Chipotle Pork

It’s been a yummy food week. Started off with a lovely roast chicken. Then yummy baked pappardelle from the talented Simon Hopkinson. Tuesday was a vaguely thai-style chicken soup made with leftovers. A couple of rubbish days at work followed, so less food food (takeaway!) but tonight I had delicious Chipotle Pork. Mix a couple of tablespoons of chipotle paste with a tablespoom or so of honey or brown sugar and some seasoning. Take a fillet of pork and cut several deep slashes. Cover in the spicy mix and leave for as long as you feel like (in the fridge if it’s more than an hour or so). Cook under a very hot grill for about 15 minutes, turning a couple of times. Rest. Slice a red onion and sprikle over the juice of a lime. Leave for a few minutes. Add some shredded white cabbage (quarter to half), several tablespoons of soured cream, chopped coriander, toasted cumin seeds and seasoning. Mix well. Serve the slaw and pork in warmed tortillas. Pour over any resting juices, roll up and eat. It’s messy!

Snacktastic

No graze nibble box today so had to rummage for a 5pm snack. Found a half used packet of cashew nuts and turned them into black pepper cashews. Melt some butter in a pan, add some muscovado sugar and a splish of water and cook until the sugar disolves. Add the cashew nuts and cook for a few more minutes until the mixture thickens a bit and darkens to a caramel colour. Add a decent amount of freshly ground pepper and some salt, stir and pour onto a baking sheet coverered with buttered foil. Bake in a moderate oven for ten minutes or so until nice and golden.

Decant into a dish and leave to cool as much as you are able! Eat while still warm, preferably with a cold beer!

This should give me the energy to make lovely roast chicken for tea.

Back again – Sunday 17th July 2011

Ok, I’m back. It’s been a long gap – more personal and work issues but (I think) we are well and truly back to normal. Still on the fast-5 diet and weight today 16 stone 1lb – so good progress I think. Clothes fit better (too big now in some cases), aeroplane seat belts fit better and I can walk upstairs (or even trot) without feeling like I might die!
Now I want to get back to keeping my food diary, as I think I am ready to start cooking some good food on a regular basis.

I should also mention graze boxes – we’ve been having these for a couple of weeks and as an interesting, tasty, varied way to break our fast each day, they take some beating. We’re hooked!

A New Way of Eating…at least for now

So last week, my husband mentioned he’d been reading about a new way of eating/dieting that he thought might be worth a try. Slightly bizarre but I’m willing to give it a try. It’s called Fast-5 and the idea is that you can eat whatever you like but only in a five hour ‘window’ each day – the same window each day. For the rest of the time, you have only water or other low-sugar drinks (unsweetened black tea etc). There are various reasons behind this (there is a website if you are interested) but for me in the first week I have following it, what I have taken is a focus on whether I am actually hungry or not and a real opportunity to consider what I am putting into my mouth. Any how…I’ll report back on progress.

Last night’s dinner was yummy Chicken Gyoza (Japanese style dumplings) and Chicken Katsu Curry. All very delicious. Dessert was a fruit plate.

The gyoza are very simple to make and I thoroughly recommend them. I made a batch of about 40 – we had ten last night and now I have thirty in the freezer for other times. Today I have also made a big bowl of fresh tomato salsa (for snacking – during my window, of course!) and I currently have a black forest gateau baking (belated birthday cake for husband). Dinner will be roast lamb and all the trimmings. So even in a small window of opportunity, we are eating very very well.

Gyoza recipe – 80z chicken thigh fillets, 4oz white cabbage, 4oz chinese leaf, 1oz chives. A tablespoon of light soy and another of oyster sauce. A teaspoon each of sugar and sesame oil. 3oz (drained weight) of water chestnuts. Put the cabbage, chinese leaf and water chestnuts in the food processor on pulse until finely chopped. Put the mixture into a clean tea towel and squeeze out the excess moisture. Empty into a bowl with the chicken (minced in the processor) and all the other ingredients – mix well. Put a teaspoon or so of the mixture into a gyoza/dumpling wrapper (from asian food shops), moisten the edges with a little water and fold over into a half moon shape. Crimp the edges together with your fingers to seal. They can be cooked a number of ways but I heat a frying pan then add a teaspoon or so of vegetable oil. Fry the gyozas (a few at a time, don’t overcrowd the pan) for a couple of minutes. Then add 3-4 tbps of water and put a lid on. Leave on the heat for a couple of minutes, then take off of the heat further a further couple of minutes with the lid still on until the water has all gone. Serve straight away with your favourite dipping sauce.

My Chicken Katsu curry is a work in process – I’ll post a recipe when I’m completely happy with it.

Lovely lasagne

Made some cheese sauce tonight and turned my lovingly prepared bolognese sauce into lasagne. And OMG it was good. Job done. Fru pud for afters.

Variations on a theme

Crunchie for breakfast today not such a good start. But sandwich and cookies for lunch was nice.

For dinner we had the leftover chicken curry but I didn’t want to have exactly the same two nights in a row, so I fried some rice in butter for a few minutes, threw in some boiling water then mixed it through the curry. The whole lot went in a casserole dish and in the oven for forty minutes. Chicken curry pilaf was the result and very delicious it was too.

Good girl

Today I was a very good girl and model of efficiency. In amongst all the work I made chicken curry for two nights and lasagne for two nights. Yay me. Had the chicken curry with baked potato tonight. Lemon tart for pud.

Other food today comprised: cereal, a crisp sandwich, a caramel wafer and two chocolate biscuits.

Lazy night

Nachos and beer. Need I say more?

Simple Sundays

So…today. Cereal for breakfast (honey loops!). Made lunch for sister and her children too today as they were here helping me clear things from Mum’s house. Yummy, very big bacon sandwiches all round.

Therefore just a simple supper…roast chicken with tomato and salad. Lemon tart (bought) for dessert. I’m working from home most of this week so hopefully I might produce something exciting.

Oh, I should admit to a Tunnock’s caramel wafer in there somewhere too.

First real cooking of the month

So, tonight I finally got back in the kitchen. It feels really nice to be cooking again…it’s been a surreal few weeks so hopefully this will help me to feel a bit more grounded in reality.

I’m making an old favourite…easy but very delicious. Boursin-stuffed  chicken breasts roasted on a mixture of tomatoes, onion and mushrooms with potato wedges.

For the wedges, just slice up potatoes, toss in a roasting dish with olive oil, seasoning and maybe some dried herbs. Put it in a hot oven to cook while you get on with the chicken.

All you do is slice an onion (red for my preference) and some mushrooms. Saute them in a saucepan with some olive oil for a few minutes, then add a slug of balsamic vinegar (not an expensive one!). Let it bubble away then add some seasoning, dried herbs and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Stir through and heat for five minutes or so, then pour it all into an ovenproof dish. Loosen the skin on the chicken breasts and stuff in a good portion of boursin. Squish it down, then place the chicken on top of the tomato mixture. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Put in the hot oven and roast for 25 mins to half an hour or until the chicken is cooked through – it really depends on the size of your chicken. Tonight I took the breasts off a 2.2 kilo chicken and they are enormous! This is a good thing as I am very hungry. It smells delicious so you’ll have to excuse me…