three colours hungry

Beet red
Brockley market's second birthday was a wonderful thing to behold! Heaps of stalls, many customers and more goodwill than you could shake an organic cabbage at.  I had a dark fluid coffee as an especial treat to myself, and then got two bunches of beets and a big head of celery for four quids.  Not a big haul, but then it is the end of the month, my traditional time for scraping the bottom of the barrel.  And anyway I find a particular pleasure in making the most of modest things.

On Sunday evening, as I was pottering around pulling weeds from the patio, picking tomatoes and trimming an unhappy geranium, my beets were being roasted into this happy dish.  Lovely sweet carrots and beetroot, with onion, garlic, potato and celery; roasted for 45 minutes, then draped with fat slices of salty halloumi and given another 10 minutes in the oven to turn good.  Hearty, warming, carb-heavy.  And I had a leftover glass of wine to indulge in, too.


Blackberry blue
Sunday lunchtime saw me furtively stalking in the bushes of Brockley / Ladywell cemetery.  To be more precise, I was astonished at the amount of bushes that had turned into brambles and, therefore, were proffering up bright berries.  The sort of 'astonished' that led me to arrive with a plastic tub, ready for collecting fruit in, though...

It felt wrong, wrong, wrong to be berrying amongst the dead, however if the dearly departed are of as one mind with me, then I'd say a berry gone to waste is a sorry thing.  There were loads, to the point that many were going mouldy on the branches: I certainly wasn't depriving the birds of snacks.  The fruit are very nearly over, many being over-ripe and mushy, however I was selective and collected around half a kilogram which is perfect for the blackberry clafoutis I made recently and have declared a winner.  The berries are in the freezer, awaiting someone to help me eat the clafoutis!


Carte blanche white
Finally in my frugal trio, we see those three blackening bananas on my kitchen counter get their comeuppance. Yes, banana bread AGAIN.  This year I have mostly been using a Mary Berry recipe from a book I can only assume my Mother gave me.  Mrs I. adores Mary Berry.  Having recently seen an episode of 'British Bake off', I myself am now also a staunch supporter of both her baking and fashion sense.  Anyway, feeling heady and reckless after this weekend's adventures, I gave myself carte blanche to fiddle with the recipe.  Not to improve it, but because I found a pack of poppy seeds which I felt would cheer things along, and also because ground almonds feel positively healthy, as well as adding wonderful moistness.  Instead of the usual 225g flour then, I used 50g ground almonds, 20g poppy seeds and 175g flour.

NOTE TO SELF: I always have to look this up, so maybe writing a note here will help.  Self raising flour =150g flour plus 2 tsp baking powder.  I never have self-raising flour in the house and end up guessing.

I also finally trusted to the instruction, which is to put everything into a bowl 'and beat'.  I always follow the sponge method of creaming butter and sugar, adding eggs etc. etc.  But my gorgeous KitchenAid mixer was making eyes at me so I let her do the work whilst I washed up.

I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow: my coffee pot sits ready, next to the cake.

weekday lunch

After 10 hours at work on Monday I wasn't at all in the mood too cook, let alone make lunches. I immediately put a fistful of spaghetti on to boil, to which I added cabbage for the last two minutes, and torn, wild garlic about five seconds before draining. Oil, parmesan, a squeeze of lime and a handful of toasted pine nuts - along with seasoning - were chucked over, stirred about, and was just perfect. (As always when hungry, I cooked too much pasta: after five minute of solid eating my dish didn't look any different!).

Inspired by the beetroot at my friend's house last week, I was delighted to espy some in our veg box. Whilst the pasta was cooking I speedily chunked up carrots, onions and a beet and put them in the oven to roast. After I had eaten and watched Masterchef - to which I am thoroughly hooked, again - I made some couscous with a dash of cinnamon and turmeric, and some vegetable bouillon. Once the grain had swelled I fluffed them with a fork and added seasoning, extra virgin olive oil, lime juice and toasted pine nuts. When cool, the couscous went into one big tub, the roasted veg into another and everything in the fridge to take to work the next day. I only needed to buy a little log of goat's cheese and I had three super lunches ready to hand. The only difficulty on the horizon is finding a spare moment to take a lunch break in!