indeed!!!

i’m gonna bake a raisin bread! but first it’ll be a yoghurt cake for guests. HURRAH.

What a relief!

Mmmmmmm, mushrooms.

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fuds

We needs some new answers.

I made some soup with butternut squash and sweet potatoes—think i overdid the veggie Bouillon powder though as it was a bit salty.

yesterday: chicken thighs marinated in chili-peanut-cashew sauce for dinner and (more importantly) some fried taylor ham slices for breakfast. we got a whole one in november and it went straight into the freezer, but now it’s defrosted and ready to go.

(taylor ham might be stretching the definition of cooking, but you’ve got to slice it up and fry or grill it before consuming so i’m going to say that it counts.)

That definitely counts (and it warms my heart that you call it “taylor ham”, instead of “pork roll” or whatever else people call it).

haha. ours really is a taylor™ ham! it’s only the best for us. i think that “pork roll” is the generic term.

the next cooking project is a victoria sponge for v.d., and i’m wondering about the filling. i’m not going to bother with sad winter fruit, so i’m thinking fresh plum butter from one of the polish delis and a bit of cinnamon whipped cream. yay or nay?

Last night—white bean chili

Chicken stock, white wine, white beans, onions sauteed with garlic coriander and cumin, green chiles, basil, oregano and cream. It was a slow-cooker recipe but I got impatient after a couple of hours and just finished it on the stove. Still good.

I spent the weekend making reduced chicken stock and ended up with a quart and a pint of solid rich concentrate from 10 quarts of stock made from 3 roasted carcasses. Yum, and it lasts for months and months in the fridge.

Other than that, not much cooking. We ate lots of local cheese and pate and bread from the Saturday farmers’ market, which made for a happy weekend.

White bean chili sounds really good right now. Some friends had a chili party once, 3 kinds plus cornbread & go-withs... red/beef, white/chicken, black bean (vegan).

Like so many things, that sounds farty, yet awesome.

Less artsy, more fartsy!

I made a big, cheap veg stew last night: onions, garlic, aubergines, courgettes, mushrooms, peppers, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, herbs and black pepper. With couscous. Three nights’ worth still in the pot. I felt virtuous until I snarfed half a bar of chocolate.

Fennel cut into strips and steamed is my new most favorite vegetable.

I love fennel

Fennel sliced very thinly with baby cucumbers, dressed just with lemon juice and black pepper is one of my all-time favourite salads.

Is fennel licorice-y? Anise-y? I have been told that it is but not tried yet.

a tiny bit, i suppose, but i hate licorice and anise and i really like fresh fennel.

Ahh, that gives me hope. Thank you.

When fennel is sauteed it loses a lot of its anise flavor- it’s still there (kinda) but in delicious form.

The stems seem to have much more of the flavor than the bulb. I’m surprised at how delicate the flavor is and how sweet.

made a modified version of this soup last night, with red kale and spinach. you could almost stop after the first time you blend it and have a very simple pea/carrot/sweet potato soup: i sort of worried ‘oh but it tastes good now what if the next stage doesn’t work’ (but then i thought of Jaq’s ‘adding hotness to chili in three layers’ thing, that maybe i don’t cook with an eye to structure enough). I really love her recipes, although I think there are some things, like nutritional yeast, that only a lifetime vegan could love, and are best left out. she says ’4–6 servings’ but there was only about a cup left once the two of us were done with it. and it will be my lunch! mmmm.

Is nutritional yeast the same stuff that you put on popcorn? Because that stuff is pretty nice.

You mean, parmesan cheese? No.

No, the yeast! Is it nutritional yeast or brewer’s yeast or... I forget.

Kidding, Chris. :D

i made kimchi chigae. it came out really well, but then it’s a ridiculously easy recipe.

i didn’t know popcorn came in flavours other than ‘salt’, ‘sugar’ and ‘butterkist toffee’! i live, alas, in a benighted country.

Toad in the hole w/ lots of mustard powder in the batter. Perfect job for the cast iron skillet—fry up some side pork and sausages on the stovetop, then pour in the batter and bake up in a nice hot oven.

You can put all sorts of things on popcorn! Tabasco sauce, for instance.

That’s a tasty instance.

I remember being at the GMEX for a trade fair (Northern Restaurant and Bar), and the bloke at the tabasco stand was giving away little bottles of tabasco tomato juice, so I sent a flunky off to a stand where they were giving away vodka and presto!

This reminds me. GMEX is next month! Hurrah! Free booze! Free food! Ruin!

Matt—you’re not down here for IFE are you by any chance? If you are and need an invite I have a few. 2 years ago the Peroni stall was aces.

I made a fennel sauce for some salmon last night—wasn’t bad at all—sweated down a bulb of fennel along with shallot, chucked in some Noilly Prat, reduced that and added some creme fraiche. Finished that with chopped parsley and some lemon juice—was very very pleased.

i did some lentil experimentation for this week’s lunches:

3 small onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup grated celery root (no celery in fridge)

chunk of raw smoked bacon, roughly chopped

sauteed for a while, then:

2 tablespoons jamaican curry powder

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup puy lentils

3 cups broth

3 cups water

3 bay leaves

salt/pepper

cooked for about an hour, perhaps a little over. i just had the first batch with some crumbled feta. really nice.

Probably not, Chris :(

There is, however, a Peroni stall at GMEX :)

Last night I finished off my Christmas sprouts! I bought a big bag in early December, so it’s taken me more than two months, mein Gott. They were a bit yellow, but had survived fine in the fridge and cabbagey things tend to get sweeter the longer you keep them anyway.

Or am I just a gross slattern who ought to clean out her fridge more often?

Since I’ve got a cauliflower in my fridge the same vintage as your sprouts, I’m leaning toward the thrifty and long-stored = sweeter side of things.

This past weekend I also routed out two bags of cranberries from Thanksgiving time, sorted out the rotters and finally froze the rest.

Lauren, I made your bacon and tomato lentils, subbed a shallot for the onion and Madras curry for Jamaican and cheap GOYA lentils (all that’s available at the Key Food) for the puy but they’re still TERRIFIC. Starting to think I could eat lentils every day of the rest of my life.

me, too. which is good, because at my current rate of lentil production i will be.

This grapefruit fondant is too intense for words. However, I’ll probably be making up some vanilla or other spiced version this weekend. Aside from fudge, I haven’t made candy for a long long time.

really proud of my pinto bean stew tbqfh

I still have a can of pinto beans leftover from when I planned to make refried bean wraps (?) but backed out at the last minute.

pinto bean stew sounds very autumnal.

burritos?