pasta with green beans

This was quick, simple and delicious and we’ll make it again!

I had some green beans from my sister-in-law’s garden; we normally stir fry them with mustard seeds, but I thought I’d be a tad more Reactive last night! Topped and tailed the beans, cut them into chunks,m and simmered until they were al dente – about 7 minutes, maybe.

In the meantime, fried off some chopped garlic and a chopped onion in olive oil, adding some pancetta cubes and chopped sage after a few minutes. Put some fusilli on to cook, then added some cream that needed using up, a dash of lemon juice, some ground black pepper to the pan. Put the beans in and warmed it all through, then added the drained pasta and quite a lot of parmesan. Lovely!

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mushrooms and tagliatelle

We had some button mushrooms and a little cream waiting to be used up, and this seemed an ideal way to do it on a hot day.

Finely chopped two shallots and three cloves of garlic, and cooked them down in olive oil. Added some chopped rosemary and thyme from the herb garden^H^H pots, which are coming along nicely. Sliced the mushrooms and added them to the pan, with a glug of white wine, and let them cook very slowly, while I boiled some tagliatelle.

Added the cream to the mushroom mix and warmed through, then drained the pasta and stirred it in. Ate out of bowls, topped with grated parmesan. Followed by the last of the plum and pear crumble, with ice cream.

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pork with leeks, sour cream and cider

I looked in the fridge before we went out yesterday, and found a number of things that needed using up: a head of broccoli, some cooked new potatoes, a rather wizened leek, some cream that had gone over. So I got a pork steak out of the freezer with the intention of cobbling something together with it all.

While hurtling round Asda for bulk supplies of cat food later, I bought a basil plant and was seduced by the thought of a Thai stir fry, but by the time we got home, I’d reverted to Plan A. And here it is.

I cut the pork steak into thin strips (I only used one, because we try not to eat much meat, but you’d probably want one each), and browned it off in some olive oil. Fished out the pork and set it aside (in the microwave, as there were a number of hungry cats marauding thereabouts).

Washed and sliced the leek, and chopped three cloves of garlic, and cooked them down in the olive oil, with a small knob of butter for good measure. Added four chopped sage leaves from the garden. When the leeks were softened, I put the pork back, seasoned it, and added about half an inch of cider, stuck a lid on and put it on a low heat.

Cooked it for about 25 minutes, by which time the cider had evaporated, and the dish had almost caught at the bottom of the pan (horror!) then added a couple of tablespoons of cream, stirred it round, warmed it through.

Ate with the broccoli, steamed, and the potatoes, fried in a little olive oil.  Lovely.

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chicken and fennel with pasta

Our local Co-Op had special offers on chicken last week – two packs of diced breast for a fiver, and the same for whole breast.  I picked up two packs of each and stowed them in the freezer, not least because I’m trying to cut down my red meat consumption.

There was also a head of fennel in the fridge; I love fennel, but tend to forget about it and just lob it in the soup, so I wanted to actually, you know, make something with it deliberately.

In the morning, I took half of one pack of diced chicken – it was in a plastic tray divided into two, so that was simple, and I stuck the other half into a poly bag and replaced it in the freezer.

This evening, I cut the chicken into slightly smaller chunks, and browned it in some olive oil.  Put it in a brown bowl, then added sliced fennel and a chopped red onion to tha pan.  Sauted the veg until soft, then added a spoonful of Dijon mustard and stirred it round.  Added a knob of butter to the pan, and when melted, returned the chicken, and added about a wineglass full of cider, and some seasoning.

Stuck a lid on the pan, and left it for about 12 minutes, then took the lid off and reduced the liquor down, finally adding a little double cream.  We ate this with pasta – my share of that was about 35g, which ain’t too bad.

No idea of the calorific value of the rest of the meal, but as Pete and I went for a 6 mile walk this morning, I reckon I’ve earned it :)

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pork and leeks with calvados

Still using stuff up before we move in a fortnight, we invited some friends for supper last night, and fed them with the two small and one huge pork fillet in the freezer.  I normally do this recipe with cider, but we didn’t have any in, so I improvised.

I cut the pork into chunks, and browned it off in batches in some olive oil.   Placed it in a shallow casserole dish, and deglazed the pan with some apple juice, which also went into the cooking dish.

Chopped up the white part of four leeks (the green remains will go for soup tomorrow), and softened them in some olive oil, then added to the casserole.  Chopped a couple of carrots into batons, and added them, then bunged in a bit more apple juice, and a couple of tablespoons of Calvados.  Oh, and some chopped fresh sage.

Cooked it in a low oven for about 90 minutes, then stirred in a carton of double cream.

We served it with cauliflower and broccoli cooked in veg stock, and some rice.  There was some of everything left over, so we did egg fried rice with the left over veg, and decanted the pork sauce over it – not particularly authentic, but rather nice!

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potato and leek bake

[Sorry - no photo]

Using up: elderly spuds, some cream

Scrubbed potatoes (we never bother with peeling) and sliced very thinly.  There was a bit less than we hoped for because one spud had gone over, unfortunately.

Washed one leek – a handy tip from Jamie Oliver is to slice the leek in half lengthwise from the core, then run it under the tap; gets all the mud out easily.  Sliced it up fairly small.

Greased an ovenproof dish – I use a sunflower oil spray for this, Layered in half the potato slices, sloshed in some double cream, seasoned.  Added leeks, sprinkled on grated gruyere cheese.  Layered on the rest of the potato, more cream, more seasoning, more gruyere.

I always start this kind of thing in the microwave for 5 minutes – it cuts about 20 minutes off the total cooking time.  Then into the oven on gas 5 for about 30 minutes.  Put it on a tray, because it might ooze a bit.

You can substitute all sorts for this – chicken stock instead of cream, spinach or courgette or whatever instead of leeks, breadcrumbs on the top.  Excellent standby for using up stuff – I’ve even put leftover chicken in the middle sometimes.

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beef stroganoff

Using up: ribeye steak, mushrooms

Along with the three sausages, we also returned from Summer Camp with a heap of ribeye steak, which simply didn’t get eaten.  I flung it in the freezer in the general melée of dealing with wet tents, missing cats, etc., but a carton of organic mushrooms in the fridge gave me pause for thought …

So: cut a big onion in half, and slice it as thinly as you can.  Sauté that with lots of butter (this is not a good recipe for cholesterol haters) and oh, about a tablespoon of paprika until the onion is soft.  Then add mushrooms, sliced, and continue to cook until the mushrooms are soft.

Decant this paprika-y mess on to a heatproof plate and keep it warm.  Wipe out the pan.

Take steak (it really does need to be good quality for this, trust me), slice it into 1/4″-1/2″ strips across the grain. Fry this in batches in sunflower oil until it’s done as you like – we keep it fairly rare.  Drain out the oil from the pan, put everything back in, add soured or double cream, lemon juice, seasoning and chopped flat-leaf parsley.

It may be thought of as heresy, but we always eat this with chips.  I know, I know, but if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it properly.

By the way, chips, peas and ice cream are the only frozen goods I buy – everything else I freeze myself.

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