It was a funny thing: Friday lunchtime Mello Bo and I were eating Pret 'Meatballs' - a paper cup of mince with half a meatball hidden therein - and I mentioned it was similar to one of my favourite Saturday foods, a mother-concoction named 'Stoop'. Stoop is half soup, half stew, and was made to stretch a little bit of mince with a lot of vegetables, in the name of economy and feeding six people. Saturday food is, of course, the thing you eat on cold, mizzley weekend days when nothing much is happening and you need a bit of succour. I think there is a recipe called something like 'Mary's Saturday Stew' in a Jamie Oliver book. If I wasn't so lazy I'd put my laptop down and walk over to the shelf to check it out... I can tell you that it looks utterly gorgous, but has okra in. One of the few things I keep trying but never enjoy.
Oh dear, off track already, to resume: it was funny that Melly Bo and I talked about Saturday food, because the next day was a Saturday and I had good food. Here's what.
My post-yoga coffee at the Front Room is an institution, but I honestly can't remember if it was a great coffee, I think I just love that place. We will pass over the white americano and pain aux raisin, the dude waiter pointing out the chalk board had been advertising 'porni mushrooms' rather than the more usual porchini, and move on to lunch. I forgot how good it can be to forage for salad bits, unthinkingly putting together mixed leaves (from our organic veg box), cherry tomatos, cucumber from my mum's garden and decorating with balsamic vinegar, oil, salt, mixing it with fingers, and tearing milky mozarella over. Or how good it is to sit on the doorstep in the almost-sun, pulling basil off plants to add in the mix, and eat it all.
The evening looked good as I had two fat lamb chops from the butchers waiting for me. I used a pestle and mortar to bash together two small cloves of garlic, rosemary stripped
off the branch and salt; then added lemon and virgin oil, and poured this over the chops to marinate. I quickly boiled new potatoes, fried yellow and green courgette (from mothers and Lesley's gardens, respectively) and flash-fried cherry tomatoes and beet leaves I had just picked. Realising the size of them, I cooked only one chop: frying it on both sides, and holding it round to sizzle the fat up. It was entirely good, but I must admit Melly Bo's grilled chops were much better: the fat was more crispy. I was afraid that grilling would loose some of the fat, but in the end I went just a bit too crazy with the fat this time, and it ended tasting a little greasy. (Please note, the photo is of a serving plate as I couldn't fit it all on a dinner plate!)
Moral of the story: you CAN have too much fat in the pan. Although I dipped left over potatoes in it, and it was pretty glorious so nothing got wasted.
Oh dear, off track already, to resume: it was funny that Melly Bo and I talked about Saturday food, because the next day was a Saturday and I had good food. Here's what.
My post-yoga coffee at the Front Room is an institution, but I honestly can't remember if it was a great coffee, I think I just love that place. We will pass over the white americano and pain aux raisin, the dude waiter pointing out the chalk board had been advertising 'porni mushrooms' rather than the more usual porchini, and move on to lunch. I forgot how good it can be to forage for salad bits, unthinkingly putting together mixed leaves (from our organic veg box), cherry tomatos, cucumber from my mum's garden and decorating with balsamic vinegar, oil, salt, mixing it with fingers, and tearing milky mozarella over. Or how good it is to sit on the doorstep in the almost-sun, pulling basil off plants to add in the mix, and eat it all.
The evening looked good as I had two fat lamb chops from the butchers waiting for me. I used a pestle and mortar to bash together two small cloves of garlic, rosemary stripped
off the branch and salt; then added lemon and virgin oil, and poured this over the chops to marinate. I quickly boiled new potatoes, fried yellow and green courgette (from mothers and Lesley's gardens, respectively) and flash-fried cherry tomatoes and beet leaves I had just picked. Realising the size of them, I cooked only one chop: frying it on both sides, and holding it round to sizzle the fat up. It was entirely good, but I must admit Melly Bo's grilled chops were much better: the fat was more crispy. I was afraid that grilling would loose some of the fat, but in the end I went just a bit too crazy with the fat this time, and it ended tasting a little greasy. (Please note, the photo is of a serving plate as I couldn't fit it all on a dinner plate!)Moral of the story: you CAN have too much fat in the pan. Although I dipped left over potatoes in it, and it was pretty glorious so nothing got wasted.
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