Friday evening curry feast .

I am completely into curries, so here is what we ate
Alloo bonda. A cooked potato with chilli
And mixed spices in a chick pea flour batter and fried, a bit like a pakora. See picture three.

Kofta, minced meat, roasted spices cinnamon stick,cloves,cardamom,and
peppercorns. Then ground with roasted cumin and coriander seeds plus quite a lot of chilli powder, and mixed together with 3 tablespoons of plain yoghurt and some salt. This was made into torpedo shapes rather like a rugby ball. Then fried in sunflower oil till brown and then braised in yoghurt some tomato passata and water for half an hour. See picture two.

Then a fish curry, salmon and prawns with courgettes and coriander and coconut milk, lemon grass, and a little chilli, a much milder curry. Picture three shows this
I also made a cucumber raita,and some Dahl .made with red lentils fried garlic and tomato.

Finally , but the FIRST picture you see there is a picture of it all on a plate, at the beginning of this posting .0ops I forgot, I made a carrot salad as well, with fried mustard seeds, lemon juice and salt added to the grated carrot.
Now feel so full up, that I don't need anything else at all . even tomorrow.
Apologies for the order of the pictures
But you get the idea.

Smoked haddock Roulade ,with tomato and pepper sauce and spinach with garlic and pine nuts.

This is what we had for supper tonight. First we had a cold Mushroom soup , made with half a pound of chestnut mushrooms sweated with a sliced onion and half a litre of beef stock added, then blitzed with the stick blender and some Greek Yoghurt added to taste.
Then the roulade with spinach andgarlic plus some pine nuts. Finally nectarines in red wine, on a slice of almond and apricot cake Some raspberries added for colour and acidity.
At last, an evening when we could be outside , enjoying the balmy air. What a change.

Sometimes the best laid plans go awry

When I took the Partridge breasts from the freezer yesterday I thought I could smell ripe meat. Today , they were completely high, and having cooked a very small piece,to taste, I threw them into the bin. that is something I hardly ever do being a frugal cook.
Thank goodness for the Microwave, as I have quickly defrosted a ribeye steak which is quite enough for two.
The sauce I made earlier with chestnut mushrooms and spring onions had Prosecco in it, so I have added some red wine to it as well.
Carrots and French beans will add some colour plus the ratatouille.
Haven't poached the peaches, we can eat them raw and have some good Stilton, Cheddar and Goat's cheese to finish the meal.

Weekend cooking.

One friend tonight, and another for lunch tomorrow.
So what is on the menu ...
Melon and Parma Ham, with crushed basil sea salt and oil, green and thick.
Then a pot roast of beef as it is still unseasonably cold. With that I shall serve sliced potatoes cooked in the oven with olive oil,garlic,and rosemary. Either some spinach or some ratatouille which I made a couple of days ago.
I have some focaccia in the freezer, so we can have that too.
For pudding a slice of lemon drizzle cake with mango and blueberries plus Greek yoghurt. Should do the trick.
Not sure about the wine as I have a feeling she prefers a white.

Tomorrow I have found some Partridge breasts in the freezer, which I shall gently fry , and make a white wine sauce with mushrooms, and spring onions they will not be not too strong to overpower the Partridge.Maybe a little rice with this, and some French beans.
Then I have been watching some peaches in the fruit bowl which even after 8 days have not ripened properly,so I shall poach them in spices cinnamon stick, cloves and lemon peel plus wine is left over(hopefully) from tonight and that will be enough.
No doubt a glass of two of red wine, probably my favourite of the moment St. Jaques D'Albas 2004 from the Minervois, which is drinking beautifully right now.

A message for Melody.Hi there, I am not very good with working things out,on this ipad,I.e. how to send you a message!Thanks for your kind words,very heartening.There is so much that I want to tell people, I am hoping to get to do some demonstrating soon at a Charity in Bristol.If you send me another message with a contact either email or phone,then we could get going!Best wishes to both you and your mother.Jill I have just looked on the site you suggest,that seems like one interesting item,and could be useful, but I am not so sure that I would be able to work the different components one handed .

Very little done over the past week.

Because I was clumsy enough to spill a mug of boiling tea all down my front, resulting , as one can surely imagine, in some scalding.
I am a great believer in the healing power of Lavender oil so that was much in use. I'mpleased to say that it is no longer painful,but the marks will take a bit of time to disappear.
Such are the things I have to put up with .

Risotto. Comfort food extraordinaire

Just back from being a guinea pig for a group of Physios and other health care professionals. Was so pleased to be told by two of them that they have patients who read this blog. That is really heartening, as I never know who reads it or if they find it interesting
I have just made this Risotto,using chestnut mushrooms and spinach. I had some Pernod in the cupboard and used that instead of wine before I added the vegetables. The spinach went in at the end as it cooks so quickly. I also had a bit of smoked Applewood Cheddar that I put in instead of Parmesan and gave the finished dish a depth of flavour.