Flying solo, can you dig it?

Sorry, but I heard Isaac Hayes on the radio, "Shaft, ..........can ya dig it?" I suspect it sounds slightly less groovy from a slipper wearing trackie clad white chick in her thirties than Mr Hayes, but Pru thought I was pretty funky.....

Anyway, I am also digging my latest library find, a great book called Alone in The Kitchen with an Eggplant. It is a collection of essays by various food writers on the subject of dining alone, and it is fascinating.

I rather enjoy eating by myself, but being married for the best part of twelve years has limited my opportunities a bit. While I am not complaining ( we still quite like each other, and can spend many happy hours discussing the cat, the hole in the ground and why I spend so much money on food) I occasionally like to eat with just myself for company. Perhaps if this wasn't a choice I would feel differently, but as it stands a solo supper is quite a treat.
 
It was interesting comparing my attitude to some of the authors, but I did disagree with Laura Calder (which surprised me as I love her show French Food at Home) about dining alone as something to avoid at all costs? I love cooking, and really enjoying expressing how I care about people through food (sorry, I know that sounds corny, but there you go) but surely you can only do that if you also care about yourself? So how better to be nice to yourself than with something yummy to eat? I would hardly call that tragic......
 
 
 
  I was home alone the other night, and harvested the mighty crop of veges pictured. Actually that is one benefit of the single supper, not trying to make two zucchini, a couple of radishes and a some peas feed a crowd. I picked up two lovely lamb cutlets from the butcher I my way home, the rest was garden or pantry staples, and it was really good.  
 

 
Herb Lamb Cutlets with Spring Couscous, Griddled Zucchini and Lemon
 
Firstly rub your lamb with a mixture of the following
 
A crushed garlic clove, chopped finely
A splash of olive oil
a pinch of ground cumin
a pinch of chilli powder
Couple of springs of lemon thyme, chopped
A sprig of rosemary, chopped
Salt & pepper
 
While it marinates for a few minutes, pour boiling water over a 1/2 cup of couscous. I pour enough water to come about a cm over the top of the grains, this seems to leave it cooked but not gluggy.
Add salt generously, a chopped spring onion, a couple of chopped radishes, as many peas as you can squeeze out of their pods, and a few pine nuts if you have them. Cover with a plate, and leave to cook for about 10 mins.
Heat up the griddle pan (or grill) and slice a couple of zucchini thinly. Brush with some olive oil and place on your griddle pan until charred and soft. Put on a plate and squeeze over some lemon.
Now cook your lamb on the same pan (I love reusing pans, makes me feel so clever and organised,plus less washing up for the solo diner...) until it is charred, but still pink inside. My cutlets took about 3-4 minutes per side.
While they rest, fluff your couscous with a fork and add a knob of butter or a glug of really good EV olive oil, pepper and chopped parsley, then spoon onto your plate. Put the zucchini on top, and the lamb, with a sprinkle of mint and a spoonful of plain yoghurt. Serve with a glass of something delish and a proper napkin. YUM.
 
I followed this with a bowl of strawberries sprinkled with a spoon of icing sugar and a couple of tiny drops if balsamic vinegar. Tell me that isn't better than a bowl of cereal , Mr PK's solo dinner of choice............?
 

 
I first experienced restaurant solo dining on my first ever trip abroad on my own. We were living in London at the time, and for my thirtieth birthday the whaneau clubbed together and sent me to Ballymaloe Cooking School for a week, what an adventure! I had to fly to Cork airport (my fear of flying was much worse then, so this was a big step in itself...) pick up my rental car and find Ballymaloe House where I was staying. The school is a couple of miles away, so then I had to find that as well. I was off to a flyer when I drove completely the wrong way out of the airport and was halfway back to Cork before I realised........nuptials were not just a way of avoiding solo eating, they were a way of not spending my entire life hopelessly lost.
 

 

Anyway, Ballymaloe House is amazing, but on my first night I realised I would have to go down to the restaurant and eat..........by myself. My friend Tiff happened to ring just as I was contemplating this, when I voiced my concerns (will I look like a total saddo?) she advised me to take a book and imagine everyone else in the room had no clothes on. To this day I cant quite figure out how this was supposed to help, but she travelled for work on her own, and I deferred to her expertise. Armed with Harry Potter and wearing all my jewelery because I couldn't figure out the safe I descended to dinner.
 
 

 
It was just lovely. The staff seemed to take extra care, Myrtle Allen, the owner, and a star of Irish cooking actually came and sat down for a chat and the lovely Scottish couple at the next table asked me to join them for coffee after dinner. And I could watch everyone else in the room, without having to try and appear to be listening to what the person sitting opposite was saying. Every night I enjoyed six courses of glorious food (imagine if I did the 12 week course, I'd have to get an extra seat home....) , then at the end of the week joined Tiff for a couple of days in Cork, she was most impressed with my adventures.....
Would I dine alone at a restaurant in my home town? I have been thinking about it recently and have decided I would like to give it a go. Have you ever eaten in a restaurant on your own? What about solo dining, any special treats you enjoy?

My other solo treats, in no particular order...

A steak, cooked rare and slathered with blue cheese (Mr PK loathes the stuff) with salad
Stuffed potato, often with a blue cheese involvement.......
Mussels cooked with white wine (or cider), cream , parsley and garlic
A Ponsonby Pie-Chicken & Vege (even though it gives me indigestion, sigh...)
A bowl of steamed  Jersey Bennes, with salt, pepper, loads of butter and mint......
Fresh corn on the cob, slathered in butter, salt, pepper and a little bit of chilli (I have to eat this solo as I make such a mess of myself it puts other people off their supper....)

I still have two more fab salads to post, and Mexican corn...yep, back to Mexico , just briefly.
 

Salad days, crafty ways............and a big hole in the ground

I have not posted for over a week, and now I have so much to share I shall have to do it in episodes, I don't want you feeling overwhelmed............or bored to tears. I had a great cooking class the other night, Salads for Supper, and want to share some of the recipes.

After a gray start the sun is shining today and I cant see a cloud out the window. If I listen carefully I can actually hear my zucchini growing, chuckling quietly to themselves "she loves us now, but wait a few weeks when we have grown like a triffid and worn her down....." to which of course I chuckle to myself and utter the immortal words "stuffed zucchini flowers". But we are not quite there yet.

Back to the salads, first up is a variation on quinoa and rice (remember, "keen-wa", not key-no-ah") I came up with last week and am rather pleased with. It uses two of my fav things, Pomegranate Molasses and eggplant (for another recipe using both of these see here ). It is really delicious, easy to make, and given how cheap eggplant are at the moment, really economical. If you live somewhere where eggplant are juts  dream right now, can I suggest pumpkin or sweet potato (kumara in this neck of the woods) as an alternative?

Quinoa and brown rice salad with eggplant, cucumber and walnuts

Ok I know it sounds a bit worthy, but it does taste yummy, honest. And it is super good for you. The hint of chilli on the eggplant, and the pomegranate molasses spark everything up nicely, and it looks pretty on the plate. This is lovely with the feta cheese, and also works really well with lamb fillet, dusted with cumin and salt then blasted on the grill or BBQ until crusty outside and pink within...

This makes enough for 4-6

1 cup quinoa (either red or white is fine)
1 cup brown rice
1 onion, sliced into crescents
1 large eggplant
½ tsp each of ground cumin, salt and chilli powder
Splash of olive oil
1 Lebanese cucumber sliced
Handful of cherry tomatoes
½ cup walnuts, toasted
Handful of chopped mint
Handful of chopped parsley
100 grams crumbled feta cheese

Dressing

½ cup EV olive oil
2 tsp pomegranate molasses (or use honey and a squeeze of lemon)
1 tsp white vinegar (cider vinegar is nice here)
Salt and fresh black pepper

Bring two saucepans of salted water to the boil, and add the rice to one and the quinoa to the other. Boil until cooked but not mushy, the rice will take about 20 mins, the quinoa about 15 mins.

Drain both (no need to rinse) and spread out on a tray to cool. While they are cooking fry your onion in a little bit of oil until golden but not burnt. Set aside.
Add the oil to the cumin, salt and chilli and stir to combine. Chop the eggplant into bite size chunks, then mix with the spice and oil. Fry or grill the aubergine over a medium heat until cooked and golden, this will take about 10 mins.
Make your dressing by whisking all your ingredients together. Taste for seasoning. It should be sharp but with a hint of sweetness.

Tip your cooled rice and quinoa into a large bowl and add the cooked onion. Stir though the eggplant, cucumber, tomatoes, walnuts and herbs. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Check again for seasoning.
Tip onto a platter and sprinkle with the crumbled feta and more mint leaves.

This is just a base recipe, feel free to add or subtract ingredients as you wish. Some dried fruits such as apricots or figs could be added, maybe substituting the walnuts for pistachios.

This is a great salad to take to make in advance and take to a BBQ as it is robust and actually improves with sitting. If you do refrigerate make sure you take it out and bring to room temp before serving. Nothing tastes of much ice cold...........ok, except maybe champagne

The next salad I would like you to run immediately to the kitchen and make is courtesy of Nigella, and it is a fav in our house. Watermelon, feta, olives, lime..............what is not to love, and it can be thrown together in about 5 minutes. This is my go to salad when it gets really warm. With apologies to those of you ready somewhere chilly. If it is any consolation I already have a red nose (how festive!) and the bits of me that are not opaque white are turning pink or freckled .Thanks Dad, that red hair white freckled skin combo you shared with us is such a winner in the NZ sunshine.........

Watermelon and feta salad


1 red onion, peeled and cut into crescents (half moons)
2-4 limes, depending on juiciness
1 watermelon
100 grams Feta cheese
Handful of flat-leaf parsley
Handful of mint
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Handful of pitted black olives
Black pepper

Put the onion into a small bowl, and squeeze over the juice of the limes.
Remove the rind from the watermelon, and cut into bite sized chunks. Don’t be too precious about this, it is fine a bit rough. Tear the feta into smaller sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow platter.
Tear off sprigs of parsley so that it is used like a salad leaf, rather than a garnish, and add to the bowl along with the mint.

Pour onions, along with their juices over the salad in a bowl, add the oil and olives, then using your hands toss the salad so that the feta and melon don’t fall apart. Add a grinding of black pepper and taste to see whether the dressing needs more lime.

I have also made this sprinkled with fresh red chilli, also very yummy if you like a little heat

In between cooking adventures I have also got my crafty hat on. I got up this morning to watch the All Blacks, I don't normally surface on a Sunday at 6am ( with apologies again, I am guessing those of you with kids reading this are used to getting up at 6am EVERY morning.......?) Anyway it is amazing how much more a girl can get done with extra hours in her weekend. I made an advent calender for two of my nephews while the footie was on, I think it is kind of cute

I got the idea from the December issue of Your Home and Garden, it is a goodie.

The little sandwich bags are filled with treats for the family . It started off with just the two boys, then I felt so bad about the sweets and chocolates (more accurately the EFFECT of the sweets and chocolate) that I included little bits & bobs for the whole whaneau.........the little pegs and ribbon are from Kikki-K , also a great spot for diaries and pens. Its like the first day of the new school year every time I walk in, stationery heaven....

If any of you were wondering how the garden/pizza oven/deck/massive hole in the ground is getting on (don't worry, I don't actually expect you have been pondering this...) here is an update. Pru is wondering what on earth we are doing to her outdoor WC, the neighbours are wondering if we are secretly putting in a pool, the kids down the back are desperately HOPING we are putting in a pool............and I am wondering how much of our hard earned dosh is disappearing into that hole. Will keep you posted.

In the meantime this is the evil eye I got this morning. How inscrutable are cats?

Nowhere near Tuscany Ribollita........

My first vege box from Epicurean Supplies arrived yesterday, what a treat. Jammed packed with lots of lovely fresh organic vege, a selection of herbs, and three lemons.
My box was $36 including delivery, I am not sure how this stacks up against a visit to the greengrocer, but part of the reason for me trying a box scheme is not purely financial. I also want the choice, and indeed to be effectively forced to use what I have to produce tasty meals. Like many people, if I am rushed, tired or generally not concentrating I tend to go onto auto pilot when shopping, getting the same tried and trusted things, rather than trying new ingredients. I don't like waste, so using what I have will be my challenge (and don't we know I love a challenge...!)

So tonight's dinner was a hearty "sort of" Ribollita, or Tuscan Bean & Cabbage Soup. Ribollita means "re-boiled" , and I believe traditionally the soup was made using the remnants of the previous days soup or broth, with cavelo nero, a type of Italian Kale and beans added. I say sort of, because of course I was not reboiling anything (unless you count the chicken stock from my freezer?) and lets be honest, I am a rather long way from Tuscany....

The recipe is based on one from Jamie Oliver's Italian cookbook, which has some great recipes, and lovely styling. It is interesting to note how his books have got much more "matt" looking, matt paper and photography replacing the glossy images of his earliest books. I am pretty over the glossy cookbook myself, but each to their own.......

Anyway, the recipe, this makes enough for 4 good servings (that's four normal grownups, not four picky toddlers.....).
Most ribollita recipes use stale bread IN the soup, I have a life long aversion to soggy bread (don't even get me started on Summer Pudding, I feel queasy just thinking about it..), so my version takes the day old bread and makes it into croutons to sprinkle on top. I can hear Italian mamas spinning in their graves from here.......

If you don't share my neurosis, please feel free to stir the cubed bread into the soup when you add the cabbage. This will give you are thicker textured soup, but you can add more stock if you want it a little thinner

Ellerslie Ribollita by way of Jamie's Italy by way of Tuscany......

1 red onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 leek, thinly sliced (your knife skills will improve making this soup...)
1 large clove of garlic, thinly sliced
Splash of olive oil
Good pinch of dried chili flakes
Good pinch of fennel seeds, roughly bashed in a mortar & pestle or use a rolling pin...
1 tin plum tomatoes, and a pinch of sugar
1 tin canellini beans, drained
2 cups chicken stock
150grams cavelo nero, washed and thinly sliced, stalks & all
Handful of stale bread cubes, either toasted in the oven to crispy OR stirred into the soup....
Olive oil and parmesan to garnish

Put a good glug of oil in a heavy based saucepan and add the onion, carrot, fennel, leek and garlic, along with plenty of salt & pepper. Sweat over a gentle heat with the lid just ajar for 15-20 mins until the veges are soft but not brown. Add your chili & fennel seeds, then stir in your tomatoes with a pinch of sugar. Turn the heat to medium, add the chicken stock and beans, and bring to the boil. Turn the heat back down to low, and stir in your cavelo nero and bread if you using it. It will look supremely unappetizing but stick with it.Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or so until the cavelo nero is tender and the soup has reduced and thickened. Taste for seasoning, then serve in deep bowls sprinkled with your croutons, a good glug of fruity olive oil, a sprinkle of parsley and parmesan cheese, yum!
This is a really comforting supper, tasty, filling and full of good stuff, without seeming in any way worthy. First vege box day a success me thinks.
My sister came over to watch the netball, and was moved to comment  "it didn't look much when I arrived, but it tastes fantastic". Thank you esteemed food critic sibling.........

I have rainbow chard to use next, I am thinking maybe a gratin, with perhaps a cheeky little steak, Mr PK is craving some meat.....


I am off this weekend to Somerset Cottage in Tauranga, to attend one of their fantastic cooking schools. This time the class is all about vegetables, very appropriate, and I cant wait! Will have lots of lovely recipes and ideas to share next week, will keep you posted.....

Potato and bread, the path to happiness...

Flicking through The Best of Annabel Langbein (what a great go-to book, packed with recipes, and they work) I came across a Potato Focaccia Dough recipe. Potato and Bread. Combined. What's not to love?

Potato and Focaccia Dough- from The Best of Annabel Langbein

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 cup packed cooked mashed potato ( I didn't have any leftovers, so  I boiled two Agra potatoes and mashed with butter, seasoning and a splash of cream as usual, there was enough for breakfast the next day with a poached egg, joy)
1/4 cup EV Olive Oil
4 1/2 cups strong bread flour (plus a bit extra for mixing)
2 tsp salt
More oil & sea salt for topping

Put the water in a jug with the yeast, I also added a 1/2 tsp sugar, stir, and put in a warm spot next to the heater for 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile put your mashed potato, flour, salt & olive oil into a bowl and either add the water yeast mix and stir with a wooden spoon or your fingers, or do as I do & use the dough hook attachment on your much loved Kitchen Aid. If you are doing it by hand tip the mix out onto a floured bench and knead for about 10 mins by hand (for a description of kneading see here ) It will take 5-8 minutes in the Kitchen Aid. When the dough feels smooth and silky, and bounces back when pressed you are good to go. It may be slightly sticky from the inclusion of the potato, so you may need to add a little more flour, this is quite normal. Rub the inside of the bowl you have used with a little oil, put the dough back in and leave to rest in a warm place until it has pretty much doubled in size, this will take 1-1.5 hours. Yes it takes time, but it isn't time you are actually required to do anything.

When the dough is ready split it into two. I took one portion and popped it into the freezer, the other I rolled out to about 3 cm thick on an oven tray, and placed a tea towel over it, then left it back by the heater to rise a little again for about 30 mins. Pre heat your oven at this point to 220C. Put fingertip dimples all over the dough (just like a brought one!), brush it with EV Olive oil, and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. I know I sound very precise with the salt, but unlike rock salt which is meant for grinders, a sprinkle of this stuff wont break your teeth, rather just flake into ozone saltiness on your tongue. Pop into the oven for about 20 minutes, then leave to cool on a rack.............if you can resist the smell, in which case you are a better girl than I.
This is simply the best loaf I have ever made. I know I should not wax lyrical such about my own cooking, but quite frankly modesty would be misplaced here, it might make you believe this loaf was something less than utterly delicious and not bother making it. That would be a disaster.........

We ate almost the whole loaf, no butter or oil, just dunked into bowls of vege soup (I admit, Kings soup mix, a few added vege and a bacon bone from the butcher, good stuff for a cold afternoon). I did save a tiny sliver for my lunch the next day, which I spread with butter, and it still tasted good.
If you have never made bread before, can I urge you to do so, it is so rewarding. The house smells yeasty and wholesome, the dough feels gloriously soft and smooth, yet alive in your hands, and the lucky person you break bread with will look at you like you may, just ever so slightly, in a very non-smug NZ sort of way, actually be touched by genius.............just smile serenely and keep eating.

I am covering breadmaking at my next cooking class on Wednesday 4th August, this session is full, but if you are interested in attending another class covering bread, please let me know as I would be happy to do a repeat class if there is enough interest. The more people who can bake their own bread and pizza, the happier I will be........

Cooking Class 3

Fully booked for June 9th, we are doing 30 minute meals this time, the kind of thing you can come home and whip up after work, that is still interesting and tastes great:) I was trying out a new recipe last night for next week’s cooking class, Chickpea fritters with yoghurt dip, as if lentils were not enough now it’s chickpeas!


The recipe (Nigel Slater’s) called for soaked dried chickpeas, but I thought I would be a clever cookie & make them with tinned, all in the name of speed you understand. The mixture, with onion, cumin, chilli & loads of herbs smelt amazing, and I was feeling rather pleased with myself. I put a tad too much oil in my pan, but figured they would just fry a little quicker, no biggie. So you can imagine my surprise when I put my wee patties into the bubbling oil (a little bit hot, turn the heat down girlfriend…)………….and they disappeared! I mean totally disappeared, one minute patties, the next brown oil and no sign of life? I think the tinned peas were too wet, and in the hot oil they simply melted away………

The bit of sludge I could rescue did taste amazing so I will persevere with that one, and as Mr D did point out, it isn’t every girl who has super powers & can make her dinner disappear right before her eyes……..just not sure it’s a special power I actually want, I was quite looking forward to my fritters…….:(

Love in the Mouth Meatloaf......

Another busy week, cant believe it is the middle of May already, Christmas shopping next....(if you could see the amount of people on my Xmas list you would realise I'm only half kidding). I have had some really great emails from some of my cooking class students, it is very inspiring to hear their success stories, or "almost" success stories........the following is an excerpt of an email from my friend Jo, this made me laugh so much I had to share....

1. Take mince out of freezer Sunday morning at 9:30am and put on the bench to thaw. Note to buy soft brown sugar. Feel proud to be so organised.
2. 6pm stop by super market to pick up soft brown sugar. Much anticipation at the pending success of my dish.
3. Home by 6:30pm. Get out meat loaf tin. Check recipe - takes one hour. Are starving and can't wait that long. Eat some bread and decide to see what other tins are lurking in the cupboard. Find large muffin tin & smaller meat loaf tin. Decide to make 6 meatloaf muffins and a smaller meat loaf for dinner tomorrow night. Or the muffins could be good for lunch? Feel we have diverted semi disaster. Keep going.
4. Measure out the bread crumbs. Clean the bread crumbs from the cupboard as the bottom of the bag had spilt. Hubby tapes up bag with masking tape.
5. Get two large onions out to cut finely as per recipe. try remember what size onions Kristina used. Cut up one large onion in Tupperware onion cutter and enjoy the experience of no tears. Decide can put 2nd onion in if needs it.
6. Open the packet of pork mince. Find it to be frozen in the middle.
7. Check the beef mince (which was sitting under the pork mince) and find it still frozen 9 hours later.
8. Freeze  fingers squeezing the frozen centre of the pork mince into bits whilst hubby places beef mince wrapped in glad wrap in hot water to thaw.
9. Put in the other ingredients. Get brave and put in 1/2 tsp extra of curry. Squeeze the last of the t-sauce to be a tablespoon shy of 1/2 a cup.
10Start making the sauce while hubby mixes in semi thawed mince with pork mixture
11 start making the sauce. Find I don't have coffee or Worcestershire sauce ...damn
12. Make second trip to the supermarket
13. Real estate agent calls whilst at super market to come over with an offer.
14. Get home, finish making the sauce
15 See real estate agent, dont' sign anything. During conversation rush to oven to baste meat loaf muffins and mini meatloaf
16. 7:45pm. Meat loafs smelling and looking good. Decide what veges to have. take out broccoli to steam. Hubby asks "do we have potatoes for the mashed potatoes?".....damn
17 Contemplate trip 3 to supermarket. Find large kumera in the pantry and go with that.
18 Meat loaf is now cooked (been 50 mins!) but waiting for water to boil to cook kumera. cut kumera into tiny pieces to speed cooking time! Take meat loaf and meat loaf muffins out of the oven and place on rack on the bench.
19 Hubby mashes kumera then tips meatloaf upside down onto tin foil Wifey asks why as Kristina didn't do that. So he puts it back in. She finds can't cut the loaf in the tin as will cut the tin. So hubby tips it back out again.
20. Haven't tasted the sauce. Bit tart, have sweet kumera so will work well. Serve up.
21. realise forgot to cook broccoli ....damn. put lettuce on the plate.
22 How does it taste - onions aren't cooked (chop smaller!) . Meat a bit bland, sprinkle with flaked salt. Yum! Sauce and kumera are great!
23. Sit down and laugh at the steps 1 to 22 above. Very filling.

I am impressed with the ability for thinking on ones feet guys, nice!

This is the recipe, it was given to me years ago by an old boyfriend's step-father, hence it was known to me as Malcolm's meatloaf. But I took some around to my lovely ex neighbours and meet their gorgeous new son, and Anna called it "love in the mouth" meatloaf, cant top that for a name really can you?

Meatloaf

500 grams Mince

500 grams Sausage meat (I just use plain Pork sausages from my butcher, split the skins and put the filling straight into the mixing bowl)

2 onions-chopped finely

1 cup breadcrumbs-fresh or packet is fine

1 Tsp curry powder (any kind, hot or mild)

1 egg

½ cup milk

½ cup water

Mix all the ingredients together (this is easiest if you use your hands) and press into a greased loaf tin. It may seem a little sloppy but this is fine, it will stay moist when baking. Bake for approx 1 hour. This may vary slightly depending on your oven. About halfway through cooking put a couple of teaspoons of your sauce over the top of the meatloaf. This is called basting. It will form a nice glaze on the top. To test doneness, put a skewer of knife into the middle of the meatloaf, leave it for a couple of seconds then pull it out, it should feel hot to the touch, if not continue cooking for a bit longer & test again.

Sauce

For your sauce, place all the following ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer (boil gently with just a few bubbles popping on top of the liquid) for 5 minutes.

½ cup water

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

½ cup Tomato sauce (I use Watties)

2Tbsp Vinegar (Malt is fine, or white)

2 Tbsp Lemon juice

½ cup Brown sugar

30 grams Butter

1 tsp instant Coffee powder

I like this with mashed potato and a green vege. Winter comfort food at it's best....

Preparations are full steam for Saturday's inaugural Plum Kitchen Supperclub.........I am really excited, and pretty organised, which I hope will see me through the inevitable 'what was I THINKING??!' moment when the kitchen is full of pots & pans & I have a room full of people to feed.....watch this space!

Cooking classes at home.......

First night , whoop whoop! I must admit I was a teeny bit nervous, mainly around the issue of timing. Two hours seems like a long time, and I guess if you are doing a tax return, or sitting in traffic, it is. However if you are trying to teach four new recipes (plus tips and tricks) to nine lovely souls who have ventured out on Wednesday night, and paid you for the priviledge............well, two hours seemed to fly by. I think I was a tad over ambitious in the amount I tried to cram in (beginners mistake) and of course was rushing at the end. So much so the eggplant for the lamb salad never made it out of the griddle pan...........oh well. I will know for next time.

We made an oven baked risotto (which Jo is making tonight, go girl!), a chicken curry with fresh ground spices, homemade aioli, and a lamb salad, with a delish tahini dressing. I think next time I will make one more complex dish, and several simplier ones, so I can really explain things clearly, and answer questions, rather than throwing things in and out of the oven while gabbling incessently......

 Exhausted today, I cant beleive how tired I was afterwards, but took ages to get to sleep, thinking of all the things I meant to do/not do..........! Here are a few pics of the night, the kitchen got progressivly more untidy, until I was running out of places to put things down, thanks goodness Mr D is so great at washing up. I am taking him to "Winter in Wartime" at the Rialto on Saturday to say thanks, the least a girl can do surely........