Yesterday I made Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings as near to perfection as I have ever done. I felt rather smug as I carved the rare beef, with its pink juices collecting on the board. The potatoes were golden with blackened, crispy edges and the gravy was from scratch : onions, garlic, thyme, and tomatoes into the pan in which the beef was roasted. Red wine to deglaze and then quality beef stock brought to the boil and then simmered, squashing the toms with a potato masher to thicken the sauce. Then passed through a sieve, season generously and reduce to a gravy consistency. The Yorkshires gloriously rose from their pan without hesitation. My secret: hot fat, until almost smoking. And it was the excess fat from the beef-nothing wasted.
My husband would have loved it except he is in the land of Big Mac for work, super-sized meals and super-sized arses. Yes, he is in the Land of the Free (coke with every meal). As usual I was cooking for two (my brother and I) but I cooked for many more. I panic at the thought of running out of food, hence the over-flowing freezer full of leftovers. Today I decided to make something of the leftover vegetables: potatoes and parsnips roasted in beef dripping, and seasoned carrots and peas. The easiest way it seemed to me was to just chuck it all in the blender with enough vegetable stock and blitz. And guess what: it worked. All the flavour was already in the veg. I pressed it through a sieve so it didn't resemble baby food and voila, it was done. I just heated it through gently and added some extra seasoning and a teaspoon of creamed horseradish. I wouldn't suggest throwing in any left meat (mmmm, meat smoothie anyone?)
What I love about leftovers is that you feel like you're getting something for free and what with the way this country is operating that is a good feeling. Every week I buy in more and more food so from now on I going to work my way through the freezer and cupboards. I've already got some pork shoulder defrosting for tomorrow, which will be turned into a Spanish style stew, with smoked paprika and chickpeas. That meal should stretch for another day as well. I know everyone is feeling despondant about the economic crisis but I think that good things will come of it. Perhaps people will be more creative in the kitchen and eat more seasonally, instead of wasting enormous amounts of food, that is flown half way across of the world just because us Brits have forgotten that strawberries don't grow in the winter. We've had it good for too long, rationing was awful for our grandparents (my nan recalls having to share a pickled onion) but at least people were more resourceful-carrot cake was borne from sugar rationing, that's just one delicious example.
I don't want to preach but everything that used to make British food good is being lost to plastic food, which is more expensive, wasteful and harmful than cooking something from scratch. It's about time people got back into the kitchen and started cooking REAL FOOD because we only have to look to America to see where we're heading: identi-towns that have the same shops, the same signs for BK, McD's and KFC, the same bulging waistlines, and it ain't pretty.
My husband would have loved it except he is in the land of Big Mac for work, super-sized meals and super-sized arses. Yes, he is in the Land of the Free (coke with every meal). As usual I was cooking for two (my brother and I) but I cooked for many more. I panic at the thought of running out of food, hence the over-flowing freezer full of leftovers. Today I decided to make something of the leftover vegetables: potatoes and parsnips roasted in beef dripping, and seasoned carrots and peas. The easiest way it seemed to me was to just chuck it all in the blender with enough vegetable stock and blitz. And guess what: it worked. All the flavour was already in the veg. I pressed it through a sieve so it didn't resemble baby food and voila, it was done. I just heated it through gently and added some extra seasoning and a teaspoon of creamed horseradish. I wouldn't suggest throwing in any left meat (mmmm, meat smoothie anyone?)
What I love about leftovers is that you feel like you're getting something for free and what with the way this country is operating that is a good feeling. Every week I buy in more and more food so from now on I going to work my way through the freezer and cupboards. I've already got some pork shoulder defrosting for tomorrow, which will be turned into a Spanish style stew, with smoked paprika and chickpeas. That meal should stretch for another day as well. I know everyone is feeling despondant about the economic crisis but I think that good things will come of it. Perhaps people will be more creative in the kitchen and eat more seasonally, instead of wasting enormous amounts of food, that is flown half way across of the world just because us Brits have forgotten that strawberries don't grow in the winter. We've had it good for too long, rationing was awful for our grandparents (my nan recalls having to share a pickled onion) but at least people were more resourceful-carrot cake was borne from sugar rationing, that's just one delicious example.
I don't want to preach but everything that used to make British food good is being lost to plastic food, which is more expensive, wasteful and harmful than cooking something from scratch. It's about time people got back into the kitchen and started cooking REAL FOOD because we only have to look to America to see where we're heading: identi-towns that have the same shops, the same signs for BK, McD's and KFC, the same bulging waistlines, and it ain't pretty.
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