Oops Moments in the Kitchen!

How to Salvage Cooking Disasters and Other Tips

As you know I am dead keen on everyone in the Whole Wide World learning to cook (or at least those who have access to food, I’m afraid that many people have much bigger problems to cope with) and to that end I have written a book of over 500 handy tips containing all the useful information I could think of to help with every aspect of cooking.

Whilst obviously I am not going to reproduce the entire book here I thought it would be useful, as a taster so to speak, to post some ways to salvage a tricky situation in the cooking department.

So – taken directly from …

Read more about my cooking tips book here …

… and in no particular order:

Cheese Problems

Too Salty?

Lumpy Mash?

Dish too Spicy?

Meat Overcooked?

Overdone Rice?

Cooked the Veggies Too Long?

Sauce Broken?

Instead of being smooth and creamy it is watery with bits of fat floating in it.

No Self Raising Flour?

Melted Chocolate has gone all strange and lumpy aka has seized?

Sadly Sunken Cake?

To read the other 490 or so tips buy the book, it’s only £2.82 for digital and bit more in paperback. The eBook has colour pics but the paperback has nicer fonts – tricky choice, I know!

500+ Truly Useful Cooking Tips & Techniques also contains absolutely essential information, good ideas you should do, things you MUST NOT DO, storage tips, kitchen equipment info, conversion charts and miscellaneous stuff such as how to separate eggs without resorting to the popular plastic bottle “hack”.

I even enclose one or two helpful suggestions from other people in the know, eg. …

In Other News …

Nothing I can think of.  I’ve just voted in the referendum, I wonder what will happen next! 

"My Family Kitchen" by Sophie Thompson ~ a Review

Well I sit corrected!

I was recently sent “My Family Kitchen” to review but, to be honest, was a bit worried about it. I had not heard (or at least thought I hadn’t heard) of the writer, Sophie Thompson. I don’t watch Celebrity Masterchef which Sophie won last year, I never watch soaps (apparently she was in EastEnders) and I even have a bit of a dour view of celebrities writing cookbooks. For some reason I have always thought chefs, lifelong cooks and food enthusiasts might be better at it! 

In short I am a bit of a grumpy git!

This very attractive book arrived and I felt I recognised the girl on the cover so googled Sophie Thompson and found that I have watched her with pleasure in many things, including one of my utter favourites; “Dancing at Lughnasa”.  So I apologise.

Next I applied my standard test. One day a week I sort books that have been donated to Cornwall Hospice Care  (dividing them between those that go to their shops and those that are to be sold, hopefully, on Amazon) and, of course, cookbooks always catch my eye. Obviously I can’t buy all the books I fancy (we only have a small home) so I apply a test; I flick through any cookbooks I am interested in and in most cases said flick reveals that I’ve seen it all before. In this case, however, whilst doing my preliminary flick my attention was caught by good ideas and flavour combinations over and over again. The Autumn Burgers sound brilliant!

It seems that Sophie Thompson is indeed a food enthusiast and lifelong cook as well as being talented actress, so another apology!

One recipe that interested me straightaway was …

College Days Homemade Flatbreads

I love a flatbread but have honestly never thought of using yogurt in them – call myself a cook! This recipe was so incredibly simple, memorable and variable – it almost qualifies as a “genius recipe” according to my very strict standards.

I quartered the recipe because it was just for me and made four little round breads, more than enough to go with my chicken salad lunch.

Sophie suggests cooking these breads in an unoiled grill pan but mine seems to have gone awol so I cooked them in a normal frying pan and they worked fine. I added sumac to one of the flatbreads and whilst they were all good that was my favourite. Sophie suggests adding turmeric or thyme or black pepper and I am sure there are loads of other great things that could be added to the basic breads.

Then I tried …

Rainy Day Tablet

Tablet is a very rich, unhealthy and delicious crumbly fudge-like thingy from Scotland.  I was recently offered some Iron Bru flavoured tablet to try and it was ‘orrible. Yuk, yuk, yuk. After that I felt it would be good for me to eat some proper tablet asap so that I would not be put off for life. I made Rainy Day Tablet and it was really good, what a relief.

The recipe is very hands on (constant stirring, which I enjoyed as I just flicked through the rest of the book at the same time!) but is easy and took about 15 minutes from deciding to make it to it being ready.  So much faster than driving to Scotland!

“My Family Kitchen” is highly illustrated with food photos, pictures of Sophie and her family and some attractive drawings. The layout is clear and attractive. The paper is thick!  Lovely book – I am jealous. I wish my publishers had been a fraction as assiduous with “The Leftovers Handbook”!

Many of the 100+ recipes are attributed to friends and family, I particularly like the sound of her Granny Megsie, a girl after my own heart.  I liked the writing style from the start; friendly, funny, it is well worth reading not only the recipes but all the notes and asides too.

You can watch Sophie making her 

Uncle James’s Bavarian Orange Pie from the book here.

There is also none of The Thing That Really Irritates Me!  ie. using ready made, bought in mixes and “ingredients” and the book even a recipe for homemade marzipan. The exception to this (which doesn’t irritate me at all) is her whimsical State School Mess (as opposed to what they eat at Eton) which is an over the top mixture of ice cream and lots and lots of sweets and biscuits, made a weeny bit healthy by the addition of fresh raspberries immediately offset by a Mars Bar Sauce!

So, in short and much so to my surprise Yes, I heartily recommend this book! 

I’m am so much in favour of people learning to cook (has anyone been watching “Eat Well for Less”? I couldn’t stand it after a few minutes!) and do believe this happy, friendly not at all intimidating book might be an inspiration to both novices and experienced cooks.  I know it sounds a bit harsh but Christmas is coming! I am sure this would make a great gift. 

“My Family Kitchen” by Sophie Thompson was published yesterday (!) by Faber & Faber and is available, of course, from Amazon and probably lots of other good bookshops too!

A Rant & a Very Funny Thing!

Rant First … scroll down for the Very Funny Thing!

It’s not the first time I have ranted about this; the eating habits of overweight “poor” people!

It was brought to my attention (again) by a picture on Facebook which has received, as I write, 158,939 comments. I haven’t read them all, of course, but I have scanned down for a few hundred and haven’t seen anyone supporting her. 

I thought it fair to look into the lady’s story further and it seems she may have been misquoted in the FB picture above because in an interview I read she says that her GP sent her to a gym but she just had a few sessions because she didn’t have the willpower to stick to it and she was embarrassed.  I can sympathise, I’d be embarrassed too. On the other hand being slimmer and healthier would surely be worth the embarrassment.

She also said …

“I tried swimming but it cost £22 a month and it 

meant I had to cut back on my favourite 

pizza and Chinese takeaways.”

And I slightly sympathise with that too, £22 a month would certainly be a lot to me. Mind you in my thoroughness I looked up the price of takeaway Chinese meals in Wigan, her home town, and the average price of a main course for one seems to be about £5. Probably there’d side dishes too. I could cook a damn fine meal for that – and not just for one!

On the other hand Cristina (that’s her name) who gets more than £20,000 a year in benefits said in an interview …

 “I need more benefits to eat healthily and exercise 

and it would be good if the government offered a cash incentive for me to lose weight. I’d like to get 

£1 for every pound I lose.”

I don’t sympathise with that at all, at all – I think by the look of her that she has enough incentive to lose weight!

I have niece who was very overweight (caused initially by a health glitch) but in the past year or so she has worked absolute wonders. Yes she does go to the gym, every day at her own expense because she works hard to be able to afford it. She also eats only what she is allowed on her very strict diet despite belonging to a very foodie family. Even on special occasions she brings her own rice cakes or whatever instead of digging in with the rest of us. She has lost a phenomenal amount of weight looks absolutely beautiful and I am so proud of her. She has recently started writing a very honest blog Gym~Berry on her journey from overweight and unhealthy to the fine woman she is today!  I thoroughly recommend it and would do so even if I didn’t know her!

She didn’t need government help, she didn’t need any more incentive than her health and happiness being at stake and she had the intelligence and gumption to sort her own life out.

Having said all that I suppose that being a bit low in the IQ department is no more blame-worthy than being short sighted or hard of hearing – not sure about lazy or greedy though!

I so wish that people like this girl would learn to cook. It is said and I agree that more education is needed but information is as easy to get as logging on to online bingo so that’s not much of an excuse. On the other hand if someone hasn’t learned by the time they are grown up with kids they probably aren’t interested. What a shame, it’s mostly easy and can bring so much pleasure into your life and the lives of those you care about. 

It is to this end that I keep publishing my humble little ebooks – yes, I’d like to make some money but what I’d really like is for people to discover how easy cooking delicious food is and to have a go.  To this end my handy little ebook of hints and tips is free and includes a link for another free eBook. It’s available in all sorts of formats including pdf so there is no excuse ~ get yours here now!  

And that’s enough ranting for now – it just this sort of thing really gets up my goat!!!

In Other News …

I have completely revamped and updated my book on stress-free Christmas cooking. The contents have doubled and it now contains over 50 recipes and every helpful hint and tip I can think of.

I also changed the cover and have to say I am dead chuffed with my artwork!

And this leads me to …

The Very Funny Thing

I was bemoaning to some friends that however hard I try, even sending out free copies, I never seem to get many reviews for my books (although those that I do are usually 4 or 5 stars). I was pretty boring so by way of changing the subject, and I don’t blame them, they asked if I had seen the reviews on Amazon for methylated spirits, Of course I looked immediately and was utterly delighted – see what you think!  

Melted Onion Panade – delicious!

And to friends in Padstow may I say Oss Oss!  I’m sad I can’t make it there this year.

To business …

The other day I cooked and ate a strange and marvellous thing; a panade which is generally deemed to be part of the soup family but also, I think, is related to the bread and butter pudding clan, a bit strata-ish if you are an American. 

Melted Onion Panade – for 4

Please use good (leftover) bread for this; I like sourdough,  because it goes well with the onions (and I make my own sourdough) but any good rustic substantial sort of bread will do.

Pin it – don’t forget it!

3 large onions

3 tbsp olive oil

350g good bread – thickly sliced

About 500ml good beef stock (or other if you prefer) – hot

200g grated cheese

~   Melt the onions in the olive oil and when utterly tender turn up the heat and stir till starting to caramelise.

~   Preheat the oven to 350°F/180ºC/160ºC fan/gas 4.

~   Lay the sliced bread on a baking sheet and pop in the oven for a few minutes till dried out but not taking any colour.

~   Butter a shallow ovenproof dish and lay a third of the bread slices in it. Break them if necessary to fit in neatly.

~   Spread with half the onions and sprinkle with a third of the cheese.

~   Repeat these layers, using up all the onions.

~   Top with the final third of bread and sprinkle with the last of the cheese.

~   Pour over the stock, adding just enough to lift the top layer of bread so it starts to float. Do this gently so the cheese stays in place!

~   Cover the dish with a sheet of foil and bake for 45 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes or so till the cheese is golden and delicious looking.

The result was a thick, warm, comforting (and cheap) sort of French Onion Porridge (OK, I admit it, I did add a tad of brandy to the stock).  Really delicious and I won’t be at all surprised if I make it again quite soon.  I wish I’d tried this before and put it in Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers although that does already contain at least 18 great ways to use up leftover bread.

Speaking of which, obviously this dish lends itself to the addition of any leftovers you have that need using up; wilted chard is traditional and kale fashionable but leftover cooked vegetables, meats, beans etc. will all work well.

In Other News …

Great review for Luscious Ice Cream without a Machine – it’s as if she knows me

“I love ice cream but am allergic to an ingredient added to most commercial brands (propylene glycol). I have tried machines but they never worked well and most recipes required cooking first. So I was overjoyed to find this book! These are recipes anyone could do at home. I also loved the entertaining style the author writes with. She made it fun to just read the recipes. I could imagine her standing in the kitchen, sneaking sips of brandy and pieces of chocolate while whipping up ice cream. That is truly a difficult task with cookbooks, so kudos for a great concept, recipe, and writing style.”

And here is an entirely onion-appropriate photo I took on a recent trip to France, I’ve been waiting for a chance to post it!

Please Click Here to Tweet this post ~ thank you.

Spice Drops

I recently received something interesting– Spice Drops by Holy Lama an Indian company now branching out worldwide who are, as they say on their website …

They are really pretty impressive – read more here. 

Until recently they have mainly been in the business of soaps, hair oil and body creams etc. but have now released Spice Drops a range of natural spice extracts in oil which are packaged in handy dropper bottles. So as to be accurate when reporting to you I tried a tiny drip of the mulled wine extract neat – phew, strong or what!  But as they say on the packet, 1 drop is enough to flavour 40ml of wine so it serves me right.

I have received four out of their surprisingly extensive range; cinnamon, ginger, mulled wine and garam masala.  

My first real test was whilst making my sudden lunch. I had a little frozen pease pudding in the freezer so made a quick soup and, at the last minute and suddenly I stirred in 3 drops of Garam Masala (equal to ½ tsp of dry garam masala) which gave the soup a lovely warm, curry-ish boost and which I shall definitely do again. I quickly fried myself some poppadom shards to go with it as is only right and proper.

Next, of course, the Mulled Wine which was a good quick fix if you need a pick-me up. I warmed the wine gently, stirred in one drop of extract – which was just right for a small glass of red – together with a teaspoon of sugar. Pretty good, I do prefer my own Mulled Wine Syrup but that takes a bit of forethought and this doesn’t so is good for emergencies.

I had intended adding the cinnamon extract to sponge cake mix and making a dessert with leftover roasted windfall apples but it says on the packet “For best results use just before serving” so instead I heated up the apples, added a drop of cinnamon extract to some Greek yogurt together with some soft brown sugar and had myself a sudden pudding too! Very quick, easy and good.

So that left the ginger extract and at first I was stymied until I thought of hot chocolate. Coincidentally whilst writing this “The Mistress of Spices” has just come on’t telly, how appropriate and how pleasant to snug down and watch on a cold November afternoon whilst sipping spiced Hot Chocky!

The only caveat I have with these spice extracts is they are not good for actual cooking so you still need to keep dried spices on hand too. On the other hand they are easy and convenient to use, economical, pure in flavour and composition and have a three year shelf life.  So whilst not a replacement for regular whole or ground spices they can be a useful addition to the store cupboard.  The range includes most normal day to day spices (if spices can be so described) plus more unusual ones such as, tulsi (holy basil), kesar milk masala and tea masala – read the whole list here.

In other news … 3 things

I’ve just published a new eBooklet “Easy Festive Food for a Stree Free Christmas” which is available here and looks like this.

Apropos of the windfall apples roasted the other day and mentioned above I also made, for my dinner last night, Roasted Windfall, Chorizo and Cheddar Pizza – my real man had minced beef and sausages on his!

Also one of my favourite blogs, Lover of Creating has reviewed The Leftovers Handbook here bless them!

Please Click to Tweet this post ~ thank you! 

Roasted Windfall Clafouti

Sorry I’ve been a bit of a slacker; we’ve been away for a couple of weeks visiting family and friends all over the place.

My friend Diane gave us a bag of windfalls but looking at them when I got home I didn’t fancy peeling them – fiddly little buggers! 

I decided to try roasting them.  At first I thought I’d add a little butter but was worried it would burn. Then I thought I might add a little regular olive oil (which is what I cook with) but thought it might taste wrong.  In the end I decided to add nothing and it worked.

~   Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC/170ºC fan/gas 5.

~   Don’t peel the apples but cut into chunks, discarding any rotten bits (obviously) and the cores (after having a nibble).

~   Lay the apple pieces in a single layer skin side down.

~   When the oven is hot roast the apples till they are turning golden and they are tender when pierced with a knife.  About 20 minutes.

Whilst I was thinking what to do with them I ate some Cambazola and Roasted Apples on Toasted  Ciabatta for a sudden lunch which worked very well. 

My next idea was …

Roasted Apple Clafouti

~   Make one batch of the Yorkshire pudding batter here but add ½ tbsp sugar.

~   And allow to rest for an hour or so.

~   Preheat the oven to 425ºF/220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7.

~   When the oven is hot put a knob of butter in a shallow ovenproof dish and pop it into the oven for a minute to melt.

~   Arrange the cooked apples in the dish according to your whim. Sprinkle with sugar and return to the oven just to heat the apples through.

~   Pour the batter over the apples and bake (without opening the door for at least 10 minutes) until risen and a deep golden brown which takes about 15 minutes.

~   Serve immediately with cream.

Playing with Yorkshire Puddings!

This quantity of batter would make enough Clafouti for three or four but as there was just us two I decided to hold back a bit and play with it.  I made three little testers →

In each case I heated a little wincy bit of oil in a silicone muffin case, poured in the batter and then added, granola, chopped chocolate or chopped pecans.  The chocolate sank but the other two floated.  All three were good but the pecan variety with maple syrup was our favourite.

With both the Clafouti and the experiments we had a damn fine lunch pudding and it cost very little indeed – the batter uses 1 tablespoon of flour, ½ tablespoon sugar (for sweet dishes), 1 egg and a little milk and it is a great vehicle for all sorts of leftovers when trying to be economical (or when not!).

I have plans for the rest of the roasted windfalls which include adding them to gravy next time my real man has pork, bacon and apple sandwiches, maybe a cake and so on.

More ideas for apples can be found here.

How to Cope with a Glut of Apples

I have a slight glut of apples which is particularly edifying when one considers that I don’t have an apple tree! I do however have a generous friend. The apples she’s given me are Bramleys; lovely cooking apples with the useful advantage of being self-puréeing, so an obvious thing to do with too many is make …

Apple Sauce

This is so easy I don’t think it can actually be called a recipe.

~  Peel and slice Bramley apples.

~  Taste a bit and then sweeten with as much sugar as you see fit. If you’ve no idea then add just a little and adjust with more sugar when the apples are cooked!

~  Put into a large pan with a tablespoon of water. This helps them get started but that’s all you need; too much and the sauce will be runny.

~  Put over a medium heat, cover and cook, stirring every few minutes till you have apple sauce! Taste and stir more sugar as necessary. 

If you have made loads freeze some, it freezes really well and ice cubes are a good idea so that you can thaw just what you need, or add a cube or two to soups and sauces.  Or here are some more ideas for leftover or too much apple sauce …

15 Ideas for “leftover” Apple Sauce 

1.   Freeze as ice lollies!

3.   Stir into pork gravy or add to pork braises or stews.

4.   Fold into mashed potato to serve with ham, pork or  bacon.

5.   Add to pumpkin or other squash soups – delicious!

6.   Spread into bacon, ham or pork sarnies.

7.   Spread on the toast before the cheese when making  Cheese on Toast.

8.   Mix into mayonnaise – this makes a great dressing for  coleslaw.

9.   Add to braised red cabbage.

10. Make little apple tarts or turnovers with leftover pastry scraps.

11.  Use instead of jam to fill a Vicky Sponge, scones and  similar.

12.  Make an Apple Crumble, Cobbler or Sponge – recipes  here.

13.  Apple Crumble Sundae – layer up apple sauce and  leftover crumble (or Apple Crumble) with ice cream.

14.  Stir into yogurt or porridge for breakfast.

15.  Dollop into rice pudding

16.  “They do say” that fat in baked goods can be replaced  by apple sauce but I’ve not tried it myself. There is  plenty of info on the web though so have yourself a  look!

Pin for Future Reference!

Non-Bramley Type Apples

There are, of course, a lot of these around now as well so I’d just like to mention a lovely recipe I posted earlier.

Devonshire Apple Dappy

When I posted this I had the most visits to my blog ever and was very confused. Read here for the Apple Dappy recipe and here for a surprising (to me at least) explanation of its popularity. 

And this which I don’t think I’ve mentioned here before and which my sister and I concocted years and years ago when we were baby chefs …

Cornish Apple Cribbly

This is a superb way of using up leftover bread and apples at the same time. 

~  Peel and dice an apple and toss with sugar to coat.

~  Have ready about the same quantity of similarly diced stale or leftover bread (and in this case white bread is probably best).

~  Melt a knob of butter and cook the sugary apple in it till it is softening and browning and oozing lovely caramelly juices.

~  Use a slotted to spoon to remove the apple from the pan and set aside.

~  Add the diced bread to the pan and cook till the juices have been absorbed and the bread is turning crisp and golden.

~  Return the apple, toss all together and serve immediately with ice cream or cream, preferably of the clotted persuasion.

Several of these ideas are included in my book, Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  If these are just some of the suggestions I can think of for Bramley apples don’t you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers?

Great preview here.

A couple of Reviews of Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers …

“Helps you create tasty loveliness from almost every possible leftover foodstuff you could think of (and possibly some that you couldn’t….)”

 

“Cookery books are really very boring, but this one definitely isn’t!”  

Always bear in mind, however …

Seafood Chowder & Pepper "Wine"

~   Menu   ~

Seafood Chowder without …

Hot and Potent Pepper Wine!

Croutons

A glass of Sauvignon Blanc

You know when you have a little this or that leftover and it’s ‘not worth keeping’?  Well it is, so there!

I keep several collecting boxes in my freezer; bread scraps, meat scraps and fish scraps, for instance.  This last collection came delightfully into play today when I made myself some Seafood Chowder. 

This was a good idea I had when I was cooking at the Tamarind Club in Tortola.  In theory it was a cunning plan to use up all the fishy scraps we had left over after preparing whole fish for other dishes.  Sadly it became so popular, especially after I had My Other Good Idea, that we were making gallons of the stuff two or three times a day. 

Seafood Chowder

Useful Pinterest friendly image ~ give it a go!

2 medium onions – coarsely chopped

2 carrots – coarsely chopped

2 celery stalks – coarsely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil.

3 medium potatoes – peeled and thinly sliced

fish stock or water

a collection of fish scraps

~   Gently sweat the onion, carrot and celery in the oil till softening and just starting to colour.

~   Add the potatoes and add just enough water or stock to cover. 

~   Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and cook till the potatoes are tender.

~   Whilst this is cooking prepare your fishy scraps.  As I say this was originally a use up recipe and we had, to my mind, three categories of fish to use up: 1) raw fish, 2) raw shellfish, 3) cooked fish and shellfish.  So, whatever you have of these categories, cut into similar sized pieces but keep separately in their groups. 

~   When the potato is tender mash with a potato masher (grumpy or not!) so that they are almost smooth but a little chunkiness remains.

~   Taste and season and add milk or cream or a mixture to make a rich thick soup.

~   Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and add the raw fish scraps.

~   Return to only just boiling, add the raw shellfish, return to only just boiling one more time and  add cooked fish and shellfish. 

~   Immediately turn off heat and allow the chowder to sit a few minutes to allow the last addition to heat through. 

~   If using later REHEAT GENTLY.

This is such a brilliant method for making soup that I have written an entire soup cookbook, containing 60+ delicious soup recipes based on one easy flexible key recipe together with instructions for stock making, guidance on adding herbs, spices and other flavourings plus additional recipes for roasted garlic, pepper coulis, frazzled leeks, compound butters and other garnishes and accoutrements.

My Other Good Idea was to serve the chowder with a pretty glass bottle of “Pepper Wine” for drizzling purposes.  In this case, as is often the way in the Caribbean, pepper means chilli and wine means rum.  A little really contrasts with and enhances the creaminess of the soup.

Caribbean Pepper “Wine”

Just bung some dried chillies or even pepper flakes in a bottle of rum and wait a few weeks.  After this went on the menu there was no going back!

Soup Fritters!

This chowder featured in possibly the most bizarre thing I have ever cooked – soup fritters.  We had a very on/off function pending and, eventually, it was off,  Then suddenly one Sunday afternoon, half way through a busy brunch, I was told it was on again.  Eighty people were due in a couple of hours hoping for up-market nibbly bits.  I would have liked to panic but didn’t have the time. 

Save to Pinterest so you don’t forget!

What I did do was make fish cakes out of the remains of the seafood chowder.  I can’t remember how but if I had to do it today this is what I would do.  

Strain the chowder, reserving all lumps, and bring the juices to a boil.  Thicken quite substantially with a beurre manie (flour and butter munged together) and whisked in.  Cook a few minutes and cool a while.  Mix in reserved fish etc. and enough breadcrumbs to make a malleable consistency.  Taste and flavour up – lime zest and hot sauce spring to mind.  Spread onto a cooled shallow dish and chill to firm.  Roll into balls, flatten, coat in breadcrumbs (panko are great) and shallow fry to crisp and golden.   They were such a success people asked for the recipe but I was too embarrassed to tell them.

“An Everlasting Meal" by Tamar Adler – a Review

I am a member of The Kitchen Reader – a great foodie online book club.  Every month we read a designated book, food writing rather than recipes, and review it on our blogs.  When I saw that October’s book was, “An Everlasting Meal – Cooking with Economy and Grace” by Tamar (good Cornish name!) Adler I was in two minds whether to read it or not.  On the plus side it is Just My Sort of Thing being about the use of leftovers, both incidental and planned, on the minus side I didn’t want it to influence my own book  in any way.  

Everything worked out perfectly however because although I ordered the book some while ago it only arrived yesterday – two days after sending my own manuscript off to my publishers.

Even better because of its late arrival I had a good excuse to lie around all day reading!  And what did I think?  Read on …

I was hooked pretty well from the start when Ms. Adler said in the introduction how much she loves M.F.K. Fisher’s book “How to Cook a Wolf” and had modelled “An Everlasting Meal” on it.  Well, as M.F.K. is one of the World’s bestest food writers ever (see here for my review of her “The Art of Eating”) this sounded promising.

I find I agree very much with pretty well everything else she says too with one very minor exception.  She states in her section on eggs (written so enticingly I immediately had an egg for lunch!) that Frittatas in Italian and Tortillas in Spanish are called “egg pies” in English.  Well I have been English for bloody ages and have never heard of such a thing in that respect but only, on only perhaps, when referring to a quiche like dish!  Pernickety of me or what?

Tamar Adler’s writing style in unusual and attractive, she says that “beets … have their own way of being” and that “Capers are odd and wild as birds”!  Her chapter “How to Paint without Brushes” on learning about food from its touch, its smell and its sound is spot on.  As she so rightly says, something is ready when you taste it and “don’t wonder”.  Of course this does take time but is so very, very worth it.

“An Everlasting Meal” is different to my own leftovers book; it is a really good read, something to take to bed with you and enjoy (maybe just jumping up occasionally to cook an egg) whereas my own is a handbook to keep in the kitchen and refer to whenever a leftover occurs. Our thinking, however, is very much the same and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants so learn how to cook from the soul.

On the same theme here is someone else I agree with …

“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”

Julia Child

About my Egg …

I’ve had a few torn flour tortillas in the fridge for a while so made myself a baked egg in a tortilla nest. Its easy – grease a ramekin and encourage a torn tortilla into it to form a cup. Break in an egg and top with a spoonful of cream (or in my case leftover Alfredo sauce – easy recipe for this gorgeous sauce here). Pop in a medium oven till the edge of the tortilla is crisp and golden, the white is set and the yolk is still soft. I baked a couple of tortilla wedges alongside, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.

Speaking of Cookbooks …

My book mentioned above was published in March, 2013. Originally titled The Leftovers Handbook a second edition is now available and is called Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers. In it I give all the information, ideas and recipes I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers.

"Garlic & Sapphires" by Ruth Reichl – a Review

I used to live in the Caribbean on a boat in Trellis Bay – above.  Sometimes on visits home to the UK I would mention this and people would accuse me of being lucky.  This was not the case; it was not luck that took me to the Caribbean it was a decision to go followed by appropriate action.  (And incidentally I was very poor at the time, getting there left me with just $8 in the world!)

Reading of Ruth Reichl’s wonderful sounding career I nearly said she was lucky but I think not.  More accurately Ruth Reichl is talented, hard working and resourceful.  Either way her fab lifestyle makes me jealous.  In a nutshell she played dressing up and then ate in wonderful restaurants whilst pretending to be someone else – and she got paid for it. 

Her book, “Garlic and Sapphires ~ The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise” is a lovely read; interesting, funny, informative and foodie with several recipes scattered amongst its pages.
  

Ruth Reichl was the restaurant critic for the New York Times and therefore very recognisable to restaurateurs, hence the need for a disguise.   She found her dining experiences when dressed as a “nobody” very different from those when dining as herself.  Which is, of course, reprehensible.  On many occasions when working as a chef I have been told that so-and-so was in house so to make sure to go the extra mile, so to speak.   This always got up my goat (as we say in my family!).  Surely the idea is to do your best at all times not just do second rate work unless someone “important” comes in.  It seems, however, that this attitude is not the norm in the restaurant business.

Anyhoo – I heartily recommend this book, give it a go – you can get it from Amazon. or visit Ruth Reichl’s own site here where there are details of her other books; “Tender at the Bone”,  “Comfort me with Apples” and “For you Mom, Finally” which I shall certainly be looking out for.

Speaking of books about food I have written a few cookbooks myself – here’s my Amazon Author Page (just in case you’re interested!).

In other news …

My friend Jenny of JennyEatwell’s Rhubarb & Ginger has pointed out a rather lovely spam comment that I received in connection with my recent post on yukky gnocchi.  Very nicely put I thought.  Coincidentally it reminds me of my research into krumplinudli which are the same sort of things as gnocchi – perhaps it is a side effect

Here it is verbatim, I cannot see how it pertains to my blog but I am glad they took the trouble to write ~ enjoy …

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