The Kitchen that was!

This will be my new office in a few weeks, currently the store room come kitchen!

This is were it all used to be housed, well that and 12 other cabinets!!

If you read my Reiki life blog Gifted hand , you may have realised I have no kitchen right now, so cooking and eating great food has been a challenge. As from yesterday we are down to only a microwave! Its so cold right now its hard to exist only on salads and sandwiches. We've been trying our hardest not to eat continuous takeaways, as in my mind I'm thinking 6weeks of that ain't so good for you! Think Super Size Me!

Preparing food in cramped conditions being the challenge it is we thought the next best thing was lots of cheese platters, cold meats and quince. I tried Manchego this week and found it to be quite moreish , it has a particularly tangy, scrape roof off mouth pungent taste which I love in cheese and was even better had with a lovely bit of sweet grainy quince or in Spain Cano's Membrillo.

I was talking with a close relative today about diabetes, as Id had a message in my development class this week from someone, that a family member was possible enjoying the good stuff a little too much and it was affecting their sugar levels, (and yep I was able to corroborate who that was today) ! Ive been reading, through a contact on twitter known as RawHealer , from links on her feed, that there's much interest right now in the raw diet being great for diabetics and reducing the need for medication . I know my relative is on medication right now and I suppose would rather not be,but as yet is not yet sold on the raw diet idea. We started talking about the kitchen and preparation in this dirt bowl of a home! We got into how I'm really interested in eating more raw foods myself and making it a regular part of my weekly diet. Despite her reluctance to go the whole hog, (a bit like myself), was willing, if prepared for her, (and I'm loathe to push anything on anyone unsolicited, more a gentle nudging influence!) , to sample a great raw foods meal, when my kitchen is done of course!

So on that tip I was inspired today, having planned a duvet day sans kiddlies, to make a salad in the style of the raw movement (Not fully fledged as I just am not ready to not eat meat, I like it too much). Id already bought these ingredients this week in preparation but hadn't yet thought what to do :

Turnip
box of seeded pomegranate
1/2 bag pea shoots
1/2 avocado
1/2 papaya
1 pre cooked chicken breast (yes I know I cheated a tad and it sorta isnt the raw foods point. I also kinda cancel the healthy as many supermarkets cook in sugar, but hey just look at were I'm doing this above! You also can’t put a good carnivore down!)
juice of a lime
soft lettuce

It wasn't the most elegantly prepared dish, but it was delicious and fresh: In a large bowl, shred the soft lettuce, add the pea shoots, grate the turnip straight into the bowl, spoon in scoops of avocado , do the same with the papaya, tear up the cooked chicken, throw in half the pomegranate. Pour over a drizzle of olive oil, squeeze all the lime, a dash of agave and a few turns of some sea salt and ready to scoff!




If I'd had more time , I would have looked into a more flavoursome dressing , but this turned out to compliment the combination of ingredients quite well as a quick solution.

I'm really looking forward to doing some more research into the raw textures and flavours I can mix up together , chopping away in my new kitchen for everyone. Ive been waiting for our re -build to be done to find some more books on the subject, (I do have a thang about Chad sarno food though) and add to our ever growing collection. This shall make for a good start to our new environment at home and welcome in the spring.

So any rawists out there, what could have dressed my salad today to give it a more intense layered flavour, I'd love to know your ideas!?

Dinner party experiments and secrets, oh and steak dinner too!!!

Tonight we thought we'd practise the starter for our dinner party in a few weeks and that's the Chilled melon soup. I feel its one of the hardest to achieve for the dinner, as its all about the depth and balance of flavours.

Stuart Gillies Head chef at Boxwood Cafe said that secret to this dish is a good rich stock , as this is the basis for this soups depth. We've cheated a bit, as we just don't have the time or the kitchen to do a 12hr stock that can be reduced and reduced all day. So we've bought an unusual rich vegetable stock called Vecon and doctored it with bashed lemon grass and torn basil. If Delia Smith endorses using bought ready made components then so can we!!!! He the mans feels there is no shame in doing this , because were not professionals and were not trying to achieve Michelin stars here , just nice well made food.

I'm writing this as we make it and the smell of the stock right now is amazing , really fragrant and reminiscent of Thailand.

If you want to try this , the quantities are not exact as were just getting a feel right now.

We've bought :

2 Cantaloupe melons , (orange flesh)
bag of fresh basil
a stalk of lemon grass
Creme fraiche
3 tspns Vecon vegetable stock - found in Holland and Barrats. They're really good for obscure and unusual ingredients.
100-200mls sunflower oil or a very very generous slug

Take a litre of water and add 3 tsp of the stock, add in a handful of basil leaves torn, and the lemon grass stick bashed

Start to boil and reduce down , this will help infuse all the herbs. It took about 10-15 mins and reduced by half. Remove from hob and decant into a jug to pop in the freezer to start the chilling process.

Whilst this is happening scoop out the flesh of the melon

Take the rest of the basil and the sunflower oil and blend together to create a runny paste. This will be used to garnish the top of the soup.

We've now blended the melon and realised that Stuart Giles probably sieves it , so were giving that a try right now! It removes all the fibrous parts and makes a much smoother liquid.

After about 20 mins remove the stock mix from the freezer and add 2 ladles of it to the melon mix, taste as you go along to make sure you get a good balance of the 2 flavours ; sweet and savoury. Add in 2 tbls of the creme fraiche and blend well with a hand whisk , to combine and froth. You should have a pale peach liquid in front of you, ours is a bit dark ,due to the colour of the stock, as its a very dark brown. I think if we were to make the stock ourselves , (if we can face it that is), we could control the colour a bit more with the ingredients we use. I may be on the hunt for another well made pre cooked version , possibly Joubere's, although it doesn't have the intensity of flavour that the Vecon one has.

Pour into the jug and return to the freezer for another 10-15 minutes to further chill.

After this time , ladle into a bowl , pour in the centre a small dollop of the basil puree and serve.

The Boxwood version serves it with some small bite size pieces of Iberico ham in the bottom before pouring it in to increase the savouriness and compensate for the melons sweetness. All adding to a better finish on the taste.

This is a deconstructed version of the classic Parma ham and melon dish.

For our own dinner tonight , were having griddled rib eye steak served with salsa Verde and sweet potato chips. One of my favourite meals , nothing quite like a lovely juicy savoury steak!! Probably not the normal combination here, but we wanted something a bit healthier than normal chips and well salsa Verde is my all time fave with anything really!!

Our Salsa Verde is made with 2 bags of parsley, 4 anchovies , juice of a lemon , 4 glugs of olive oil , tbls capers, 2 cloves of garlic, all whizzed in our little bowl blender.

The sweet potato's are just cut up with skin on , olive oil is heated in a dish in the oven as this helps the crisping process , as does sea salt on the potato's. I then add some spices. They take well to savoury and sweet seasonings like Cinnamon, garlic salt , all season and then roasted in the oven until going crispy and chewy! I also like dipping them into an M&S sour cream dip!!!!

Sometimes its just really nice to be in pj's , have fun making some nice food together and just be in our own space , with a bit of this thrown in to add to the action/relaxed juxtaposition chill vibe!!!

Wellllllllllllllll the finished article is really yum if I say so myself. I'm not normally immodest , but its delish and I'm really chuffed with our efforts tonight!!!! He the mans says its too sweet , so Ive just finished his bowl!!! Looks like our starters decided, (as long ads we can repeat it), now we have to sort the main dish and dessert. Have to keep that secret as a little bird might be watching and may spoil it for our guests!

For anyone reading my Reiki life blog , they will be familiar with the hearts that come to me everywhere . Check out the heart that turned up in the middle of that bowl!!!!! Can you believe it , how wonderful to even be in my food.

Its been a busy day and evening , signing out now to enjoy a after dinner Mojito , just served to me by he the mans!!! He the mans has just made himself his new found Caipirinha cocktail!

Enjoy x