Now that you know not everything is available when I want it
and that not everything is as cheap as you’d expect, what happens when I want
to cook from a recipe? Well, the truth is that the recipe books didn’t make it
to Malawi in one of my seven bags!
I now have one recipe,
for banana loaf, which was given to me
by a colleague in the office. I love banana loaf and this chap brought in the
cake for his birthday. I’ve made one today which was an interesting experience
as everything is measured in cups. I wasn’t sure how I’d know how much 2/3 of a
cup was. Ok, so I understand fractions but deciding how much 2/3 was seemed
like it was going to be difficult. Then I spotted measuring cups in the supermarket
so they saved the day. I’ve also invested in one of those dome shaped nets
(sorry I have no idea what the correct term is) that keeps the flies off. If I say so myself the loaf is pretty tasty.
Let’s see what they think in the office tomorrow.
At the moment, dinners are nothing fancy and I cooked roast
chicken for the only person I’ve invited anyone over for a meal so far. So here is the challenge. Once a month one of
you lovely people will be asked to suggest a recipe for all of us to try. I’ll suggest
a weekend when we’ll make the recipe and then we’ll post comments (you’ll need to be braver than
you are all being at the moment) on how
we enjoyed the recipe. I’d also like an estimate of how much the recipe cost you
to make, any substitute ingredients you had to use because the ones in the
recipe weren’t available and how many
shops you had to visit to buy everything. Guess who’s likely to have the most
difficulties with even a simple recipe!
The first person to be volunteered for this challenge is …
(drum roll please) … Lesley P as I know
you like researching; enjoy cooking new recipes; and will choose something
wholesome and not too fancy. Please post the link to the recipe by Wednesday 14th
November and we’ll aim to make your choice of lunch, dinner or pudding, by
Monday 19th November.
I’m looking forward to trying this challenge already.
Just to prove I really did make the cake banana loaf today here’s a photo. That's my greaseproof paper wrapping the loaf ready for tomorrow so no cheeky comments about the cake being shop bought!
Thanks for the challenge Melanie, good timing.
ReplyDeleteI have a need to make a fairly light vegetarian main course, not spicy & no tomatoes so that's what I'll be working on. It also needs to be simple to do on the day - so I'm thinking prepared beforehand finished in the oven.
Being married to a strict carnivore vegetarian food is not one of my specialities so any thoughts or ideas gratefully received.
Lesley P
Thanks for taking up the challenge, Lesley. Looking forward to a tomato free, meat free meal
ReplyDeleteNo sure what happened to my earlier comment, so here goes again. As you are into Butternut Squash Melanie thought you might like to try this recipe. It's a risotto from Rosemary Conley which is very easy to make. I actually grew butternut squash for the first time this year and now have 5 to eat up so this is one recipe I regularly use.
ReplyDelete1 medium onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
200g butternut squash peeled and diced
200g Arborio risotto rice
1 small red chilli finely chopped
2 litres vegetable stock
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
freshly ground pepper
Parmesan cheese to serve (if you can't find it Mel I'm sure any other cheese would be as good)
1. Heat a non-stick pan and dry-fry the onion, garlic and butternut squash until the onion is soft
2. Add the rice and chilli and stir in a little of the stock. When the stock is absorbed, stir in a little more. Repeat until all the stock has been absorbed.
3. Season with black paper and stir in the chives. Transfer to serving plates and grate a little Parmesan cheese over the top.
Jill
Realised I did not spell check this, suggest seasoning with black pepper rather than black paper! ugh!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteSo I've come up with this from Delia
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/vegetarian-shepherds-pie-with-goats-cheese-mash.html
which does include tomatoes but I'll use roasted peppers instead. And I'm not going to use goat's cheese as I'm not sure everyone likes it. I may also be flexible with the beans I use, they will probably be tinned & depend what is available and what I have in the cupboard!
The essence of a good cook is to be flexible with recipes, & to use them as a starting point. I wouldn't say that I'm a good cook, but I do like to experiment & if you start with Delia it can't go too badly wrong (hope that's not famous last words..).
Will be making on Sat & serving to guests on Sunday.
(if you can't read the website please comment & I'll type the recipe out)
Lesley
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe bake was duly made on Saturday with a few amendments. Mainly peppers instead of tomatoes so I added some stock as otherwise it looked a bit dry. I also used canned beans instead of dried
ReplyDeleteWhen I tasted it, I wasn't sure about it, but my visitors yesterday seemed to enjoy it (there wasn't much left), so it must have been OK
Lesley