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 - 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 - Kale and Mushroom lasagne (2)

There's something to be said for trusting a recipe book. To my genuine surprise (tinged with a little horror) I found out that many recipe books just put in random recipes that had never actually been tried out. Many of Mrs Beeton's recipes, for instance, are just made up figments of her imagination. They may work out - they may not. Although I don't know if Delia Smith was the first of her kind to have actually whipped up every recipe in her famous books - but in my mind she was the first cook I trusted. Many of us feel the same I know, as the blessed Delia's Complete Cookery Course must be on almost everyone's cookery bookshelf. I know that people love Jamie and that there are other equally brilliant cooks (mostly of the TV variety) who produce books that people 'swear by'. Since I'm not a huge fan of TV cookery, these have largely passed me by. However, our chance encounter with Hugh changed all that (as you must realise) and I have come to rely on, trust even, the River Cottage recipes. 


In my Delia phases (Marigold stock powder, real Madagascar vanilla essence et al), I was always pleased with the results of what I made - and I never doubted that what would turn out would be palatable, but it was never quite as exciting as I wanted to it be. Now I wouldn't call my self anything but a decent, plain cook. Cottage pie, steamed ginger pudding, Yorkshire pud and decent gravy are my strengths and Delia provided recipes of that ilk that I was quite happy to make. But suddenly when I bought River Cottage Everyday I felt that it was something I really wanted to try. To be able to make things that were a bit different and a bit more exciting. But kale and spinach lasagne would have to be a no-no. It sounded bland, uninteresting and 'not quite my thing'.


However.

Assembled but not cooked

Once Heather had made it and I looked again I thought I would have a go. Just because I trusted the book not to put me through the shenanigans of making it if it wasn't better than half way decent to eat. Bearing in mind Heather's warnings about the lasagne not being cooked, I did what I usually do and made it in the morning in the hope that the lasagne sheets would soften enough before it was cooked to avoid pre-cooking. I had a minor hiccup as I suddenly thought it needed 200g of parmesan and not 20g and I also got completely muddled about which layer was which and ended up just stacking up the kale, mushrooms and lasagne pretty randomly in the dish before I sprinkled on the obligatory cheese. So far so good. It seemed to be a simple recipe (and certainly cheap - especially given that it didn't need much Parmesan. But boy did it make a lot of washing up!

The finished lasagne!

The end result had the obligatory bubbling cheese on top. And amazingly it tasted really wonderful. Definitely one to make again and again. Really the pre-cooked lasagne did need to be cooked - it was a bit more al dente than It perhaps should have been. But I don't mind making it again as I want to eat it again!






All that was left was to eat it - and then do the washing up!

Jottage from Lancaster - Spinach, Penne and Cheese Spouffle

Although I had bought some nice whiting to eat tonight, I just couldn't resist making Spinach, Penne and Cheese Spouffle. It took a lot of saucepans - I think I used 3 or 4 in the end, as well as a bowl and numerous ladles, spoons and knives, my electric mixer and a cheese grater. It was one of those things that are described as 'simple' suppers but which take quite a bit of preparation. The recipe in Veg Everyday was for 4 portions so I halved it and somehow the ingredients looked very sparse. Just 37g of cheese, 50g of pasta and 25g each of butter and flour. I couldn't see it ever making anything substantial. Even half a packet of spinach wilted down to a little bit at the bottom of the saucepan. I was convinced that somehow it wouldn't come out to much. 


Optimistically I prepared it and put it all into a nice Laura Ashley oven proof dish and popped it into the oven. After 30 minutes it came out and looked just lovely. It was just a bit brown on the top and creamy and delicious in the middle. And it tasted wonderful. And even though there wasn't much of anything in it, it felt like a good meal. This picture makes it look almost like an omelette but in fact it was quite deep and there was easily enough for 2 of us.

It all took a little longer to make as I was totting up calories as I went along. I reckon this was 430 calories per portion. For such a nourishing and sustaining meal I think that's quite good. This is a recipe that I think I will return to again and again. In the book, Hugh gives an alternative with courgettes and I can't wait to have a go at that.

Jottage from Lancaster - Boring Diet Stuff 1

There's nothing much more boring than people going on about dieting and I know that I am one of the worst. I have some 50+ years of trying to lose extra weight and like a lot of other people before me, the constant dieting has done nothing more than add weight over time. But even so I always want to find the perfect diet and never quite learn my lesson. So it was with some glee that I pounced on Hugh's anti-Atkins diet which he puts in his book Hugh Fearnley Eats-it-All. I have had a modicum of success with the Atkins diet, and I actually enjoy it, but even I can see that it isn't terribly sensible for me for the long term. I like my fruit and veg too much.

Today is supposed to be Happy Monday and so it may well be a good diet to start yet another diet. So here is Hugh's anti-Atkins diet which I propose to have a shot at.

Hugh's anti-Atkins diet
This is principally a diet for energy and health, not weight loss, but serious fatties will probably find the kilos fall off. By rights I should earn billions for this, as it is guaranteed to keep you well-nourished and fit for the rest of your life. But here it is, gratis, from the goodness of my happy, healthy heart:
For breakfast: Eat a bunch of fresh fruit. Then, if you're still really hungry, have a piece of toast.
Mid-morning snack: Eat more fruit. Then, if you're still really hungry, have another piece of toast.
Lunch: Eat a bunch of veg. Raw if possible. If you're still hungry, have a sandwich (but not two), or a piece of chicken, or a lump of cheese (but not both). Eat with juice or water, not Coca Cola or Fanta.
Mid-afternoon: Have another piece of fruit. If it's a bad day, have a biscuit too.
Supper: Eat whatever the hell you like. If you're actually trying to lose weight, eat whatever the hell you like, but not too much of it.

I am not going to carry on with a blog about dieting as that would be too boring, even for me - but suffice it to say that I will now be counting calories when I make anything.

Jottage from Lancaster/Cambridge - Lemon Tart

I have been lacking a bit in inspiration over the festive season, hence not putting up any new posts at all. However I couldn’t resist reporting on the concoction of a very delicious lemon tart. The recipe came from the River Cottage Family Cookbook (pp. 52-3) – one of my Christmas presents. The book is full of lovely pictures and is clearly meant to be used by young children (there are quite a few pictures of cute kids peeling, chopping and eating things). It is neatly divided up into the major food groups – flour, milk, eggs etc. – with descriptions at the beginning of each chapter about what extraordinary things can be created from the most basic ingredients. The lemon tart was the most obvious thing to make as my mother had already bought a load of lemons, and my husband adores lemon tart more than pretty much anything else. Supermarket brands of lemon tart are generally pretty good, and for about 3.99 you can get yourself a nice tart which might even be sprinkled with some icing sugar. I was intrigued to know what it would taste like if I made it myself though.

Ethan and Amelia making breadcrumbs from butter and flour

This was my first attempt at making a lemon tart and I had no idea how time-consuming it was going to be. Hugh’s recipe was fairly straightforward  but there were a surprising number of steps and not much explanation at certain points – for example, he didn’t explain why the pastry needed to be pricked with a fork, or why a baking sheet needed to be warmed up in the oven. Also, what on earth are baking beans for and what would have happened if we hadn’t used them? Pastry is pretty fragile stuff it seems, and needs a lot of care and attention. I gathered the assistance of my 5 year old nephew, Ethan, and 2 year old niece Amelia, and – as the pictures below reveal – they got stuck in mixing the flour and butter together.

Tristan making sure that we follow the recipe correctly

However I couldn’t really interest them in the next stage (too many Christmas presents to play with)– a pity as there can’t be many things more satisfying than mixing together butter, sugar, eggs and lemons. We poured the gloopy mix into our perfect pastry case and warmed it slightly under the grill before eating. Unlike shop bought tarts the filling was very runny, but it was a perfect shade of yellow – not pale at all, but the colour of real lemons. There were no complaints at the table that night, and there wasn’t a scrap of pastry left.

The final product - edges slightly burned as we didn't read the bit which suggested you cover the sides in foil

Jottage from Cambridge – The Art of the Kitchen

When I was about eight months pregnant my bump suddenly started to grow in size by the day and, before long, it was almost impossible to get past my husband in our tiny kitchen. Cooking is something that we’ve always enjoyed doing together (n.b. Hugh’s Chicken Curry is a fabulous recipe to make with another person as there are lots of components (each complicated in their own way, and worthy of admiration by your other half) which are thrown into the same pot), but given the size of our kitchen it was always going to be a challenge in this house – even without a bump! So, imagine my delight when we started looking to buy a property in Cambridge and the place we agreed on had an enormous kitchen – in fact it was the biggest kitchen I had ever had the pleasure of using on a daily basis. So, this made me think about some of the kitchens I have had to contend with, and how they compare. Also, from writing this post, I have realised that over the past ten years I have switched loyalties (from Delia, to Jamie and now to River Cottage) depending on where I’ve lived and personal circumstances. 

Unsurprisingly the kitchen I encountered at my University Hall of Residence wasn’t up to much, and Baked Bean toasties were probably the extent of my culinary repertoire for those three years. I do remember buying packets of Safeway Savers fish fingers too so perhaps I did use the oven. (Like everyone else I had a Student Cookbook, though I’m certain I never used it.) It wasn’t until I was studying for my second degree that I discovered pesto. It was a perfect match and, after a night out or a day of dull seminars, nothing quite compared to spaghetti mixed with pesto and tomatoes and sprinkled with parmesan. I lived with three girls that I didn’t get on with at all so, although the kitchen in our shared house was ok, I didn’t want to spend any more time in it than I had to  another reason why I consumed so much pesto. 

Moving to London for my first job in 2000 I lived in a cheap flat in Cricklewood with a surprisingly large kitchen. Suddenly I had sophisticated friends who weren’t afraid to attend private views at the Serpentine Gallery with arty types. They invited me round for homemade pizzas and meals that didn’t come out of a packet. It was all very frightening, especially when one of my very best friends described coming round to another person’s house and being served pizza from a box! I was that very friend, though she had clearly forgotten it was me and I didn’t confess to such a faux-pas. However, I didn’t really take advantage of this big kitchen (and I was fairly terrified of my landlady who lived with me at the time and I didn’t want to spend too much time weighing out ingredients in our shared space), so going out to Pizza Express or Wagamamas became an almost weekly event. Also I never went out with anyone for long enough in those early years to need more than one recipe, so experimenting in the kitchen was hardly a priority. When I invited a boy round for dinner I would always give them pasta served with roast veg, passata and bacon. This was exactly what I gave to Theo (my now husband) when he first came round. It was quite frightening when I realised we were becoming more committed to each other, and a second invitation would be necessary. I didn’t know what on earth to serve up that would impress him (though my pasta dish probably didn’t win his heart so a good cook probably wasn’t top of his criteria for a girlfriend). Delia came to the rescue. Over the following months I served him up all kinds of meals which I printed out at work from Delia online. We also discovered that cooking was something we enjoyed doing together so some of the burden was taken off my shoulders. He adored cooking with fish, not something I had eaten much of previously – see ‘A Fishy Dilemma’ – and the stir fry became the fast-food option rather than pizza.  

I’m part of the generation who adores Jamie Oliver. I doubt that I have any friends who don’t have a pile of his books stacked up on their kitchen counters with well-worn pages. Moving to Manchester in 2007 I bought one of those characterless flats in the ‘trendy’ Northern Quarter, and Jamie became part of the furniture. All painted white (the lease actually forbids the tenants from painting the walls any other colour) the kitchen was an add-on to the main living space. Although it wasn’t very big, I found it perfectly suited my needs. The trick was not to make anything too complicated (which is where Jamie really comes in) so that when friends came round for dinner they wouldn’t see me getting all flustered in the kitchen. Instead I would pour them a glass of wine and try and keep myself sober while I made a recipe I knew by heart. I invited various new acquaintances round for dinner, and a risotto of some kind, or indeed homemade pizza (see Jamie’s Italian), was always on the menu. 

From Manchester to Cambridge, and I have already described the contrasting kitchens I have experienced here. As you can see from the photo I now have ample space – Tristan is at the centre of things and around him are cupboards, and a huge stove which have eight hobs, and two ovens! I even have a shelf in one cupboard for my expanding collection of Tupperware. I will definitely make the most of my new fancy kitchen and, in the spirit of this blog, will endeavour to concoct as many things as possible from my River Cottage cookbook. Living just off Mill Road with a wealth of food shops surrounding me I should be able to source all the ingredients and, with dinner parties becoming rare treats, it feels worth venturing beyond Jamie and Delia and into new territory. 

Too small for me and a bump...

Big enough for all of us and more...

Jottage from Lancaster - Shin of Beef with Ginger and Soy (1)

It's one of those days - and they happen all too frequently - when I just can't think of anything to eat tonight. Added to which, I don't feel much like cooking. So I opened the freezer and stared at it for a while wondering whether to throw away that Elderflower Sorbet that must be 2 (or is it 3?) years old now. But I can't bear to throw away food so it will just stay there a bit longer until I can stand it no longer and I will just shut my eyes and drop it into the bin. 
I didn't have much that inspired me to make anything. Maybe that single piece of salmon would make a fishcake, maybe that lamb mince would make up a moussaka (although it would have to be aubergine-less), but what, what could be in those anonymous white plastic bags??? They were definitely something I bought from the butcher but I couldn't for the life of me recall what I had bought and what might be in them. Some frosty poking about made me think that in one was sausages - but there seemed to be too many of them and they would come in next week when the family were all here for Christmas. 
One bag seemed to have something in that I just couldn't identify. In the end I poked a hole in it to have a look and it was a nice bit of braising steak. Goodness knows when I had bought that. Having made a hole I then worried that it might not be a good idea to leave it in the freezer. Then I remembered Hugh's recipe for Shin of Beef with Ginger and Soy. Nice braising steak is hardly shin of beef, but it would do...it would do.
I left my frozen braising steak in the sun in the window, but in the end, I threw it into the frying pan to defrost and brown off all in one seamless process. It was then I realised that I needed 150ml of soy sauce. That was over a bottle full! It sounded a bit too generous, so I cut that down. And I didn't have any apple juice so I just used stock made with powder. I had some garlic and some fresh ginger so at least some of the ingredients were spot on.
Then I threw the lot into the slow cooked along with a carrot which was in the fridge and seemed to need eating - maybe that would make up for the lack of apple juice. I gingerly tasted the juices in the cooker and amazingly enough - it seems to taste totally gorgeous. Give it another couple of hours and we will see....

Jottage from Cambridge - Polenta and How Much Does it Cost to Feed a Baby?

I have managed to get through the first thirty-four years of my life without using polenta, or indeed knowing what it is. Yet when I typed ‘polenta’ into the recipe finder on Epicurious, 173 recipes were returned, including a dazzling array of cheesecakes, stews and lasagnes. Thanks to Hugh I now have a large packet of the bright yellow stuff sitting in my cupboard, having used it to make the polenta chips (Baby & Toddler Cookbook) for Tristan. Polenta is ever such a funny thing. Made from yellow cornmeal it quickly thickens up into a grainy paste if you add a splash of water. I don’t find the taste particularly pleasant, and most of Tristan’s chips ended up on the floor – though the quantity of leftovers is by no means a measure of how much Tristan likes or dislikes something. More about that later.


Polenta is considered ‘peasant food’; perhaps less so now though as again I had to go to Arjuna to get a packet as it wasn’t stocked in the supermarket. It’s pretty cheap though (see photo) which leads me on to the next section of this post about the cost of feeding a baby.

All you really need in the first week of weaning is a carrot and a packet of baby rice (£1.64). In the next week you might introduce apples and pears, but the baby isn’t really going to eat anything which might break the bank. Within a couple of months though, when the baby is on three meals a day, the costs start rising and tins of sardines and mackerel, as well as unsalted butter, whole milk and yogurt (I have just acquired a yogurt maker – more on this coming soon), quickly become staples. However, although there are a few more packets in our larder (along with polenta, we now always have  Weetabix, porridge, baby pasta, and peanut butter, as well as the above), Tristan generally eats our leftovers. This, of course, saves time and money and means that I only really need to think about what to give him on toast for lunch as the other meals are covered. However, what if I had succumbed to all the brightly coloured pots and pouches which even the dinkiest Tesco and Sainsbury’s stock? Even Annabel Karmel who, judging from her Complete Baby & Toddler Meal Planner appears to encourage home cooking, has her own range of baby meals at £2.29 a pop. Heinz probably rule the school though with a range strangely called ‘Mums Own’, even though all Mum has done is open up her purse and gotten a few Clubcard points.  So imagine a typical day as below:


Breakfast: Heinz Mum's Own Recipe, Apple & Banana Breakfast 128g = 65p
Lunch: Heinz Mum's Own Recipe, Cheesy Tomato Pasta Stars 200g = 62p
Dinner: Heinz Mum's Own Recipe Vegetable Hot Pot with Chicken 250g = 84p + Heinz Egg Custard Dessert, 128g = £0.42
Total: £2.53


So each week you could be spending nearly £18 on baby food. (n.b. Sainsbury’s prices in November 2011)


Now, I don’t know anyone who actually feeds their little ones Heinz pots for every meal, but I bet some do. If you choose to be organic and buy the Ella’s Kitchen range or anything branded Plum you would be even poorer - in some stores each pouch costs £1 or more. These meals do serve a purpose though and, when you’re out and about, it’s really handy having a nutritious meal on hand (I know one baby who will only eat Hipp Porridge though which must be quite frustrating!) and I did have a variety of Ella’s Kitchen meals when we holidayed in Cornwall. In fact, in these days of baby-led, there’s a bit of a fear of being judged with a baby ready meal. In the café at Cambridge’s Botanical Gardens last weekend I had a box packed with peanut butter on toast cut into fingers, a banana and a pouch. I noticed the woman sitting across from us was trying to give her little girl of approximately the same age a few pieces of bread, and slices of cucumber. She also had spoons filled with some concoction laid out on the table for her daughter to pick up and put in her mouth. As Tristan didn’t seem to have eaten many of his peanut buttered fingers and the café floor was looking worse for wear, I contemplated opening my pouch of Ella’s Kitchen butternut squash, carrots, apples and prunes, but feared disapproving looks. I enviously looked at the other woman, though her daughter wasn’t making progress either and, as I was leaving, I noticed her getting out a little pot of Heinz baby food from her bag! That made me feel much better. So not only, in these austere times, can people still afford expensive baby food, but it also seems that many people are willing to follow Rapley up to a point and then succumb to puree which, if it comes from a pouch, has the texture and gloss of Pantene Pro-V, though hopefully tastes nicer.

Jottings from Lancaster - Wholemeal Drop Scones

I haven't talked at all about our visit to the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster but I need to here as I have been making wholemeal drop scones - actually spelt drop scones - which was exactly what I ordered the morning we walked into River Cottage Canteen for the first time.

We were on holiday in Devon in October and I was half aware that there was a River Cottage thing at Axminster. I expected some out of the way little fancy restaurant instead of this big, bold frontage right in the middle of the tiny town. We had parked in Tesco and you could conveniently walk from there into the town through a rather picturesque little ginnel right on to the main street. John went off to the bookshop (Archway Books - highly recommended) and I popped my head round the door and decided immediately that we would have to go there for coffee. 


So when John eventually emerged from the bookshop with some interesting acquisitions I dragged him off. Inside it was a lovely deli and a somewhat rustic cafe with wooden tables and trendily unmatched wooden chairs. It was almost empty, it being Monday morning. The coffee menu looked amazing. They did rather nice breakfasts but having resolved not to eat anything at all, all that strong will crumbled under the thought of spelt drop scones with honey. John had toast and we ordered 2 coffees. And then we waited. It was a nice enough place to sit and wait. But when the coffees came and still no sign of the food we began to get a tad restless. Of course, being English, we sat for far longer than anyone in their right minds would. And then we gave up - we just went to the till and offered to pay for the coffees but explained that the food hadn't arrived. The girl was really nice about it and offered to go off and get the food for us and bring us another coffee each, but by then we needed to get on as we had planned a day's geocaching on Golden Cap (the highest point on the south coast).


But they were so nice - she was really kind and apologetic and we didn't even end up paying for the coffees. And by then the spell of the spelt was wearing off and I was being seduced by the deli pies. So we turned to the counter and from their amazing selection bought a ham hock and pea pie, along with a chicken and leek pie. And then a chocolate tart and a pear and almond tart. The former were for tea back at the cottage where we were staying and the yummy sweet tarts to eat with our picnic lunch on Golden Cap. And they were good - I mean REALLY good. Scrumptious pastry and tasty fillings. I couldn't begin to describe the chocolate tart it was just so... 


Anyway, the guy serving us on the deli counter was really kind and wrapped up everything well so that it wouldn't crumble in the back of the car or my backpack on our walk. He had heard of geocaching, but never done it so it was fun to talk to him. So surprisingly, our first encounter with River Cottage was very good but somehow the longing for the spelt drop scone never quite left me.

Drop scones cooking on top of the wood burning stove

River Cottage Canteen and Deli was bristling with books by Hugh, including his new veggie one. You could buy them there signed, but in the end I decided against. Like Heather, the thought of another almost unused cookery book on the shelves was an extravagance too far. At that time I knew nothing about HFW except that he lived at River Cottage somewhere in the West Country and he grew his own veggies. I had seen him on enough TV trailers to know what he looked like but that was the sum total of my knowledge. Still, even knowing so little, it was exciting to be in Axminster. But then a few days later, whiling away a little time in Honiton while John was sampling some of the best 2nd hand bookshops for miles around I noticed that W H Smith had an offer on - all TV cookery books were £9.99 and if you bought 2, the second was £5. Just because, for no reason at all really, I decided to buy the River Cottage Everyday book as I thought it looked really nice. And as we were on holiday and looking for little holiday presents, I bought a second one for £5 for Heather. After all, I had only spent £14.99 and had 2 books which I might have paid £25 each for. And if Heather wasn't bothered, at least we hadn't spent much. But in fact I LOVED the book. I loved the recipes, I loved the pictures and little drawings and I loved the foreword. 


The nice man at the deli counter told us to return for a meal in the evening, but we decided then and there that instead we would go for lunch. What happened when we did that is a blog for another day. Meanwhile the spelt drop scones were calling so here they are.

Ready to eat!

The recipe is really for wholemeal drop scones but I thought it would work just as well with spelt flour - as indeed it did... I even put honey on them. 

Jottage from Cambridge - Curried Fish Pie p 176

There were few things I dreaded more when I was growing up than having to eat soggy Weetabix. However there were a couple of other dishes which competed for the accolade. One was semolina (a staple pudding at my primary school), and the other was fish pie. The thing about fish pie which I loathed the most were the hard-boiled eggs which my mother always added to what I think would otherwise have been quite an acceptable meal. But I happen to love fish, and I always seem to have lots of potatoes in the house that need eating up so, when I finally moved in with my husband and had to start cooking proper meals (the pans and cooking pots which were bought for us from our John Lewis Wedding List provided another incentive) a fish pie seemed like an obvious thing to make.

Fish Pie (without boiled eggs)

Before I acquired Hugh’s Everyday book I found a couple of fish pie recipes which, although listing hard-boiled eggs, had that golden word for lazy cooks, ‘optional’, written by the side. I discovered that, without the egg, fish pie was indeed delicious so I was excited to make the recipe on page 176. I used pouted fillet and trout and, instead of curry powder, I put in a couple of teaspoons of cumin. The end result I considered to be something of a triumph – see photo. 

Heather with the Fish Pie

I served it up with mashed potato and peas, and for pudding we had the Apple and Walnut Crumble (p.378) which my mother had made and brought up from Lancaster. (My mother can’t come to Cambridge empty-handed, and I anticipate what she’ll decide to take out of her fridge that needs using up, and the bits of food that she’ll inevitably buy for me when they have a motorway stop. This time – and clearly now in a meaningful relationship with Hugh – she bought a packet of chorizo and a couple of packets of spelt.) I put all the leftover vegetables (which had been used to flavour the milk) in the blender, along with a few pieces of fish, and served up to Tristan the next day. He had no complaints.

Apple and Walnut crumble

Jottage from Lancaster - A Fishy Dilemma

Fish as a subject is something I don't think too much about. Whilst being vaguely aware that eating fish is good for you, we don't actually do it much. I always have this resolution in mind to eat it once or twice a week, but I can't say that I have ever kept to it. 


I don't really know much about buying fish or cooking it. But I was very tempted by the Foil Baked Fish with Fennel, Ginger and Chili, even though the picture in River Cottage Everyday looks to me as if the fish is raw but the veggies cooked. I cooked it and it was blissfully easy to make and really succulent. Buoyed up by the triumph I thought I would try another fish recipe from the book. I had in mind Fried Fish Fillets with Herbs and Lemon. However I had forgotten that I had finished off my ancient little bottle of capers for the lamb chops with garlic, thyme and capers (really scrumptious), and so I had to remember to buy some more. But I had totally forgotten and the chances of the local village shop having some were so minimal that it just wasn't worth getting the car out. So I was searching for another recipe and the foil baked fish is probably the best I can do - but I don't have any fennel. So I might substitute tomatoes - or I might just try roast fish fillets with roast potatoes.


But those dilemmas are nothing compared to actually buying a bit of fish. Ever keen to expand my culinary knowledge, yesterday I got round to reading the Fish Forever preamble to the fish recipe section of River Cottage Everyday. And here I first encountered what I should have known before; Hugh has a real thing about fish. I know he goes fishing as I have seen him do it on the telly - and I now know he is deeply concerned about all sorts of fishing-related issues. So it was with some hesitation that I stood in front of the fish display at Marks and Spencer (I know I should have gone to a proper fishmonger but yesterday just wasn't the time or the place). There seemed to be a bewildering amount of choice and I was desperately trying to remember Hugh's list of fish to avoid/fish to eat more of. All I could remember was that cod-bad and mackerel-good.

Packet of sole, lemon

In the end I came back with a pack of lemon sole and with some trepidation turned to page 138 to see if it was on the black list. In fact it didn't mention sole of any kind - good, bad or indifferent (although Megrim and Witch, members of the sole family, are, suprisingly, good). So I turned to the website www.fishonline.org which Hugh assures us (on page 139) is 'very easy to use'. I found myself well out of my comfort zone here as I typed in 'lemon sole'. I was very confused to find that there were no results found. Perhaps this was some kind of fish that didn't really exist - a kind of chicken kiev of fish - a ready-meal I didn't need to prepare in any way. But no, this 'very easy' website wants to to put in 'sole, lemon' (note the all-important comma which is a vital part of this creature's name otherwise 'no results found'). Hmmm - not such an easy site then. But then it got more complex as there are 3 sole, lemons. 2 of them were probably OK and one was rated as a no-no; 'based on available information these species should probably not be considered sustainable at this time'. Ah.

Forever Fish (albeit fuzzy)

All I knew from the packet was that it was caught in the North Atlantic but it was labelled 'Fish Forever' which is some new kind of M and S initiative to keep up fish stocks (so they say). But on the M and S website it says 'Lemon sole has not been certified by MSC'. So what does that mean? Does MSC mean the Marine Conservation Society with a bit of a typo? In which case it may be that it doesn't quite meet up to the standards of someone like Hugh? I have no idea what it means, but it seems to me that if you are buying fish, because the situation with fish stocks and fishing methods changes all the time, you are better befriending a good fishmonger and keeping away from supermarkets. 

Fish Forever

Meanwhile I haven't considered buying the River Cottage Fish yet - but even now I am thinking that maybe one day....

Jottage from Cambridge - Spelt

What is this obsession with spelt? This strange ingredient has
suddenly appeared on supermarket shelves, presumably in response to
all the food writers who seem to adore what Wikipedia introduces as a
‘hexaploid species of wheat’. According to the same source you’ve been
able to buy spelt from the supermarket for nearly five years now,
although products made from the stuff can only really be bought from
health food shops. I couldn’t wait to try Tristan on the Spelt and
Apple Stars (note that organic baby biscuits are horribly expensive,
even more so when you consider that half the biscuit will end up as a
crumb on your nicely hoovered floor) in the Baby & Toddler Cookbook
and, although my mother was sure that any old flour would do really, I
determined (this time) to follow Hugh’s recipe to the letter. Living
within walking distance of an Asda, Sainsbury’s and 24 Hour Tesco I
thought it would be piece of cake finding what Hugh specified as
‘unrefined spelt flour’. My quest was unsuccessful however, and
although I did manage to find spelt flour at all three supermarkets,
the place to buy ‘unrefined’ spelt flour remained something of a
mystery. Anyway I didn’t need to look any further than Arjuna on
Cambridge’s Mill Road.


Arjuna is the kind of store that I used to run a mile from, assuming
that they only stocked muesli, incredibly expensive organic skincare
products and everything either gluten, wheat or taste free. However on
the day I decided to make the short walk from my house down Mill Road
to Arjuna (note that my previous pram wouldn’t actually fit through
the door very easily so the trip was only really possible when I had
invested in a lightweight buggy) I was in for a huge treat. I spent at
least twenty minutes in there, eyeing up the different kinds of flour,
chocolates, and lovely baby foods (I don’t especially like muesli so
their display was wasted a bit on me). Most things were much cheaper
than in the supermarket too – this was clearly the place to buy herbs
and spices, as well as porridge oats and exotic juices. Of course I
found my wholemeal spelt flour too and, after I had been to buy a
star-shaped cookie cutter (I told you I was following Hugh’s recipe
diligently this time), I rushed home to make the cookies. Tristan
loved them, and I decided to take them to his swimming lesson so he
could share them with his baby friends. They naturally gobbled them
all up so I had to make another batch. Thankfully though I now have
enough unrefined spelt flour to last until he’s old enough to eat and
enjoy custard creams.

Jottage from Cambridge/Lancaster - Baked Chicken Curry

The thing about cookery books which puts me off the most is the long
list of ingredients required to make the meal, usually tantalisingly
illustrated opposite the very detailed, and occasionally wordy,
method. Who has fenugreek, turmeric or chilis on hand? Well,
strangely, and given that I now have a baby to feed who probably
shouldn’t be fed custard creams – note that there has never a custard
cream shortage in our household – I do have all of the above in our
larder. (Note that Tristan doesn’t need a teaspoon of fenugreek on his
banana porridge in the morning to make it go down, but I generally
spend much more time in the kitchen now, and I’m out and about more so
I have built up an impressive selection of herbs and spices.)


So, picking up a recipe book now doesn’t seem quite so daunting, and
when I turned to page 223 of the Everyday book the Chicken Curry
seemed like quite a straightforward dish. Of course I didn’t quite
have everything, but I thought that I probably wouldn’t be able to
taste the fennel seeds so why add them?, and a wilted red chilli which
had been in the fridge for a number of weeks would work in place of
the green chili specified in the recipe. And that I think is what
cooking is all about – knowing when to leave things out, and making
substitutions wherever possible. For a kick off this means that every
time I make the chicken curry it will taste slightly different, and
also I’ll hopefully end up throwing away less food from the fridge.
But cookery writers are loathe to admit that their recipe will still
work without that all important spoonful of cornflour, or that two
garlic cloves will work just as well as three. However Hugh (my mother
and I now refer to him by his first name as we feel that he is already
part of the family) does start off the method with the line … ‘If
you’ve got the time, toast the cumin etc.’ which does seem to imply
that if you want to knock up a chicken curry between the end of
Neighbours and getting the baby prepared for his bath then it’ll
probably taste just as nice. However, if your way of winding down is
by spending time in the kitchen then why not? – you might just end up
tasting that moment of extra trouble.


Well, how did it taste? It was just delicious – the chicken swimming
in a rich turmeric stained liquid and, like Hugh, we served it with a
neat pile of white rice. In fact my chicken curry looked exactly like
the picture in the book! I blended up a few of the leftovers and gave
it to Tristan the next day. He had no complaints either, though I
think he thought I should have added an extra teaspoonful of fenugreek
which I’ll make sure to do next time I turn to page 223.


I am adding a postscript here as I made the Chicken Curry after Heather tried it. We both made enough for two nights and she didn't think it was as good the second night - but we loved it just the same. As Heather says - it comes out exactly like the picture in the book...


Heather's Chicken Curry

My Chicken Curry...

The picture in the book...

 Amazing!!!!