Cooking for Chris

I've been tagged!

2008-04-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

The lovely Anna Maria - my LighterLife compadre - has tagged me! Here is the premise of her tag (lifted from her beautiful blog)....

"Right guys, listen up....I'm starting a tag. It's called 'Top 10 food pics'. Here are mine, all my favourites.I'm tagging 5 people to do their own 'top 10'. Then if those 5 people could each choose 5 people we'll get to see some really good food pics! Almost like our very own food pic chain..."

Since I have spent a *lot* of my time cooking from the gorgeous How to Eat by Nigella Lawson, it is only right that my "top 10" food pictures are from my HTE journey; a journey which is not yet over. I plan on returning to this blog as soon as I am down to my target weight. I have had a good look through my photos and lifted the 10 which I feel are nicest. Just 2 things to remember;

1,) These are *not* in any order. Just the 10 nicest in my opinion...

2.) These are not necessarily the recipes that I have enjoyed the most. Just some of the nicest photos. It is always the way - isn't it? - that the photos of the nicest meals never do them justice and yet you can take a great photo of a meal you aren't particularly keen on!
Anyway....here are my top 10;

1.) Sunday night chicken noodle from HTE

2.) Gorgonzola, Marsala and mascarpone crostini topping from HTE.

3.) Victoria sponge from HTE.

4.) Fancy cake from HTE

5.) Clementine cake from HTE

6.) Tropical fruit salad with butterscotch sauce (HTE)

7.) Basic white loaf (HTE)

8.) Special meatballs (HTE)

9.) Almond and orange blossom cake (HTE)

10.) Apple crumble

I hope you like these pictures and don't forget that if you want to read what I thought of them, they are all on my "on-hold" NewNigella blog (http://www.newnigella.blogspot.com/).

Now, who to tag.....?! I would like to tag a lot more people, but I can only choose 5, so here they are:

1.) Tina: http://tina-cookerybookchallenge.blogspot.com/

2.) Laura: http://www.hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com/

3.) Gayle: http://theovenison.blogspot.com/

4.) Vicky: http://www.ahealthyappetite.blogspot.com/

5.) Erika: http://ohmy-applepie.blogspot.com/

All of these lovely ladies are good friends of mine and have supported my NewNigella blog right from the begining. Good luck girls ;)

Crostini di polenta con gorgonzola

2008-04-19T02:49:00.000-07:00

Crostini di polenta con gorgonzola, from Twelve by Tessa Kiros

What did I make? I did warn you that I have been salivating over this book, since I brought it a few weeks ago and to be honest, it was only a matter of time before I cracked and made something from it. It is a really lovely book. I adore Tessa's recipes and her writing. I find the way in which she divides her chapters really appealing. For example, "Apples for Jam" is divided into "colour" chapters, which is very aesthetically pleasing. "Twelve" is divided into the months of the year, although I must admit that I ignored this seasonal advice and made something from the "January" chapter. This recipe - for polenta crostini with gorgonzola - was just crying out to be made though. Firstly, I had all the ingredients for a super Morrocan spring lamb with roasted red and yellow peppers, tomatoes and olives (courtesy of "Delicious") meal at home, so only really needed something for a light "antipasto." Secondly, we just happen to have a gorgeous wedge of gorgonzola picante at home, which - unless I make something from it sharpish - is bound to end up being the ingredient that breaks my diet! I don't know if you read in my "NewNigella" blog, but blue cheese of any kind is my ultimate food of all time. I absolutely adore it! Luckily, Chris loves it too, so this seems the ideal choice of recipes for my first endeavour into this lovely book. Neither of us have tried polenta in this way before either, cooked, spread and griddled - so that too will be a novel culinay experience.

Oh, my weight-loss seems to have reached a disappointing plateau over the last few weeks. Last week I lost 3lbs, which was fine (ish), but this week I only lost 2 lbs again. That's two weeks now I have only lost 2lbs (in week 4 and this week). It just seems so unfair, because I can assure you that I have not even cheated *once.* I have been very good and stuck to my LL diet religiously. Anyway, I have now lost 29lbs (2 stones and 1 lb) and I still have 4 stones, 1 lb left to loose.

(Cooking the polenta)

(Spreading the cooked polenta onto the baking parchment - and check out the crumbly edges - see below)

Where did I get the ingredients? As I mentioned, we already had some wonderful gorgonzola picante and there really is only one other ingredient; polenta. Polenta is available in Waitrose, which is where I brought mine. Because I read through the recipe prior to buying ingredients for it, I saw that the cooked polenta is "spread" onto baking parchment. I have had nightmares with things sticking to baking parchment before (think the almond macaroons in Feast), so I invested in some decent non-stick baking parchment; better to be safe than sorry methinks.

(The cooked polenta cut into squares...and yes, I know they look like Dairylea slices!)

Was it easy to make? HEL NO! This really was irritating to make which I suppose is quite an achievement for a recipe with 4 ingredients, 2 of which being water and olive oil. In fact, I think that I had problems at every stage of the method. Firstly, you need to cook the polenta, which involves bringing some water to the boil, pouring the polenta into the water in a steady stream, whilst whisking all the while to prevent lumps. So far so good. Apart from the fact that the water into which I was pouring the polenta was boiling so furiously that it seemed to "return" to the boil halfway through pouring the polenta and the polenta-water sort of "erupted," and globules of the bloddy stuff landed on the cooker etc. So, I lowered the heat and poured the rest of the polenta in off the heat, even though Tessa doesn't say to lower the heat until *after* all the polenta has been mixed in. Then one cooks the polenta over a low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

After 30 minutes, one is supposed to "spread" the polenta over a sheet of baking parchment. Note that I say "supposed," because there was no way that the verb "to spread" could be connected in any way with the porridge-like consistency of the polenta in my saucepan. In the end, I spooned the stuff out and tried to glide the stuff out into a coherant "whole" with the back of a wooden spoon. The middle of the "sheet" of polenta looked okay, but the edges were very dry and crumbly (see picture), which was fine given that I was just cooking for one and could therefore sacrifice those crumbly edge pieces to the bin, but I would not have wanted to do this for any more than...say...2 or 3.

After the "sheet" of polenta was cool I then cut it into squares, binning the crumbly ones as predicted. I then got on with griddling them over a ridged griddle. I suppose this was when everything started to come together for me because griddling them was very easy. The squares of polenta needed about 3-4 minutes a side until the grill marks started showing through. I then transferred each one onto a foil-lined grill tray. It was at this point that they started looking much nicer; with grilling they went a much more golden yellow and the grill marks made them look much nicer also. The grilling process also gave them a nice crispy and crunchy "crust" which in my opinion is a step up from those flabby, soggy squares just cut from the cooked polenta.

After that, it is simply a matter of crumbling the gorgonzola onto the grilled polenta squares, grilling them just until the cheese starts to melt (about 2-3 minutes), cutting each square diagonally in half and serving...TA-DAH!

I served all of them to Chris as an antipasto about 15 minutes before the lamb was due to come out of the oven.

(Grilling the polenta squares on a ridged griddle)

What did Chris think? I think that Chris was quite unsure about what to expect from this antipasto, as indeed I was. However he really liked it (a shame, because I will not be bothering with this again!). He said that the polenta reminded him of light tortilla chips, as they had that light corn flavour and were almost starchy - like pureed mashed potato in solid form. Very pleasant though. Like me, he really appreciated the crispy, crunchy crust. He also loved the gorgonzola - who doesn't?! He did say that the next day they weren't so good.

Overall, though, he rated this a 5/5, which is a really great start to my "Twelve" adventure.

(Pre-oven; griddled polenta squares)

Was I tempted to cheat and eat some? I must admit that the whole saga of making these put me off them slightly. I got irritated with them quite quickly and just wanted to make them and serve them and get rid of them. However, when they were all done and looking lovely I did begin to warm to them again (a love-hate relationship with a bloody crostini?!). With things like this, I define my temptation as more of an "intellectual curiosity." I wanted to see what it tasted like, what the texture was like etc, because I have never eaten anything like this before and I was curious to see what they might be like.

(With the added gorgonzola; before that final grilling)

Did I cheat? Nope. I am so disappointed with my miniscule weight losses that I am terrified that a cheat at this point would spell the end of ever having a decent weight loss again.

Scented sugars

2008-04-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

I have gone rather overboard with scented sugar making as of late. I made vanilla sugar for the first time last year and exhausted my supply within months. I used it in crumbles, pies....you name it. Since then, I have kept vanilla sugar (that is, caster sugar in a jar with vanilla pods) in the house regularly and belive me; there is nothing nicer than a mug of warm milk in the evening with a teaspoon of vanilla sugar stirred in.

Since then, I have started making cinnamon sugar (caster sugar with cinnamon stick or two). According to Chris it is wonderful in a crumble topping or used in home-made ice-cream.

Reading How to be a Domestic Goddess at the weekend I realised that I haven't even scratched the surface of scented sugars and so now I have 4 gorgeous big jars of scented sugars;

Vanilla sugar,
Cinnamon sugar,
Rosemary sugar, (perfect for sprinkling on rosemary cakes, or even - just a pinch - in casseroles),
Lemon sugar, (with dried lemon peel and dried lemon grass; ideal for sprinkling on a lemon drizzle cake).

Just seeing them makes me feel happy in a warm domestic kinda way!

I have recently been financially endowed enough to purchase Twelve by Tessa Kiros and am thinking about cooking as much from that gorgeous book as possible before before I finish my weightloss and reach my target weight. So, expect to see a *lot* from that book before August!

Weight loss

2008-04-11T05:05:00.000-07:00

I do apologise that this isn't a foodie post. It is my dad's birthday this weekend and I am cooking up a storm for Chris, mum and dad....so stay tuned. I am also cooking again for Chris on Sunday...so stay double-tuned!
I just wanted to give a progress report on my weight loss. Here goes;

Week 1: 9lbs
Week 2: 3lbs
Week 3: 5lbs
Week 4: 2lbs
Week 5: 5lbs
Week 6: 3lbs

So, thats a total weight loss of......27lbs. Let's say 2 stone. (PLEEEEEEASE lets say 2 stone..well, it is nearly :D). That means that I have 4 stones, 3 lbs left to loose. Which means that I'm looking at a finishing date of around July-August. HOOORAY!

Curried Scotch eggs

2008-04-06T03:36:00.000-07:00

Curried Scotch eggs from Tom Norrington-Davies (taken from Delicious magazine April 2008 p56)

What did I make? Well, foolishly enough - Scotch eggs. I say that this decision was foolish because ever since I started on the LighterLife diet (5 1/2 weeks ago), I have been craving Scotch eggs to the point where I can practically taste them and smell them and I have even dreamed about them! I have told pretty much anyone who has asked about any food cravings about them and some people have asked whether I ate them a lot prior to starting this diet. But that's the funny thing really. I didn't eat them a great deal. I might - at the most - have had 2 a month, so I couldn't tell you why I am craving them so much right now. I think it is just that they sum up so many forbidden things right now that I absolutely love. I love eggs in all forms and particularly have a thing for hard-boiled eggs. I love pork, sausage meat and all that good (but naughty) stuff and I love breadcrumbs (especially deep-fried breadcrumbs) - oh dear! When I brought this months Delicious magazine I couldn't help but notice the amazing picture of Tom N-D's Scotch eggs (get thee behind me!). Being the true Psychology post-graduate that I am, I decided to opt for "immersion" therapy and just go ahead and make them and thus enjoy them and fulfill my craving vicariously.

Even without my craving, I would have made these anyway. I love T N-D as a food writer. I first came across him in Nigella's Feast, where she names him as the culinary influence behind her Bakewell slice (and very nice that was too!). Last summer, I brought his book; "Just Like Mother Used to Make" and I thought it was absolutely super. The one recipe that stood out the most was his banana custard and those of you who have read my blog about Nigella's banana custard from HTE (http://www.newnigella.blogspot.com/), will know that I actually preffered it to Nigella's (gulp!).

Because it is very difficult to justify making Scotch eggs for dinner (tea), I decided to make Chris a "picnic-themed" dinner and serve them alongside a quick steak sandwich with all the trimmings - horseradish sauce, rocket, a garlic and red wine jus with some parsnip crisps scattered alongside. I actually got the recipe from a Waitrose recipe card ages ago and have always preserved it as a useful blueprint. It *is* very useful actually, so if anyone wants the recipe, just let me know and I will type it out for you.

Oh by the way, I am *much* happier now with the my weight loss. After a very disapointing 2lbs last week, this week I lost 5 lbs! This brings my total weight loss in 5 weeks up to 24lbs. Just 4 more lbs and I will have lost 2 stones! I still have 4 stones, 6lbs to loose though. That might sound a lot to loose, but that is to bring me down to a very low (imho) target weight of 9 stone 5lbs. Plus, I know from experience that I can look good at 12 stones (I mean, that's the weight I have been through most of my adolescence and 20's) and I only have 1 stone, 11lbs to go before I am just that :)

Oh, by the way, the recipe makes 6 Scotch eggs.

Where did I get the ingredients from? Well unfortunately I had to buy everything from Tescos, because annoyingly our butcher had run out of pork mince (unusual for him). I brought Tescos' nicest looking organic pork mince and hoped for the best. Everything else is fine to buy pretty much anywhere. I must admit, I was a bit dubious about buying curry powder. For some reason, that particular ingredient never sits right with me (I would be very interested to know if it is used in authentic Indian cooking) but I trust Tom's advice implicitly!

(Step 1; boiled, cooled and peeled eggs)

How easy was it to make? For some reason, I think people have terrible prejudices about making "many-layered" food (think Swiss rolls, sponge cakes etc), but I think that this is totally unfounded. Okay, Scotch eggs *look* tricky and they *are* quite laborious to make, but I assure you - they are not difficult and there is a massive difference between the two things.

All you do is boil some eggs for 4 minutes and then plunge them into cold water for a further 4 minutes, make a mince from pork mince, finely chopped bacon (I used the food processor dahling; no faffing around with a cleaver for me!), pepper and curry powder and then wrap a handful (50g) of the mixture around each peeled egg until fully covered by the pork mixture. And believe me; you need less than you think you will. It is quite easy to press one side of the egg into the mixture and then "press" the mixture around the other side to cover the whole egg. Clever, eh?! Then it is just a quick assembly job. Dip each pork covered egg into flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs and fry in a deep pan in a ridiculous amount of oil at a ridiculously high heat for 10 minutes each.

The beauty of this frying process is that the eggs become crunchy and golden almost immediately and look instantly wonderful.

If you are planning on making these - or similar - then just be aware of the fact that the deep frying is *very* dangerous. The heat is tremendous for one thing. Also, be aware that the finished product is very oily and will need to sit on kitchen paper until fully cool. Lastly (and I really don't mean to scare you off here), the whole house *stank* of deep-frying Scotch eggs for at least 24 hours after making them....and possibly still does...I may have just become immune to it and walking around in a big greasy cloud...

(Step 2; each egg fully wrapped in the pork, bacon, pepper and curry powder mixture)

(Step 3; each egg dipped in flour, beaten egg and rolled in breadcrumbs)

What did Chris think? Luckily, even though the Scotch eggs were essentially *my* craving, Chris absolutely loved them. He said that they were by far the *best* Scotch eggs that he has ever tasted (high praise indeed, given that he used to eat home-made fresh Scotch eggs when he was younger).

He said that the eggs were gorgeous and nothing like the shop-brought ones. He said that each one was like a full-meal in itself - there was spicy meat, eggs and the carbs of the fried breadcrumbs (I think I've hit upon the reason why I'm craving them!) and all in all, they were just lovely. Chris said that the best bit was the meat - he could really taste the streaky bacon in the mixture.

As I had made 6 and Chris had only (!) eaten 3, I took 2 over to my parents and the last one over to my friend Louise's house and I'm pleased to say that everybody that has tasted them has become an instant convert!

(Step 4; Frying the eggs in a hideous amount of oil!)

Was I tempted to cheat and eat one? Given that I have been craving them for over 5 weeks now, it was probably a monumentally stupid decision to go ahead and make them, so yes; I was tempted. Very tempted.

(Step 5; Tuck in!)

Did I cheat? I will never know how I mustered up the will-power not to....but no. I was a good girl and didn't even eat a scrap! Hey, come on....I had my mushroom soup and peanut bar baked into a flapjack to look forward to! Plus, I have lost so much weight now that it would be a massive shame to jeopardise that.

The next day, when I took the leftovers to my parents and Louise's house, I was less tempted to cheat; I always find the lure of fried food much less in the cold light of day.

(Chris's dinner)

Grilled lamb steaks with lemon, honey and mint

2008-03-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Grilled lamb steaks with lemon, honey and mint from Meat and Two Veg from Fiona Beckett

What did I make? Almost nothing actually, because I was so upset and p$%*ed off after leaving my LighterLife meeting that I just couldn't be bothered to cook any dinner. After some super losses (9lbs (week 1), 3lbs (week 2), 5lbs (week 3)), this week I lost a measly 2lbs! It just seems so unfair when I haven't cheated *at all* over Easter. Worse still, my LighterLife counsellor first blamed it on the *full moon* (sigh) and then the fact that I was stressed (I was only stressed *after* my weigh-in actually). Okay, I know that *any* loss is better than nothing and one person in my group only lost 1lb this week, but it is hard not to feel down about it, especially because the whole LighterLife process can be very hard, and often my motivation for the whole week comes from the positive reinforcement I receive from my weigh in. It is the Easter holidays though for my school, and so I suppose it could be to do with the fact that I'm not as mobile as usual. Unless you call watching Jeremy Kyle on the sofa for 2 hours straight good exercise (and if you do, I want to come to your exercise class!). To combat the potentially deleterious effects of the holiday, I'm planning on doing the exercise DVD which we were all given at our meeting. The thing was though, that I had already marinated the lamb chops before I left and weighed out the potatoes etc, so I did think that it would be a real shame to let them go to waste.

Chris had a really bad experience with lamb a few months ago. He was sick after eating some lamb and then - as a Pavlov's dog - associated the lamb with the illness; lovely! I am determined to "cure" him of this aversion though, not least because I love lamb and am really looking forward to eating it once again when I have reached my target weight (which, at this rate will be in 2009 and I will have forgotton what conventional food tastes like!). Not only that, but Chris really likes the marinade ingredients (and so do I for that matter!). Lamb steaks marinated in honey, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and fresh mint; what could be nicer?

Fiona says that "pan roast potatoes (p116) and a dark leafy green salad go well with this" and so I am being a dedicated scholar and making both. Well, I went a bit free-form with the salad and included yummy things like cherry tomatoes and red and yellow peppers - well, I can eat vicariously can't I?

The original recipe serves 4 people, so I am quartering quantities to feed just Chris, except for the potatoes where I am halving quantities.

Where did I get the ingredients from? I brought most of the ingredients from Sainsburys (honey, lemon and mint), apart from the lamb which I brought from the butcher. I couldn't get any lamb steaks of 150g, so I brought two smaller ones to add up to 150g together. I don't suppose it matters, because you are instructed to slice the steaks anyway.

(The lamb steaks marinated in olive oil, honey, lemon juice, garlic and fresh mint)

How easy was it to make? Really easy actually. You only need to marinate the lamb for 30-45 minutes, but because I had my LighterLife meeting from 19:00-21:00 and then had to pick Chris up from work, I had to marinate mine much earlier. They probably had about 3 hours worth of marinating in all, but I hardly think that that matters much. The marinade by the way, smells absolutely fabulous. My God; it was lemony, minty and just so fresh and alive. I could have eaten the marinade on its own! (oh dear!).

Cooking the lamb is so easy. You basically heat a ridged griddle pan until almost smoking and then flash fry the lamb for 2-3 minutes per side. Logic prevailed and of course, the tender lamb steaks smelled and looked great. Because the grill pan was so hot, they had these great crispy, crusty black grill lines on each side. I just love food that looks like that - where the cooking method really imprints itself (quite literally!) on the quality of the food.

The potatoes were bloody irritating. I don't know about you, but I have never actually cooked potatoes in this way before. Heat up some olive oil in a casserole dish and then add the baby new potatoes, clamp the lid down and leave for 25minutes-40 minutes, constantly shaking the pan. Well, firstly mine made the most God awful sizzling and popping and sounded as if the pan was going to explode for the first 10 minutes (yes, I did prick the potatoes and yes, the pan was on a moderate heat as instructed). When they finally calmed down, I found it really hard to cook the potatoes beyond any more than hard little rocks. Forget the 40 minutes (and certainly the 25 minutes!), our baby potatoes took nearly an hour before they were tender enough to eat. Plus, I had to keep adding water as the olive oil melted away very quickly, so that when the potatoes were finally done, they were practically swimming in pan-juices.

Right at the last minute I sliced and served the lamb, piled on the pan-fried potatoes and arranged the salad. I also chucked the marinade into the pan, let it bubble up for a while and poured all that gloriously scented liquid over the meal. Bliss!

(Frying the lamb steaks on the ridged griddle pan)

What did Chris think? Chris absolutely loved it! He loved the lamb especially. He said that when you first taste it, you are hit by the fresh breath of the mint (okay, he didn't say it quite like that!) and then the lemon and garlic. The texture of the lamb was perfect. Pink, but not rare and the outside of the lamb was almost caremalised by the sweet honey in the marinade.

Chris liked the potatoes, but I think we reached the unanimous decision that they just weren't worth it. He also liked the salad, but that isn't as rare as it may sound - he generally likes salad (bless him!).

He, very graciously!, said that I can make lamb for him again. Geee...thanks.

(The pan-roast potatoes....finally cooked in the olive oil and pan juices)

Was I tempted to cheat and eat some? I was NOT tempted by the potatoes! They were lucky I didn't throw them out of the window! The salad....yawn! I am so not craving salad at the moment. I was tempted to try a lickle piece of the lamb because it did smell lovely but if I only loose 2lbs when I'm being good, I can only imagine that a piece of lamb may cause me to gain 2 lbs (seeing as my weight is so mercurial!)

Did I cheat? No....and fingers crossed for a better weigh-in next week.

(YUM YUM!)

Steak Diane

2008-03-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

Steak Diane from Meat and Two Veg by Fiona Beckett.

What did I make? After a lot of contemplation I decided on steak Diane from your favourite and mine - Meat and Two Veg (again) by Fiona Beckett. Oh by the way, I completely forgot to thank Gayle so much for bringing my attention to this super book. Thanks Gayle :) It may sound bizarre to engage in philosophical debate over a steak, but there was a good reason why I just wasn't sure whether to make this or not. It is because Christopher's brother's ex-girlfriend ("S") would only *ever* order steak Diane from a restaraunt. I think the exact words were "steak Diane with extra cream please." Think Vicky Pollard from Little Britain in a boob tube and you have her! This grey and soggy limp steak would invariably arrive, drenched in cream and brandy. Eugh! Understandably, this put me off from making it myself, but of course I know that there is a world of difference between that which one might begrudgingly accept in a steak and omelette house and that which one makes at home. Anyway, Fiona Beckett told me to "ressurrect it - it's a great steak dish for two" (p18) and I feel almost obliged to listen to the woman who provided the recipe for those sexy, albeit forbidden, sauted potatoes of Monday night fame. Plus, this recipe for steak Diane looks rather different from that perhaps expected. Being a good scholar I researched this dish and it is apparent that there are both cream based and creamless (if that is indeed an adjective) recipes for steak Diane. This is a creamless recipe and also doesn't contain any brandy, but rather Madeira (just lovely!).

Anyway, Fiona says that chips/saute potatoes/baked potatoes and green beans go well with this. I was sold on the green beans (Chris loves them and they are so easy to make) and I decided to opt for the baked potatoes (I honestly don't know if I could womanfully withstand the temptation once again from those rather gorgeous little saute potatoes).

The recipe in its original form serves two, so I applied my advanced degree in Higher Mathematics (joke) to halve recipes for one.

Where did I get the ingredients from? Most of the ingredients I brought from Tescos. Luckily, I didn't have to fork out for a new bottle of Madeira as we already have a bottle at home, left over from Christmas. - Oh the joy of Christmas when I was actually putting conventional food in my mouth and chewing and swallowing! - when I made Simon Hopkinson's roasted goose stuffed with mashed potatoes. For this recipe I also brought some of that foil-packed fresh liquid beef stock that you can sometimes get from the posh section in some supermarkets. Aside from anything else (time/emotional resources), I just do not have the energy required to make my own stock from scratch at the moment. I brought the steak from the butcher where I had *the* most bizarre conversation:

Me: Can I have a thinly sliced sirloin steak about 7 oz please?

Her: I've got some that I sliced earlier, but I think they're all 9oz

Me (Pointing to one): That one looks about 7 oz

Her: Yes, I'm almost sure that they're all 9oz. There may be one 7oz there.

Me (still pointing): I think that one might be 7oz.
Her: No, that's okay. I'll slice you a fresh one. Wooops..I sliced that one too big. Let me check the weight. No, that's 10 oz. I'll slice another one. Oh dear, did a too-small one now. Oooops that's 5oz.
Me: The one over there looks like it may be 7oz
Her (weighs it): Oh yes it is; what do you know?

(Said steak!)

How easy was it to make? Super easy! I started off making the baked potatoes and it is rather a revolutionary cooking method for me, because Fiona takes issue with those huge-beyond-all-senses baked potatoes, and instead instructs us - her willing disciples - to do away with them and instead bake medium/small potatoes for fluffier insides. This may be old news - culinary speaking - for you, but I found it really interesting and if only I had made such small but sensible changes to my diet a few months ago, I may not now be in LighterLife lumpy shake territory! This is what Fiona says about them: "One of my pet moans is why shops sell such enormous baking potatoes. They take an age to cook and make it really hard to get the centre soft and fluffy and the skin nice and crisp. Buy medium-sized ones and have two if you feel short-changed." Indeed Fiona!

Anyway, about 10 minutes before the potatoes were due to come out, I started on the steak, which simply involves bashing the steak around with a rolling pin (just imagine my LighterLife counsellor......!) until flat and then frying it super briefly (1 1/2 mins on one side and 30 seconds on the other). The sauce is made while the steak is resting in the same frying pan and consists of a shallot (and by the way, I am *not* "very finely chopping" a shallot - yawn - that's what the food processor is for dahhhhling), Worcestershire sauce, Madeira, fresh beef stock and red wine vinegar. A sinful amount of butter is then whisked in to make the whole thing more "saucelike."

Right at the end, I cooked the green beans in boiling salted water for a really short time. Even though I didn't eat them (of course), I can't *face* overdone veg. Both my parents and Chris's parents are infamous for boiling vegetables to death and I *hate* the limp, soggy end product so much so that I tend to rebel the opposite way and serve veg so "al dente" that they are practically raw (I am trying to find a happy medium Dr Freud!).

So, there we go; picture the scene - a perfectly done juicy steak with a rich gorgeous smelling sauce, sprinkled with fresh parsely and served with baked potatoes and green beans. (Then picture my LighterLife mushroom soup and cranberry bar!)

(Frying the steak in olive oil and butter)

What did Chris think? He cleared his plate and LOVED it! He loved the steak and said that it was cooked to perfection - slightly pink in the middle, but not raw. I was most intrigued to know what he thought of the sauce - it just smelled so sexy (oh dear, sorry "L" my LighterLife councellor, I *must* stop associating frood with eroticism. It just shouldn't be so damn erotic then!) and he said that it was thick, rich and substantial and tasted meaty and of the shallots and red wine with the real richness and booziness of the Madeira. He said that this was *nothing* like the steak Diane that we have vicariously experienced and that he will definately be eating this again.

He also loved his green beans, which is always good to know and of course the baked potatoes. They did look a bit boring though, just halved and spread with a knob of unsalted butter. In future, I think that I will spread a little creme fraiche over each awaiting half and maybe sprinkle a few snipped chives over (a traditional partnership, but a good one nonetheless).

Chris said that this meal deserved 5/5.

(Making that lovely sauce - Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, shallot, Madeira, beef stock and butter)

Was I tempted to cheat and eat some? Everything looked really good, but as far as temptation goes, baked potatoes seem to be less tempting to me than those sauted numbers! The green beans looked good.....but meh! Not bothered. I was quite keen to try the steak though, but I think that my curiosity was more intellectually driven (i.e. I wanted to know what the sauce tasted like from a culinary perspective) than hunger-based.

(Who am I to resist another picture?)

Did I cheat? No way....My week 4 weigh-in is tomorrow and I'm way to scared to jinx myself! And just to strengthen that concept for myself.....here is a picture of me nearly at my heaviest (taken just 3 days into LighterLife);

(Crap! At least my double chin and hampster cheeks are going...going...gone!)

Seared fillet steak with asparagus and mushrooms

2008-03-24T11:25:00.001-07:00

Seared fillet steak with asparagus and mushrooms from Meat and Two Veg by Fiona Beckett.

What did I make? Happy Easter everyone! Obviously I couldn't eat anything chocolatey for Easter, but I do hope that you did (and ate double for me!). I thought that I would make something yummy for Chris to eat on Bank Holiday Monday and so I chose this recipe from Fiona Beckett - seared fillet steak with asparagus and mushrooms. Fiona says that "saute potatoes go well with this" and so I decided to try them as an accompaniment (yes, this meal will consist of meat and 3 veg!). I must confess that I have never made saute potatoes before and so am looking forward to trying them out. This recipe contains another first for me - the asparagus is pan fried. Well, it is microwaved for 3 minutes until tender and then pan fried with the mushrooms. I have steamed, roasted and boiled asparagus before...but never pan fried it, so am excited about trying it a different way. So, the recipe is for pan-fried asparagus with pan-fried mushrooms with just a little balsamic vinegar, Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper stirred through at the end. The fillet steak is rolled in a mixed pepper, Maldon salt, dried rosemary, flour and then seared briefly on all sides before being transfered into a blisteringly hot oven for 10-15 minutes (depending on how rare you like your steak). The saute potatoes are chopped into little cubes and then cooked in a crazy amount of groundnut oil in a wok (more on that later) and then drained on kithen paper and sprinkled with salt.

The original quantities were for 4, so I quartered them for Chris apart from the quantities of saute potatoes which I kept the same for 2-3 (okay, that was a mistake, realised as soon as I had peeled and cubed the potatoes! - he ate them all though!).

(Searing that beautiful piece of fillet rubbed in mixed pepper/salt/dried rosemary/flour - drool)

(and the other side.....)

Where did I get the ingredients from? I brought all of the veg and other various items from Tescos before Chris and I went shopping where - by the way - I brought the sexiest pair of shoes known to man (see pic!). I brought the fillet steak from the butcher and I rather naughtily brought a 250g piece, even though to honeslty quarter the recipe, I would have only needed 150g! It looked so good I could have eaten it raw (oh dear, I hope my LighterLife diet isn't turning me into a psychotic ravenous carnivore!).

(Pan-frying the asparagus - this photo doesn't do justice to just how crispy brown the asparagus went)

How easy was it to make? Really easy :) The steak is no trouble at all and literally only needs rolling in a delightfully scented mixture and sealing (briefly) on all sided before being transfered into the oven for as long as you want. I took it out after 20 minutes, but Chris was not convinced, so I cooked it for a further 10 minutes. Grrrrrr....that is where Christopher and I differ. I like my steak practically still quivering on the plate, whereas Chris likes his well done. Seeing as I am the one not eating, I suppose I must allow him his culinary voice (just this once!). The asparagus and mushrooms are so quick and easy to make that I will probably do them again for him and my God; the asparagus is so easy and looks so good that I will definately try that one for myself when I am a slinky 9 stone 5 lbs (my target weight). Basically one just microwaves the asparagus for 3 minutes until tender and then pan-fries it in oil and melted butter until it stars crisping up and going a delightfully golden brown. I was brought up all my life without a microwave and so I can't help being a bit dubious about its culinary properties, but it saved so much time that I will certainly do this again. Right at the end of the cooking process, when the steak was resting, one cooks the mushrooms in oil and melted butter, stirs in the pan fried asparagus and then seasons with balsamic vineger, salt and pepper. The potatoes were a bloody nightmare, but that was all my fault because I forgot that the wok had rusted and was therefore unusable - beyond any hope of seasoning! I therefore had to fry the little cubes of potaotes in a deep frying pan, which unfortunately had the annoying habit of making the potatoes stick to the bottom of the pan like glue, which meant that I had to be super vigilant and keep moving the potatoes about with a wooden spatula. 350g of cubed potatoes are sauted in 200ml groundnut oil, which is a lot by anyones' standards! However, I must begrudgingly admit that this cooking method made for the most wonderful crispy dark brown little cubes of oily and crispy crunchy potatoes!

(Pan-frying the sliced chestnut mushrooms in oil and melted butter)

What did Chris think? Chris thought that this was a really nice meal. In fact, I overheard him say that it was the best steak that he has ever eaten. The beef was really tender, with a mleting texture like butter. It tasted aromatic of the mixed pepper and the dried rosemary. The asparagus and mushrooms were really good and he said that he would definately eat them that way again. The potatoes were really good and it was interesting to have them this way. I must admit that we have really got into a "roasted-rosemary-and-garlic-potato" rut as of late! All in all, Chris said that this was a real 5/5 meal!

(DING DONG; Check out these sauted potatoes!)

Was I tempted to cheat and eat some? Hell yes! Everything looked so good. The steak smelled very fragrant (obviously because of the rosemary-mixed pepper rub), but luckily I wouldn't eat steak so well done (yes, even fillet!). The asparagus and mushroom mixture looked glossy, burnished and sexy as, but I could have taken or left them (especially as I had the delight of a LighterLife mushroom soup food pack to look forward to!). The potatoes really were calling my name though. I haven't eaten carbs for nearly a month now and those little heavenly golden crispy and crunchy cubes of goodness really were tempting....but I live to give! ;)

Did I cheat? No way, I still have another 4 stone, 13 lbs to loose! And plus I have a will of steel, baby!

(How do I love thee? Let me count the ways; 1.) You are glossy and brand new 2.) You have the highest heel known to man 3.) You have a sexy toe platform a la The Spice Girls 4.)You have a peep-toe 5.) I have yet to scuff you........)