Jottage from Cambridge: Packed Lunches

Everyday, usually just after 7am when my husband is playing with Tristan in bed, I get up and make up him a packed lunch. The main reason for doing this is because he works on a back street in Angel with no cafes or shops nearby and, although a trolley does apparently go round his workplace with sandwiches on display, I figure that by making his lunch we probably save around £5 a day. (A significant saving now I’m not working.) I like to think too that, like Hugh who writes that his passion for food is equal to his passion for his wife, I am demonstrating how much I love my husband by including things that he likes to eat. On special days, for example, I cut his sandwich into diamonds rather than rectangles, and I get excited in Sainsbury’s when roast beef or mortadella are on offer as I know how much he prefers them to simple tuna mayo or ham salad. I always include something savoury, usually a pork pie, scotch egg or hard-boiled egg though at the moment I’m giving him pieces of the broccoli quiche I made at the weekend for Tristan. (Tristan has become a bit more fussy recently and, although he adored the quiche when I made it first time, he now only really wants to eat bananas –preferably two or three in one sitting.) More often than not though Theo’s lunches are quite bland and, as he’s away from home for nearly twelve hours a day, I’m not convinced that he’s really eating enough of the right things to offset the afternoon sluggishness. 

Hugh lists his reasons for making packed lunches in a chapter titled ‘weekday lunch (box)’ in the Everyday book. Although cost does come into it, for Hugh the main reason for doing it yourself is because, compiled from leftover meat and veg, you’re bound to be able to make something much nicer than a pre-packed sandwich. Certainly at the moment I’m not sure that my efforts are better than an M&S, or even Tesco, meal deal. So, with Hugh’s help, I am going to transform  the contents of theo’s lunchboxes, and I will make sure that he posts up his comments on this blog for you to read!

Jottage from Cambridge: Tomato and Mozzarella Risotto

I gave Tristan some of last night's dinner for lunch today. Although I probably can't claim to be 'weaning' him any more (he's been on solids for over 6 months now) some meals still leave me on the verge of tears. I am never sure how much he's going to eat and sometimes all he wants are bananas and yogurt. He'll always eat cheese and apple on toast (River Cottage Baby & Toddler) but I can't really guarantee that he'll be tempted by a spoonful of something which Theo and I have found appetising the previous evening. It was with some trepidation that I gave him some of the tomato and mozzarella risotto. I blended it up a bit and made sure the yogurt container and fruit bowl were well out of sight. I'm happy to say that he did quite like it, though perhaps not as much as me and Theo.

I adore making risotto as it only takes half an hour on the stove and you can't really go wrong - as long as your saucepans are non-stick. However this recipe from River Cottage Veg really beat every other risotto I've ever made. I was all ready to make the roast tomato sauce but didn't realise that the tomatoes needed to be in the oven for an hour, and all of us were famished. So I used passata instead and cut up a couple of really delicious tomatoes and plonked them in the pot. I added a bit of marjoram and thyme that I had in the cupboard and cut up some Basics mozzarella. The end result was deliciously creamy, and I am not going to bother making any other kind of risotto for a while.

Jottage from Lancaster - The 2nd loaf

We managed to eat all the first loaf, which I didn't expect. But apart from being very obviously 'artisan' it wasn't that good. But I was quite excited about having another shot at it. I have some four grain flour which was milled reasonably locally and also the end of a bag of white flour. I was more confident about the recipe, and perhaps being a little freer with the water than the first time and going more with my instincts. 


As it was mostly whole wheat flour I wasn't expecting it to turn out like tights after kneading, but I was a bit surprised when it could have passed for maybe a new Aran sweater and the dough definitely had some stretchy quality that the last lot didn't have. I gave it plenty of time to rise and we went out and I just left it to fend for itself. When we got back it was deep and spongy.

I knocked it back by poking it with my fingers as the book says. I still wanted to physically thump it, but I poked it quite thoroughly into submission so that it was flat like a pancake. 

You have to fold it, roll it and pinch it just so to get it into shape. This is the one process in the 40 pages that he doesn't explain the reason for. In the past, I would just sort of mould it into shape with my hands but apparently that isn't the done thing to do. I thought I would make a baton-shaped loaf and the book says that that is the most complicated to do. Regardless of the difficulty, I had a go and it did make quite a satisfying baton-shape which I am quite proud of.

If this turns out like the last loaf, then it will be a great weapon to attack potential burglars but I am much more optimistic this time. John brought in an old stone flag which must have been on our roof some time in the past and so I put that in the oven to warm up so that this time I can call it stone-baked. At the moment it's in the oven and I am watching anxiously through the glass doors. It looks lovely - hopefully it will taste good too.


Here is the finished loaf fresh from the oven - I only hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Jottage from Cambridge - Chard and New Potato Curry

I happened to watch a little bit of Saturday Kitchen the other week, and they were raving on and on about Jersey Royals. To me potatoes, whether they’re from the Basics range or Taste the Difference, taste pretty much the same though, for aesthetic reasons, I do like it when they’re nice and yellow inside. Well anyway Jersey Royals were on offer in Sainsbury’s so I decided to buy a bag and use them to make the Chard and new potato curry (RC Veg, p.24). It was Theo’s birthday last week and I thought it would make a nice Birthday tea (followed by an M&S Lemon Tart). Although it was very easy finding Jersey Royals tracking down some chard proved tricky. They certainly don’t stock chard in our Sainsbury’s, so Tristan and I trekked down Mill Road on a mission.

 I started at Al-Amin, the largest grocer’s on Mill Road and infamous for its owner who ran for the position of Cambridge University’s Chancellor when Sainsbury’s expressed an interest in the site opposite (Lord Sainsbury was also running to be Chancellor and did, in the end, win the majority of the votes), but the guy at the till clearly hadn’t heard of the stuff. According to Wikipedia chard has a variety of names: Swiss chard, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet, crab beet, bright lights – but I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t lurking with the spinach and lettuce with this name or any other in Al-Amin, or indeed in Arjuna where they also sell a variety of greener than green green veg. 

Garlic, chilli and ginger being after bashing

Tesco doesn’t stock chard either – when you type it into the search engine the website helpfully asks: do you mean ‘hard’? and brings up a selection of Hard Skin and Nail Files and Hard Skin Remover – not quite what I was looking for. So where can you buy the stuff? Well, certainly in Waitrose where chard appears in their ‘Limited Selection’ range (chard is in season in April and May so I suppose they might only sell it in those months.) With Waitrose being so far away I ended up substituting chard for kale which Hugh himself recommends. I don’t find kale all that interesting to eat but the dish was very enjoyable. The potatoes were as yellow as the pudding to follow and all the flavours came together in a very satisfying way. It was perhaps a bit too hot for my liking so I’d use half a chilli next time rather than a whole one. I would certainly try and make it with chard too as, having learned how nutritious the stuff is, I am determined to find some! 

Tasty, though a little too hot

Jottage from Lancaster - River Cottage Bread

I bought the River Cottage Bread Handbook. I didn't really mean to, and optimistically put it into my Amazon Shopping Basket in the hope that one day I would get it. Then John ordered something else and it piggy-backed on to his order. So now I have it for myself.

There are 40 pages devoted to the skill of making a loaf (and yet only 15 to making a clay oven in 3 days...). I have made bread before - indeed my grandfather was a baker so I was taught how to make it by my mother, who had learnt by osmosis some of her father's techniques for kneading. However, this book is nothing like that and I am learning it all from new - which is no bad thing as I never could get the hang of baking white bread.  


Armed with a bag of organic unbleached strong white flour (which seems to tick all the boxes) I embarked on my 40 page recipe. I was somewhat disconcerted to find that these 40 pages didn't actually include a recipe at all but it was just a step-by-step account of how to make bread. Some investigation and I found what I was looking for tucked away on page 78. I carefully measured all the ingredients and went in with both hands enthusiastically kneading. This was quite soothing and pleasant for a while, but after about 15 minutes my arms were hurting and it seemed obvious that when I stretched the dough, it would never come out as thin as a pair of tights, as it should. I began to remember nice thick winter 80 denier tights from M and S, but even so it just would stretch obligingly as on the picture. Not only could I not get it down to a pair of tights, I was struggling to get it to look like anything better than an old worn-out Aran sweater. I knew it wasn't right but I just gave up in despair and blamed it on the flour. Luckily, I had used up the last half of the bag and so I can try something else next time.

Ready for first rising

And so the process continued with the kneading and then rising and knocking back. I had always thought you knocked back with your knuckles but I now know better and just poke my fingers into it - but that's not half so satisfying...


I was still worried about the fact that I couldn't stretch it until you could see through it like a pair of tights and so I gave it an extra rising just to be on the safe side. And then I cooked it - and took it out of the oven...

It looked suitably risen and hand-made. Unfortunately, it looked nicer than it was. It's quite dense and so isn't all that comfortable to eat. The troubleshooting bit of the book tells me that it's probably a low gluten flour - and the loaf I made in the machine with the other half of the packet was indeed tasteless and dense in the same way. However, it is eatable (just), and as a first loaf I learnt more about the theory and practice of bread making by having a shot at it - albeit unsuccessfully - than just adding water to a packet in the bread maker. In short - this is the first loaf of many. I am, perhaps, my grandfather's granddaughter after all.

Charles George Layley

Just as a rider - this is my grandfather. But before you panic about the beard and the bread (which could easily get mixed up in all that kneading and knocking back), he's in costume posing for the local rag where he wrote a weekly column as a character called 'Jolly Jarge'. A sort of early blogger really...

Jottage from Lancaster - Chicken, Couscous, Honey and Cinammon

We have been out for a day's caching in the Lake District - tackling some of the country's worst bits of road all in the cause of finding a Tupperware box under a stone in some remote location. The weather was supposed to be awful today, but when we woke up to sunshine and blue sky it seemed too good to stay in.


Although we didn't actually walk very far today. It ended up very blustery and, for a while, very rainy, so when we got home lighting the fire was priority. I had been wanting to make Chicken, Couscous, Honey and Cinnamon for ages and as we had a roast chicken last night, with some left overs, tonight was definitely the night for it. I thought it would be a complicated recipe, but it's been very simple. Here is the couscous swelling up on the stove...

Coucous 'cooking'

The 10 minutes while the couscous practically cooks itself is just enough time to pull some nice bits of chicken from the carcass and chop up the nuts. Drop both these into the pan and it's done!


What I ended up with was something slightly sweet, slightly tangy, and very scrumptious. Hugh suggests that it's a nice change from a chicken sandwich, and it would make a lovely picnic lunch. I have enough left for tomorrow and I'm already looking forward to eating it again.

Ready to eat!

Jottage from Lancaster - Roasted Tomato Sauce

According to Hugh, this seems to be one of those things you should always have in the fridge or freezer and I have made tomato sauce before using real tomatoes but it was rather watery and not very nice. Roasting the tomatoes first seemed to give more hope of some denser flavour. 

I had always been a bit put off making this on the grounds that we don't grow our own tomatoes and so I would have to buy a lot. But the market stall in Lancaster this morning had a tempting offer - big bags of tomatoes that were cheap. I didn't expect them to be nice salad tomatoes but bought a couple of bags and even before fully unpacking the shopping, I had them halved, sprinkled with garlic and thyme, slathered with rapeseed oil and in the oven, roasting. The cooking smell in the kitchen is mouth-watering and I have just taken them out to cool before sieving them to get rid of the skin.

So now they are cooked and I have completed the rather tedious task of squashing them through a sieve with a wooden spoon.

Tomatoes before...

...and after.

The sauce turned out to be quite nice - but a pale orange-y colour and the taste wasn't amazing. I guess that good, robust English tomatoes would produce an entirely different flavour and colour and using what are probably rejected tomatoes from some rather unpleasant polytunnel in a derelict area of southern Europe just doesn't work the same. But not to be deterred I poured it all into a moussaka instead of tomatoes in a tin and it did give a depth of flavour that wasn't usually there. 

It was easy to make and I would definitely do so again - but using cheap out-of-season tomatoes makes even that minimal effort, not really worth it.