Hello my dears! With saying that I think I just turned into a Grandma.
This weeks cooking has been rather exciting! I've experimented with pastry, started keeping a food journal (but not in the obsessive anorexic way) which helps me remember what I've cooked, how I've cooked it and what can be done to improve it. I've also cooked steak for the first time!
Wednesday 9th November 2011
Today I thought I'd experiment with tomato based pasta sauce. I have cooked a pasta sauce before but it was my Uncle's recipe, and honestly it didn't work so well for me. It's a secret recipe though, so I can't divulge. I do remember not liking it years ago, so maybe that's one thing that stuck, as I like most things I used to hate the taste of. I'm not saying it's a bad sauce, because it's not, it just wasn't quite right.
So tonight I decided to make my own.
I raided the fridge for onion and leek, then raided the cupboard for tinned tomato's and penne pasta. That's the base of the sauce. I cooked the onion in olive oil and added mixed herbs, black pepper and paprika to the sauce, that's all that it is.
Probably took 15mins in total to cook, and it was so delicious and I was full before I'd finished the bowl, though that could be that I haven't gotten portions perfect yet.
After that, well I'm not sure what came over me, but I decided I'd make a pie. Pastry... from scratch. The last time I did this, my mom made me and I moaned the whole time about it being underneath my fingernails, but I found out some shortcrust pastry tips and went for it!
Went for it I did, anyone who follows me on Twitter will have seen my valiant journey through the pastry making world. I misjudged my measurements though, and my pie casing was too thin, I think I was out by 50 grams though, so not too bad. Now, onto the filling.
I wanted to use black cherries only, yet when I emptied the tin and drained them they were bloated and most of the tin's weight was the very watery syrup. Let's say I'm not using that brand again. Even halved these cherries wouldn't even fill a pie, they barely covered the base, I had to open a tin of pear quarters in the cupboard to fill it up. Though I did arrange them in a very pretty manor.
I even had enough left over pastry for the epic little pie leaves. The top of the pie is my favourite, milk glaze, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Delicious. It smelled amazing in the oven. Those damn cherries ruined it though, their bloated corpses leaked in the oven and caused the base of the pie to be soggy. It tasted good though.
Friday 11th November 2011
Tonight's meal was completely for my fiance, beef in orange from my Chinese Food Made Easy book. The marinade/sauce was my favourite part, sweet and fresh, made the medallion steaks I used so juicy. I'd never cooked beef, and I had no idea how much a proper frying steak cost, hence why I substituted for the uber thick medallion cut. I had mine well done and Craig's was medium.
Cooking steak for the first time is scary. When I started this cooking lark I was terrified of raw meat and wouldn't touch it, but I soon had my hands on these bloody cuts.
Everything about this dish smelt delicious. Oh I haven't even mentioned the shiitake mushrooms! I was so excited about these, I didn't think I'd be able to find them in Tesco, I thought I'd have to substitute for chestnut. Yet there they were, bold as brass, and they were wonderful, slightly sweeter than regular old mushrooms.
I served it with simple microwavable Thai rice, I guess you could call it cheating, but I had my mind on steak! Plus I couldn't be arsed with all the faffing about at that point, I was bloody hungry.
Saturday 12th November 2011
This time I cooked chicken braised with cider & bacon, again with rice but mostly because I never think of the side dishes, personally I think courgette or parsnips would be brilliant roasted, perhaps honey roasted, oooooooh!
I changed a couple of bits to the recipe, using breast instead of leg and Oak Smoked bacon lardons. I added a sprinkle of ginger and a pinch of coriander, my own little touch to give it a lift.
I loved this, the chicken fell apart at the slighted tug, beautifully soft and succulent.
Sunday 13th November 2011
I decided to do my pasta sauce (see top) again, but this time I added a red chilli, deseeded as I'm not insane, mangetout and baby corn.
Now this, this was good. It's amazing how small a varient can make a big difference.
So that's all for this weekend, next week I shall be cooking the steak again, but this time I'll be trying it with turkey. Honestly I think that's all I shall be cooking because it's my friends engagement party on friday night, so there'll be no time to cook.
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