Pontius Pilates has a new friend

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Okay, so it’s not quite as funny as the time I set my flowers on fire in the chapel at my school leavers’ ceremony but nonetheless, still amusing.

A couple of weeks ago, Tim, Kieran and I went up to Tim’s parents’ farm to help out with docking the lambs (ie, cutting off their tails) I baked some bits and pieces to add to the general pool, including an oaty slice from the New Zealand Cookbook simply called “Crunchies.” Anyway, we are sitting there having our lunch on the grass, having docked a couple of mobs of sheep and lambs, and having brief respite from docking the next lot. I offer round this slice, and comment to Kieran that because of it’s seedy, oaty nature “It’s a bit like that energy stuff you take hiking, you know…scrottage?” Apparently this was hilarious. I think what I was looking for was “scroggin” (which sounds equally testicular if you ask me) but anyway, it didn’t put people off eating it and since then, Scrottage it is. Shows how often I go hiking!!

So, today began gloriously, woke up with the sun streaming through the windows, and cloudless blue sky. Mere hours later, and it is cold, grey, hosing down, and of course, windy. Welcome to Wellington – where one’s choice of clothes in the morning may be wildly innapropriate by the afternoon.

On days as cold as this one has become, one’s thoughts turn to baking, and I decided to rustle up another batch of Scrottage. It is particularly good in that it is very cheap to make and then Tim doesn’t have to buy muesli bars.


Above: Scrottage, fresh from the oven.

A Steaming Mishap, and late-night brownies.

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I got home from work a bit early yesterday, and convinced myself that it was cold enough to use my steamer (it was quite mild outside really.) In my Supersavers book, there is a recipe for what looks like steamed, deconstructed, spag bol. That is, you cook some short pasta (I did macaroni, as the book recommended) add mince, canned tomatoes, frozen beans, dried thyme, garlic and an egg. Put it in your pudding steamer and steam for two hours. I was smitten not only because I got to steam something again, but also because miraculously, we had the exact ingredients required. So, two episodes of Season 1 Outrageous Fortune later, (did I mention that we bought the DVD and are rapturously pleased with it?) it was ready. I served it with the remaining asparagus, which I roasted, as per a suggestion of Nigella’s in How To Eat. If you are a fan of asparagus, PLEASE try this! It is wonderful! Just a 220 C oven, a tablespoon of olive oil, 15 minutes, and then sprinkle it with a little salt. It is nutty and slightly crispy and absolutely fantastic. Second only to asparagus rolls (on white bread with canned asparagus) for my favourite way of eating it.

Anyway…maybe I didn’t grease the pudding bowl enough (didn’t grease it at all, come to think of it) but the steamed mince thingy really didn’t unmould well – only half of it, as you can see below, came out. No matter – it’s not what you would call a ‘photogenic’ dish and I’m sure that it would have looked ugly even if it had turned out properly!
Above – Half of our dinner. The other half is still in the steamer…

Well, it tasted good, which was the important thing, but I don’t see how a combination of its ingredients could really go wrong. And it did seem like the exact sort of recipe you could expect to find in a book called “Supersaver’s.” It benefited from salt, and it could have definitely been improved with some cheese. But, cheese is expensive and grating is a pain, so we don’t often eat it frivolously. As you know, the asparagus was amazing.
Emma was babysitting last night, and Kieran, Stefan, Tim and I were all watching Outrageous Fortune. (pausing only to switch off the DVD and turn to Prime for Flight of the Conchords) Somewhere in the middle of this, I got a real hankering for some kind of pudding. Problem was, time was ticking on. Suddenly I decided to make something I used to do a lot as a youngster – Alison Holst’s chocolate brownies. Now, I’m not teeerribly fond of La Holst (she does seem to take the fun out of cooking) but as I said, I am very familiar with these brownies and knew they’d do the trick. I used the Dollars And Sense cookbook that Mum gave me some years back (a book filled with many gems actually) and got Tim to help me round up ingredients so as to get it going faster.
It is very easy, one of those wonderful one-pot melt and mix recipes that leave you with a minimum of washing up! No fancy ingredients required, but I added some chopped dark chocolate (had a bit lying round in the cupboard.) We put it in the oven, and halfway through another episode of Outrageous Fortune, they were ready. Not as densely squidgy and delicious as Nigella’s, but good for a quick fix, and much cheaper. You can see below what was left of them!
Above: Brownies, made in a silicone tin (can it still be called a tin if it’s made of silicone?) that Tim’s parents gave me.

Whole Lotta Pav

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Last night’s dinner came about largely as a result of Tim deciding to clean out our freezer the other night. It hadn’t been touched since we moved in last November and was pretty feral. Anyway, he found some egg whites I’d frozen after making some ice cream all the way back in February! Also some spare ribs. In the interest of saving freezer space, I decided to defrost both overnight to play with. Yesterday morning, I marinaded the ribs in a pretty standard “bit of this, bit of that” fashion. Since it was out of my own head (but nothing revolutionary, mind you) I can safely tell you: 2 Tablespoons each of golden syrup, sesame oil, white vinegar, soy sauce all drizzled over the ribs in the roasting dish (lined with foil for ease of cleaning!) followed by a few shakes of cinnamon and some grated fresh ginger. I bought the ginger at Pak’n’Save the other night for 55 cents! And it smells unbelievably wonderful, really zingy and fresh, like sniffing a just-opened bottle of ginger beer. Tim, Kieran and I went into town because it was sunny (but we were fooled! It was also debilitatingly windy!) While sheltering in some shops from the cold we ended up buying two Jools Holland DVDs, the complete Black Books DVD, and Series 1 DVD of Outrageous Fortune, (don’t worry, there was a hefty sale) so…all was not lost.

I started making the pav when I got home, as the egg whites had defrosted just fine. The pav is gluten-free, which is good for Emma, and comes from Nigella Lawson’s Feast.


Above:Me, whipping up a storm. Those egg whites went HUGE!

I baked it on this great silicone baking sheet that Tim’s parents got me. It has useful circle measurements on it so i just filled in the one I wanted with all the marshmallowy eggwhites.

The baked pav was enormous!


Above:!!!

I made a kind of pilaf thing to go with the ribs as I thought it might complement the flavours. I didn’t end up taking a picture thought because…we ate them too fast. They were soooo good!

Emma, Kieran, Tim and I had drinks and played Pictionary after dinner. That’s the kind of flat we are…after Tim and I whupped them (okay it was pretty close) and before I had drank too much red wine, I decorated the pav to Nigella’s specifications. I have to say, it’s one of the prettiest things I’ve ever made – as Twiggy on America’s Next Top Model would say, “The camera loves you!”


Above: The finished product. Pretty, no?

I actually think it is prettier than the last pav I made, Nigella’s chocolate Raspberry Pav from Forever Summer – What do you think?


Anyhow, we all ploughed through it. Including Kieran. YUM.


Above: Kdizzle dominates the pav.

Recurring Steam

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There was a half price sale at Briscoes last Saturday. Tim, Kieran and I trooped down there to idly have a look at any bargains…and walked out an hour later groaning with bags. One of my purchases was a pudding steamer, something I have been looking on Trademe for for a while now. I made Nigella’s Golden Syrup Steamed Pudding, from How To Be A Domestic Goddess which was unbelievably delicious and very easy. You mix up a fairly basic sponge batter, grease the pudding bowl and lid, put golden syrup and lemon juice in the bottom of the bowl, dollop over the batter and clip on the lid. Lower this into a pan of boiling water, cover, and let steam for about two hours. Couldn’t be easier and seriously, couldn’t be more yum. Unfortunately, there aren’t really that many recipes these days that call for a pudding steamer and oh, how I long to steam something…

Above: Golden Syrup Steamed Pud. Perfect for when it’s raining…which is every bloody day at the moment in Wellington!
I can’t remember what I actually cooked for dinner that night, (ie, the meat component) but I do remember what I made on the side – a wonderful, wonderful thing called Pan Haggerty which comes from The Accidental Vegetarian. I know that some blogs post recipes but I’m not sure whether or not you need permission or something so you don’t get sued. So, I won’t give you the recipe but I will say this: (slowly) You thinly slice up potatoes and an onion, layer it in an oven dish, dot with butter, bake, then top with cheese and grill. Pa-dah! So good…I might make it again tonight. The photo below is a bit rubbish (especially in the context of the standards of the rest of the photos) but I thought I’d include it as it seems to convey the golden warmth of the potato-ey, cheesey dish.
Above: Pan Haggerty. With a name like that, how could you resist?
By the way, this is what happened to the pudding. (not just Tim and me eating it though!Everyone except Emma – who is celiac- had some.)

What I’ve been up to lately…

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I have taken a lot of photos of things I have been cooking over the last week or so to build up a collection for this blog. In order to get up to speed, I thought I’d post a few below. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long for y’all to load the pictures…

Chicken Gougere: from the Supersavers book. I made this for dinner last Friday. It consists of a circle of choux pastry in which you put sauteed chicken and vegetables (the sauce of which is mysteriously addictive – I’m amazed there was enough left by the time I’d finished “tasting it to check the seasoning”) I guess choux pastry does seem a little deranged for Friday night dinner after work, but, well, I love what Nigella calls “putskying” round in the kitchen and if you are gonna make pastry, choux surely looks the most impressive for the limp stirring it requires to make. This was really delicious, and supposed to serve 6 – worryingly, Tim and I polished it all off while watching the Simpsons.


Above: Chicken Gougere, darl.

Gingerbread Muffins: from Nigella’s Feast. I had a bad head cold a couple of weeks ago (which I haven’t quiiiite managed to shake off) and as a result lost my sense of smell. I mean, I had my nose in the Rawleighs, in my bag of star anise that Mum and Dad got me, in the jar of crushed garlic (which I really don’t like actually) and I couldn’t smell anything. Nada. Not a sausage. Hence the fact that I cooked a lot of chilli and curry that week. I also made these wondrous muffins of Nigella’s, because I had a hankering to bake and thought that the heavily spiced ingredients might break through my nasal passages of steel. They didn’t but they had, er, a lovely texture. Tim and flatmate Kieran raved about them though, so when I got my sense of smell and thus my sense of taste back, I made another batch. Oh boy, was it worth the wait. Heady with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger (naturally) and made dense with golden syrup, these are fantastic. Will have to make some next time I’m up home. By the way the photo below isn’t so much to show you the muffins as to show our kitchen table in a very, very rare state of cleanliness.


Above – Gingerbread muffins…on a clean table!

Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon, Garlic and Parsely – Nigella’s Forever Summer. Made this because asparagus was going cheap at 4 Square down the road, and asparagus is one of those foods that seems to herald the arrival of warmer weather. It was hosing down the night that I made this, but whatever. I served it with some chorizo that I had bought ridiculously cheap at the Food Show earlier this year (well, we wouldn’t have chorizo otherwise) You may notice that it is made with macaroni, which I’m pretty sure isn’t exactly what Nigella had in mind…but we were out of penne. Either way it tasted lovely, but didn’t look as nice as it would have had it been made with something more upmarket…


Above: Note the flash salt! As Kieran would say, “What is this, France?”

Also, just thought that I should point out that I made a South African mince dish for dinner the other night, from the New Zealand Cookbook, called Bobotie. Now, this recipe was an adaptation, and I adapted it further, so I wouldn’t want to serve it to the ambassador of South Africa or anything but…it was delicious! Quite unusual, with the inclusion of curry powder, worcester sauce, sultanas, turmeric, vinegar, apricot jam (I used some quince jam I’d made earlier this year) and milk-soaked bread. You then put it in a loaf dish, cover with beaten eggs, and bake. The thing is…it looks kind of gross. It tastes good but…the camera doesn’t love it. Hence the description sans picture. I was very pleased with this on the whole though, as I am always on the lookout for ‘new’ interesting mince recipes.

Do You Remember The First Time?

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Asked Jarvis Cocker of Pulp in their song of the same name. I thought it would be rather pleasing for my first post here (not counting the long winded introduction below!) to be about the first ever Nigella recipe I made, which I recreated for dinner the other night. I was about 14 or 15 when I first saw her TV show Nigella Bites and while I didn’t quite have an epiphany involving God-beams, I was pretty enthralled and had never really come across what we might now call a “celebrity chef” with such passion and such a way with words. Jamie Oliver was the big thing at the time and I found him interesting but too…frantic. Nigella was different.

Anyway, one of the things she made was this gorgeous looking creation called lemon linguine which I attempted for dinner that night using (cringe!) a can of reduced cream instead of the real thing, as it was all we had. It still tasted fantastic and since then I guess Nigella was destined to be part of my life. So, in the interest of having a nice starting point for my blog, and because I had all the ingredients to hand, I made it for dinner the other night. Was going to serve as is before remembering that well-meaning relatives would see the picture and so hastily boiled up some brocolli that our flatmate Stefan brought back for us from his parents’ orchard in Hawkes Bay.


Lemon Linguine with brocolli!

Welcome to my blog!

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Aka, an outlet for my desire to talk about food, or the ultimate procrastination tool.
I thought long and hard and asked for the brutally honest opinion of those around me before getting started with this – for one thing, does the world need another food blog? There are millions! With really classy photographs as well! What on earth do I have to offer the world?

For one thing I think the perspective of a student living on a budget could be interesting. Okay, so not every student’s budget allows for pink peppercorns, cardamom pods and Boyajian orange oil but…For another thing, when I was living overseas I loved writing about what I had been up to and emailing it out to friends and family who were, to my surprise and delight, only too happy to hear what I had to say (at great length more often than not – as some wit said, “If I’d had more time I’d have written a shorter letter.”) As I am flatting in Wellington now and going to uni, there isn’t so much call for me to send out massive epistles, so perhaps this blog can be a natural transition – presuming people are interested in what I have been having for dinner (and trust me, I’ll tell you about it anyway.)

Anyway, my hopes for this blog is that people will actually read it, that it will be fun to read, and that it will bring something new to the world of cooking blogs, without being an extended love letter to Nigella Lawson (I use non-Nigella cookbooks sometimes!). The title itself is a little tongue in cheek – there was a long period of time last year where pretty much all we ate was rice, but things are easier now that we are in a slightly less dodgy flat. It is also a line in a song from one of my favourite musicals, Rent, (I don’t know why, but I am always embarrassed to admit I love this) and seems to embody the whole student aesthetic rather snappily.

Cooking dinner is certainly one of the things I look forward to most (interjection from Tim in a hopeful voice: “apart from coming home from work to see me?”) and, as Nigella Lawson (well, who else?) says in Feast, “How we eat and what we eat lies at the heart of who we are – as individuals, families, communities.”

When it comes down to it, what I have been up to lately and what I have been cooking are often the same thing.

And thus, my entry into the world of blogging begins.