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simple supper November 30, 2009

Posted by molly in : fish , 3comments

my mom is a master in the art of simple meals. she can create something delicious and classic on any given night, and i’ve always wanted to recreate that simplicity with her. luckily, on her last night in london, she was there in the kitchen with me to give pointers. i now feel like i can tackle any piece of salmon that comes my way, thanks to her wise words.

dinner wasn’t anything special but it tasted great. sometimes, you just want a simple and healthy meal. especially after this week of pure indulgence.

momma and i braved the rain and wind yesterday to get some sweet potatoes, spinach, and salmon (the three s’s!) and that was all it took to prepare our meal. god i hope you don’t have a lisp.

simple salmon with sweet potato fries and steamed spinach (ssssssssssss)

it’s almost not worth putting the recipe here, but i will for my own sake if for no one else! i need things written down. i forget easily.

the particulars:

those are literally all the ingredients you’ll need. i swear.

  1. first, the sweet potatoes. phil handled these last night. he first prepared a “marinade” of sorts, involving margarine, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and coated the fries in this mixture. he then scattered the fries on a roasting tin and put them in a hot oven (gas mark 7) for 30 minutes. check on them every 10 minutes or so, flipping them around with a spatula.
  2. next, the salmon. rub olive oil over each salmon fillet, squeeze half a lemon, and sprinkle salt and pepper on top. place them on a baking tray. when the sweet potato fries are 10 minutes away from being done in the oven, put the salmon in and turn the heat down slightly.
  3. after the 30 mins, crank up the grill and put the sweet potatoes in for an additional 5-10 minutes (until the salmon is done in the oven). this will crisp them up.
  4. make the spinach by steaming it on the stove. this only takes 5 minutes or so.
  5. serve everything on big plates with a lemon wedge.

lesson learned: to check that the salmon is done, place a knife in the thickest part of the fillet and pull apart. if the flesh pulls apart easily and is light pink, it is ready.

this whole post is probably over-explaining a very simple meal, but let’s not forget i’m definitely a beginner in the world of cooking. i need all the instructions i can get! which reminds me, it is two weeks EXACTLY until i begin my course at leith’s!! i cannot wait. just found out it is only a short bus ride from hammersmith, meaning it shouldn’t take me too long to get there each morning. hurray!

pum pums November 29, 2009

Posted by molly in : desserts , 2comments

my friend suzanne and i are obsessed (and i mean OBSESSED) with a batch of cookies only found within the bakery department of ralph’s grocery stores in san diego. they are pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (or “pum pums” to us) and are EGG FREE and amazing. these huge cake-like desserts are unbelievably gooey and soft, and bring a tear of joy to my eye even now as i type this from 6,000 miles away. apparently, these beauties have sparked a bit of controversy back in california. i love it! slugworth? cookiegate? you can’t get a more delicious case of intrigue.

anyway, back to the recipe at hand. many folks have attempted to recreate this magical cookie in their own homes. i turned to go eggless to find that, yes indeed, they wanted to try to make the infamous cookie. someone even left a comment with a seemingly foolproof (and so easy!) recipe that involved spice cake mix (which you definitely can’t get overseas).

so my search continued. and all recipes uk looked like it had the answer. so i give you…. my attempt at the greatest cookie in the world. and, spoiler alert, they came out NOTHING like my beloved pum pums from ralph’s. but they still taste good, and close to the real deal, so this shall be an experiment in progress.

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

i used this recipe from all recipes uk with the following tweaks:

lesson learned: i need to track down spice cake mix AND/OR never use that much flour again… too floury.

recharging the batteries November 28, 2009

Posted by molly in : soup, thai , 1 comment so far

it was difficult to comprehend cooking another meal yesterday, after the massive dinner party (‘massive’ being a relative term) on thursday night. but i think myself, my mom, and phil were all in dire need of a healthy light meal. prawn laksa. perfect.

during the day, my mom and i went shopping. she wanted to see the harrods christmas windows (currently they have a wizard of oz theme… it’s pretty ridiculous) and then we ventured down to peter jones for some kitchen goodies. she got me an awesome food processor for an early christmas/hanukah present, as well as a fabulous santoku knife, a new peeler, an apple corer, 4 more jam jars (more chutney making in the near future), and a huge saucepan. i’m a lucky duck. thanks mom!

so, dinner. i wanted to cook something soupy, and something i’d made before. so i went with this prawn laksa recipe from delicious mag. it’s so simple, as long as you have the right ingredients to hand, and have a few extra minutes and spices to prepare your own chili paste, this can be a wonderful warming dish.

prawn laksa

enough for 2 people (last night i used greater measurements to make enough for 3).

the particulars:

  1. in a bowl, pour boiling water over the rice noodles, leave for 5 minutes until soft, drain and refresh under cold water. meanwhile, prepare the chili paste in a small frying pan with the 6 ingredients listed.
  2. heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan and soften the shallots. stir in the chilli paste and fry for 1 minute. add the coconut milk and vegetable stock. bring to a simmer and add prawns, sugar snap peas and a handful beansprouts. simmer for 3 minutes until the prawns are cooked through.
  3. divide the noodles between 2 bowls and pour over the laksa sauce. top with spring onions and a few fresh coriander/cilantro leaves. serve with lime wedges, to squeeze over.

lesson learned: as you can see from the photo above, phil added some extra chili flakes on the top of his. just to add a bit of extra heat. he’s such a manly man.

a particularly english thanksgiving November 27, 2009

Posted by molly in : about the kitchen, particularly random , 5comments

well, i’d say that my first homemade thanksgiving meal was a success. i’m most thankful for all of my friends and momma for being with me on such a beautiful day, sharing this special meal and having buckets of fun. oh yes, charades and christmas crackers took over the after-dinner entertainment, and i think it’s safe to say the ladies beat the men. who knew one of the charades categories was “words of wisdom”? and who knew we’d be so good at it? :)

unfortunately, photographing the meal was not my top priority last night, but thankfully my mom took a few snapshots (i think i ordered her to take pictures before she ate anything on her plate)! so, here was the menu, in no particular order:

roast turkey

a 5kg turkey, very simply roasted, with an onion and some oil and salt and pepper. i have to give my mother all the credit on this one. she kept checking it as it cooked away in our little oven, and basted like a pro. and i’m so glad we have leftovers!

wild rice stuffing with dried cranberries

this did not get stuffed into the turkey for the vegetarian’s sake, and was definitely a highlight of the meal (if i do say so myself). you would never guess there was rice in this stuffing – it tastes just like the real thing. only BETTER. the recipe comes from the bountiful vegan thanksgiving e-cookbook, and was followed almost meticulously. the crunch from the celery and walnuts perfectly complimented the soft rice and bread crumbs, while the cranberries added some wonderful colour. YUM!

traditional cranberry sauce

props to waitrose for actually stocking the (frozen) cranberries to make this really simple and yummy sauce from eat, drink & be vegan.

candied yams

i mean really, what is thanksgiving without this ridiculous dish? i think it scared the majority of my guests last night, but they quickly changed their tune when they tasted it. i mean… sweet potatoes with brown sugar, walnuts, and marshmallows? what’s not to love? i used this simple recipe from cooks.com.

pueblo corn pie

for the vegetarians last night, i prepared this dish, again from the bountiful vegan thanksgiving book. it basically consisted of two layers of cooked cornmeal, a layer of a chili-like concoction, and some grated cheese. it was gobbled up by both veggies and non-veggies alike. here’s what the chili part looked like before it all got baked together:

corn bread

major thanks to phil for baking the cornbread on wednesday night before we got home from the airport. it was a simple boxed recipe but came out perfectly and was a great accompaniment to the meal.

green beans with toasted almonds

pretty self-explanatory.

here’s mom’s plate with everything except the pueblo corn pie on it… turkey with gravy, candied yams, stuffing, cornbread, and green beans.

dairy-free, soy-free pumpkin pie

i had super high hopes for this pie from one frugal foodie, especially as it involved coconut milk and that intrigued me. unfortunately, my lack of eggs made it very pudding-like and gloopy. plus, i made the pie crust from scratch using the veganomicon recipe, and the edge was rock hard. the pie filling and bottom of the crust TASTED great, but it just wasn’t a winning dish.

after the pie, we passed around some medjool dates, almond candy from spain, and mint chocolates, while we played (and dominated) charades. i think 18 seconds was the table record. my friends are excellent mimers… who knew? but i think the winner of the night was my mom. not only did she help me every step of the way with preparing and cooking the meal, but she acted out her charade for “material girl” in the best way possible.

thank you all for a wonderful night!

our thanksgiving table November 26, 2009

Posted by molly in : about the kitchen , add a comment

this extremely blurry photo brought to you by the letter t:

oh and yes those ARE christmas crackers at the table. what of it? we like to blend holidays around here :)