On the menu in the near future: things I really want to cook again, or try cooking for the first time:
- Paella: this is a dish I used to make often, but haven't for a while: the big problem with it is it is impossible to make (as far as I can tell) for just a couple of people. It's top of my list. It will happen, perhaps as soon as a week or so from now.
- Pork pies: I've mentioned this English specialty before: hot water crust, jellied filling, served cold, with cheese, a salad and a glass of beer, a lunch fit for a ploughman. Now, I don't exactly plough the fields, but I am pretty scattered, so perhaps that will suffice.
- Pate: a good honest French country pate, served with a crusty batard, a glass of wine: the French equivalent of the ploughman's lunch.
- Scotch eggs: I'm going to make these while my parents are here -- my father won't eat them, for health reasons, but my mother will.
Yours, hungry,
N.
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5 comments:
What is paella? I've always wondered.
It's a spanish rice dish, flavoured with saffron, and a sofrito (which is diced onion, garlic, sometimes celery or bell peppers, sometimes tomatoes), flavourful liquid -- often a chicken stock: and then depending on region, containing some combination of chicken, rabbit, pork, shrimp, squid... Vegetable additions can include green beans, peas, artichoke hearts, etc. The rice should be medium grain, a bit like arborio or risotto rice, but the dish is not stirred continuously like a risotto, but is allowed to sit to absorb the liquid: then the heat is turned up to develop a crust to the bottom of the rice: this is called a "socarrat", a toasty crunchiness to the dish.
It is really wonderful, and worth trying.
N.
A couple of days ago I was watching "Britains Best Dish", or some such thing; there was a wonderful cornish paella that I may be tempted to recreate - it had crab, prawns (aka shrimp?), mussels and other bits and bobs.(all rather extravagant). But I can see it's definately a dish for a group of people and not just two.
Scotch eggs - I've never made them myself, I've always been put off by the bought ones I've had (very bland). I'm sure homemade ones are much better.
RT: see my scotch eggs posting from while you were away (here and the following few posts) -- the homemade ones are really rather stunningly yummy... especially if you like good sausage and eggs!
N.
The Scotch Eggs sound so good compared to the omeletes I've been trying to make in my microwave. (New Glad Steaming bags). Have fun cooking, here from Michele's.
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