There’s Only One Thing Better Than Food…

…and that’s free food!

I did a friend a favour a couple of days ago -I didn’t expect anything in return but ended up leaving with two big bags of fresh veg from her friend’s allotment. Result.

So I bought some lamb chops yesterday and was ready to make a mega cheapo Lancashire Hotpot using my free courgette, potatoes and turnips. That was until I cut into the turnip, and it turned out to be a beetroot! Oops! Anyway, here it is:

Put some lamb chops in the bottom of a casserole dish then layer with thinly sliced potatoes, then a layer of chopped courgette and green beans. Season the veg with salt, pepper and mixed herbs (I would have used rosemary but didn’t have any). Repeat the layers ending with a layer of potatoes. Pour over a pint of beef stock (only stock I had!), add a bouqet garni, brush the top with melted butter and season. Bung it in the oven for 2.5 hours on 170 C, then remove the lid and cook for another 30 mins on 220 C. Remove the bouqet garni and devour the hotpot in true Lancashire style, with a flat cap on and a whippet by your side. Yum.

Now I just need to know what to do with the beetroot!

P.S. WordPress doesn’t recognise the word ‘courgette’! Grrr it’s a bloomin British zucchini! Rant over.

The Other Half Cooks, Plus Word Soup

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. No, I wasn’t stranded somewhere hot and tropical, unable to get back due to Paddy Ashcloud (OH’s invention, not mine) but I have been busy. So what have I been up to?

Well, last night I attended my first Word Soup, where my ever so talented sister, Rachel was performing. It was good, I was worried it would be a bit too highbrow for me but I enjoyed it. And it’s got me writing again – I woke up at about 6.45 this morning ’cause I had to scribble a poem down.

Saturday was spent with my friends. We ‘lunched’ and then went to see my friend’s new house. It was lovely – I’m so jealous. Subsequently, I’ve been giving our flat a mini makeover, but more about that later this week.

While I was out on Saturday, the OH took my absence as an opportunity to embrace his inner Heston Blumen’eck and try out a recipe from his new cookbook. Here’s what he’s been cooking up over the last few days:

Jamie Oliver’s Crunchy Garlic Chicken

I hate to be negative but this was OK, but not great. It’s not really OH’s fault though, we didn’t have fresh parsley so he used dried n I think that’s why it didn’t taste right. He also made a french dressing to go with the salad, which was good.

Classic Tomato Spaghetti

OH chose the tuna variation, using a tin of tuna, cinnamon and lemon juice. He missed out the olives as we don’t like them. This was one of the nicest meals I’ve ever had. We eat a lot of tuna pasta bake ’cause it’s cheap and easy but I think this is going to replace it. The chilli (we used powder rather than fresh chillies, works fine) and cinnamon taste really good with the tuna, even though I was dubious about the combination when reading the recipe. The OH was really pleased, so hopefully he’s going to carry on with this cooking malarkey.

Anyway, that’s it for now, except for a quick herb update as I know that’s what you were all waiting for…   🙂

Bye