… Coddled Eggs & Tomato loaf 

I’m in Gloucester cooking for my family tonight.  I‘m in the process of moving and I’m here with yet another carload of stuff I’m storing up in the loft.

This is one of those meals that’s a bit unusual.  There are three/four different elements to the meal and not one’s I’d have thought to put together. 

This meal has baked eggs.  Baked eggs is a bit of an unusual dish.  I have had them in/with a few meals.  Most often a cracked egg on the top of a pizza – I forget what it’s called but it is one of my favorites. The eggs go in the oven first.  Then it’s on with prepping the bread.  This is a bit of a fiddley and long job.  Deep crisscrosses are cut into the bread.  It takes a bit of care to make sure the bread doesn’t fall to bits. There is a paste that’s made in the food processor and then rubbed into the bread with several sprigs of thyme.  I’m not actually sure this is either the most efficient or effective means of getting the paste into the crisscross cuts!

The eggs are to be cooked to “your liking”.  I wanted the yoke runny.  They were done very early on in the process and came out the oven.  The heat in the baking dish was such that the eggs continued to cook and I didn’t have runny yokes …

At the end I managed to make a good bit of mess separating the poached fish from its skin and adding it to the veg.

This is one of those meals that’s surprisingly delicious.  It is definitely worth a go.  It’s quite a hearty meal with the baked eggs and bread. 

If I did this meal again I’d not do the eggs first.  I think I’d get the bread done, the veg on and the fish poaching and then do the eggs towards the end.  I think they’d be a bit runny then. 

Who With: Gordy & Anna 

How Long: Sixteen Minutes and Twenty Seconds 

… Irish Mash & Watercress Apple Salad 

I remember the flavours of this one being simple but lovely.  The cider definitely added something and the salad was great.  If my memory serves me correctly this was one of those salads I’d have been happy to eat on its own.  

I can’t now remember why this one took so long to cook.  I think it might have been waiting for the potatoes to cook.  This has leeks in it.  They’re a bit fiddley to wash and I do remember that my food processor didn’t want to slice them so I had to do it by hand, all of which would have slowed me down. 

It was a nice hearty meal ideal for a winters night. 

How Long: Twenty Minutes and Twenty Three Seconds 

Who With: Ed & Gavin 

… Lemon-Steamed Fish 

So not for the first time, I’m well behind writing the blog compared to doing the cooking.  So this and the following few posts are written from a slightly hazy memory.

If I remember rightly this was an easy one to cook.  It starts off a bit fiddley with scoring crisscross patterns into the scallops.  It always worries me when I get off to a slow start.  After that job was done it was easy and I felt confident that it would be done quickly. 

This was an excuse to use my bamboo steamer.  The steamer was the first piece of kitchen equipment I bought specifically to do a 15 Minute Meal.  I predicted that I would buy quite a few bits of equipment etc. over the course of the project.  I wasn’t wrong, although I haven’t actually bought as much as I thought I might.

The pesto is made from blanched almonds which is a nice change from pine nuts.

This was a nice meal, the scallops and fish were tender and sweet and the chilli added just a little bit of a kick. 

Who with: Debbie 

How Long: Fourteen Minutes and Forty Eight Seconds 

… Pan-fried Aubergine & Cumin Crunch

This is the fourth of five meals I plan to do this weekend.  Ok, so two were breakfasts but nevertheless it’s quite a bit of cooking over just two days. 

I have my friend Peter from church over for lunch today.  As is often the case it’s a last minute invite … I probably ought to be more organised. 

This is another one of the meals that looks great and colourful and one I have been looking forward to cooking. 

The cooking goes pretty smoothly.  In general the methods are pretty standard and common to many of the 15 Minute Meals.  There is couscous, easy and quick to do; it’s just pouring two mugs of water over one mug of couscous a bit of seasoning – the rest it does itself. There is meat, flattened a bit and seasoned with spice. There are tomatoes cooked with spring onions, a preserved lemon, some chilli and saffron, all pretty standard fair for a 15 Minute Meal.  As I’ve got familiar with the style of cooking and the means of working with the ingredients, the cooking process has got better.  Or smoother.  Tidier is probably the best description.  I don’t really think I’m cooking the meals much quicker, but its now pretty rare that my kitchen looks like a scene of devastation after the event, a common occurrence at the start of this project.  I now do quite a bit of tidying as I go.  Today was one of those meals. 

The surprising part of the meal was how the aubergine is cooked.  You microwave it! I should say at this point that the recipe called for two small aubergines.  I couldn’t get small ones so I had just one large one.  I upped the cooking time in the microwave a little.  However I was still dubious that this cooking method would work.  It did work though. The aubergine was soft and basically cooked when it came out the microwave.  It is then finished in the frying pan alongside the lamb.

This was a very tasty meal.  As it’s a meal for four, that I cooked for just two of us, I have a nice lunch for tomorrow.  

Just ten meals left to go now. 

Who with: Peter 

How Long: Fifteen Minutes and Thirty Seconds 

… Fruit Salad 

This is the last breakfast to make from the book.  This does look really very tasty. You great all the fruit with a box grater.  This is easy with the apple, pear, nectarine and sort of easy with the strawberries.  It is pretty much impossible to grate a banana.  It just mushes up.  In the end I chop the banana. 

With a squeeze of lime, toasted sesame seeds mixed in warm honey, and a dollop of yogurt, this makes for a good start to the day.  For once a breakfast I actually eat at breakfast time. 

Who With: Me 

How Long: Eight Minutes and Three Seconds 

… San Fran Quinoa Salad 

This is a meal I have been looking forward to cooking.  I’m cooking for Gavin and Tam tonight and Gavin chose this one out of the, now only twelve, meals left.  I am determined to get one of the chicken dishes cooked in time. 

I get off to a relatively good start.  The Quinoa is on quickly.  The next job is to prepare the green (and a bit of red from a chilli) sauce that will be mixed through the Quinoa.  This is done in a food processor.  I can barley get all the ingredients (spinach, spring onions, coriander, mint and chilli) in the food processor.  When I turn it on only the bottom whizzes up.  It takes a lot of coaxing to get the ingredients to whizz up properly.

All this means that I am a bit late with the chicken.  From this point everything just seems to take a little longer than I want.  I know I’m going to run over.  For once, however, it isn’t actually the chicken that does it.  It is cooked through, rather than me having to return it to the pan, as I so often have needed to do with the other chicken dishes.  I just think there is quite a bit to do, so the fifteen minutes is quite a challenge.

It is a lovely meal though.  Well worth a go.  The chicken is tasty and the mango and feta, which both act as a kind of garnish, make this taste amazing. 

A great meal, enjoyed by all. 

Eleven meals and one breakfast to go! 

Who With: Gavin and Tam 

How Long: Eighteen Minutes and Forty Seconds 

… Get Up, Get Fed, Get Gone 

This is the second to last breakfast in the book and therefore the second to last 15 Minute meal that isn’t really a 15 Minute Meal. I don’t really eat Granola (or the other similar dishes, like muesli) often at all.  Nevertheless I am looking forward to eating this.  You make a huge batch of this to store and then eat it as you like.  So for a simple dish it takes quite a while to make. There is quite a bit of weighing out to do and a fair bit of bashing and chopping.  There are two options:  Either roast the nuts, seeds and oats in the oven then add the fruit.  Or add it all together and then pan fry off what you need as you go. I opt for the later option.  I then fry of a batch, add the maple syrup and eat it with yogurt. 

The time includes making the big batch and frying off and preparing a single portion.

I did like this breakfast.  However I’m not really a breakfast eater, certainly not on weekdays.  Today I made this for brunch (probably lunch by the time I got round to it).  There is such a big batch I’m not sure I’ll get through it.  I can see me turning it into a flapjack type thing instead of having it for breakfast. 

Who With: Just me (although I think Gavin had some later) 

How Long: Fifteen Minutes and Fourteen Seconds 

… Golden Grilled Sardines 

Without any forethought I decide to cook a 15 Minute Meal tonight.  I get back from work (first day at the new job incidentally) and rush to the supermarket. I rush because I’m cooking fish and I need to get to the supermarket before the fish counter is closed. I have to cook fish because this meal is the only list of ingredients I have to hand, in the form of a photo, of the left hand side of the page from the book, on my phone.

I can get all the ingredients in one shop (Asda once again).  Well not quite one shop. Not Asda’s fault but mine.  I thought I had peanut butter at home but I didn’t so it was a quick dash out to my nearest (and least favourite) supermarket to buy peanut better and then it was time to cook. 

I sort of felt this was a meal that could be cooked in time but at the same time I wasn’t confident.  There is quite a lot to do, nothing complicated and nothing that should take long to cook, but quite a bit nonetheless.

I did it in time.  More than that I went above and beyond the recipe.  This is one of these recipes where the description of the finished recipe does not match the photograph.  There aren’t many but there are a few.  Following the letter of the recipe, you would take the bread (rubbed with garlic and squished with tomatoes) to the table and the various other bits (mashed beetroot, the chickpea thing, fennel and lemon salad, prosciutto and sardines).  The photo shows the four pieces of chiabatta “built” with the various accompaniments. I decide I want to build mine. And I do. And it’s in time.  There is even sprigs of fennel tops scattered around (not shown in the book, but shown in the photo). 

I do make a pretty terrific mess though.  A mess I clear up!

This is really tasty.  Well worth a try. 

By the way I couldn’t get whole (gutted and scaled) sardines, as the recipe requires.  I could only get butterflied sardines.  It’s funny that when I needed butterflied sardines the “fishmonger” at the fish counter in that particular supermarket (the aforementioned least favourite one) claimed it was an impossible task.

Who With: Gavin

How Long: Fourteen Minutes and Fifty One Seconds 

… Mediterranean Fennel & Couscous 

I cooked this meal after my seconds to last day at my current job and after my last planning committee (ever possibly?) I was late home …

I’ve written the ingredients down for this meal more times than any other.  I learnt early on in this project that the fish dishes would be the hardest to buy for. So when I was wanting to do a fish dish very often I would write two or three ingredient lists out, go to the fish counter first, see what I could get, and that would dictate the rest of my shop.  I almost always wrote this one down and always I ended up not being able to fulfil the shopping list.

I was determined to be able to do this one this time.  Mainly because I’m fast running out of other dishes but also because I really want to cook and eat it.  Four supermarkets and two days later I can cook it.  I can’t however quite fulfil the list of ingredients fully.  I can’t get clams and can’t really get the full range of fillets I would like … but it’s a good enough effort. 

This was another meal that was cooed quickly and without much fuss. No fuss at all in fact.  Once the fish is in the oven, the couscous is soaking and the fennel is cooking away there isn’t anything to do.  So I do some tidying.  Some proper tidying.  The kitchen isn’t a mess at all.  There is a pile of dishes to do after the meal, but basically everything else is put away and the sides are wiped down.  A first I think. 

A nice meal with Gavin and Ed followed by a few pints … making for a good night. 

Who with: Ed & Gavin 

How Long: Fourteen Minutes and Forty Seconds 

… Chop Salad & Harissa Yoghurt 

Tonight I have my friends from work, Lisa and Alex, around for dinner (or formally from work in Alex’s case).

Alex requested a meal that would put me under pressure.  I choose this one. I didn’t really think that it would put me under pressure.  And it didn’t.

There are a few meals like this in the book and I’ve liked them all.  This meal has quite a few things in it I really like. Meatballs, chickpeas and salad.

This was one of the meals that went without any problems really.  A nice meal, done in time (to Alex’s disappointment I know). 

It was a meal that tasted very good too. 

The meal was followed by a pudding.  I was promised a pudding made by Alex, who along with me is a Great (West Somerset) Bake Off winner (actually runner up in Alex’s case, winner in mine … but we don’t like to brag). The pudding was actually made by Lisa, and it was very nice. 

A good night all in all. 

Who with: Alex and Lisa 

How Long: Fourteen Minutes and Fifty Eight Seconds