Three Dinners in One

Saturday night: Barbeque Pork Ribs and Salad.

As I have chosen the 'quiet life' (for the moment anyway), the highlight of any particular night is dinner (and Come Dine With Me, reading Game Of Thrones et al). I had my Sainsburys delivery due for Sunday, but had to pop out to get something yum for Saturday Night In.

As I waited for the ready made ribs to cook in the oven I prepared my starter: the very retro, prawn cocktail. I LOVE prawn cocktails! I get quite narky when I see celebrity chefs bemused at people presenting prawn cocktails as a starter. Yes, it's simple, yes it's easy, but it WORKS!

My cocktail or Marie Rose sauce, I have been making since I can remember: full egg mayo, tomato sauce, Tobasco, lemon juice, salt, pepper. Today I also added spring onions and flat leaf parsley for a bit of extra zing.

The prawns were pre-packaged from the supermarket freezer. But as I have found (and mentioned before) I'm yet to find a good prawn over here- these ones actually turned out not too bad. I was surprised that on the packaging they didn't mention the country of origin, and I looked really hard.

I plated the prawns on a bed of mixed leaves and topped with the Marie Rose.

The very simple, but ridiculously tasty main of barbeque pork ribs and pre-made Italian salad, was exactly that: put the salad on my plate, took the ribs out of the oven and put them all on the plate.

Ready made ribs are fantastic, always so moist and tender. I just love them. The ready made Italian salad, well, it was about as Italian as nachos, or sashimi. Mixed greens, cherry tomato and red peppers, no dressing included. Fortunately I had some broccolini and snap peas,and dressed it with extra virgin, balsamic and lemon juice.


Sunday Night: Steak!

The Sainsburys delivery was due for between 7pm and 8pm, and I was starving by 5 but didn't want to ruin my appetite.

Unfortunately for me, Mr Sainsburys driver couldn't find my street, and didn't get to mine till right on 8pm... I was famished. Luckily steak only takes a few minutes to cook.

Tonight: rump, crushed potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, and a white wine and cream sauce with mushroom and diced celery.

I hate that there are brown bits on the broccoli, I cut them off before eating.

The steak was beaaauuuttiiffuuuuullll! The potatoes which were 'Sainsburys Roasting Potatoes' were so fluffy, like really fluffy. When I need to eat fast, I cube the tatties to maybe 1-1.5cm squared, they only take about 5-7 minutes to boil, once I drain them I throw them back into the pan on the hob and evaporate any remaining moisture, and get some nice crumbly edges and brown crunchy bits.

The sauce was diced celery and mushroom sauteed, then 50/50 cream and philly cream cheese finished with flat leaf parsley.


Monday: Char-Griddled Veg with Guacamole and Thai Curry Pumpkin Mash.

If you've had a read through my blog you'll notice that as much as I love meat, and I LOVE meat, I am not adverse to a bit of veg, actually my veg cravings can come on quite hard and fast. Tonight I had one of these pangs for veg.

 I cut courgette (zuccini), red pepper (capsicum), celery, mushroom, and placed them on a really hot, oiled griddle pan and allowed them to char slightly.

The guacamole was avocado, diced tomato (runny, seedy bits removed), spring onion, Tabasco, lemon-salt and about a teaspoon of philly, mashed together and seasoned with pepper.

I had some 2cm cubes of squash (pumpkin) boiling away, and when they were done, I drained, added a teaspoon of thai green curry paste, a big blob of butter and mashed.

Then arranged all on the plate with flat leaf parsley.

The vegetables were so lovely and sweet, and with every mouthful you could combine different flavours the peppers with the squash was divine.

The squash mash would make an incredible dip to serve with crackers.

I just can't get over the stuning colours in the veg. Veggie dishes make me really happy.

XL Bacon Double Cheese Burger

What is my favourite naughty take-out? Hungry Jacks.... It's Burger King over here, and if there was any chance I wouldn't become a balloon (which I really would) I would eat it like 5 times a week: easy!

So 2 Saturdays ago I was off to Glasgow for a gig, and as there was to be a fairly copious amount of alcohol to be drunk, Burger King seemed like a fantastic idea.

My favourite menu items back home were the Whopper with Cheese, and the Bacon Deluxe.

My favourite here:
               XL Bacon Double Cheese Burger:

Oh my, I actually started salivating just now.

It's two whopper size slabs of beef, three bits of cheese and rashers of bacon with tomato sauce.

Unfortunately, I really only eat from places like that maybe 3 or 4 times a year, so I have a while to wait till the next one.

What are your favourite 'sometimes' fast foods/ takeouts?

Funny Food

Oh I just love this.

Afternoon Tea!

I love the idea of afternoon tea. I think in one episode of the Sopranos when Carmela and Meadow go to a stunning hotel for a high tea afternoon I always thought... ooh how posh.

We had spent the day entertaining ourselves around Edinburgh, and had filled up on breakfast, but had not had lunch, so we thought a nice cup of tea would re-fuel our batteries, and again Miss L (she does have a fantastic knowledge of great places to eat in Edinburgh) made a suggestion: Mimi's at the Shore.

As soon as I walked in I was taken aback with the luscious decor, reminiscent of a french boudoir: everything decadent, bold and oh so inviting.

As soon as we saw the menu, all 3 of us decided we'd have the 'Awe-inspiring Afternoon Tea' £13.95 per person. It comprised tea, sandwiches and a selection of sweets.

The girls preparing, behind a selection of cakes and slices.

Gasps of pleasure as our pots of tea and towers of delicious temptation arrived at our table. The presentation was absolutely divine.

Our sweets: cupcake, melting moment, chocolate-coconut bounty slice, plain scone, fruit scone, meringue with clotted cream and raspberries.

Tower for 2

Tower for one

The tea, by TeaPigs, was absolutely wonderful.

We pondered for a moment as to which order to eat our pickings, I decided savoury then sweet, and repeat.

The sandwiches were lovely, I just love sandwiches made by anyone else. I rarely eat sandwiches anymore, as I spend most of my time trying to avoid wheat, but when I do allow myself, I remember what a wonderful food bread and sandwiches are. Beautifully soft, fresh bread, and I love that they are served crusts off, and oh so little.

Ham and mustard, smoked salmon and cucumber, egg and watercress sandwiches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast at Orocco Pier

Scottish weather. I have come to accept its dubious ways. It's all you can do really.

We had planned a wonderful day trip to Nothumberland in the hopes of a delicious lunch and some photographic opportunities.

As I rose at 6.30am (a good 3 to 4 hours earlier than I am used to) I peered out the window to find rain. Rain and grey. Clouds and cold. I checked the Facebook event to see if it had been cancelled, but no- The adventurous bunch we are had decided to proceed.

I rugged myself up in layers of cold and wet-proof clobber, grabbed my camera and my umbrella and headed out into the soggy abyss.

As I reached Princes Street my phone rung, 'Have you left the house yet?'. So at very late notice, the trip had been cancelled.

I was awake, made up, and full of coffee, if nothing else I was going to get breakfast. Alas, the crew loved this idea, and were on their way to pick me up. By this time it was raining and snowing, at the same time... something called sleet apparently- I don't like sleet. But my chariot arrived and we were off to somewhere called Orocco Pier for breakfast, a recommendation by Miss L, one of her favourites.

Located in South Queensferry, Orocco Pier is a lovely restaurant with the most stunning views of the water and both bridges.

 

You can imagine how stunning this would look on a glorious, (albeit rare) sunny day.

So now we were warm and dry we accessed the menu. Full Scottish Breakfast including tea/coffee and juice £7.95 seemed like a fantastic choice, and good value too.

The breakfast included egg, bacon, sausage, tattie scone, tomato, fried potato (a lovely addition I thought), black pudding, haggis, toast, jam and marmalade.

The serving staff were very friendly, attentive and patient, and were very welcoming in our demands 'Can I minus the tomato and add extra bacon?'; 'oh I want to do that too'; 'I would like to keep my tomato but I don't want black pudding'.

This breakfast set the standard of how cooked breakfasts should be. The egg was perfectly cooked, the bacon delicious, again, cooked just the way I like it (medium). A perfect serving size, meaning you left full, but not bloaty. I really can't say enough about how ideal this breakfast was. Not to mention the perfect outlook, and lovely surrounds.

The coffee was freshly ground. Strong and delicious. And we were offered more tea and coffee once our cups were near empty.

I applaud Miss L on her sublime recommendation, and can see this becoming a favourite place of mine too.

Fresh Fish from the Farm. Cooking demonstration with Nick Nairn

As part of Edinburgh Science Festival, I had the opportunity to attend a talk at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Several talks and cooking demonstrations are to be held through the week as part of the Science on a Plate sub-festival (Edinburgh's first) which combines food, cooking, science and sustainability.

Today's guest presenter was Nick Nairn and discussed sustainable seafood, focusing on mussels and salmon, two of Scotland's most wonderful and delicious exports.

Firstly Mr Nairn introduced himself and told us about the wonders of mussels. How quick and easy they are to cook, their nutritional values, and how sustainable they are.

I never loved mussels back home till I came here, now I just can't get enough of them. I can't even remember if mussels are popular in Australia.

Nick made a beautiful dish of steamed mussels in a very basic broth of garlic, spring onion, parsley wine and cream added at the last moment (see recipe at bottom of page). It was beautiful, but being given only one was very unfair.

For his second recipe he had a beautiful fillet of salmon which he cut into a rather thin escalop, and made a mango salsa. Which was pretty much this recipe, minus the asparagus.

While preparing his salsa we were given an informal talk on salmon farming, which I found very interesting, having seen the farms on my trip along the West Coast.

Salmon Farm off the coast of Oban

Farmed salmon is such a sustainable and environmentally friendly food source, and is policed to make sure they stay within guidelines for environmental and happy-fish protocols.

As Mr Nairn finished his salsa, he showed that a thin piece of salmon can be pan-fried for just 90 seconds, allowed to rest for a minute more then plated, for a beautiful meal. It really was a stunning dish.

As the talk ended I asked for a autograph for my Ma, Mr Nairn was all to happy to oblige.

What a great guy!

I look forward to my next Science on a Plate talk immensely.

Pho Vietnam House

Last night my housemates with a guest they had up from Sheffield, headed to a lovely tiny Vietnamese restaurant not far from ours called Pho Vietnamese House.

I had been there once before and my housemates a few times.

It is a wee tiny restaurant, with 4 or 5 tables in total. A short but succinct and delicious menu, and byo.

Having been here before I still remembered the food envy I had when I first saw the Pork dish, so even though we were sharing, I pleaded that we may try that.

 I had opted for a plate of the fresh spring rolls for myself, as the others shared a plate of fresh and fried between the 3 of them.

 They were positively lovely, the mint was a refreshing and a refined addition, and the peanut sauce was a perfect compliment.

 I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a bit for filling apart from rice noodles all the way through. There were prawns in, and there were beautiful... but maybe a few more.

 Everyone except I ordered the chicken noodle soup. And there were certainly no shortages oh mmm's and ahhhh's between slurps.

 This was a braised pork dish with caramel and pepper. The meat was ahhh-mazing, a lovely slow cook which left the meat moist and fall-apart tender. The sauce over the rice was a treat in itself.

 This was our fish dish. It was also lovely, but definitely a runner up to the pork.

 Delicious crispy bean shoots, lime and mint to add as we pleased.

And a lasting memory of the dish of the day.

Reservations are recommended if you decide to eat here. It's byo and cheap as chips, but sensational flavours and good serving sizes.