Pub Lasagne

I spent this evening playing park cricket for a work colleague's leaving do, great fun it was too, before decamping to a nearby public house in this case the Fort St George, for a bit of pub food. I had a serviceable Lasagne, saving my culinary indulgences for the weekend, from quite an interesting/amusing chain pub menu, which featured a curry dish, a noodle dish and some other slightly off piste items for such a menu. This may have been fine in a pub remote from anywhere else, but in the middle of Cambridge, where there are amble places within walking distance that will do, nay specialise, in curries and noodles and the like, it seemed a bit odd to feature to have them - I'm not sure there's a great uptake for the noodles...

Pork and Beans

It's a rare for food to have an excellent tune to go with it, but for Pork and Beans this is very much the case. This is a pork steak dusted in seasoned flour, fried and laid on a plate with steamed green beans and a blob of mustard.

Pork and beans

And this is Pork and Beans by Weezer:

 

Asparagus, New Potatoes and Poached Eggs

The British asparagus season is an abrupt one, indeed one that should be taken full advantage of, hence today's visit to the supermarket and full use of fresh ingredients for Asparagus, New Potatoes and Poached Eggs. The sweetness of the steamed spears work well with the nuttiness of the potatoes; both soaking up the runny egg yolks. I add some dried chilli flakes for a bit of piquancy. This looks wonderful on my black plates.

Asparagus, new potatoes and poached eggs

 

Chicken Salad

With broadly the same ingredients as yesterday (and much the same atmospheric conditions) I have a simple Chicken Salad. I cube and toast the bread to make crunchy croûtons and substitute the tomato for carrot. I toss these in a seasoned dressing with pieces of chicken and lettuce. The carrot doesn't really work as batons, perhaps shredded would be better, and I overdo the dressing, but it is nice and light - which suits the day.

Chicken salad

 

Club Sandwich

A roast poultry on a Sunday is usually an ideal dinner but it seems a bit much with conditions as appetite sapping as they are today. Usually I'd say to roast a whole chicken and then let it cool would be to take something away from the beauty of the bird, except for when it goes into a Club Sandwich, as it does here.
I roast the chicken simply by smearing it in basil butter, placing half a lemon in it's cavity and then placing it in the (fan assisted) oven at 180 degrees for an hour and a half. After cooling, I fry some bacon (2 rashers per sandwich), toast the bread and thinly slice a tomato. I spread mayonnaise on the toast for me (butter for Her) and lay on thickly sliced chicken, bacon, tomato and lettuce. Over the green leaves I spoon over some of the reserved chicken juice before topping with another piece of toast and slicing on the diagonal. Perfect in front of Sunday television.

Club sandwich

 

Bruscetta with Roasted Peppers, Mozzarella and Basil

The nations around the Mediterranean have a way with dealing with food when it is balmy and perhaps it's the Italian's who have the best mix of cooling foods for hot conditions, like today's Bruscetta with Roasted Peppers, Mozzarella and Basil. The ripe peppers paint a flavourful picture on the smooth creamy mozzarella with the crunch of toasted brucetta.

Bruscetta with roasted peppers, mozzarella & basil

 

Beer Festival 3rd Visit and Tommy Tucker

This has been a real bender of a week with my 3rd visit to the Beer Festival, meeting friends who were unable to attend earlier in the week. Following the festival and further drinks in The Mitre, I shamefully have a late night cheese burger and chips at the Milton Road institution that is Tommy Tucker. Filthy but necessary for beer soaking ballast.

Beer Festival 2nd Visit

The weather this week is utterly conducive to lounging in the sun with a beer, hence I return to the Beer Festival again, though with an emphasis on the ales rather than the food. So much so that I only have a rather dear sausage roll in the festival itself. It wasn't worth the £2 I paid for it, but that's the beauty of a captive market.

Creamy Bacon Spaghetti

I'm absolutely starving tonight after an evening cycle ride so speed is of the essence; the contents of my fridge and cupboard lends itself to Creamy Bacon Spaghetti. I brown some lardons in a frying pan and remove when crispy. I add a thinly sliced onion and 2 crushed garlic cloves to soften in the lardon fat and in the meantime cook the pasta. Once this has cooked and the onion and garlic has softened, I return the lardons to the pan, add the pasta on top of that and stir it all together with a generous tablespoonful of soured cream and chopped parsley. The whole dish takes 15 minutes.

Creamy bacon pasta

 

The 39th Cambridge Beer Festival

For me one of the highlights of the year in Cambridge is the Beer Festival held every year on Jesus Green and it's especially good when the sun comes out to play too, as it did today on my first visit (I usually go at least a couple of times over the week long festival). Not only is there an outstanding selection of beers, but there are an array of food options too and none better than the cheese counter (over 60 types of cheese constantly rotating amongst 10 available at any one time). I had the cheese platter for dinner which consists of 3 different chunks of cheese, a hunk of bread and strangely 2 packets of butter. It's quite dear at £7.50, but it is an unusual opportunity to try cheeses that are not readily available.
Each year the festival is themed and this year, being its 39th year, the theme is based on Hitchcock's film The 39 Steps. One of my favourites!

 

Asparagus and Streaky Bacon

Oh no! I've managed to bastardise Italian food by re-imagining classy asparagus and Parma ham with common Asparagus and Streaky Bacon! But wait just one second food snobs, isn't the ham just to provide the salty counterpoint to the sweetness of new season British asparagus? Doesn't streaky bacon do the same (maybe better) job? I'll leave you to decide. I just wrap the spears in the bacon and roast for 15 minutes. I also cook some eggs in the oven at the same time to dip the moreish pork wrapped vegetables. I get this slightly wrong as it happens (near solid yolk) but there's enough there to improve on for next time...

Asparagus and streaky bacon

 

Bills, Cambridge

In recent months I've often walked past the former Slug and Lettuce and wondered what this Bills place is all about. The leather chairs, moody colours and lighting, not to mention the thumping music of a weekend evening has been replaced with shelves of colourful jars of condiments and big yellow tins of olive oil. The music is still here, though in family friendly form. Oh and you can eat here too, which She and I do tonight.
A look at the menu with none of the starters catching my eye, means that main followed by dessert is the order of the day. She has a lamb hotpot and I have grilled sea bream. The fish came in a wide pasta bowl is moist and nicely cooked, though it is quite obvious that the sliced fennel in the dish was dry and cut some time previously. The lamb came in a little bowl on a board with a smaller bowl with red pickled cabbage. The flavours of this were fine though the hotpot, once the sliced potato covering had been peeled back, revealed itself to be disappointingly watery.
Dessert was the far better course. She had a beautifully moist, sweet but not sickly, sticky toffee pudding which just pipped my baked vanilla cheesecake to the best of the dishes we had.
So to summarise: A nice relaxed atmosphere, friendly staff and though the mains are nothing to write home about, the desserts are definitely worth a try.

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff must be the only dish of Russian origin that is commonly consumed by people outside of that region and is liked. Anyone for stewed cabbage and potatoes? Didn't think so, so I have this version using soured cream. After softening the mushrooms and onion and setting aside, I quickly brown the steak pieces before returning the vegetables to the pan and stirring with the cream and chopped parsley. For my money the addition of paprika and lemon juice would add to the dish.

(Really love the steam coming off the dish in this photo though!)

Beef stroganoff

Post Pub Cheese on Toast

What a lazy lazy way to have dinner. After the pub, slumped on the sofa and watching Family Guy, Cheese on Toast is an excellent supper. In this case Cheddar on wholemeal sliced bread, one with a spray of Worcester Sauce and the other untouched before being left to bubble under the grill.

Cheese on toast

 

Spinach and Feta Filo Pie

I'm clearly having a Greek inspired week having had Moussaka for the past two days and Spinach and Feta Filo Pie, not too mention a bit of job uncertainty, but to be fair that's being going on a while longer. This is one of very few vegetarian dishes I find myself coming back to time and again as it is satisfyingly filling unlike quite a lot of vegetarian fayre.

Spinach and feta filo pie

 

Moussaka Part 2

I'm currently training for the Big Bike Ride, a stupidly long bicycle ride around Cambridgeshire, so I spend the early evening getting some saddle time through the villages to the north of Cambridge. Milton, Waterbeach, Landbeach, Cottenham, Histon and Girton before getting home hitting the shower and having the balance of last night's Moussaka for a minimal effort meal.

Moussaka part 2

Moussaka

OK I admit it, I'm the one who switched the months of May and March around, I did, I really did. You see I have a dark, some might say twisted sense of humour that screws with people.

Who has any idea where their shorts are in March? Indeed, who trusts the weather in March? That's why it's funny to ape summer at that time of year, everybody boils in their winter jumpers too scared to take them off should the weather turn.

As for May... Are you ready for summer? You are? That's great - like today here's some hailstones. But a day like today is perfect for those dishes that don't quite fit. Moussaka is a bit of a contradiction. It's hearty like a lasagne, but requires aubergine to make it which has it's season in summer. Go figure...

Moussaka

Pork Chop and Green Beans

To me, Pork Chop and Green Beans is something of a slightly unlikely combination, but I see a little bit of why it works today; perhaps there's something in the juiciness of both. I pan fry the chop after marinading in the rosemary, garlic and chilli oil prepared from the other day and steam the beans over the boiling new potatoes. I dot the tender beans and potatoes with butter. Very Spring-like.

Pork chop and green beans

Chicken Salad

Some dishes are suited to certain seasons and I cannot think of anything less suited to a cold, wet and windy day than a Chicken Salad; this is not one of those days. I griddle and slice a chicken breast and toss it together with salad leaves dressed in my own basic salad dressing. This consists of 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. I mix these vigorously with salt, pepper and mustard to make an emulsion that I pour over the chicken and leaves.

Chicken salad

Beef Rendang

Dinner at Mum and Dad's today and she treats my aunt, uncle, sister and I to her excellent Beef Rendang, which is a Malaysian beef curry.

Mum had already par boiled beef shin and brisket for an hour before I arrived and reserved the stock

Next she adds chopped garlic, shallots, sweet pepper and chilli...

...then she adds seasoning (can't remember what this is!)...

...and a few spoons of chilli sauce...

...before the all the ingredients are mixed together...

...and a few tablespoons of dark soy sauce are stirred in.

In a separate pan sliced garlic & shallots are fried with cinnamon...

...before adding the beef and stirring...

...and adding the reserved stock...

...with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar...

...and top up with water. From now the dish is treated as a stew.

A couple of hours later, the dish is served up.

This is one of Mum's classic dishes, but it could have done with a few more chillis for my taste; excellent nonetheless.

Creamy Bacon and Onion Spaghetti

The label on the bacon lardons says 08 May 2012. This will be alright won't it? Bacon is not a million miles away from being cured fully so a few days won't hurt. I started the double cream 3 days ago. This looks fine though, a bit of skin on top but nothing visibly harmful. I look at the cheese. I feel the cheese. It's sticky. Third time is not going to be the charm as I toss it away.
With what I have I brown the lardons until crunchy to extract it's fat and after removing them from the pan I add thinly sliced onion, crushed garlic and some chopped thyme to sweat down until soft. Once this is done I start cooking the spaghetti and add a glass of white wine to the onion pan and boil until almost dry. I return the lardons to the pan, turn off the heat and stir in the cream, by which point the spaghetti is done too, as I combine it all in one pan with a handful of grated Parmesan and crushed black pepper. Service is in a bowl with more grated Parmesan, chopped thyme and black pepper. This Creamy Bacon and Onion Spaghetti is lush. And hopefully won't kill me.

Creamy bacon and onion pasta

RICS Awards, East of England

I was in the rare and exciting situation this evening of attending an awards ceremony for one of my projects at work, as the Longstanton Exhibition Centre was nominated for a Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors or RICS Awards, East of England. The event was being held at Chilford Hall the Cambridgeshire vineyard, but disappointingly I didn't get a chance to same some of their wines, which is perhaps a touch odd as you would have thought that they'd provide their own wines for an event held on their premises.
In any case, the food was fine, if nothing to write home about, being standard mass catering fayre: a salmon terrine to start, chicken breast wrapped in bacon as a main and profiteroles to finish, before the award giving started, presented by Janine Manchin.
Looking through at a selection of the other nominees it was clear that our project was in a minority amongst a sea of multi million pound projects with prestige private clients, so I was absolutely chuffed when we walked away with a Highly Commended Award in the Design and Innovation category - truly impressive to think this little half million pound project could beat some of the big boys on the night. I left very, very proud. And a little bit drunk.

Fish with Lemon and Beans

I'm often disappointed with how Butter Beans turn out, usually their bland, white tastelessness comes to the fore, so I found Fish with Lemon and Beans to be a pleasant surprise. The beans being warmed through with chorizo, lemon juice and olive oil massively help to colourise the taste palette and make a pleasant, not too overpowering base onto which the delicate (effectively) steamed fish can sit. Parsley is supposed to be in this dish too, but I switch this with thyme which is a bit more herby and a little less grassy.

Fish with lemon and beans

 

Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta

This is something of a staple dish for me though I don't have it too often these days, but Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta is tasty, quick and easy to make. Dice onion, sweet pepper and chicken breast, then quickly brown the chicken before setting aside and lowering the heat. Add the rest of the diced materials to the pan to soften, stirring every now and then. After 20 minutes return the chicken to the pan with a squeeze of half a lemon and boil some penne pasta as per packet instructions. When cooked, drain and stir in double cream and then combine with the chicken mix for a dinner that hits the creamy, lemony and chickeny spots.

Creamy, lemon chicken pasta

Foil Baked Salmon

I got dinner made for me today, which is always a good thing in my book, but is especially good this time around after wet and windy conditions cycling to and from Reach Fair earlier in the day.
She thinly slices sweet pepper and carrot which she places on top of a fillet of salmon which itself sits on a piece of foil. She then turns up the edges and pours in some wine and a little lemon juice with salt and pepper, then wraps the foil loosely to create a mini oven and places it in the proper oven for 20 minutes. The Foil Baked Salmon effectively steams in the wine and it's own juices and is succulent when served with mashed potato and spinach.

Chicken and Chips

I'm not sure when supermarkets started doing chicken quarters, but I welcome them as they're ideal for doing Chicken and Chips (as well as being keenly priced). I take inspiration from Nando's and place rosemary, chilli and crushed garlic in some oil for a few hours before using the infused oil to coat the chicken and wedges before roasting in the oven. The meal is edible, but I think a longer infusion time (perhaps overnight) and rubbing some of the infusion elements onto the chicken before roasting would improve the taste.

Chicken and chips

 

The FA Cup Final

I hosted the FA Cup Final today for my friends and I had thoughts of various food based themes, perhaps a Wembley cake?

Lovely to do but there's no way I could have beaten this fantastic effort. As it transpires I didn't have much time, so I let the football between Chelsea and Liverpool be the centrepiece. Beer, pizza and crisps were the traditional accompaniments; the grapes less so but healthier.

Mackerel, Mushroom & Bacon Filo Pie

Today I use the Greek filo pie as an base into which some of the various ingredients of my fridge go to make a Mackerel, Mushroom and Bacon Filo Pie. I layer the bottom of a cake tin with panels of overlapping filo pastry and place a single layer of cooked new potato slices in the bottom. Next I add a mix of mushrooms sautéed in bacon lardons, flaked smoked mackerel and eggs on top, before scrunching over the filo pastry so that it covers the top of the pie. I then place it in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius (fan assisted) for half an hour until the top is nicely browned and crispy; a fine filling dinner it did make too, the nutty sweetness of the potato complementing the double salty assault of the mackerel and the bacon.

Mackerel, mushroom & bacon filo pie

Baked Pork and Leek

A pan based dinner today, which I usually have with anisey fennel, but have subtly oniony leeks today instead. I soften leeks sliced in half lengthways and cut into 5cm lengths for a few minutes to soften and reserving, before turning up the heat in the pan and searing and seasoning both sides of the pork steaks. Before returning the leeks to the pan, I squeeze over the juice of a lemon and a splash of Vermouth and place in the oven to get Baked Pork and Leeks 15 minutes later. I have it with boiled new potatoes.

Baked pork and leeks

Mixed Fajitas

A use up kind of dinner today by having Mixed Fajitas, two chilli con carne fajitas and one garlic mushroom fajita, the latter especially so as the mushrooms are at the stage just before they turn sticky as the first phase of being on the way out. These were chopped and sautéed with garlic before being dumped into a warmed tortilla with a miniature mound of grated cheddar and a sprig of parsley. I similarly disrespect Mexicans by adding the same thing to the chilli fajitas. Lo siento mi amigos.

Mixed fajitas

 

The Vaults, Cambridge

I'm obviously far too sensible in my old age as I'm a little concerned that doing cocktails on a Tuesday night is a little much, but that doesn't stop me though as we take on Las Iguanas bar. Then sense kicks in again when the answer to the equation:

No food + cocktails;

is thought through to its logical conclusion.
Hence we have some food (and cocktails) in The Vaults. Worryingly we are the only people in the restaurant side of the place which usually starts alarm bells ringing in my head, so we order slightly warily.
The menu is set up tapas style, as in there are plenty of small dishes for all to share, rather than there being a Spanish influence, as is fitting for a bar, so we order Braised Beef Cheeks, Dauphinoise Potatoes, Scallops and Bacon and Mediterranean Vegetables topped with Haloumi Cheese. It turns out that my wariness was misplaced as everything is very edible with the beef in it's rich sauce being the best of our selection, dovetailing nicely with the creamy potato dish. Fun bar food and perhaps worthy of a more serious examination at some point.