Tummyrumble

Roasted chicken with chorizo on a bed of root vegetables and cabbage

Waitrose saved our Sunday dinner (again)
Originally uploaded by Manne.

Building from a Waitrose recipe, we made this for Sunday dinner. While their recipe was basically just the chicken on cabbage and chorizo, served with potato mash, we decided to whack a load of various veggies in there and let it all roast together in the same pan. 

Lazy buggers, we are.

Simple as day, and in Waitrose's own words "quick to prepare, lovely mix of flavours".

While I am at it I'd like to recommend these sausages from Unearthed that we found through the Waitrose recipe. The little kabanos snacking sausages are brilliant on a plate with some Comté cheese...

Mini sausages from Unearthed, delish
Originally uploaded by Manne.

Ingredients (serves 2 hungry piggies)

2 carrots
1 parsnip
1 swede, diced
1 leek, sliced
1 pointed spring cabbage, shredded
1 onion, cut in clefts
1 pack cooking chorizo (250 gr)
4 chicken legs
2 tbsp sherry
rosemary, 4 fresh sprigs
garlic, 4-6 whole peeled cloves
olive oil
salt
black pepper

Method

Heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Start with cutting the root vegetables and onion in rough pieces, chop up the chorizo, peel the garlic cloves, place it all in a roasting tray. Drizzle with some olive oil, splash in the sherry.

Add the chicken legs to the tray and rub it all around, getting some of the oil and sherry on the chicken. Then place the legs skin side up and season with salt and pepper.

Roast for 20 minutes.

Remove tray from oven and lift chicken out on to a plate. Mix the cabbage and leek into the vegetables and chorizo, give it all a good stir. See how the chorizo has released its juices, all that lovely bronze colour? You want some of that to rub off on the cabbage and leek.

Put the chicken back on top, return tray to oven and roast for another 35 minutes.

Chicken should be golden in colour, and when cooked through no pink meat should be seen near the bone in the thickest part.

Place a few good spoonfuls of vegetable mix on a plate, rest a leg (or two...) on top and drizzle with the juices from the pan.

Serve with a rich red wine that survives the spiciness from the chorizo. Waitrose recommends Vina Fuerte Old Vine Garnacha, Catalyud, Spain.

Why not, I say.

Who needs Lemsip when you can drink toddy?

Hot toddy with ginger and lemon to fight the cold
Originally uploaded by Manne.

In this weather knowing the recipe of a good hot toddy is worth gold.

If you do a quick search online you will find a lot of recipes for hot toddy, clearly the inventiveness in this area is immense! 

While I do not know where the claims to cure colds come from, the word toddy is said to be derived from the Hindu word "tari" which is a sweet alcoholic drink.

Somehow that word made its way to Scotland, was lovingly distorted to "toddy" and made immortal by Robert Burns using it in the poem "The Holy Fair" as long ago as 1785... In the poem it means an alcoholic drink, plain and simple, but today I think most people would associate it with something warm and spicy.

My own favourite originates from Ireland and was handed down to me from a colleague well versed in the arts of toddy making. His advice was to drink a really nice and piping hot toddy if:

• you have a cold, 
• have a friend who has a cold,
• think you might be coming down with a cold, or
• you feel a need to practice the recipe for when the cold comes aknockin'.

Dead simple. Pour two (hard working man's) fingers of Irish whiskey in a highball glass. I prefer something simple and smooth like Tullamore Dew or Black Bush. Take a lemon and cut a big slice from the middle. Stuff it with cloves. Push it into the glass, wedging it good half way down. Add two teaspoons of (brown) sugar or honey and then fill up with boiling water. Use a long spoon to stir around the lemon until the sugar is dissolved.

Drink and feel the cold cower, faced with the force of the almighty toddy!

Another excellent hot toddy recipe was supplied by @garlicconfit yesterday as I was moaning about my man flu on Twitter. His favoured version uses brandy and ginger that first is boiled with the water to make the toddy really pack a punch! Try it out, it helped me.

If you want to cut out the alcohol, but still enjoy a quick and simple yet strong toddy, the ginger is really the way to go:

Chop up a thumb's worth of fresh ginger in pepper corn sized bits. Put them in a cup with a dollop of honey. Squeeze the juice of one lemon on top (I like to also scoop out some of the lemon flesh and add to the potion), and fill up with boiling water. Leave to infuse for a few minutes and then enjoy.

There you go. Three really nice toddies to chase the cold away. Who needs Lemsip, when there are lemons and ginger in the world?

Do you have a favourite toddy recipe? Please share it in the comments, so I have a few varieties to try should my battle against the cold require reinforcements!

Smoky pepper sauce with a wee bite - Tabasco Chipotle

Tabasco Chipotle, smoked red jalapenos
Originally uploaded by Manne.

I am not really a big fan of Tabasco. Sure, I like it, but it has never been a big addiction of mine as I know it is to some people. My friend I swears by it with scrambled eggs, and T will simply not eat pizza without. Actually, in his case, it is more like he has tabasco with a sprinkling of pizza rather than the other way around...

After having tried this particular variety though, Tabasco Chipotle, I might have to reconsider my lack of infatuation.

This stuff is great. Not too hot, a bit of sweetness and a lovely smoky flavour really coming through. The moment you open the bottle you clearly notice the smoke scents spreading in the room.

We simply had it as condiment on our special spicy lamb bolognese that we eat scooped straight out of the frying pan with gem and chicory lettuce leaves for "cutlery", but I really want to try this in marinades, sauces and even soups to add that smoky twist.

Chipotle pepper sauce and my sticky pork ribs... Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

On their web site Tabasco tells a story about old Aztecs and centuries old methods for slow-smoking vine-ripened red jalapenos to produce the base for this rich and thick sauce... Yeah. One of those things where I really would like to know more about the production process. Or would I?

Found it at Waitrose. Get some.

Bonus-URL: www.tabascofanclub.co.uk

Nice site with lots of recipes, photos and all things Tabasco. How about a Bloody Mary Sorbet? Sounds awesome!

Another tasty Greensmiths picnic lunch

Look at that Gouda cheese...
Originally uploaded by Manne.

Strolled down Lower Marsh in the lovely sunshine and decided to get my entire lunch from Greensmiths today. I can't emphasize enough how great that store is and if you work nearby, do go check it out.

Had a word with what I assume is the store manager, and he did say that it was a challenge for them to make people realize just how big they are and what a wide range this store has. From the outside all you see is the butcher's, but once inside you realise there is a two floor basement with so much more on offer!

Got some Italian salami from Milano for protein, coleslaw for fat, hoummus for the lovely taste and a small piece of aged Gouda cheese for luxury. Another fantastic LCHF lunch.

About the cheese, I did feel a bit silly asking for a 50 gram piece but the girl in the store cut it for me with a smile (after asking me if I really wanted 50 grams, since she did think I obviously was asking for too little...). So glad I got it though since it is absolutely amazing. Beautiful colour, creamy texture yet full with little crackling crystals and the richest Gouda taste ever.

The store manager told me something really cool, apparently Scooterworks has started showing movies in their basement. Now, if you have been to Scooterworks you know that it is really small, they can barely fit their ancient espresso machine in there! So how they have managed to squeeze a cinema into the basement is beyond me... Sounds rather... Intimate.

Stopped by on my way back to the office and the barista girl confirmed that they indeed have movie nights on Mondays. Eight o'clock, they screen what they feel like screening that day, but it is usually Italian and rather arty. Figures, what else. They have an image to uphold.

Think I will have to check that out after French class on Monday evening!

LCHF gold mine at Lower Marsh

LCHF picnic lunch from Lower Marsh
Originally uploaded by Manne.

Quite frequently I don't have time to bring a home cooked meal to the office, so I end up going to M&S in Waterloo station to buy a salad or something along those lines. Getting something filling which isn't full of carbs at a reasonable lunch price is a bit tricky. Also, I end up getting the same things all the time...

Today I decided to check out Lower Marsh and go foraging for lunch, picnic style. Found out that it is a veritable gold mine for LCHF diet practitioners!

Not only do you have Cooper's Natural Foods which provides great salads that can act as a base for any meal. You also have Greensmiths supermarket which sells vegetables, cheeses, sausages, pates, guacamole, hoummus and other lovely stuff.

To top that off, there is a (rather special and quirky, but brilliant) sandwich place called Casse Croute whcih gladly sells you the fillings of their sandwiches separately! Different types of ham, pastrami, spiced chicken, hard boiled eggs, more cheese...

From here on I predict a lot of Lower Marsh picnic lunches.

The plate pictured above was today's find. Red onion; eggs and pastrami from Casse Croute for protein; brie and guacamole from Greensmiths for fat; red pepper and lovely fresh crispy spinach also from Greensmiths for filler.

Awesome.