Parcel-Baked Salmon With Roast Potatoes

Ahh, salmon.  It's such a superfood, isn't it?  You can always find it in the supermarket, it's easy to cook, and pretty much everyone likes it.  We tend to fall back on the baked-in-a-parcel method for salmon, since it scores highly in the minimum effort/maximum yum ratio.  This time, we simply popped the fillets on some greaseproof paper, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and topped them with some finely-sliced garlic and ginger.  Then the greaseproof paper gets folded around the fish, the neat little packages get placed on a baking tray, and it goes in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. 

To go with the fish, B made his stuff-of-legend roast potatoes.  Ladies, I pretty much married him for these potatoes.  They are that good.  He chops the potatoes nice and small (more surface area = more crispiness), and parboils them for around ten minutes until just soft.  Then they get tipped onto a hot baking tray covered in olive oil, salt-and-pepper'd lavishly, and roasted until golden and crunchy.  Look at those little beauties. 

After putting the fish and potatoes in the oven, we realised we hadn't made anything remotely green to go alongside.  Cue, the perfect five-minute vegetable fallback: edamame with chili and salt. 

I LOVE edamame.  You can buy them frozen in big packs, and then when you need an instant veg boost, defrost a bowlful, sprinkle with salt and a diced chili, et voila! You can even eat them with chopsticks if you want to! Sophisticated! 

Pitta-Pitta-Pitta-PICNIC!

Oh my goodness, wasn't the weather g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s at the weekend?  It was like a little slice of July had taken a wrong turn and ended up in October.  Like an unexpected, end-of-summer bonus.  Yay!

Because it was such a hot day, we couldn't face wasting a minute of it in the kitchen.  So, after an arduous spell of sunning ourselves in the park, we came home to a hastily-thrown-together but ultimately delicious picnic that we inhaled in front of X Factor (an activity which should come with a health warning, as we nearly choked on our pitta breads whilst shouting "KITTY?!" incredulously at the screen). 

We had two different kinds of houmous (because Tesco were running a two-for-£3 offer, and because we are suckers for fancy-sounding things in pots), pitta breads, a massive green salad, cheese, and a big bowl of my speciality - tomato salad.

Tomato Salad

Here are the things you need:

Salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.  You will also need tomatoes (yep) and any kind of nice fresh herbs you can get your hands on (I used parsley and chives from the garden). 

First, slice some tomatoes and layer them over the bottom of your pretty glass bowl.  Sprinkle over a teaspoonful of olive oil, half of balsamic, and a twist of salt and pepper.  Snip over some herbs.  Your bowl should now look like this:

Repeat the layering process above until the bowl is full.

Look at that!  Amazing!

Beware of taking a mouthful just before Louis Walsh makes a ridiculous decision like putting a woman who un-ironically wore a light-up leotard through to the live finals.  Gahh. 

The Detox

After the awesome cheese/meringue/Disaronno fest at K's house, I thought I should try to balance out my diet by having a detox, staying clear of alcohol/sugar/dairy for at least twenty-four hours. 

The problem is that a day without dairy or sugar is really a pretty boring day. 

Here we are 'enjoying' stirfried vegetables and rice.  And a glass of water.  Mmm!

And here was the lunchbox I took to work to snack on through the day - apples, kiwis, peaches and blackberries.  Very virtuous.  But, let's face it, not as good as a cup of tea and a Bourbon biscuit.  Bah, detoxing. 

Come Dine With Me - The Clapham Edition

Last Friday, we clock-watched at our respective offices until home time crept s-l-o-w-l-y around and we were set free to hightail it to Clapham and enjoy the culinary achievements of the lovely Miss K.   The meal looked intriguing from the beginning:

K's chopping board, featuring an apple, chopped walnuts, and a MOUNTAIN of Cambozola cheese.   I don't think I'd ever come across this cheese before.  It was amazing - a cross between Gorgonzola and Camenbert (as the name suggests).  We should have more cheese mash-ups - I'm sure there's a market out there somewhere for a daring Edam/goat's cheese combo.

K combined all the fancy ingredients above into one beautiful-looking, heaven-on-a-plate, risotto.   Here's a pic:

Lovely, no?  And it was delicious - all creamy cheese offset by the crunchiness of the walnuts and the freshness of the apple.  Om. 

Here was the show-stopping dessert:

That's a peach pavlova with raspberry coulis.  Amazing, right?  But wait!  There's more!  Are you sitting down?  K MADE THE MERINGUE HERSELF.  The night before!  From scratch!  I was very impressed by this feat of domestic goddess-ness. 

If you look carefully at the corner of the photo above, you can see the guilty secret of our Come Dine With Me evenings, and the cause of many a post-dinner hangover.   Ah, Disaronno. 

Mushroom & Chard Risotto

I'm sorry to hit you with two chard recipes in a row.   I know it's not very imaginative - my only excuse is that we got a big ol' bag of chard in our weekly veg box delivery, and we needed to put a serious dent in it before it started multiplying, bullying all the other vegetables and turning our fridge into Kingdom of the Chard.

This is essentially this dish, with the peas removed and some chard thrown in.  It's actually a delicious addition - it keeps its colour and flavour when cooked, so it brightens up the rice and provides a nice bite to each mouthful. 

Here's an action shot:

Look at that!  The white of the rice, the brown of the mushrooms, and the green of the chard - so beautiful!  It could be a painting.  (Almost). 

Potato, Chard & Peanut Stew

The other day, I got in from work and (immediately, because food is always on my mind) started wondering about what to make for dinner.  We'd had a veg box delivery, so I had lots of fresh, autumnal vegetables around, but not a lot else.  And since we're in a month-end, post-holiday lack-of-money pit, I wanted to steer clear of a supermarket trip if I could help it.  (I always go for one thing - milk, say - and come home with biscuits, cheese, some new socks and a lottery ticket, often without the milk that I was aiming to buy.  Damn you supermarkets, and your cleverly-placed promotional item displays!  TANGENT.)

So I had a hunt through the cupboard and a quick search online for some ideas, and the potato and chard stew was born.

You need (serves 2):

1 nicely-sized sweet potato
Some white potatoes - about two per person, more if you're starving
1 onion
3/4 pt vegetable stock
2 tblsp's peanut butter (I think the natural variety is probably best for this - you don't want it to be too oily)
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
Black pepper
Two handfuls chard, chopped

Chop your potatoes into manageable chunks, and parboil for about ten minutes, until soft-ish.  While they're cooking, chop your onion and fry over a low heat until golden in a nice big, ovenproof saucepan.  Add the spices and plenty of pepper.  Drain your potatoes, and add them to the pan with the onion.  Stir, and then add in the peanut butter.  Don't worry if it clumps together, it will all come together in the oven.  Add the vegetable stock, ensuring that all the potato is covered.  Pop a lid on your saucepan and stick in the oven, at 180 degrees, for about half an hour.  Remove, check the potatoes are soft, then add the chard.  Bake for ten minutes more, and then serve.

Note:  this makes a mild, nutty-flavoured stew.  If you like more heat, feel free to up the spice content (some mustard seeds might work well).   And if you're ravenous, make some rice to have alongside - but it's pretty carb-heavy and substantial on its own.

When Life Gives You Tomatoes....

...make tomato soup.

While we were sunning ourselves in France, our tomato plants were hard at work at home.  The day after we got home, B picked 6 pounds of fruit.

That is a LOT of tomatoes, people.

In an attempt to clear some fridge space for other foodstuffs, B made tomato soup.  He made it according to a Heston Blumenthal recipe (which I can't find the link to online, but it's from this book), which calls for no water or stock to be added - so it's just tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, flavoured with onions, celery, garlic and big bunch of thyme.  

The result is an intensely-flavoured soup with all the summery freshness of tomatoes without any of the acidic taste you sometimes get with canned varieties.