… Tomato, Basil & Creamy Curd Salad 

I spent all day on Saturday gardening in my house that I rent out which is between tenants at the moment.  I have had help from my brother and Gavin so it only seems right that I cook them dinner again tonight.  After last night’s steak, a vegetarian option seemed like a good idea. 

This meal is called simple spaghetti and it is a simple meal.  The range of ingredients is quite limited and the process is quite simple. 

The only fiddly bit is slicing the tender steam broccoli lengthways because inconveniently it doesn’t grow dead straight. 

The tomato salad is great and simple.  Putting cottage cheese in the salad seemed a bit odd to me but it really does work. 

This recipe calls for two lemons to be squeezed into different parts of the dish.  After my day of gardening my hands, my left hand in particular, is covered in scratches from brambles.  The lemon juice really stings my hand.  Although it can’t be seen too much in the photographs my left hand is covered in bright red angry scratches. 

There isn’t much else to say – this was fun and simple to cook. It was all done in under fifteen minutes and really did taste very lovely. 

Simple really.

Who with: Gavin and Gordy 

How Long: Fourteen minutes and ten seconds  

… Smoky Baked Beans & Collard Greens

It’s felt a bit weird. I haven’t cooked a 15 Minute Meal for two days. This wasn’t really intended. Well it was on Wednesday but not on Thursday.  For no particular reason I had chips and spent my evening doing ironing rather than cooking for people. Which was a really very boring thing to do. 

My Brother is here tonight and he had expressed an interest in having this one cooked for him and so I am. There are an awful lot of ingredients tonight.  This must be one of the longest lists.  There feels like a lot to do.  There is quite a lot to slice up.  Unusually you do not get to use the food processor.  It does take quite a while to slice the carrot, radishes and spring onions.  Once this is done I do feel like i’m a little behind in getting the beans on.  It really is solid cooking until the steaks are on and then it is much more relaxed and just waiting for things to cook.  In the end I am a little over and I can’t help thinking that I if I had been allowed to use the slicer attachment on the food processor I would have done it. I also thik that the beans could have done with just a bit longer on the hob and in the oven – they tasted great, but were’t as gnarly as in the picture in the book.  Oh and I forgot to put the cheese on the beans before I put them in  the oven and so it was added at the end.  

This was a nice mean with lovely flavours.  You can make the meal as hot as you like by adding more English mustard.  

Who with: Gav and Gordy 

How Long: Fifteen minutes and fifty one seconds 

… Miso Noodles & Crunchy Veg

It didn’t want to cook this one. There are a small handful of meals I’m not excited about cooking. There is one that I positively don’t want to cook. It is this one. It’s not the ingredients (I like them all … all of them). It’s the photograph. The meal, the fish specifically, looks insipid. I don’t want to cook it. And so this is the very reason I do cook it. I need to cook them all and surely it’s best if I get the ones (one) I really don’t want to cook out the way, so much the better. 

I could tell that I didn’t want to cook this because I was procrastinating about starting.  Doing dishes and other little jobs was much, much more important.  It was well after eight before I started to cook. 

The fish was prepared and in the oven within a minute or two.  Then there was the noodles to cook.  Lots of veg to chop.  You cook (kind of cook) a lettuce.  I know that to British people this is a very odd thing to do, but in some Asian cooking it is done quite a lot.  I remember the first time I was served cooked lettuce and from that point on I was converted to the idea that cooking a lettuce was a good thing to do.  In my opinion all an iceberg lettuce is good for is to add a bit of crunch to a homemade burger.  It really doesn’t have a place in any other salad.  If cooked however I have a very different view.  It is transformed into something delicious.   

So tonight the new Mumford and Sons record is on. I feel like I have time to dance (yes dance) along to it. And so I do. 

This meal was cooked so quickly and so easily. The flavours were incredible. The fish (especially the white fish) was delicious.  The noodles with the barley cooked veg/salad was fantastic. 

This is one of my favourites.  Yes I know I have a lot.  But this is one of those that will fall in to that category of – I know I should and will cook again and again. 

Perhaps the trick was that mixture of not caring and two glasses of wine, maybe . Maybe not. Either way – my best time.  One of the best meals.  And one to do over and over and over again. 

You must try this … you really must … promise me. 

Practically perfect in every way. 

Who with: Gavin

How long: Eleven minutes and thirteen seconds 

… Charred Avo & Popcorn Beans 

I fancied something quick tonight.  Now I know that is a stupid thing to say because all these meals are quick.  Most of the ones I have done have been in or around the fifteen minute mark with only two over twenty minutes.  Even twenty minutes or so is a quick meal.  However some of the meals feel quicker than others.  I guess what I mean is some of them feel a bit more snacky than others.  This is what I fancied tonight. So I chose this meal. 

The nachos are the fist thing you cook.  They go under the grill sprinkled with cheese and chillis.  I came really quite close to burning them, but I rescued them just in time. 

Jamie seems to use a lot of avocados in these meals.  This is no bad thing. I like avocados.  You put pealed and quartered avocados in the griddle pan – the black lines look pretty at the end. 

I would say that the best thing about this meal is the beans.  Using a tin of kidney beans and a tin of mixed beans you make a kind of refried beans type thing, although less refried than normal refried beans.  I really like refried beans.  I like nachos and I make nachos in one form or another relatively often and enjoy this sat in front of a film with a beer or two.  If I don’t have refried beans with the nachos I feel a bit cheated.  I have made refried beans from scratch a few times, but also buy the ready made ones as well.  I would almost say that I preferred these beans.  There is more texture with these and they look great all burst up and gnarly. 

This was a nice meal and perfect for an evening when I felt more like a quick snack than a proper meal.  Oh and it was quicker than most as well.

Who with: Gavin 

How long: Thirteen Minutes and forty seven seconds 

… Stilton, Apple & Walnut Croutes

It’s dark and cold and rainy.  When it’s dark and cold and rainy, soup is always good.  When it’s dark and cold and rainy, cheese on toast is always good.  How about both?

I am sill in Bath.  It’s been a nice day of church, and then out for some Chinese food, a nap and then this.

More mushrooms from the shopping trip yesterday were used today. There is quite a bit to do tonight.  It feels a bit of a slow start, with onions to chop, mushrooms to tear up and the tiny little leaves from the thyme stalks to strip off.  Only two pans on the hob tonight.

You get the soup on first.  This is the second soup from this book where a small amount of basmati rice is used.  This has been a revelation to me.  Weirdly, it makes the soup a bit meaty.  As you’re making the soup, the stalks from the chestnut mushrooms are pulled out and put in the soup pan.  The tops are put in the griddle pan.  Once the soup is bubbling away the ciabatta is added to the griddle pan.

After the ciabatta is toasted on both sides, the chestnut mushrooms are added and some stilton and the walnuts and then they are put under the grill.

The soup is whizzed up and seasoned.  You add cream and truffle oil to the soup.  The photo in the book has a heart shaped drizzle of cream.  I attempt this too.  It works out better than I thought it would. Just a note if you try this, the cream will sink into the soup, but don’t worry it does rise again.

This meal was really lovely.  It was a perfect supper for a cold drizzly evening.

I have had a great weekend in Bath.  A weekend spent in one of my most favourite places in the world, with some of my most favourite people in the world.

Who with: Pieter and Erin

How long: Sixteen minutes and sixteen seconds

… Sweetened Cottage Cheese

I remember very clearly the first time Erin cooked dinner for me.  I had met my match … more than met my match.  Erin is a very, very good cook.  Pieter does not cook much.  But he does make a very, very good breakfast.   Having breakfast made by Pieter is one of the things that makes staying with Pieter and Erin so enjoyable.  This morning, however, I am cooking (making) breakfast.  With 115 meals to make I really need to get more than two cooked this weekend and so I’m doing one of the breakfasts.  Erin has cottage cheese in the fridge and so this is the breakfast that is being made.

This is easy to make and it doesn’t take anywhere near to fifteen minutes.  The honey in the cottage cheese gives it just a little bit of sweetness.  This is really a very good, healthy and fresh breakfast.  All you do is mix up the cottage cheese with the honey and vanilla paste.  Add some chopped fruit and crushed nuts, then a squeeze of lime and its done.  In my case in four minutes and forty two seconds.

Who with: Pieter and Erin

How long: Four minutes and forty two seconds

... Mushroom Sauce & Spring Greens

So this weekend I’m in Bath.  Bath is one of my favourite places in the world and i’m staying with my friends Pieter and Erin.  Saturday morning was spent in the market with Erin buying the ingredients for the three meals i’m going to cook this weekend.  I brought the most amazing mushrooms.  The last few ingredients were bought in the supermarket. 

This meal requires four fillet steak medallions.  I do not eat fillet steak very much at all.  It’s one of those things that feels a bit opulent and it is reserved for a rare (rare) treat. There were two fillets to choose from.  The Aberdeen Angus one looked so much better, the meat was this deep purpley colour. The shape of this fillet was rounder and it suited the medallions required much better.  The Aberdeen Angus fillet is more expensive, of course. But despite the cost, four medallions of the Aberdeen Angus steak is bought. Sometimes it just feels right to spend more than is reasonable on some really good ingredients.  As one of the rules of doing this project is that every meal in the book must be cooked, one of the benefits is that it means that I have to cook some of the more special meals, the things that are just a rare treat, have to be cooked, they just have to be. 

Actually cooking this one was easy.  As with most of these meals it’s quite important to get on with things at the beginning and so that all the various elements of the meal are underway.  But once that happened (potatoes and cabbage boiling, mushrooms frying, steak frying) there wasn’t much else to do.  Now I said the potatoes and cabbage were boiling.  The problem was they were not boiling.  Pieter and Erin’s hob really only has one burner that gives of a high heat.  It is used for the steak first.  Then things are moved around and its used for the mushrooms.  The steak is done and the mushroom sauce is done and on the serving plate before the fifteen minutes are up.  The potatoes are not cooked.  Not remotely.  The veg pan is moved to the one burner that works on a high heat.  They are done after 21 minutes and the meal is served by twenty two minutes and twenty two seconds.  

This meal is great.  Obviously it is a very nice treat to have fillet steak.  But every thing else is delicious.  The greens are really lovely. They are drizzled in lemon juice and olive oil.  They taste great and fresh.  The mushroom sauce and the beautiful oyster mushrooms are gorgeous.  A really nice and special meal.  

I’m not to bothered about the time.  This could be done in the fifteen minutes, i’m sure.  After dinner was fireworks, watched for free from the bridge, and after fireworks a very lovely chocolate orange cake made by Erin. 

Who with: Pieter and Erin 

How long: Twenty two minutes and twenty two seconds 

… Focaccia & Emmental Waldorf Salad 

I have been determined to get on with the fish dishes and I did another one tonight.  I had my friend Andrew coming round for dinner.  His wife isn’t too keen on fish and so consequently he doesn’t eat much fish, so I said I would cook some fish for him. 

I wasn’t overly excited to cook this one.  The colours of the meal all look a bit brown.  There is a bit of salad to brighten the plate up, but the focaccia and the frittata do make this look a little skewed towards brown coloured food. 

I enjoyed cooking this meal.  I didn’t feel under too much pressure.  You put the fish onto boil and then get on with making the frittata.  This is started on the hob and finished off under the grill, once the fish is added.  This bit was quick and easy.  The time consuming bit is cutting two apples into matchsticks.  The recipe does suggest that you can grate them instead, but I like the look of matchsticks much more.  I’m sure that there is some fancy gadget out there that could do this for you but, if it exists, I don’t have it.  This did slow me down and I was just over the fifteen minute mark.  Oh but I forgot to take the foccaccia out the oven, so that was served a minute later …

I really, really enjoyed this meal.  The flavours of the frittata is really lovely.  The smoked haddock is absolutely delicious and the salad works really well.  I love Waldorf salad and Emmental cheese – so this bit couldn’t really go wrong. 

After dinner I took a walk with Andrew, to show him a new house I might rent.  When we got back the smell of the smoked haddock was still lingering – the house smelt great. 

A really great meal.  Another favourite.  I seem to have quite a lot of favourites. 

Who with: Andrew and Gavin

How long: Fifteen minutes and six seconds

… Sagey Chestnut Dumplings

I was quite excited about cooking this one.  It looked like a great winter meal.  I have been saving this for a cold grim day.  Today it was cold and dark and rainy and so it seemed appropriate to cook this meal.  Chestnut dumplings with a robust soup sounds just about perfect for a night like tonight.  I have had an ever-shrinking number of dinner guests tonight.  I was meant to have four guests and now I’m down to just one. 

There was quite a bit to do tonight, but I was relatively confident that I could do it in the time.  I have to get the dinner on the table by 19:15, so I start to cook on my own, with Hannah, my now sole guest, due to arrive by 19:15. 

There is a lot to whiz up in the food processor.  The recipe calls for three different uses of the food processor. Because of the capacity of my food processor this turned out to be four uses. 

In general it all went well, but the last bit was a bit slow and I was over the time by a fair bit.  My dumplings felt a little sloppy.  They tasted good, but the texture wasn’t quite right.  The flavours of this meal are great.  There is a good bit of heat in the soup from the whole chilli that goes in. Hannah enjoyed the dumplings and the flavour of the soup but wasn’t that keen on its texture. 

In all I am slightly disappointed with this meal.  It took more than the fifteen minutes and I felt the dumplings just weren’t quite right.  I want to try this one again because I think I could do this better.  I think I will do it again, but it will have to wait until all 115 meals have been cooked. 

By the way I looked at a new house today.  It has a bigger and better cooker (in that it has two ovens and they are 60cm wide rather than my 50 cm wide one), but it has an electric hob – I’m not sue how I’ll get on with that …

How long: Sixteen minutes and nine seconds

Who with: Hannah 

… Yorkshire Pud, Beets & Asparagus

There are a handful, a very small handful, of meals in the book that I don’t feel particularly inspired to cook.  This was one.  I’m not really sure why but it just isn’t that exciting to me.  This really isn’t that bad when there are 115 meals to cook and only about three that I’m not overly keen to cook.  I have cooked this one now because I feel I need to get at least one of these done in the early part of the project to make sure I’m not left with all of them at the end. 

This recipe requires that you cook the Yorkshire pudding in a frying pan.  The pan goes on and some rosemary is added.  You make the batter in a liquidizer or in my case as I don’t have one (yet) it was done in the food processor which did an adequate job.  This recipe says that the Yorkshire pudding needs about thirteen minutes in the oven.  You also cook it in the pan for 30 seconds.  This means that the batter needs to be in the pan at no later than one minute and thirty seconds and in the oven at the two minute mark and no later.  It was. Just. 

The rest of the meal was quite easy and relaxed.  I knew if I got the Yorkshire pudding in on time that everything would be fine.  I had the time to deliberately make my board look as close photograph in the book as possible. 

Once I started I really enjoyed cooking this meal.  It all came together quickly and well.  It was on the table in less than fifteen minutes.  This tasted great. 

Despite my not being excited about cooking this it was fun to cook and it tasted really nice.  I think I may do this again.  There were only two of us tonight and to be honest we were quite greedy and we eat most of this between us.  I would say that this would make a nice lunch for four but a dinner for three. 

How long: Fourteen minutes and twenty three seconds

Who with: Gavin