Just finished eating it.

In the current circumstances I have quite an appetite, lots of different cravings ( rib eye steak at 11pm, cauliflower this morning…), so when making a risotto I put on the plates some extras, plus that cauliflower topped with melted cheddar, that I craved. We popped out to Whole Foods this morning, mainly to buy some good bread for all the good stuff we had in the fridge. Bought some lovely parmesan too, some veggies and a bag of frozen peas, for which I paid £2.50. I was wondering if it would be any different at that price. Well, it was. I made the usual risotto, simple, good chicken stock, good white wine, chopped fresh tomato, basil and  the peas, that tasted as if frozen yesterday. On the side I served some antipasti, a drop of truffle oil, freshly grated parmesan and basil. It was thoroughly enjoyed.

After a weekend of slaving in the kitchen, I wanted something super quick for dinner. I had a packet of green tagliatelle, so pesto was an obvious choice. I had no basil though, but what I had was lots of coriander, so I whizzed it  along with all the pesto ingredients, toasted pine nuts, grated parmesan, garlic, olive oil and seasoning, plus half a red chilli.

What I got was a nice pesto, but not as awesome, mouth smacking pesto, as the one made with basil.

Ewa and Jedrus came over this weekend. We spent quality time drinking cheap wine, eating rubbish, having nothing to talk about and we were sad most of the time. 🙂

To kick off our banquet I made some lovely scallops from Whole Foods, served them on celeriac puree, which tasted good, but the texture could have been smoother. Scallops got fried on butter, of course, topped with crispy pancetta and fresh thyme. I. Love. Scallops.

I had some lasagne sheets sitting in the fridge. But I didn’t fancy the traditional, meaty lasagne, wanted something different. I looked up a few ideas on food.network. co.uk, and came up with a green lasagne, not quite a veggie one, as pancetta is involved. I fried it first, then threw a good few chopped tomatoes, seasoned it well and then put the asparagus on top and covered the pan, just to cook it very,very lightly. Not that it needed it, I decided later.  I made the bechamel usual way and a little layer of whizzed basil and sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts, as suggested in one of the posts.  It didn’t contribute massively to the flavour overall, but must have been tried.

It was more filling than I expected, we have half of it for lunch tomorrow, but quite pleasant overall. Nothing beats lasagne bolognese though.

And it’s difficult to make it  look pretty on the plate!

We’re enjoying a heat wave for the last few days, lovely. I spent a few delightful hours this afternoon sipping Sangria and frying me very front and reading.

Dinner must have been eaten in the garden. Just simple chilli garlic marinated shrimps( soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli garlic paste and brown sugar in random quantities) with loadsa coriander, served on pea rice. Yum.

Made this evening as an experiment, to see if I can change my mind  about not liking cooked salmon. For years I’ve been of the opinion that salmon is best as sashimi or sushi, no need to spoil it by cooking.  But the fillet Ocado brought me was not fresh enough to wrap in nori, so I griddled it, well seasoned plus a splash of sesame oil. My teriyaki sauce worked nicely with the usual recipe. The extras on the plate involved rice, cooked with a dash of turmeric, some French beans and a simple cucumber and apple salsa, for the crunch.

I quite liked it, Florian said the teriyaki was lovely, but the smell of fried fish bothered him. Yet he ate it all. I will share my leftovers with Stefan the cat, whose owner Becky is mentally disturbed( not Stefan’s fault). 🙂

Just heard it’s been the warmest day of the year so far.  It’s been lovely, very warm and a slight breeze and we simply could not have lunch inside, when Ewuta came.  Initially I wanted to make the scallops for her with mashed minted peas and parma ham, but Ocado delivered small scallops last night, so I made a nice mushroom risotto to sit the scallops on. Nice it was, made with the remaining Gavi and good mushrom stock, finished with parmesan. Scallops, though small, were fresh and delicious, fried on butter. The whole dish had a nice splash of truffle oil and fresh thyme as well as a few slices of parma. Went down a treat with some Catena chardonnay.

Simples. And so tasty. And filling. The pork sausages came from Colin, the butcher. I first fried them quickly, then chucked some chopped shallots and poured a bit of red wine onto it, some water, bay leaf and left under cover for a few minutes. When the sausages were cooked through, I removed them and finished off the gravy with some flour mixed with water and lots of seasoning. The mash was today flavoured with mustard and some runner beans served as daily veg allowance. Thoroughly enjoyed.