Bourbon and Spiced Rum EggNog

Posted on January 24, 2015 by tenuoustoaster

Yesterday was a bit of a turning point.

Since I don’t know when we had gotten a little bit lazy. We weren’t going to the gym three times a week anymore and we’d make lists and plans and just not follow through with any of them. Freya said she wanted to stay in and drink – and Mudslides were looking to be the likely candidate.

On the way home last night we needed coal (so I could work from home next week) and we were supposed to go to the gym. Traffic was terrible and we were getting a bit fed up – the coal and the gym were probably going to get postponed – AGAIN!.

Approaching Chiswick roundabout I thought – no! – stop it – get your finger out of your you know what at get the coal. So we got the coal. The gym was still debatable – but finger was out again and we went! And it was probably the best workout ever. I managed 2000 metres of rowing in 9 minutes – we did weights – treadmill – etc. It was very energetic and rewarding.

What’s this got to do with eggnog?

On the way home I said we needed a protein shake – and then we said we could probably add the protein powder to an egg nog. And the seed was sown for eggnog! Without the protein powder!

We had this drink on Christmas Day and it was amazing. It was equally amazing last night. Even more special because I served it in my vintage 1950s Dorothy Thorpe Whisky glasses – which you’ll see often on Mad Men if you watch carefully.

It’s quite labour intensive but well worth the effort.

Separate two eggs, beat caster sugar into the yolks – and caster sugar into the whites until they are stiff. This took me ages!

Then add milk, single cream, bourbon and spiced rum into the yolk mixture and gently fold in the egg whites. Serve with a grating of nutmeg.

I used Kraken rum and Makers Mark bourbon – but only because that’s all I had. There’s 100ml of each in this drink so its quite potent for two drinks each!

Much nicer than a eggnog latte from Starbucks – and I imagine cheaper too – even with all that booze!

Parsley, Anchovy and Walnut Pesto

Posted on January 23, 2015 by tenuoustoaster

Last night was Film Club night – we watched Frida. It’s very good – you should watch it!

Most Film Club nights end up with us nipping over to Moes (poor mans Nandos) for half a chicken and rice because we haven’t got any food left over from lunchtime.

I was better prepared this week and made this pesto which, when mixed with white beans and served on lettuce leaves, makes for a very nice snack. It probably would have gone very well with some chicken from Moes!

Pesto has undergone quite the transformation over the years. My first recollections of it were the Sacla jars which you would stir through some pasta when you were too lazy to cook anything proper. Since then everyone and his dog has been making their own jars of the stuff, including Jamie Oliver and Lloyd Grossman. I’ve always found them very vinegary or jar/tin tasting which I imagine is down to the preservatives they add.

I always understood pesto to be basil, garlic, pine nuts and parmesan blended with olive oil but it is seems that the current trend is to call any blend of herb, nut, oil and cheese a pesto. Strictly these variations aren’t pestos – but then again there’s lots of fizzy white wines passing themselves off as champagne these days!

I’ve made many different types in the last year, ones with coriander, parsley, different cheeses, different oils and a variety of nuts. This pesto from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s ‘River Cottage Light and Easy’ is another variation on a theme – but its one of the best I’ve made.

Simply blend parsley leaves, garlic, a tin of anchovies (oil as well), walnuts, some rapeseed oil and a little lemon juice to taste and you’re done.

If you have a Nutribullet you can made this in less than a minute and it will be very smooth.

I’ve copied Hugh’s serving suggestion of stirring through some white beans and laying on some lettuce leaves.

I loved this. It has a real punch to it. Many pestos are quite bland but this is far from it. The anchovy really packs in flavour. Just don’t add more salt – anchovies are salty enough as it is.

There was quite a bit left over which I imagine we will use up with some feta and salad in our tortilla wraps for lunch today.

So far I’m really enjoying this book. Simply cooking. Great taste. That’s what we all need when we have little time to spare.

Brussels Sprouts with Puy Lentils and Walnuts

Posted on January 22, 2015 by tenuoustoaster

Freya and I were discussing our eating strategy for work yesterday. Sounds complex but it isn’t really.

When I started this blog we lived in the middle of nowhere and going out was too much effort – so we just stayed in – watched box sets – and cooked every day – which meant we had ‘lunch’ for work the next day in the form of leftovers (or something made specifically for lunch).

Since autumn last year this changed. We go out at least 4 times a week and often don’t eat at home. Tuesdays we go dancing until late – and Thursdays we have film Club at work. Consequently we had no food and ended up in the awful situation yesterday of having to go out in the freezing cold for lunch that we didn’t really want – and waiting ages for it as well. On top of that it always costs us £10 or more for the privilege and we lose an hour of our day (at least).

So last night I resolved that we would always have something for lunch by being better prepared – and this is where this dish came from – made whilst watching Broadchurch Season 2 Episode 3 last night. Broadchurch is far more ‘soap-opera-extreme’ this season – it’s very intense!

Anyway – back to the food. This dish is as easy as (and very similar to) the Broccoli and Beans that I made for dinner yesterday – and is from the same ‘River Cottage Light and Easy’ cookbook by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.

Simply roast some brussels sprouts with a little oil and seasoning until they start to char a bit and look done. While they are cooking prepare some Puy lentils. I cheated with a ready made sachet from ‘Merchant Gourmet’ – not through laziness – more through my local Morrisons not having anything else.

Then made a dressing (again very similar to the Broccoli dish) of oil, garlic, mustard, lemon juice (no egg yolk this time) an pour it over the lentils. Finally mix the lentil mix with the brussels and stir through some chopped walnuts.

Couldn’t be easier. We ate it at room temperature (as recommended in the book) and it tastes yummy. It got a few jealous looks while we ate it at work. And a few bemused looks from those that had never seen those ingredients combined like that before.

One of the sad things about cooking late at night on a poorly lit boat is the standard of food photography. I’ll seek to improve this somehow!

Roast Tenderstem Broccoli and White Beans

Posted on January 21, 2015 by tenuoustoaster

I wanted something very simple for dinner today and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s new book ‘River Cottage – Light & Easy’ had just what I needed. Most of the recipes I’ve shortlisted from this book look easy. Barely cooking at all – more throw some stuff together. Just what you want when it’s freezing cold outside and you’ve just spent an hour heating up a very cold boat!

I couldn’t get hold of Purple Sprouting Broccoli so I used tenderstem broccoli instead.

This is so easy. Just preheat an oven, roast some broccoli with a little oil and seasoning for 10 minutes, add white beans and sunflower seeds and cook for another 2 minutes.

While that’s doing make a dressing of a little garlic, cider vinegar, english mustard, oil and a little sugar. I added an egg yolk to mine – which pretty much makes a hollandaise.

Then simply serve the beans and drizzle the dressing on top.

This is pretty awesome – very tasty – and was done in less than 15 minutes. Just my sort of dinner. I think this could end up in the ‘go to’ pile.

I thought there would be enough for lunch tomorrow – but we had seconds and polished it all off!

New Year – New Books

Posted on January 21, 2015 by tenuoustoaster

Two cookery books have landed on my doorstep since new year.

Honestly Healthy Cleanse – by Natasha Corrett
River Cottage – Nice and Easy – by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

as well as the prospect of receiving Ella Woodwards – Deliciously Ella at the end of the month.

These books have similar goals – they just approach them differently. They all want you to cut down on acid forming foods that make you bloated – and there’s a general feeling that if you cook from the books and exercise a bit then you’ll probably lose some weight along the way.

Natasha Corrett continues on from her other two Honestly Healthy books with what is essentially New Year detoxes. The book is beautiful. There’s lots of ‘science’ at the beginning of the book and the recipes look amazing. Natasha’s book will probably not be for everyone as she uses ingredients you simply can’t pick up in your local supermarket. Ocado have recently started adding many of these specialist ingredients – but you just aren’t going to find Tamari or Spirulina powder in a Morrisons.

With the purchase of her previous two books I remember spending an absolute fortune on things I’d never heard of on sites such as souschef.co.uk and amazon grocery. I shortlisted 20 dishes from this book (which I’ll make once I get paid!) but I’ll have to wait until I can afford to make them. There’s a definite sense that you need to plan a weeks worth of Honestly Healthy dishes just so you don’t end up having loads of expensive ingredients sat in your cupboards. Granted I made a lot of recipes from the previous two books and I’ll probably do the same this time too – but this book might just end up sat on a lot of people’s shelves.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s book on the other hand takes ingredients that you’ll find absolutely anywhere and turns them into something special and healthy. He focuses very much on cutting out wheat and dairy – and there is a definite focus of vegetarian food – continuing on from his previous book ‘Veg’. He doesn’t bang on about cutting out meat and fish – he just uses them a lot less than he used to. Granted he encourages you to use the best tomatoes, carrots etc, but he pitches his wares to the everyday cook and I think most people buying this book will make at least half a dozen of the dishes. I’ve shortlisted over 30 already and I know they will all get made.

I don’t know what’s in store with Ella’s book yet – as it hasn’t been released – but from what is hinted at in the Daily Mail’s weekend supplement this week, the recipes will also be pitched at the everyday cook. I’m looking forward to this book as the previewed recipes are very low in fat – so I’ll be interested to see how this affects the taste. In my experience you do sacrifice taste when you take out the fat. The Quick Chilli I made on Monday was testament to this. It was nice – it just didn’t pack the punch of some other chillis I’ve made.

The next two weeks should see me posting some of Hugh’s dishes. Already shortlisted are:

Sweet Potato Rosti
Chickpeas Salas with Avocado Mayo
Quinoa and Gooseberry Tabbouleh
Beetroot Burgers
Puy Lentils with Brussels Sprouts
Baked Onions with Savoury Porridge
Parsley, Anchovy and Walnut Pesto with Cannelini Beans and Kos Lettuce
and many others

Watch this space.

Quick Chilli and Brown Rice

Posted on January 20, 2015 by tenuoustoaster

It seems like forever since I posted on sifty. I have been eating – honest – I just haven’t been able to muster the enthusiasm to photograph and blog. It gets very cold on a boat this time of year – it kind of discourages you from doing anything!

Our fortnightly visit to Freya’s parents offered up two surprises:

a new cookbook (for Freya really – as it was her birthday)
a flick through a load of magazine supplements

This weekend’s Daily Mail supplement (which I would never advocate reading) had an interesting article about Ella Woodward and her ‘soon to be released’ cookery book ‘Deliciously Ella’. At the back of the magazine were some very healthy recipes that caught my eye – so I snagged the magazine and made the chilli and brown rice last night.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find black beans in my local supermarket so I swapped them for Fava beans. As the recipe suggests you can knock this up in 10-15 minutes. Its so basic. But it was just what you need when it is -1 outside and you need something warm quickly!

To make this you do nothing more than add grated carrot, garlic, kidney beans, black beans (fava beans in my case), passatta, tomato paste and a jalapeño pepper to a saucepan and heat through for 10 minutes. That’s it – nothing more.

For me it was a bit too tomatoey – Freya loved it. It made plenty. There’s tonnes left for lunch today and it cost next to nothing to make.

I’ll make this again when I am short on time – and I’ll make it with the correct ingredients next time.