Food #4

I had a pork loin in the freezer and needed something to do with it. Thankfully Budget Bytes came to the rescue with this recipe. It was nice, the pork was lovely and moist and the herb combination worked well but I think I will try something a bit more adventurous next time.

I had the girls over for Sunday lunch and did Nigella's slow cooked garlic and lemon chicken. 

Last year I discovered how easy it is to make Thai curry paste and have refused to buy a jar ever since. I stole this recipe from Smidge's blog. It keeps forever and is perfect if you need something easy for dinner. Just throw in some coconut milk and a heaped teaspoon of this and you have a curry sauce!

This was bloody delicious. I highly recommend you make this. The consistency of the soup is quite thick. Sort of between a soup and a curry so I served it with brown rice but you could do it with noodles or a big hunk of bread.

Thai Spiced Fish Soup

Recipe taken from You magazine/Serves 6

3tbsp groundnut oil, 2 tsp Thai red curry paste, 8 shallots (peeled & thinly sliced), 300ml chicken stock, 600ml coconut milk, 2 tbsp lime juice, 1 tsp brown sugar, 2 tsp sea salt, 700gm white fish, 300gm raw tiger prawns, 200gm beansprouts, 4tbsp chopped fresh coriander, sliced red chilli (to serve)

1. Heat oil in a wok and add the curry paste. Add the shallots and stir fry for a few minutes. Add the stock, coconut milk, lime, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes until creamy.
2. Cut your fish into chunks and add to the wok along with the prawns. Simmer for 4 minutes until cooked through, adding the beansprouts half way through. Stir in the coriander and serve scattered with the chilli.

Whenever I don't know what to cook I make egg fried rice. Not only is it YUM but you can throw in whatever is in the fridge. I used brown rice and added ham, peas and spring onions to this one. The trick with egg fried rice is to make sure your pre-cooked rice is really cold (from the fridge) when you chuck it into the wok. Make sure your oil is really hot and only use dark soy sauce (not light). Stick to these rules and you can't go wrong.

My first Banoffee pie........ Recipe here.

Yes, that is correct. This is out of a packet. Although I am not a big fan of my family eating ready meals (although the odd one has been known to find its way into my freezer), I absolutely love the curry sauce you get from Chinese restaurants and discovered a few years back that you can buy it in the supermarket. All you do is add water, veg and your choice of meat or fish. It's probably full of crap. And not very good for you. But I don't care cause it tastes great. Here is the offending article, you can buy it in most big supermarkets if you fancy giving it a try.

This recipe was ok but needed playing about with. I have also lost the recipe however you should find something similar if you give it a Google.

One of my favourite dinners. I served this with home made egg fried brown rice. He might know his fashion but that bloke also knows how to cook good Chinese food. Recipe here.