I had bought a piece of rump steak in case it was a good evening for a barbecue. It wasn't. The steak went beautifully with a Greek salad and crushed rosemary potatoes, which tend to go with most things. The Greek salad was a lovely way to use some of our late cos lettuces and the few tomatoes we have produced this year - will there be enough even for a batch of green tomato chutney? It is good, if you have time to prepare in advance, steeping the red onions with oil & vinegar & dried oregano, & sprinkling the tomatoes with a little salt & sugar before you throw everything together.
Monday was Peter's regular birthday dinner, smoked salmon pasta. This is so quick & easy that it hardly seems like a luxury meal. Heat plenty of cream in a pan, add lemon juice & zest, smoked salmon, grated Parmesan, parsley. Season & toss through your best egg pasta. Serve with a salad. I used to do a vegetarian version but with cream, cheese, egg pasta there's not much here for a vegan. This is where the
Tasty Pot comes in. Birthday meals can be difficult because the birthday recipient gets their meal of choice but the whole family with their varying eating habits need to be provided for. It is getting easier to buy good, almost fresh, pre-prepared choices.
We had a variation on a Nicoise salad with avocado & cannellini beans. I have been moaning a bit about the avocados this year but this was the perfect avocado. Make a vinaigrette with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic & salt & pepper. Put a tin of tuna, a tin of cannellini beans, some shredded cos lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced spring onions & flat leaf parsley in a bowl & toss through the dressing. Add hard boiled egg & slices of avocado.
For the perfect autumn salad try pumpkin (in this case butternut) and rocket with mushrooms & blue cheese. Roast the pumpkin, peeled & cut into pieces, with some olive oil, bruised sage leaves & bashed garlic, about 40 minutes. You want it soft & just colouring around the edges. Fry some thickly sliced mushrooms (a friend told me she was given some field mushrooms this week & they would be perfect here), in a little olive oil & a knob of butter until they are cooked through and any liquid has evaporated. Combine the pumpkin, mushrooms, some rocket & crumbled blue cheese - I used Roquefort - in a bowl & toss with olive oil & balsamic vinegar. This is quite a substantial meal but make more than you think you will need otherwise you'll wish you had.
I had bought a piece of rump steak in case it was a good evening for a barbecue. It wasn't. The steak went beautifully with a Greek salad and crushed rosemary potatoes, which tend to go with most things. The Greek salad was a lovely way to use some of our late cos lettuces and the few tomatoes we have produced this year - will there be enough even for a batch of green tomato chutney? It is good, if you have time to prepare in advance, steeping the red onions with oil & vinegar & dried oregano, & sprinkling the tomatoes with a little salt & sugar before you throw everything together.
Monday was Peter's regular birthday dinner, smoked salmon pasta. This is so quick & easy that it hardly seems like a luxury meal. Heat plenty of cream in a pan, add lemon juice & zest, smoked salmon, grated Parmesan, parsley. Season & toss through your best egg pasta. Serve with a salad. I used to do a vegetarian version but with cream, cheese, egg pasta there's not much here for a vegan. This is where the Tasty Pot comes in. Birthday meals can be difficult because the birthday recipient gets their meal of choice but the whole family with their varying eating habits need to be provided for. It is getting easier to buy good, almost fresh, pre-prepared choices.
We had a variation on a Nicoise salad with avocado & cannellini beans. I have been moaning a bit about the avocados this year but this was the perfect avocado. Make a vinaigrette with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic & salt & pepper. Put a tin of tuna, a tin of cannellini beans, some shredded cos lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced spring onions & flat leaf parsley in a bowl & toss through the dressing. Add hard boiled egg & slices of avocado.
For the perfect autumn salad try pumpkin (in this case butternut) and rocket with mushrooms & blue cheese. Roast the pumpkin, peeled & cut into pieces, with some olive oil, bruised sage leaves & bashed garlic, about 40 minutes. You want it soft & just colouring around the edges. Fry some thickly sliced mushrooms (a friend told me she was given some field mushrooms this week & they would be perfect here), in a little olive oil & a knob of butter until they are cooked through and any liquid has evaporated. Combine the pumpkin, mushrooms, some rocket & crumbled blue cheese - I used Roquefort - in a bowl & toss with olive oil & balsamic vinegar. This is quite a substantial meal but make more than you think you will need otherwise you'll wish you had.
No comments:
Post a Comment