oops, it’s been a while

quick summary of the last week for the record…

Wednesday 19th
Planning to eat the coc au vin this evening
Pret Lunch, ham and egg sandwich with a “vitamin enriched HIPPIE” drink.
Canteen breakfast (Sausage, fried egg, bacon, beans, etc…)

Tuesday 18th
Christmas party food & wine
Gormet Burger Lunch
Skipped breakfast

Monday 17th:
Cheese left over from Saturday.  Leak Pasta
Beef stew and dumplings, very salty
[cooked up coc au vin]

Sunday 16th: (in london this weekend)
Supper with Clare, venison sausage, spinach.  Made mince pies
Late Breakfast, scrambled egg

Saturday 15th:
Dinner party, CP, Pippa, Noz & Drew.  Roast Ham, mash, Cheese, Christmas pudding ice cream
Eggs for late breakfast, no lunch

Friday 14th:

Started to make mincemeat…
? Can’t remember.

Banana and Bangers

Simple banana today for breakfast.  No wonder i’m hungry by lunch!

Lunch in the staff canteen : Bangers and Mash with peas and gravy.  Simple and good.

Planning cauliflower cheese for supper, not had it for years and years….

Saturday,

Breakfast : Yoghurt & Oats

Lunch : Shared two dishes at “Munchies” on Aldeburgh high street.

1) Cheeseburger in a Suffolk bap (£5.95).  Juicy.

2) Beef hot pot. (£4.95)

(Lashings) of ginger beer to wash it all down.

Over to the in-laws to pick up some furniture; Mother-in-law was cooking a simple tasty looking Sausage dish for supper.

Food:

• onion
• apple (any kind)
• sausage
• mustard

Method:

Slice onions & apples into rings (or whatever) and place in the sort of dish you would cook lasagna in.  Place sausages on top.  Spread a little mustard onto the sausages.

Cook in oven (med/high) for C. 1hr.

The onions and apples will caramelise and you will be left with a delicious “goo” along with your sausages.  Serve with mashed potatoes and savoy cabbage.  Or whatever….

Then it’s off to the badlands of Norfolk for a Christmas drinks party.  Details are a little hazy but I remember it being very wet.  Tasty snack food at the party (sausages, bread and cheese, sausage rolls, etc…) .  Late drive home.

Scrambled eggs for Breakfast, good way to start the week.

I’ve just thought about it for a few moments and, along with mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs are the only things that i’ve recieved unprompted praise for from other people. This surprises me as I really don’t do anything special. Can everybody else be so bad at cooking eggs?

So in the interest of open disclosure here’s my technique…

Ingredients:
Eggs x 2 (or more)
Butter x 15g (this is a large ish knob, salted or unsalted)

Water (optional)
Milk (optional)
Pepper (optional)

Tools:
Stove/Hob
Non stick pan (any shape is fine)
Spatula, wooden spoon, etc…
Fork
Bowl/Jug/Mug (Optional)

Technique…
Crack eggs into a bowl/jug/mug and beat lightly. (If bowl is not available then break eggs directly into pan when butter is melting.) A dash of milk or water can be added at this stage. You can add sald and pepper now or at any stage before serving. Or indeed after serving. Or not at all.

Place pan on low to medium heat and add knob of butter. When butter is melted pour in the all the egg. Cook and stir until done. Serve.

Two points I feel are important.

Point 1 – Stiring
Continuous stiring will form a pretty much uniform consistantly that I consider undesirable. I like to leave the egg to cook for a few moments and then give a gentle push with the spatula as if scraping ice of a car windscreen. It gives a pleasingly ruffled texture to the egg.

Point 2 – Stop cooking at the point where you think that the egg could do with “just a little bit longer”. The egg will continue cooking in the pan before you serve and also on the plate. Cook it for too long and your egg will be too firm.

Final point, stiring in a small knob of butter at the end gives a lovely buttery sheen to the whole thing.

Postscript on Eggs. You can make pretty good scrambled eggs with any old egg, even the “Value” or “Essential” range from your supermarket (You are using Butter and Salt, anything can be made to taste good), however the more you spend on your egg…

PPS – The picture behind door number 3 on my Advent Calendar is a Titian Detail from “The Aldobrandini Madonna” about 1532. Can be seen at the National Gallery.

Sunday, my day of rest.

Tea and Muesli start the day in a healthy enough way, Radio 3 in the background. Rain and wind lashing outside. Heating on all is warm and cosy.

We brave the elements to go and get Christmas cards from the charity place under St. Martin in the Fields, then a quick trip to the National where Wife buys me an Advent calender.

Back home for an impromptu lunch of Pasta with a bacon and cream cheese sauce cooked up by Wife while I fix the car.

Now time to do a bit of research on some Christmas cooking that we have to do.

Cooked ham.

Mincemeat

Figgy Pudding

a pattern emerging…

Well I’m no nutritionist but I’m starting to see a pattern emerging here. Breakfast is usually a vaguely healthy affair (fruit, porridge, cereal, yogurt, etc…) followed by a more substantial lunch (sandwich, salad, soup, etc…) followed by an enormous blowout evening (fine wines, roasted swan, boiled children, etc…).

Tonight however the mold has been broken. Swan is off the menu at The Builders Arms on Britten street in Chelsea. Instead we make do with some very very young Malbec, scrambled eggs in a box of toast (carve out a box from bread then fry it solid), steak + chips.

All round a fine evening of good honest 21st century Chelsea pub grub. That is to say, not that slightly over priced, honest, poor service and “good enough” food. Still I suppose it really is genuine pub grub for the age.

Time to head home and annoy the neighbours with a bit of the remastered Zeppein Mothership album…

Breakfast and Lunch, the sad truth

Day two of my diary and already i’m realising that my cullanry life is not as exotic as I would wish.

Breakfast: Cup of tea, bowl of porrige.

snack: Banana

Lunch: Mulligatawany Soup and a chunk of bread

snack: banana

Supper: tbc…