Vegetable Cream Cheese

I've not been venturing far from the house these past couple of weeks.  Between the heat and my looming D-Day I haven't had the energy or the desire to do much of anything.  I've been watching a lot of The Food Network and slowly making my way though the entire Poirot discography...resulting in many a craving for pastries, art deco tea parties and frantically adjusting the symmetry in my living room. I don't have the energy to make eclairs or croissants...even though I'd happily sit down and stuff my face full of them, weep.  

On Friday (or was it Saturday?) The Barefoot Contessa whipped up a quick brunch for her and her publisher...as you do...and I immediately started craving bagels and cream cheese.  Back in Canada, in my teens and twenties I used to love a trip to the bagel store to get fresh bagels and really thick and slightly tart cream cheese...siiigh 

Anyway, Ina made her publisher bagels with vegetable cream cheese and smoked salmon (drooool) and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for...well...a day!  Luckily bagels and cream cheese were to hand (a pregnancy staple of mine) and with a little fine chopping I was well on my way to satisfying my craving.  

I mixed together half a container of plain soft cream cheese with a finely chopped small carrot, some spring onion, finely chopped cucumber, a handful of chopped coriander and salt and pepper.  Slathered very generously on toasted multi-grain bagels...this was HEAVEN.  

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Rick Stein's Spanish Lentils..perfect for a weekend lunch!

I love Rick Stein.  I've been watching his Rick Stein's Spain greedily over the last few weeks and, at the end of every programme I say to David...we really have to go to Spain...sadly, we can't...well, not right now at least.  

In the last episode Rick made a gorgeous looking lentil dish with spanish ham and tomatoes and all I could think of was...I need a big scoop of that!  The recipe calls for a few ingredients that I wasn't prepared to go out and buy (budget budget), like wine and Serrano ham, however...with a few 21st century urban housewife tweaks I was able to substitute chicken stock for wine, and streaky bacon for the ham.  As for the lentils, I already had a huge bag of Puy lentils at home, so used those instead of the larger, flatter brown lentils suggested...so, perhaps not entirely authentically Spanish, but...tasty nonetheless.  

We devoured these lentils with toast and sardines, it was perfect! 

kedgeree leftovers...quick afternoon lunch

I whipped up a batch of indian spiced crepes (crepe batter minus the sugar and plus garam masala spice mix and some curry powder) and filled them with the left over kedgeree...so yummy!

Potato and Wild Garlic Rosti with a perfect poached egg!

I am trying really hard to create meals out of what I have at home...sometimes easy, sometimes hard, sometimes downright annoyingly difficult!! We've decided to do a bulk buy for all of our perishables for the month and to be very very very good about buying only what we need...I think it will work, I think it will be ok, I think I will still be able to experiment...I think...

Tonight I felt like something light...something not too filling...something perfect for this warm spring evening. I decided on potato rosti, topped with poached egg...not too challenging? ha! flipping rosti AND poaching eggs...for the same meal?? Only one mini "flipping" accident....but all was saved in the end!

Poaching eggs has never been a particular talent of mine, but I have to say that I am getting better.  I've had some disasters...but more often than not they are soft and runny.  My mum uses silicone poach pods to make quick and easy NO-FAIL poached eggs. 

Basically you brush a little bit of oil around the edges of the pod,crack your egg in and plop the pod into about 1 1/2 inches of boiling water.  The heat from the water cooks the egg through and...it is surprisingly easy...or at least she says it is.  I tried them...once...I couldn't flip the egg out once it was cooked...but my mom swears that once you get the hang of it you won't go back to the OLD way....

Other than my inability to FLIP the flippin eggs out of the silicone pods there is only one other reason I choose not to use this "life changing" poacher...I actually really really LIKE the slight taste of vinegar poached eggs tend to have from the vingegar added to the cooking water...most people, however, do not like that! ha ha ha.  For now I will stick to poaching my way....but I continue to promote poach pods (I sell like a billion of them at work)!

yearning for an Al fresco lunch...

I've been sent a message telling me that by working I am taking too much time away from my blog...and you know what? it is true! I haven't been able to upload anything in AGES...stupid work taking up all my time...stupid work stifling my creativity....stupid work ruining my time in the kitchen...hmmmmmm...

Well...I am now off from work for a week and so I hope my creative juices will once again start flowing more freely...for now I am enjoying the sunny weather...seedlings are sprouting, laundry is drying and it is almost time to christen our brand new BBQ!!  I've just finished enjoying my ode to Al fresco lunches (inside)...

Perfect comforting lunch to help recover from a tough weekend x

What a whirlwind weekend!! First of all...the brownies were a HUGE hit!Soft and creamy and a perfect mix of salty and sweet...and surprisingly yummy with a bottle or two of white wine! Just what the doctor ordered! I can't claim that they healed a broken heart, but they definetly helped make the weekend happier!

It was hard to wake up this morning, I am totally emotionally drained.  After a bit of a lounge on the couch I motivated myself to get up and go out and wander to the grocery store to stock up for the week (poor david has to buy his lunch today cause there was NOTHING in the fridge...other than half a red cabbage and a leek)...

As I was out I was trying to think of something to make for lunch that would be comforting and something special...something that I might normally make during the weekend to share...something that might take a little bit of time but that would provide some much needed healing. 

I settled on pasta e ceci...similar to pasta e fagoli...a wonderful rich, tender and filling Italian pasta and bean thick soup.  I say it is a thick soup because the consistency is really up to you, I like it pretty thick, more like a pasta dish than a soup, but a friend of mine's father from southern Italy used to make it for me as a soup.

The perfect remedy for my head, heart and body after a very emotional weekend.  I used Jamie Oliver's Pasta e Ceci recipe from his book Jamie's Italy.  To be honest, I haven't tried many recipes in this cookbook, but true to Jamie-form it was simple and delicious.