h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[Amy P]

Monday 23rd November.

I made spicy continental lentil rissoles today. This one of the few bean dishes which need fairly careful preparation. For us, I used 6oz of lentils and 200ml of water, which mixes imperial and metric measures in a way that most cooks discourage. The lentils need to be simmered slowly until all the water is absorbed and they are soft. I fry an onion, garlic and part of a green or yellow pepper, mix these with curry spices, then with the cooked lentils. It's wise to let the mixture stand for a while to set. Then make the mixture into balls, toss in seasoned flour, a beaten egg mixed with a little water and then in bread crumbs.
We eat these with a spicy tomato sauce.

[Amy P]

My husband makes soda bread. This works in a different way from yeast bread. You add bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar to a mixture of ordinary wholemeal and plain flour. Then you add buttermilk and, instead of kneading, you just gather the mixture into a usable dough, shape it into a round and place this on a baking sheet. It's traditional to cut a cross on top but I don't know if that's essential. Bake in a hot oven. It's nice still warm.

[Amy P]

I did Yottam Ottolenghi's two potato vindaloo for dinner. I've never been sure why it's a vindaloo, as it's not particularly hot but, apparently it's the inclusion of vinegar that counts.

The trouble with this dish is that it takes about two hours to prepare. There are ten different spices in it(eleven if you count ground coriander and fresh coriander as different things) as well as chilli and garlic. Some of the spices are dry-fried and ground first.

Having prepared your spice mix, you saute fried chopped shallots, add spices, tomatoes, vinegar, water and sugar and cook for twenty minutes. Then you add chopped potato and red pepper and simmer for twenty minutes. Then you add the chopped sweet potato and let that simmer for 40 minutes. I didn't give the dish that long to cook. It certainly has a rich and interesting spicy flavour.

Today I stuffed mushrooms. This is a recipe I've varied again and again. I took the stalks off four big mushrooms and then fried them (if you wash the mushrooms first, be careful to dry them before frying, or they spit alarmingly.) Then I fried an onion, added the chopped stalks and some garlic and fried these a little longer. I added two chopped tomatoes, Stilton and chopped walnuts, mixed herbs and pepper. I stuffed the mushrooms with this mixture. As I find this dish rather dry, I poured on a sauce of stock and red wine, before baking for 20 minutes.

It occurs to me how posh this sounds in French. "Champignons farcis de noix, tomates et fromage bleu, avec un sauce de vin rouge."

[Amy P]

I'd wondered what to do about a Christmas cake. We tried the stollen I made earlier, though it should ideally be kept for 6 weeks before eating. It had a pleasant flavour but was perhaps rather heavier than t should have been.
So today, I started preparing a Christmas cake. this is a more traditional cake but rather complicated. It involves caramelising sugar, then adding milk to form a kind of fudge before adding it to the cake. I've got this wrong many times, ending up with toffee. The secret seems to be to add the milk slowly and stir vigorously. Today, all I did was to put dried fruit and nuts in a pot and pour brandy over them. I'll leave that to soak for a week before making the cake.

At least failure is ...

28 November

I tried doing Yottam Ottolenghi's stuffed baby squid. Baby squid are good value for money but I've had mixed success with cooking them. When we've tried coating them in a seasoned flour or batter, then frying them, the batter falls off!

This recipe starts with taking the tentacles out. Then you make up a mixture of crushed pine nuts and breadcrumbs, with parsley, spices and lemon juice. Then you stuff the squid, which is finicky work, fry them for five minutes and put them in the oven briefly while you sear the tentacles in a sauce of lemon juice and some of the pine nuts. It did work but I think I slightly overcooked them.

I'm not going in for Masterchef any time soon!

[Amy P]

29 November We went on the march in London to urge world leaders to take action to curb climate change.
So we returned home more or less exhausted, and had sausage beanpot. This is an easy dish. I soaked and cooked cannellini beans in advance and took our frozen vege sausages (Cauldron) out of the freezer. All I had to do is to cook a chopped onion, a crushed garlic clove and add tomatoes, tomato puree, half a chopped pepper, the sausages and beans and simmer. I served this with fusilli and lightly cooked carrots.

[Amy P]

We had aubergine stuffed with chick peas today.
You need to cut the flesh of the aubergine out, then fry the skins in oil. Fry an onion with the aubergine flesh and garlic, then add tomatoes are added. Stir in the chick peas, parsley and lemon juice, then bake for 30 minutes.

The end of November, which is just as well as I've got tired of posting about food. It shouldn't be an obsession!

[Amy P]