Meat Feast Weekend - Saturday Night

So, if last night was about something I'd been meaning to cook for ages, tonight is about nostalgia - a beef curry casserole I half remember from my childhood - which means I probably haven't had it properly in 20 years.

I thought I had it scribbed down in our notebook of recipes but I didn't - however unlike me, my mum was not a massive collector of cookbooks. She did however have this 80's gem (which I picked up in a charity shop in another fit of nostalgia - her copy moved to Barcelona with her)

One day I'll poach pears in grenadine and it will be the talk of the town

I was pretty sure the recipe would have originated from this book and I was spot on (my mum confirmed it, and explained it had gone through some changes over the years, which is why I remember sultanas in it).

What I had forgotten from my childhood was that butchers in markets don't keep the same hours as shops, so by the time I swung by at 3pm ish, on my way home through town the markets were all closing up, which means I ended up at the butchers counter in Tescos. I don't find supermarkets easy places to buy meat, especially as I usually need it in such small quantities, but I did also sort out a chicken to roast for tomorrows lunch.

The curry was remarkably easy to make (I'd halved the quantities, so also halved the cooking time more or less - which gave me chance to have a bubble bath). I didn't have any sultanas, so I replaced them with prunes, which also made up for the fact I didn't have any mango chutney or apricot jam) I also had to make up a 'mild curry powder' since I haven't had premixed powder in the house for a very long time.

{Post Dinner Update}

It's weird, this tasted like no curry I've had since moving to the midlands, but it did taste more or less of the curry I remember from my childhood. It can best be described as a slightly more interesting beef stew - not a bad thing at all but an interesting reminder on how far assimilated other cultures cooking has come - Pete can make a selection of curries indistinguishable from a half decent restaurant -but I can't see this kind of slow cooked casserole becomes a staple in the Wearn household. Nicely I do have enough left for lunch on Monday.

The Fish Graveyard

I suppose I should update you on the fish - we've currently got 3 Isambard*, Nietzsche , Vince - they seem fine. The extreme cold did a few in and they probably need some proper TLC. Anyway - Pete and I were trying to recall other fish we'd had over the years so I started scanning the blog for fish related posts and I came across the fish graveyard from an old bit of my website that still floating around the tubes of the internet... So here it is - in memory of of the valiant pets of old. And for the ones that don't have little grave markers (or dates) Darnell Bertrand Pushkin Heisenburg I should possibly make a marker for the tomb of the unknown goldfish because I'm sure we've forgotten one... .. time for some more fish? Any ideas for names?? *We were slightly uncertain for a while if it was Heisenburg or Isambard that had survived

Tofu Recipe Round Up

More for my own benefit then anything else I'm going to round up my favourite go-to weeknight tofu recipes. This is different from my pinterest board which is full of things I haven't necessarily tried yet but look yummy. Vegan Tofu Taco Crumbles Vietnamese Fried Tofu w/ Tomato Sauce – Dau Sot Ca Chua (I airfry the tofu for this one) I also like to slather it in BBQ sauce and bake it for about 40 mins with peppers and onions before adding it to wraps with some salad. I've also found it's a great substitute for paneer in things - it's not quite there but it's close oh, and if I do need to press it, and I haven't got time (which is almost always) I used the microwave method from this chirpy little video

The Pretty, The Easy and the things on Sticks #2

I've spoken before about Pinterest, and how pretty everything is on there, but there's another side, a very definite, and I can only guess american trend - the easy fix. Easy cheats, how to make things without the effort, how to cheat, how to make restaurant specials at home, so you end up with a massive jug of frappachino mix or a dressing not too dissimilar from the amazing blue cheese dressing at Pizza Hut (this is our holy grail - we've gone to PH just to eat the Blue Cheese dressing) and it shows an interesting side of people, and if you look at the ingredients they use, and most of these tips and tricks would be impossible to remake outside of the states. Source: therebelchick.com via Rebecca E. on Pinterest This isn't a new thing - Top Secret Recipes was one of the first websites I remember checking back and linking too - even if I was looking at recipes I had no idea what the original tasted like, but it's impressive so much effort is given over to ma...

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