Food Waste

I just re-stumbled on this link about food waste from last year. You should look at it. And then get angry.

T is for Tart Failure

For a Fail Tart, it's quite pretty.

Was it me? I'm not sure. I'm not sure what's worse – me screwing up the recipe or the recipe being crap. Either way. Failure.

There are a few recipe book authors who I trust implicitly. I have made enough of their recipes to trust that unless something goes drastically wrong (like the time I mixed up the baking powder and baking soda in the pancakes when I was seven – sorry dad, thanks for eating them anyways) the end result will likely be scrumptious and dependable.

So I am pretty disappointed with the tart I made last weekend. Not only did I actually follow the recipe to the letter, I also bought a bunch of ingredients especially for it, and it was sort of a kind of pricey endeavour. And it wasn't very good. It was slightly bitter. It didn't set properly. Yuck.

So I won't give you the recipe. Nor will I tell you where I got it from or who wrote it. It's their only spill up so far – I'll let the author get by scott free just this once.

However! The pasty bit of it was lovely-  a bit of texture with the addition of polenta and some parmesan- and I had a bit left over so tonight I pulled it out of the freezer and made a fridge tart. And it was delicious and lovely and well set and much better than the fancy one I tried last week. So there.

Fridge Tart

Two leeks, chopped and softened in butter
Two cloves of roasted garlic
A half a pot of creme fraiche (about a quarter cup?)
Four sundried tomatoes, chopped
A quarter of a round of sheep's cheese, chopped
A pinch of chili

Left  over pastry gets rolled out into a vaguely round shape. The fridge bits get mixed together, taste and season, then plopped in the middle, bring the sides up and bake until nicely browned.

Tada! MUCH better than the flouncy fussy one from last week. So there.

A lunch to take pride in

I just had one of those meals where you sit down at the table and look at the plate before you and feel incredibly pleased with yourself.

It wasn't anything particularly special. Just a plate thrown together. Herb salad from the pots on the balcony, toasted nuts from the jar in the cupboard, a dollop of muhammara (my condiment du jour), some bread and grilled halloumi.

But the inspired combination and prettiness of everything on my plate brought me great pleasure.

Chorizo & Cannellini Bean Crostini

You know the roasted red pepper and cannellini bean crostini I made? I had left over lemony bean paste. So I fried up some chorizo and made chorizo and cannellini bean crostini with rocket for lunch.

I was impressed.

Pub Food at Home

Since moving to the UK I have eaten quite a bit of pub food. Most of the time it's been delicious, 'gastro' pub food of quality and delight. Down in East Dulwich there's a little pub called The Florence that is lovely and delightful, bright and airy with great food and cherry beer. On one occasion I ate a steak and mushroom pie that wasn't really a pie at all since the pastry was sort of like a cap jauntily placed on top of the steaming goo of steak and mushrooms in a thick, savory gravy. Very good. And so, at home one rainy afternoon with a bit of left over steak from the night before, some mushrooms and a random bottle of Guinness, I made steak and mushroom pie.

Onions, sliced mushrooms, garlic and thyme sauteed lightly in butter and olive oil. When the mushroom juice started to come out I sprinkled about a tablespoon of flour over and let it cook in. Deglazed with a bit of beef stock (from a cube) and half a bottle of Guinness. Let it boil and bubble, thicken and reduce. Toss in the leftover steak from the night before (cooked but still pink) and let the flavours join together. Salt and pepper. Top with a round of simple pastry that you threw together while the mushrooms were cooking. Tada! Homemade pub food.

Biscuits & Late Summer Tomatoes

Even though it was hot out today, you can still sense the change. The students are back, apples are appearing at the farmer's market. Fall is sneaking into Toronto.

We got home from the market with hot, luscious tomatoes that taste like the very essence of all that is good in a tomato and a big glorious bunch of basil that perfumed our walk home. And we were hungry.

But, despite our visit to the market, we had virtually no other food- no flour, no sugar, no butter, no bread, no crackers, no cheese- with which to make lunch. So I made biscuits with self-raising flour, margarine (I know! I know! but it was all we had!) and left overs bits of bacon, leeks and cheddar cheese. Sliced open while hot and layered with thick tomato slices and basil ribbons, annointed with sea salt, pepper and olive oil.

I'd have served them to Gordon Ramsay for a light lunch.

Biscuits

1/4 cup shortening
2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup milk (about)

Work the shortening into the flour until it resembles oatmeal.
Pour in milk and stir until just combined.
Turn out dough onto counter and knead in left over bits of flavour stuffs.

Make into biscuits (I made 8 largish ones) and bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes.