A good start to the day

The start of another week after a relaxing weekend.  We took Keith the dog for his walks and watched a fabulous game of rugby on TV where Wales beat England.  Brilliant!  Being neither Welsh nor English I could just watch it for the fun of it :-)

I love weekends!  Coffee, reading newspapers and relaxing over breakfast is just too lovely for words (even if it doesn't happen like that very often).  Before going out walking this Sunday, I wanted to make a breakfast that would really set us up.  A little while ago I watched a cookery programme on TV which featured these little treasures and I have wanted to try these ever since: "croque madame muffins" - although I'd describe them as "egg cups".  How cute are these?  And not only that, they are absolutely delicious and easy to make but look impressive enough to serve to guests.  

I love how you can adapt these to your taste - I included ham and spinach in ours to make a kind of eggs florentine version but you could easily leave these out.  If you are a vegetarian, then these are also great - no need to have the ham in them if you don't want to.  

I'd really recommend you'd give these a go!

Fish Fight...

Did you know that half the fish caught in the North Sea is thrown back dead?  That's over 1.7 million tons of fish per year - discarded!  Strict fishing quotas, consumer choices,...the list of reasons is long. When you have a moment and want to find out a little more, please have a look at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight campaign - Hugh is of River Cottage fame and an avid campaigner on the subject.  What an eye-opener!

Fish gratin...

I love eating fish but now that I am more aware of what is going on, I am trying to make more ethical choices.  I guess the more consumers are happy to try other types of fish, the more these will become available.  And it's not about never eating cod, tuna or salmon again - that would just create another problem - for me, it's about variety and about us, the consumer, influencing legislation so that it makes sense, for us and the environment.

And because fish is a fabulous food I can't not give you this quick & simple recipe to try: fish gratin.  The recipe originally asked for smoked haddock but why not try another type of white fish such as coley?  Or use a mixture of fish, giving some new varieties a chance together with some old favourites?  Here, the fish is placed on a bed of spinach but as I didn't have enough, I also used some finely sliced gem lettuce...it worked a treat!  I have never cooked lettuce before but it certainly wasn't the last time.  I have also amended the amount of cream and cheese used as there was no way I would have been able to taste the fish - the star of the show - under all that fat.

I hope you'll enjoy this one!

Mexican wave...

Do you love Mexican food?  I simply adore it...or at least the stuff that is served over here under that name.  Unfortunately, I have never been to Mexico but I imagine that it would be an amazing trip with lots of brilliant foods to try in different regions of the country.  Whenever I watch a cookery programme and it features Mexican food, I am sure I can taste it just watching it, so one day we are going to have to visit!  And until that dream trip becomes reality, I am just going to have to cook my own take on Mexican food.

I promised you another recipe and here it is: a fajita bake...corn tortillas stuffed with vegetables and chicken in a spicy sauce (or not so spicy, depending on how you like it) with a crunchy topping...how does that sound?  Some guacamole (or my version of it) on the side and cooling yoghurt (or sour cream) on top, this makes a great meal for during the week or would also work as an informal dinner for friends. And if you need to turn it vegetarian. it couldn't be easier!

Please click below to find out how to make this - I hope I have whet your appetite...

The beauty of food ... and a change in direction

I don't know about you but we seem to have a handful of things we cook regularly and especially in our London lives, those didn't alter much at all due to lack of time etc.  Now we live here and I have the time to experiment a lot more with new recipes, I am pleased to say our meals have become a lot more interesting!  I am not into complicated recipes, so it's always nice to find dishes that are tasty but easy to make.  Today, I baked an apricot & almond cake - yummy!  It could have done with slightly shorter in the oven but tasted lovely - we'll definitely repeat this one!

 And for our dinner I made spinach & ham stuffed pancakes topped with a Roquefort sauce...also very tasty if quite filling and probably not exactly New Year's diet-friendly ;-) It could easily be adjusted to make it vegetarian and I guess could be slimmed down by using less cheese.  We had it with a simple salad and it really didn't need anything else...apart from a lie-down afterwards :-)  Very tasty though and I dare say this will be added to our list of favourites!

Looking at my blog and the individual posts, I realise that I do mainly write about my favourite thing - FOOD!  This may warrant a change in blog name because although I do watch the pond and still very much value the little things, this has now somewhat morphed into a food blog.  Not a bad thing at all but I should really make a few changes, create a library of recipes and keep any posts relating to other subjects under a different heading.  I'll have to see how I can do this but watch this space!