What's everyone eating this week?

[Alexandria Profile]

We drove up to my parents and in-laws ..

The main course was Arroz Caldoso con Mariscos ( Tiny Pearl Rice & Assorted Shellfish Paella ) ..

Truly extraordinary.

There was a lovely simple tri color salad after the paella.

Desserts were typically Catalan and Spanish Regional .. Plus, my grandsons´ home made cookies and " coal " ( a black sugary candy ) .. which they prepared with their moms.

Have a lovely evening ..

[Joanbunting Profile]

Over the weekend we had:

Carrot and coriander soup (HM) for lunch on Saturday with lovely sweet clementines afterwards.
Supper was pike quenelles with Nantua sauce followed by crepes filled with HM cherry compote.

Yesterday we had guests and we ate
Scallops of foie gras - quickly pan-fried, with a red fruit sauce and toasted sourdough
Slow cooked belly pork with braised red cabbage and potato gratin
British cheese
Quick ginger roll - ie gingernut biscuits dipped in Crabbies green ginger wine then sandwiched together and covered with whipped cream and finished with finely chopped cristalized ginger. I haven't made it in ages and my guests loved it.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Yesterday was a hybrid version of Spanakopita - no phyllo pastry available, so I had to use puff pastry instead.
Salad was spinach-based as well: baby spinach, fresh pineapple, bacon bits in a sweet mustard vinaigrette.

[Joanbunting Profile]

That sounds yummy Clive.

I made Welsh Rarebit for lunch to use up the bits of Brit cheese that were lurkingin the fridge.

[Renee Profile]

What lovely food you're all having!

I'm doing Slimming World online, following all the Christmas excesses and made Turkey Meatballs, but included a paste made from two black garlic cloves, 1tsp. soy sauce, an egg yolk and added 5 spice powder to the mix as well as two shallots chopped and softened using Fry-Lite first. The black garlic made such a difference.

[Alexandria Profile]

14th - Monday.

A very simple fennel salad with blood orange slices, tri color greens including radicchio & rocket and some fresh goat cheese (chevre) .. Evoo & Modena Balsamic Vinegar.

Some focaccia and a glass of Prosecco ..

That was it ..

[jeral Profile]

Renée, good luck keeping up your resolve although hopefully it won't feel like punishment for enjoying your stay away since you normally make tasty healthy foods anyway.

Saying that, I've just finished off an apricot crumble (complete with rum, plus coffee liqueur custard) which is "heavy" for me so veg soup tomorrow - I make a tasty cabbage one (if using "tasty" and "cabbage together is not an oxymoron). I've not had black garlic, but have taken a liking to smoked garlic now and then. I'm still experimenting with fish sauce which definitely adds something and changes the taste of things in a way that's hard to pin down exactly.

Also making Indian-style pilau rice to feed the freezer and nicking a bit to sit beside a smoked cod, cauli and spinach gratin thingy - one of my inimitable concoctions

Joanbunting, love the ginger roll recipe, so cue copycat.

Will copy Member 461's fennel and orange salad too.

karadekoolaid, what do you serve with your spanakopita please, as I find it a little dry and gravy is rather off the cards. Or do you somehow make it wetter itself? Ta.

[Renee Profile]

How do you make your cabbage soup jeral? I happen to like all the varieties of cabbage and Colin does too.

Your apricot crumble sounds so delicious! Luckily I prefer savoury foods, but at Christmas I have been eating just about everything!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Fresh pineapple on the list! I just really fancy it.

And cabbage and soup go super together. If I mention it to Tony he would be looking forward to it for the rest of the day.

What's nantua sauce, Joan. ?

Renee
You're back on the road to a healthy you.
You are always good at getting yourself in order. I've got new gym membership, that I've paid for for 14months in advance.
That should keep me motivated - I hate wasted money.

I made a fruit and nut cake for Tony.
Moist, and delicious. He has a piece each day with his cup of tea at 2pm when he takes a break from the markets. (which have been fraught recently).

[Joanbunting Profile]

Sauce Nantua is a creamy shell fish based sauce a bit like a lobster bisque. You can make it at home but it is a heck of a faff so we buy it from our traiteur/butcher whenever we buy quenelles. You poach the quenelles in water to fluff them up and then bake in the oven in the sauce.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Ah, sounds exquisite, Joan.

[Alexandria Profile]

Jeral,

Thank you.

It is so so simple ..

Yet amazingly lovely & light & quick too !

Had prepared this in the office !

I do use the fronds of the fennel too ..

Have a nice day.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Steak and chips last night.
We have it so rarely.
Just with mustard on the side. I always open a fresh jar for the occasion, even if I have some mustard already open.

[Joanbunting Profile]

We had our naughty meals on Wednesday and Thursday this week. Mince and dumplings, sprouts and carrots.
Last night I made a good old-fashoined mince and tatie pie with carrot and courgette ribbons and some broccoli puree. Baked rnew rhubard with pomegranate molasses instead of sugar,
Tonight it's to be natural smoked haddock Florentine and faiselle with the rest of the rhubarb afterwards.

[Alexandria Profile]

Friday Lunch was a very lovely Sashimi & Nigriri Boat with some office colleagues ..

Always a true enjoyment ..

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I made " Arroz con Pollo" today - that´s chicken with rice, a classic all over the Caribbean and South America. I only had a couple of grotty-looking chicken pieces, so I seared them off in olive oil, then fried onions, garlic, carrots and peppers, some Spanish paprika, and some white wine. I let them all cook for a while, then removed the chicken,pulled off all the meat, gave the bones to the dog, added rice and extra stock, green beans, courgettes,returned the chicken to the pot and cooked until ready!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Good old meatballs here. With a twist.
Waitrose has a recipe with mascarpone in it, which I would only use in a pasta sauce. I gave the mascarpone a (s)whirl and jolly lovely it was too.

Served with pitta.



One of my le Creuset lasagne dishes has a hairline crack. Any other dish I'd throw away.
But it's been going fine for a few years.
Gotta love le C. (Or not, depending on your preference)

[Joanbunting Profile]

I love le C too Gill but these days I need another pair of hands to lift it.

The smoked haddock last night was delish - such a treat to get the real thing,
I'm making a Fatouch for lunch mostly because I have the ingredients including a stray pitta bread. No green peppers though but that doesn't matter because I find them indigestible when raw.

Tonight I have a smallish free-range chicken and I am trying to decide wether to do a poule au pot ie stuffed simmered with root veg or Mere Michel which is stuffed with tarragon (sorry that rules you out Sue) and finished with cream and brandy.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Tarragon = lovely.
I always wonder why it is no good (IMO) for puddings. But anise flavours are fine in puddings.

Nevertheless, savoury it's one of my fav herbs.

[Alexandria Profile]

We have taken a drive up to the Valle de Arán, Lleida in the Central Spanish Pyrenées with our twin sons and our two daughter in laws.

This is one of the most amazingly beautiful mountainuous regions of Cataluna and in the Valle de Arán, there are 33 villages, which date back to the 10th Century, called LA RUTA ROMANICO, or The Romanesque Route.

Lunch time, in Artíes .. (http://www.visitvaldaran.com)

This región is very famous for its Nacarii Caviar, taken from the wild sturgeon ( the fish are not killed ) and the manner of production is the same as the traditional Irani method.

The fish are in very low ( to keep wet ) water and the Fish Mongers press & push the Caviar Roe out of the sturgeons.


Have a nice weekend.