I’m back on diet. I exceeded 57kg, my waistline does not exist, bread, cheese, pasta, wine, cakes, sweet stuff- I welcome it all, no limits. Having just turned 45 I think it’s far too early to let myself go and stop caring, so I went back to Choda’s team. Last time I managed to shed about 3,5 kg, but to be honest I treated the diet quite loosely. This time I accept the fact I must eat less. I opted for a “mediterranean diet” for 2 months, started last Monday and this morning realized it works. After 5 days I’m only 0,5 lighter, but it’s early days. Again, I don’t follow the script religiously, more like a guidance. Diet or not, I need my food to look attractive and taste well, otherwise it won’t work.

So this evening I made myself a plate of food which turned out to be the best meal I have eaten all week. Truth be told, I doubled the amount of prawns (50 g of prawns?……!!), but weighed my orzo, chucked in as much spinach as I fancied and made it delicious. What helped, was a delicious, proper tomato sauce bubbling away in a separate pan for Florek and Izzie, I borrowed 3 tbps of it and mixed it through my orzo and spinach, which was already wilted on olive oil with some garlic and seasoned with salt. Prawns were lightly marinated in garlic, chili, salt and olive oil, I grilled them quickly and ended up with a lovely, light supper, full of flavour, good for me and roughly according to the diet. And I’ll be keeping this recipe.

One of the lunch options I loved and had twice this week was a crunchy salad made with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, olives,sweetcorn, torn mozzarella and freshly toasted croutons made with brown bread with a little olive oil and garlic. It was supposed to be dressed with vinaigrette, but I just drizzled some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, a sprinkle of sea salt and I enjoyed it a lot. A keeper, too.

I can do it, I think. I have a better idea this time how things work, I’m more determined and if I do manage to shed 5kg by mid March, I will be treating myself to a pair of Levi’s jeans again. 🙂

This type of dish is my favourite option when it comes to lunch. I love rice in general and tossing it on the wok with some chicken and crunchy veggies, soy sauce and drizzled with sesame oil is a lovely way of treating it. This plate was inspired by Marion’s method, but none of it was a major discovery for me, just a confirmation of heading in the very right direction. 🙂

So I had some leftover cooked rice from the other day. I had some cooked chicken, which needed to be eaten. I mixed some soy sauce, shaoxing vinegar and some sugar in a bowl. Whisked an egg. Chopped my veggies ready to go; some garlic, quite chunky, a small onion. Sugar snap peas, delicious in any stir fry. A carrot, just for some colour.

First fried the garlic until fragrant and crispy, onion in, carrots and peas. The chicken. Moved it all to one side of the wok, added the egg, once cooked broke it into pieces. Rice in, the sauces. Finished with some salt, sesame oil, white pepper and spring onions. Very satisfying and very moreish.

And to finish off, my remaining birthday cake, rather pretty in a round tin. 🙂

From Marion’s. I saw this on youtube the other day and actually (I know, I am sick!) dreamed of them last night. There was no other way to it, a bag of Iceland prawns was defrosted this morning and the recipe was made around lunch time. Once the isolation period is over, I will have to top up my prawn stock in the freezer, as well as some spices.

So, the prawns were deveined, all I had to do was to lose the shells and butterfly them. Then a simple marinade was made; about a tsp each of mild, sweet paprika and turmeric, a good squeeze of lemon juice, fresh grated ginger and garlic, salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil to make it all into a paste. The prawns all got a nice coating of it, I got my seasoned flour, egg and crushed cornflakes ready; the cornflakes idea is genius. They need a good crush to resemble breadcrumbs and once deep fried they not only taste great, they stay lovely and crunchy, unlike tempura. Once out of the oil a quick sprinkling of salt and job was done.

Marion’s dipping sauce was different from mine, as I had no tamarind and stuff, so I mixed some sweet chili sauce with a drizzle of soy, sesame oil and yuzu juice. Unbelievable, I know, but Florek had 2….! 🙂

Took me a while to sit down and mention a few highlights from last Christmas. It was months in planning, not knowing if my family will be able to overcome all covid restrictions and hurdles. They did manage and so all my efforts were not in vain, the freezer packed full of goodies ended up well enjoyed. We had traditional Polish carp at Christmas eve, the next day we had ox cheeks and turkey. My main cake was a lovely New York cheesecake with a topping made of fresh cranberries, the recipe from Bake Off book. An excellent cheesecake, apart from the base made with digestive biscuits, which refused to come off the bottom. Maybe a sponge next time.

I have to add, it tasted much better than it looked!

We also had a delicious pate that my mum makes a couple of times a year. Mum and her lovely man Gienek did all the work, I just brought the meat home from the butchers. The whole thing was made out of some pork shoulder, half a chicken, some pork belly and some liver. It took hours to make, then bake, but the result, on a crusty cracker, topped with fresh horseradish is hard to beat. I will be making it myself one day, but for now I still have one of these beauties frozen. 🙂

As usual, we have been eating too much, but I simply had to treat mum to some wonderful Cotswold lamb, we all loved it. Took her out to Cote for some mussels too.

And all this finished with most of us now having caught covid and having to self isolate. Happy New Year!

A decent cook that I am, I roasted a whole chicken once or twice in my life. Tragic, isn’t it? I love roast chicken, especially thighs with the crunchy skin. Florek doesn’t love roast chicken, most of all the bones are in the way for him, but this week he is on a training course, so Mariusz came over and we roasted a chicken. I bought a medium bird off my butcher’s , Mariusz seasoned it well( salt,pepper, herb pepper, two different kinds of paprika) , placed a few crushed garlic cloves inside and left to sit in the seasoning for about an hour and then we placed it in the oven at about 180 degrees, but kept checking and controlling the temperature, as we wanted it perfect, but also my oven was not dealing well with the steam, fat and the spitting – I am NOT looking forward to scrubbing it!! It roasted for around an hour.

The result of our joint efforts was the most succulent, moist, delicious bird I’ve had in a long time. There were chips on the side and a roasted beetroot salad, and with Izzie’s help we practically destroyed 3/4 of it.

The oven is a massacre, I’ll be at it tomorrow! 🙂

Every now and then I flip through my recipe folder and find things that excite me. And although shopping was delivered yesterday, I went out this morning to get some bacon( and place order at the butcher’s for an upcoming Vegetarian Feast with the Gray’s on Sunday) and basil.

Normally pesto in my kitchen is freshly made and served with spaghetti or tagliatelle, today it was rigatoni and crispy bacon and fresh cherry tomatoes were added. Excellent idea, we agreed, especially the tomatoes, which, said Florek, made the dish more lively and vibrant. `

Thumbs up. 🙂

We’ve made it to Italy. Through covid uncertainty, cancelled flights, tests, we’re now in our favourite spot in Castelnuovo, but we need to stay at home for 5 days before taking another set of tests to be released safely to the public. In spite of being fully vaccinated. :-/

So we’ve done a very substantial shopping in Esselunga and I have been busy. Busy baking a lovely, simple olive bread, for instance.

I brought a small packet of instant yeast from home, chucked it into roughly 400g of a random Italian flour, added salt, water, olive oil, combined it all well and gave to Florek to knead for about 10 minutes.

It’s risen beautifully within an hour, outside on the terrace, in those glorious temperatures we’re experiencing and then baked for about 40 minutes in 220 degrees. Good little loaf!

Also made was a lovely tomato sauce, made exclusively of fresh tomatoes, skinless. I took my time with it, until wonderfully rich and tomatoey, went great with gnocchi.

Impatiently awaiting some eating out in Lucca. 🙂

Also worth mentioning is this little invention-one walks in to a supermarket and finds a lovely, fresh, risen pizza dough, ready to use and enjoy, at a modest cost of less than 2 euro.

Must of course mention sensational parma ham with equally sensational melon, Izzie’s favourite. Yum!

This is one of my favourite pasta dishes when on holidays in Italy. I can never get enough of the simply delicious, clammy pasta. Having watched a few episodes of a vlog I recently discovered, by a British expat living in Positano, I decided to have a go at this dish myself. I was convinced that clams in Waitrose will be wonderfully cheap, as I don’t remember paying more than 10 euro for a plate of vongole in Lucca, but no, this is Britain and a bag of Dorset clams set me back £14 (!!!). One can sometimes get dover sole cheaper than that, but I went ahead with it.

About 30 minutes before I started cooking I followed Angela Hartnett’s recipe and soaked the clams in some cold, very salty water. Good call, as there was a lots of grit and sand left in the sink, rather than on the bottom of the plate.

I infused slowly my olive oil with 2 cloves of garlic, some fresh chili as well as chili flakes – one can never be sure how strong will the chili be- then threw a handful of cherry tomatoes and cooked it all down. A good splash of white wine and the lid went on. Pasta was cooking, so I could then chuck the clams in, cover them and cook them till they opened. Combined the pasta, clams and juices together, topped with lots of parsley, a bit of extra salt and it was done.

Florek, who can only take a certain amount of seafood without suffering did have a good go at my vongole, but was not blown away and neither was I, if I’m honest. I finished it, but was I transported to Lucca while eating my efforts? Not quite. In a month or so I should be able to have the real thing! 🙂

One of our favourites, especially when courgettes are in season. This summer I have some lovely, sweet, yellow ones in the greenhouse and I used one of them today, alongside a green one. The job starts with toasting off some pine nuts, I like toasting them even when the packet says “toasted”. In another pan a red onion, some fresh chili and chili flakes get chucked in. A handful of cherry tomatoes. Grated courgettes, roughly grated, some texture is essential. This cooks down nicely with a little bit of chicken stock, seasoning of salt and pepper, but also a drizzle of sesame oil, which might seem controversial, but in my kitchen I respond to myself only, so I use my beloved sesame oil for this extra oomph of smokiness.

Pasta gets cooked and thrown onto the veggies, tossed well, finished off with pinioli and parmigiano. A final drizzle of extra virgin olive oil is never a bad idea.

This is a pasta dish I can eat A LOT of. I did today! 🙂

There are things I love to eat, but don’t often cook, as I’m the only fan of them in our family. I’ve made a lovely shepherd’s pie with ready lamb shanks bought from M&S, hoping I will succeed in convincing them that lamb can be delicious. Iz finished her portion, but only because she was promised a ride on the front seat of Tesla model S we have for a week. Florek struggled, but managed most of it. I won’t be doing it again, I think. Duck is another one of those things that I adore, he doesn’t. Cabbage, as well.

But cabbage was made this time to accompany my confit duck legs and I enjoyed it, but needed to call mum for a method, as I have never prepared cabbage this way and have not eaten it in donkey’s years.

I bought a pointed, sweet, small cabbage, chopped it quite roughly, chucked into the pan with a splash of water, salt and sugar. Mum suggested cumin as well, I opted out. Covered it and cooked for about 10 minutes, during which I got on with my roux, made with some leftover back fat from last night’s pierogi. Flavour like no other, I always have some in the freezer. My roux also contained some chopped and fried shallots, once the cabbage was tender, but still held its shape nicely I added the roux, stirred it all well and adjusted seasoning. It made a wonderful extra along the duck and the new potatoes. It’s a yes from me!