All posts by Ola

I love eating. Even more than I love cooking. My Mum got this thing into me, being a working woman with two kids and still managing to put a two course dinner on the table for us every day. My meals are a lot simpler, I cook for two, with Florian being my most devoted fan and audience. There is nothing more rewarding than a nicely turned out meal. There is nothing more enjoyable that a great plate of food in a decent restaurant with a glass of great red in a nice company. Hence this blog, to share ideas and joy of good food. Bon Appetit.
Good Food

The Lion Tart.

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I just loved the presentation of a similar tart that we serve in The Lion. So I used it as a second course on Florek’s birthday dinner menu( primi- my cream of celeriac and pancetta soup, secondi- the tart, dolci- vanilla creme brulee, still to be had).

I simply baked off a ring of puff pastry, which I topped with some red onion rings and cup mushrooms, all nicely fried with lots of black pepper. With some roasted vine tomatoes and then, after baked, with dressed rocket and parmesan salad and some chopped fried, pancetta, left from the soup. By the time I finished taking the photos of it, Florek, 33 today, was finishing it. 🙂

It went great with Amarone, a bottle of which I purchased from work as well.

 

Dessert

Pear and cream for Ewa.

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This was a success and was all eaten and enjoyed, just as I like. Nothing wasted. I made it for Ewa, who came over the other Sunday with her new squeeze, called Rich.

I started with making a fruit jelly to the packet instructions, as it takes forever to set and the timing is crucial here. The base was a simple sponge, Bozena’s recipe, usual, on that I sat some chopped pears, that I had previously cooked with some pear liquor and cinnamon. When the jelly was well chilled, I whipped the cream and added half of that jelly to it, which made it quite runny, carefully poured it onto the sponge and pears and left in the fridge to set. An hour or so later, when the remaining jelly was beginning to set, I topped the cake with it and left it in the fridge overnight. It was light and enjoyable.

 

Good Food

A new take on Golabki.

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Lots of budget cooking in my new Winchcombe kitchen these days, as I’m not earning, must cook tasty food, but not expensive. I made golabki this evening, but I had no pork, so I came up with a filling made of porcini mushrooms, rice, some chopped and fried shallots, carrots and celery, all well seasoned and flavoured with sesame oil. Everything wrapped in savoy cabbage leaves and slowly cooked. The sauce was a simple one, but based on mushroom stock from the porcini used in the filling, altogether a lovely combination. Florian said, the best golabki to date. 🙂

Good Food

Creamy celeriac and pancetta soup with thyme.

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I felt like doing this one for a while. Never been massive on celeriac, but I think I just got converted.

First, I chopped and fried some pancetta, removed it from the pan and fried some chopped shallot on the same fat, with  abay leaf and some thyme for flavour. Then in went cubed celeriac, slightly sweated, some chicken stock on it and that cooked nicely for about 20 minutes. Then I storred in some double cream, not much, just a touch for the colour, brought back to the boil, fished out the bay leaves and stalks and pureed the soup until smooth and velvety. With only a touch of seasoning needed, I topped it with crispy pancetta, some fresh thyme and a drop of truffle oil. Absolutely loved it!

Random Thoughts

Ketchup doesn’t bite.

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That nice, skinny chap called Michel Roux Jr is now appearing on a very pleasant little show called “Food & Drink”. Last night he made a shepherds pie, his mother’s recipe. And he used ketchup, just like I do. The annoying blond bint that talks about wine on this show was shocked, that a Michelin’s starred chef calls ketchup his secret ingredient, I was happy, cause I do it too.

His recipe;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roux_family_shepherds_61889

 

 

 

Good Food

Best cottage pie ever.

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The last cottage pie in Staines. The packing is in full swing, we’re off to lovely Wiiiiiiinchcooooombe in 4 days!!!!!

My base; chopped shallots, leeks and carrots quickly  sweated, minced beef in, some chicken stock, a couple of bay leaves and my secret ingredient- a handful of dried porcinis. To season, a touch of ketchup and lots of worcestershire and black pepper. All this left to simmer and thicken, with a generous amount of frozen peas thrown towards the end.

The mash- half and half of parsnips and spuds, all squeezed through the ricer, seasoned well with salt, pepper and nutmeg, a knob of butter and all nicely applied onto the meat, a sprinkle of parmesan on top and into the oven for half an hour.

It was excellent, as shown on the second photo- we pigged it all. 10 out of 10.

 

Good Food, Room for improvement

First attempt on a cordon bleu chicken.

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This evening I’ve made a chicken dish, that I bought ready made in France on two occasions. It’s easy to make and I’m not going to France any time soon, so today it was made from scratch. Chicken breasts flattened, seasoned and laid with a slice of ham and a slice of cheese, rolled up and poached quickly with a help of a cling film, just to make sure they’ll hold their shape. Then the egg and breadcrumbs and straight onto the pan. I had to finish them in the oven, they were thick and not quite cooked inside, but after 5 minutes they cooked nicely to the very middle.

I served them with one of the best dauphinoise potatoes ever, beautifully soft and creamy and a simple grated carrot salad, finished with a touch of cream, seasoned with salt, pepper, sugar and a touch of lemon juice.

It was enjoyable, however next time I’ll make it flat, schnitzel like, which will make the cooking process shorter and, as Florek noticed, there will be more cheese oozing out.

Eaten out

Alice’s bread and butter pudding.

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I can’t remember when I had the traditional bread and butter pud, the simple one, last time. I had the brioche and apricot one, yum, the one with chocolate chips, yum, this evening Alice made for us the real deal. I was genuinely surprised at how good it was, as Alice strikes me as   generally anti-all-food. Yet she produced a great end to the meal, made with white bread, sultanas, milk, egg and spices. It was moist and delicious.

Random Thoughts

All that butter!

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I stood on the scales this evening after the shower and I discovered that I’ve put on weight( I like putting on weight, cause I hardly ever do!!).

I said to Florek”I put on weight! I’m now 48,5 kg!”

“You fat bitch!” said Florek.

Must be the butter!!!:-D

Good Food

Gyoza, second take.

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Last night I cocked up a perfectly good lemon sole. I wanted to make it all buttery and lovely, but I didn’t do the poor fish justice, I was disappointed and needed to make something really good today. So I made gyoza, in an effort to clean up the freezer before we move out in about 2 weeks.

Today I made my filling out of chicken thigh, shrimps, fresh chilli, coriander, a shallot and a fried leek, all well seasoned and blitzed .Stuffed in gyoza skins, lovingly stuck together and pan fried. The sauce, as last time, the mix of sweet chilli, soy sauce, coriander and lime juice.

Was enjoyed. A lot.