Roast Chicken with New Potatoes, Halloumi, Salad and Corn on the Cob

Another summery dinner with not a spoonful of mash in sight. Here we have new potatoes, which have been the carb of choice in my dinners of late. In this case they were just boiled and topped with a little butter (or cheap margarine if we’re going to be truthful).

Sweet, crunchy corn on the cob, decent salad and stuffed olives are a tasty way to keep the scurvy at bay for another day.

In preparation for barbeque season, we treated ourselves to some grilled halloumi. We were going to save some for sandwiches the next day, but, in hindsight, that wasn’t very realistic.

I also just wanted to roast a chicken, so we threw caution to the wind and doubled up on protein. To hell with the consequences!

There’s something very satisfying about roasting a chicken. All the fancy chefs recommend leaving meat to stand for ten minutes or so before carving and serving, as this apparently gives the juices time to settle, or something along those lines. I actually suspect that this rule was invented by some dinner-lover who became particularly enamoured with a freshly roasted bird and used the excuse to buy as much time as possible to admire it’s breathtaking form and crispy goldenness, before the beautiful morsel would inevitably be unceremoniously dismembered in order to feed eternally undeserving mouths. I can relate to that.

Lasagne

As the weather has turned considerably warmer in recent weeks, my food cravings have swayed from my usual stodgy winter-warmer staple dishes, towards a slightly sunnier fare. For the transition into spring, I find an urge to feed on pasta dishes. It’s still warm, filling and comforting, but you serve it with a bit of salad and garlic bread, which, as everyone knows, are foodstuffs strictly reserved for summer meals. It also brings to mind Mediterranean holidays (not necessarily your own, just a montage of friends’ anecdotal images inter-spliced with scenes from all your favourite Dolmio ads will do) and helps to mentally prepare you for the possibility of a few weeks where you may be able to venture outside comfortably without the protection of a woolly jumper.

I was particularly proud of this lasagne. My lasagnes have a tendency to be a bit too sloppy, but this one came out beautifully, so I thought an extra close-up was warranted. Check out those layers.

It tasted beautiful, by the way.

Braised Pork and Yorkshire Puds

You may see the above dinner as being some sort of blasphemy, some bastardised version of something which should be beautiful, made grotesque by it’s similarities as much as it’s subtle differences. For this is not roast beef with Yorkshire Puddings, this is braised pork.

Contrary to popular belief, Yorkshire Puddings are not just for roast dinners. I should know, I’m from Yorkshire. The wonderful truth is that Yorkshire Puddings (yes they deserve to be capitalised) go with absolutely everything.

Think about it.

Imagine a large, beautifully browned, crisp Yorkshire Pud filled with, for example, chilli and cheese, or even curry. Sounds good doesn’t it? Slightly strange perhaps, but an undeniably enticing mixture of the familiar and the unknown. An illicit union.

Crazy stuff, I know, but some people take it even further.

The Yorkshire Puddin’ restaurant in Mirfield, West Yorkshire serves the puds for starter, main and even dessert. It sounds like my kind of place! Unfortunately the restaurant seems to receive rather bad reviews online, with one disgruntled customer’s post on trip advisor entitled “Giving Yorkshire Puddings a Bad Name”. I have never been to this restaurant so I cannot comment. Having said that, I’m originally from West Yorkshire and have never heard of Mirfield, which makes me suspicious (a quick google maps search reveals this sinister place is just 11 miles from where I grew up. Finding this out is like waking up from a cosy nap to find a stranger watching through your window, then suddenly realising he’s stolen your last Yorkshire Pudding).

According to deliciouslyorkshire.co.uk, at the launch of The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding by Elaine Lemm;

Canapé sized Yorkshire puddings were served up with innovative fillings which ranged from traditional roast beef to goat’s cheese and cranberry sauce to liquorice ice-cream, demonstrated [sic] just how creative you can be with the humble Yorkshire pudding as a sweet or savoury dish.

I intend to buy the book just as soon as I can raise the funds and I will try out some of these exotic recipes for our collective enjoyment.

Anyway, to return to the dinner in this post, it didn’t really matter what we ate with these Yorkshire Puddings. These puddings, though tasty, are only supermarket freezer puds. They don’t have souls like real Yorkshire Puddings.

Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

Dinner-lover and occasional commenter on this blog, InAtoms, recently suggested using sweet potato as an alternative to mash. I was inspired to make one of my favourite shepherd’s pie variations, where the topping is half white potato and half sweet potato mash. I usually add a little tomato puree to the beef mince and it is particularly delicious with this sweet potato topping.

The last shepherd’s pie we had was a bit of a let down due to horrible, cheap, chewy beef mince. This new pie has renewed my faith in the wonder of shepherd’s pie. There are two important lessons we can learn from this;

1. Cheap meat is a false economy.

2. Never doubt the wonder of shepherd’s pie.

Expect to see further adventures with sweet potato in the coming weeks. It makes me feel summery.

Half-Eaten Curry

When your curry-hating girlfriend has a work night out, the only sensible thing to do is take full advantage of the opportunity to indulge your neglected cravings with the spiciest thing your palate can handle. I chose a Chicken Jalfrezi from the Lark Lane Tandoori and a sweet peshwari naan to go with it. Bloody gorgeous.

My phone battery decided to run out just as I was trying to take a photo and in the time it took to replace the battery and allow the phone to reload, I’m afraid I had already devoured half the meal.  However, as the old saying goes; it is better to eat your dinner while it’s still hot and take the photo for your blog half way through than to allow your dinner to be ruined for the sake of art.

Batter-Day: Pancakes and Toad in the Hole.

Still somewhat sugar-happy after the pancakes last week and in the absence of anything else to eat in the house, I decided to make pancakes again for breakfast on Saturday. I thought I’d take a picture of one cooking, since I’d neglected to do so the other day in my eagerness to eat. This batch was just as good and once again topped with lemon juice and sugar.

There was a little batter leftover so I decided to whip up some more and thin it out with some extra milk so I could make toad in the hole for dinner that evening.

The roasting tin I used was on the large side, so I’ve made a mental note to pick up a smaller one. I only had four sausages (Etonian Old Boys) and though it looks a little sparse, I wouldn’t have wanted any more.

I had planned on making leeks in cheese sauce before I had even thought to make the toad in the hole and the two complement one another quite splendidly, especially if gravy is involved.

This, dinner-lovers, is what I call a decent plateful. Even now I feel comforted, warm and content just looking at this wonder on a plate. To those of you who theorise that I eat too much mash, I make no apologies. I believe even you would agree that there is no better potato-based accompaniment to toad in the hole – though I would welcome your suggestions to the contrary.

Here it is again, with gravy.

I didn’t manage to finish this dinner, so I saved a small portion of everything to reheat the next day. There’s nothing quite like hearty leftovers like this on a Sunday lunchtime!

Baby Back Ribs and Spring Rolls at Host

We visited Host on Hope Street, Liverpool for lunch last Sunday. Adam and Rhonda recommended it and they always know the best places to eat! I went for the Baby Back Ribs with orange and chilli glaze and shared some vegetable spring rolls with Lydia. It was all delicious. I think they may have been the most delicious ribs I have ever eaten, I was literally sucking the bones to get every last bit of flavour. The marinade was kind of strange – I liked it, but it tasted a bit like chocolate, which I found a bit odd, but tasty nevertheless.

The chilli sauce that came with the spring rolls was so nice that I found myself searching my empty plate for something – anything – to dip in it. I ended up dipping my fingers in as I just couldn’t resist it. If I had been alone and no one was looking, I would have been tempted to down it like a shot! Don’t judge me.

I was impressed with the restaurant. It was light and airy with large windows allowing you to look around at the Hope Street surroundings, which are rather pretty on a sunny day. There are large tables so you can easily dine with a group without feeling cramped. It all seemed clean, open, spacious, but also welcoming and relaxed. I could even imagine going there alone with a good book to read. The prices were very reasonable, so I’ll definitely be going back at some point. If you want to know more, you can find their website here.

After a good meal here, I would suggest walking it off with a nice stroll around the graveyard at the Anglican Cathedral, as we did. Lovely relaxing Sunday!

Vegetarian Lasagne / Cheesecake

This weekend I was blessed by a visit from my dear mother and her gentleman companion (we call him “Jeff”). I had prepared dinner the evening before yet I still found I was rushing around the kitchen when it was time to dish up, so mum stepped in to help out. I have inherited a habit from mother whereby I think aloud whilst cooking (or doing anything that requires a bit of thought) and with both of us shuffling around the kitchen, mumbling at the walls, the kitchen was probably quite a disturbing scene to any onlookers.

Anyway, we managed to produce a delicious meal of lasagne with garlic bread and salad, as you can see. Mother is a vegetarian so this lasagne was made with onions, courgettes, peppers, mushrooms, quorn mince, tomatoes and herbs. I used home-made bechamel sauce and fresh lasagne sheets, which were easy to cut to the shape of the dish, unlike dried pasta sheets.

For the dessert, I attempted cheesecake for the first time, using a recipe I found on the BBC website. Sadly, it did not quite turn out as planned, as it barely set at all. However, it still tasted mighty fine. Some people even had seconds. I am determined to try again and master the cheesecake!

Tune in next time to find out what we ate for Sunday lunch!

Pancake Tuesday

Happy Pancake Tuesday to one and all!

I hope you all managed to partake in this revered tradition today. We opted for the classic lemon juice and sugar topping. It was the perfect opportunity to try out my new frying pan (I’ve been using one without a handle for about 5 years) and the pancakes couldn’t have been better. I even saved a little batter so I can have some for breakfast.

I really wanted to get this post published on Pancake Tuesday, but since we didn’t get sound to making them until 11.30ish, I’m afraid I’m a little late!

Sausage and Mash

There is a farmer’s market on Lark Lane on the fourth Saturday of every month. If that day happens to fall after payday then I’ll usually nip along and get myself a few treats. I have become particularly fond of the sausages you see above. They are called “Etonian Old Boys” and are made with pork, mustard seeds and chives by Ricky the Butcher of Lomber Hey Farm. I like them so much that I sought out their website, you can find it here. Highly recommended!

I emailed the nice people at Lomber Hey Farm to congratulate them on their delightful sausages and to ask if it would be ok to mention them in my blog. I invited them to have a look at my previous posts (for all they knew I could be some kind of sausage-hating terrorist blogger with a grudge) and they duly responded, kindly giving me the go ahead. They also noted that I “eat too much mash”.

Too much mash…?

Do I…?

Is that… possible?

I suppose I eat mash quite often, but how often is too often? I’d really like to hear your opinions on this hot topic, dinner-lovers. I’m sure you love a good poll as much as I do. Vote away!

If you’d like to share your thoughts, experiences or theories on mash intake then please enlighten us in the comments section.

In other news, my mother is coming to visit at the weekend and I’m hopeful she may bring me a few allotment treats (maybe leeks to feed my leeks in cheese-sauce addiction). I’ll be preparing a vegetarian feast in her honour. I won’t give away what’s on the menu yet, but I will tell you that the planned dessert is something I’ve never made before… stay tuned!