coming over for dinner as it was Ben’s birthday earlier in the week, so I gave it another go and it as they say – third time’s a charm.

What was I getting wrong? The first time, many things (read about them here). The second time I think the oven was a bit too high because I got a crust on top, I left it in for the right amount of time but it still didn’t set, and I also forgot to put it in a larger dish with hot water in to cook evenly.

Today I remembered the hot water around it, one thing right. The next was to put the oven on a low heat – 140 degrees. While the recipe said cook for 55 minutes, I cooked it for 65 and then turned the oven off, leaving the chocolate nemesis in for another hour. I still got a crusty top, but it came away quite easily and underneath the nemesis was nicely set.

So did it taste good? Its very rich tasting as it uses dark chocolate, but not bitter and the texture was light. The strawberries on the side were a nice contrast with the dark chocolate and some vanilla ice cream would have gone down really well with it (if only I had some).

Cassatella Siciliana – my first attempt

We ate loads of lovely cassatella over Christmas so I thought I’d give making it a go..

Step 1 – make a sponge, leave to cool, cut into 2 slices
Step 2 – make sweet ricotta mix by adding sugar and chocolate chips
Step 3 – generously fill the 2 sponge slices with the sweet ricotta
Step 4 – cover with marzipan icing (shop bought in my case)

The verdict? The ricotta was lovely but the sponge slices were too thick. Also, as the ricotta is quite moist it would be better to use a dry sponge.

Overall, not a bad first attempt but could do better

Bacon pasta

Looking for something quick to make for dinner? Here’s one of my go-to dishes. If you put the water on to boil and the pasta in at the same time you start you cooking the sauce it can be made in under 15 minutes.

Here’s what I do:

• fry an onion and a clove or 2 of chopped garlic for a couple of minutes
• add 4 rashers of chopped bacon – or a packet of pancetta cubes – and a chopped red chilli
• once the bacon is fried add a tin of chopped tomatoes, and around 10 halved cherry tomatoes
• season with pepper (taste for salt, as the bacon is already salty)
• a handful of fresh basil or mint leaves taste nice in this
• also, a handful of spinach or some roasted peppers are also nice and a bit of extra veg (I try to get in my 5 a day)
• serve

 

 

Porridge with stewed apples

This week I’ve read about 3 news articles on how good oats are for you – like this one in the metro. So here’s my post work out weekend breakfast made in 5 minutes in the microwave.

First ‘stew’ 1 apples by peeling and chopping, put it in a bowl with 3/4 of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, cover loosely with cling film and put into the microwave for 2minutes.

Once the apple comes out put the porridge (approx 36grams with 180ml of milk) in the microwave for 1 and a half minutes, take out and stir, add the apples and put in for another 30 seconds.

Finish with a teaspoon of honey. This breakfast is tasty and filling, and with an apple includes one of your 5 a day.

Sausage, chips and beans

This is what you should not be eating if you are trying to lose some weight.

I substituted my chips for veg but still this is not a very healthy meal! On the plus side, I’m on day 2 of absolutely no chocolate.

Cheese souffle and beef Wellington

We had our friend Alexis round for dinner today who cycled 98miles, so we knew he’d be hungry. I had a look at what was on the fridge/cupboards to make a quick starter, there wasn’t much but I had some cheddar and eggs so took the opportunity to try make a cheese souffle – using this recipe from the BBC website.

The overall verdict was good but they tasted a bit eggy so next time I’ll use a stronger tasting cheese and probably cayenne pepper in the mix as well on top for a little kick.

We then had individual beef wellingtons which I saw Lorraine Pascal make on tv the other day.

Reading this back it’s no wonder I haven’t started losing the weight I put on over Christmas…

Mackerel with chorizo potatoes

Last night we ate mackerel, marinated in butter, paprika, cayenne pepper and cumin, then fried skin side down first.

Accompanying the mackerel I parboiled new potatoes, while they were boiling fried chopped chorizo, rendering the fat and taking it out of the pan. Then frying the potatoes in the spicy fat from the chorizo, adding parsley and chopped spring onion when done.

Both served with my favourite new salad – watercress, mint, almond and pomegranate.