ode to HG

My dear friend HG is leaving town.

She is moving from the day-job side of the fence to the more artistic side, and leaving London to achieve this. HG and I met at library school where we were also allocated the same flat -perhaps the college administrators were amused by our matching first names and so put us together. HG is also the reason I am called Roy (one for the Australians).

We moved to London at the same time and lived in Wimbledon, eating home made cheesecake at 3am in the queue to see the tennis, becoming late-night regulars at the chip shop, having an intense brownie bake-off to find the best recipe. Next we lived in Willesden where we discovered 'Deliverance' for great take-outs, and always had gin and tonic at the ready. More recently we have lived in different places, but still meet up for hot chocolate (HG) and coffee (me) and cake or breakfast.

HG doesn't love food, not in a fetishistic way. She doesn't photograph it or write about it or have bookshelves full of recipes: mostly for her, I think, food is divided into fuel and cake. But I have plenty of food memories which involve her and I am going to indulge in a few now - a good luck-card of a blog post, if you will.


A starter of HG-isms:

• Peanut butter on unsalted rice cakes, with segments of satsuma balanced on top
• Cold porridge from the fridge
• Sunflower seeds stashed in one's bag
• Sea breeze cocktails

Primo: conversions

• 2 or 3 years into our acquaintance, HG ate aubergine - a former, passionate, hate - in the form of aubergine rolled around a mint, cheese filling and baked in passata ('Involtini' to Nigella sympathisers. Just make sure you do the GOOD one, there are variations in different books...)
• after 3 or 4 years she succumbed to butternut squash risotto

Secondo: HG-specials

• HG-made vegetarian lasagne: done in such a particular way (with plenty of cheese!) that I am sure I could identify it in a blind-taste test
• Pizza with just cheese and tomato

Dessert

... is, naturally, cake. And what cake! The cake-party in Loughborough! And my birthday when she baked a 'Grassmere' fruit cake for me, knowing I would love it, and a chocolate cake so she could celebrate too, as fruit cake is something like the devil's own face to her.

There was malteser cake, a chocolate yule log and fairy cakes... and the time we baked both plain and chocolate cheesecakes, solemnly declaring it was much better to have a slice of each as they complimented each other. The brownies were still our finest moment though: I almost never give that recipe away.

Amigo, I salute you! And look forward to meeting you in Boston's for a coffee ;)

phd meals

Solo meals are, in my head, referred to as 'phd meals'. The gent has been immersed in his study pretty intensively recently, digging in his spurs as he nears the home run. Which, necessarily, is uphill, in the rain and the horse has a wall eye and a gammy leg. So seems to be the consensus amongst those who have passed the finish line.

I envisaged cooking up a storm whilst he wrote his thesis, he pausing only to refresh his senses on the delicious stews and lightly spiced curries before heading back into the slough of despond (Pilgrim's Progress is providing me with some choice phrases at the moment). In reality this just turned into another distraction for him, so he is banished to eternal pasta 'n' pesto, and I am re-living some of my favourite single-girl meals.

You wouldn't really match that phrase with the meals though. Tonight I have a chorizo-less version of the chicken and chorizo stew I often make*, and I reckon it could modestly feed 4 or 6 people, if served with couscous or rice.

The long daylight, though delightful, tricked me into missing the butchers on my way home, but I stubbornly felt that there was still some joy to be had of this dish, even without chorizo. It retains the smoky paprika base with onion and garlic, (and some unnecessary fresh green chilli that I just can't leave alone) but is then ratatouille-ed up with courgette, carrot and lots of tomato. As the clock neared 10pm two cans of chickpeas went into the pot, to save me pulling another pan out of the cupboard for cooking potatoes or similar.

The result? Well, it is much fresher-tasting than than its predecessor, making it unintentionally, but appropriately, summery. And having just chickpeas makes it light on the stomach, much better for eating late, although I hadn't thought of that. Altogether, it was one of the many happy culinary results I am sure everyone has, where you can't quite decide if it was coincidence or some subconscious instinct that pulled the right things together.

I think John Bunyan would think it was, if not Celestial city, then certainly something like the Delectable mountains.



*type 'chorizo' in the search box at the top left of this page to see the various mentions...

yoghurt is not a breakfast

Note to self: it might be easy and quick, and appropriate for a dodgy tum, but yoghurt most definitely is not a breakfast. It is rather mean and unloving - not just because of its 80's diet connotations, but its complete lack of substance and any good flavour. What was I thinking?

Nurse yoghurt, I will eat you no more!

nut curry #2

I have just made the nut curry again and found a few interesting things.

• making the spice paste is much quicker and easier the second time round
• chillies vary an enormous (for which read 'frustrating') amount: I used more green chilli the second time, yet it was less spicy than before
• my choice of a Gewurztraminer was a pretty good match! Given my haphazard choices with wine, I was really delighted with myself. Something from the Australian vineyard tour obviously sunk in!
• the cashew version is also very good

Earlier today I made some super-quick leek and potato soup (just leeks and garlic sweated in oil, then diced potato added, with some Marigold stock and hot water). It is possibly the cheapest and easiest thing to do, and repays tenfold in terms of starchy comfort.

Finally, to complete my afternoon of kitchen pottering, I made some cocoa biscuits. Like the soup, they are minimal on ingredients - although much more demanding, as you work up an arm-achingly stiff dough. They taste far better than you think possible from the source ingredients, and are utterly more-ish. If you are interested in improving your biceps, or having a delicious nibble, then the recipe is from Nigella's Domestic Goddess book, and entitled 'Granny Boyd's biscuits'.

And then I indulged in a leisurely moment on the sofa, reading more of that lady's work and harvesting some super ideas about grouse. And lamb. And scones...

nut curry

I know I shouldn't jot these thoughts down without a proper reference to the source - however, if finger does not hit key right now it will go the same way as the almond madeleines (gorgeous, by the way, just gorgeous... what a pity I don't remember the recipe I invented!).

Last night I made a curry from scratch. It is fairly labour-intensive on the preparation, but once cooking I could clean up the kitchen and catch up on the news. I was really surprised at how decently it turned out, too. It looked creamy and nutty but actually had a nice, fresh taste and a spicy pinch to the lips. I needed something to lift me from being out-of-sorts, and I found it.

In a lightly oiled pan, fry until they pop: 1 tsp coriander seeds, 2 cloves and a few black peppercorns. Tip these onto:
30g fresh ginger chopped, 2 chopped cloves garlic, 1 green chilli, 80g ground almonds, 125 ml water, 1 tsp turmeric.
... and whizz with a blender into a bright ochre paste.

Brown chicken pieces (I like thighs the best) then set them aside. Add two medium onions, sliced, to an oily saucepan until coloured. Return the chicken to the pan and add the paste and 225 ml water. Simmer for 45 minutes. Add 125 ml natural yogurt and heat through.

Serve with cardamon rice, and the following scattered over the top: fresh coriander, one green chilli sliced finely, and toasted almonds. The recipe intends it to be cashew nuts, however I only had almonds to hand and didn't regret the switch.

Just... don't rub your eyes after chopping chillies!

weekend of eating!

What an unbelievably good-tasting weekend! A visit to the green hills of Macclesfield rendered some wonderful food, charming company and at least two new food-obsessions for me. In fact, there was so much food I barely have space to detail it - it won't do it justice, but I hope a little of its deliciousness is conveyed in this bare-skeleton run down:

Friday evening we were treated to a home meal of:

• Asparagus and rocket with bresaola, parmesan shavings and a dressing
• Fish pie with salmon, prawns etc. yum etc. and a rosti topping - in which I noticed some delicious capers
  
• Pear and almond sponge with creme fraiche
  

Saturday got off to an excellent start, when bacon and egg on toast extended to black pudding and sausage too, with OJ and tea. Later, there was space for apple tart and ice cream, with a cappuccino in Arighi Bianchi - a department store with a formidable cake selection in the cafe. Then tea and biscuits with Grandma Miles, before visiting the Lord Clyde pub

What a gem of a place! A G&T whetted my appetite for scallops with black pudding and pea puree. It made me want to eat it every day of my life. Some lovely red wine (gent, can you recall?) accompanied the pork three ways: pork cheek on creamed cabbage, with some specs of carrot in; roast belly pork on mashed potato; loin of pork rolled in pancetta with sage leaves entrapped between the two, on apple puree.

Three scoops of ice cream: two amaretti, one vanilla and an espresso finished a perfect evening.

On Sunday we breakfasted on smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast, with OJ and tea. Then a cappuccino in Buxton; sweet-spicy nuts, parmesan biscuits and pistachios to keep us going until a Sunday feast of:

• Potted shrimp with bread
• Wholegrain tagliatelle, underneath pork baked in a beautiful creamy sauce, topped with crispy-melted mozzarella. I wish I had asked for the recipe now, I really want to make it!
  
• Delia's very lemony lemon tart, with cream

Well that was the short version and I didn't even touch on the breads! My two resulting obsessions are beautiful, savoury black pudding and potted shrimps. Items I have been tentative with before, but won't be now I have tasted the good stuff!