I don’t deal with crowds very well. In fact, I don’t deal with stress very well. I’m naturally quite lazy – and I don’t mind admitting it either. Why on earth I thought it was a good idea to go into town and look after Baby Chef while the Better Half had her hair cut then, was just beyond me. I knew that the run up to Christmas made an already busy York city centre nightmarish, without considering that I’d be wheeling a youngster around. I did manage another trip to Rafi’s Spice Box in York though, and although I wasn’t too sure that they were happy to see Baby Chef’s larger buggy that we have borrowed (to deal with the snow) being wheeled into the shop, I did have a good chat about Fenugreek leaves, which I had been unable to get anywhere else. I also managed to get some Peshwari Naan, and as I have already declared that its pointless attempting to make your own without a tandoori oven, I’m hoping that this will be the most authentic we can get at home without visiting the local takeaway.
So, after I had knocked over stuff in a cosmetics shop, courtesy of a change bag slung over my shoulder, I took respite in the City Screen bar, and had coffee and breakfast. I somehow managed to get a seat, ordered at the bar, and started eating. Unfortunately, my timing wasn’t so good, and Baby Chef decided he needed to go to the bathroom. I worried for a bit, but finally decided to bite the bullet and leave all my stuff at the table to go and change his nappy. This was not an easy operation, and sadly a full change was required. We finally got back to the table, Baby Chef in a new outfit (I'll love out the pooey details, but you get the picture). Still, breakfast was good – French Toast with Maple Syrup! A change from the usual weekend’s bacon sandwich.
After trailing around for Jewellery, stressing some more, and having passport photos taken, we finally made our way to the supermarket. I broke with tradition, and visited Aldi, after hearing they had an excellent meat and cheese selection. This was to be served as a starter with bread and oil for Sunday’s first course. We got back, and found we had a leak from the water tank. Sigh. The day’s final insult arrived when the Better Half saw a mouse in the living room. I think the cat had brought it in, and has since disposed of it, but just in case the skirting boards are lined with mousetraps, making our living room look like a... I don't even know, like a bloody rat-infested derelict crack-house!
After the work’s Christmas party on Saturday night, on to cooking on Sunday morning. The first thing I did when I got up was to start making Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Guinness Cake, from “Feast”. I had managed to get a deep 9” cake tin from Barnitt’s in York (a wonderful local's secret DIY and furniture store) the previous day, after a moment of clarity in which I actually pre-read the method! I couldn’t believe the amount of sugar and butter in the cake, or the full tablespoon of vanilla extract, but something had to take away the Guinness’s bitter tang. Anyhow, the cake baked successfully and came out looking very dark and rich – almost like the cake burnt. I’m not sure if I’m such a fan of the topping – a cream cheese and sugar concoction, but this may be because I bought cheap, half-fat cream cheese. Whoops.
For the main we were having Spanish Chicken and Potato Stew. The recipe was taken from the Channel 4 website, and is by a chap called Matthew Drennan. We had cooked it before, and knew it was simple and tasty, and that we could leave it on the hob – sold! The stew is a filling affair of Onion, garlic, Chorizo, Tomatoes and Potatoes. It went down really well, was very pleased with the end result, and everyone seemed to like it.
To serve with, I made “Green Rice” from Thomasina Miers’ “Mexican Food Made Simple”. Now, I will start with the caveat that although this did not go to plan, it was not totally disastrous and I could’ve saved it if I had put a touch more thought into the operation myself. Basically, whiz up Onions, Garlic, Parsley, Coriander and a little oil, heat in a pan, add the rice, add chicken stock, cook for 15 minutes on the hob, transfer into the oven for 30 minutes. The first problem was- the recipe told me to use far, far too much rice for the 4 people it was designed to serve. I should have spotted this myself as the “Red Rice” recipe above called for much less to serve the same amount of people. It must have been more than a simple printing error on the ingredients list, as the amount of stock to use was perfect! Because too much rice and stock had been used, the herbs didn’t seem to go as far, and my rice was not the “emerald green” that Thomasina wrote of – more of a light green shading. The second problem was that at the bottom of the recipe, it states that the recipe takes 30 minutes to cook, and this is what I worked from. However, at the end of the recipe, after mixing the herbs, boiling the rice etc, Thomasina writes that the rice should be baked for 30 minutes! So that is at least 45 minutes of cooking time! This is maybe the 3rd recipe that I have used from the book – the previous test articles being breakfasts – and it was a birthday present, so I will persevere – but I feel that it only take the cock-up of a couple of recipes for their books to become mistrusted and relegated to the useless pile. I love Mexican food and do not want to do this, but the apprehension of cooking with the book will set in if another recipe is not as expected.
The meal was rounded off with the cake, which was rich, but tasty. Not so many comments there, but I have brought some to work. Colleagues tend not to be so polite! With coffee, we had "Peanut Butter Cups" from "Nigella's Christmas" that the other half made. I was suspicious after tasting the sickly-sweet peanut butter mix, but the chocolate brought them back down to earth, and they were very tasty indeed. An excellent finishing point to a good meal.
Thomasina Miers' Mexican Food made Simple @ Amazon
Nigella Lawson's Feast @ Amazon
Nigella Christmas @ Amazon
Matthew Drennan's Spanish Chicken & Potato Stew @ Channel 4 Food
Barnitt's of York
Rafi's Spice Box
York City Screen
