"Out with the old"...or "A new tortilla wrap recipe"

Isn't it funny how we sometimes hold on to a recipe because we have always used that particular one?  A while ago I found a recipe for tortilla wraps and have made these a few times since.  Given that the recipe was from my treasured River Cottage Bread book, I didn't think I could find a better one.  These are good and quick - what's not to like?

Fast forward to today and I have to say that I think I have unearthed the ultimate tortilla recipe for lovely soft wraps which are no doubt going to be my new favourite (sorry, River Cottage).  I love the soft texture which makes wrapping them so much easier. 

On this occasion I used wholemeal flour and filled the wrap with leftovers from yesterday's salad - delicious!  My dough-rolling skills were obviously not quite up to scratch today, resulting in the wonky shape you see in the picture but hey, it's homemade :-) 

I hope you'll give these a try - so simple and yet so satisfying.  And if you make a couple of batches, you can always freeze them for later use.

Boys' salad

I woke up early today and couldn't wait to get up.  Some mornings are just like that, aren't they?  It makes for a good start to the day.  The dog was very excited to see me so early (but then, he is always excited) -  we snuggled up together, drinking coffee (me) and planning the day ahead (possibly both of us).  Those early hours of the morning are my favourite time of the day - it's peaceful and quiet with just the birds singing outside.  Beautiful! 

It didn't take long for my thoughts to steer towards food.  Earlier in the week I had already bought the ingredients for a salad recipe I came across whilst we were away.  Now, to be honest, the thought of chowing my way through a plate of limp lettuce and cucumber is not exactly my idea of a great meal but luckily this recipe is far, far removed from that.  Think roasted squash, spicy chorizo, yummy beans,...delicious!

I call it a boys' salad - it's big and satisfying, full of flavours and textures and would even fill up the hungriest of males.  I made it for my lunch today and LOVED it - it certainly didn't leave me feeling hungry and really delivered on taste :-)  If you prefer to make it vegetarian simply leave out the chorizo - it'll still be lovely.  Luckily, I made enough to have another portion later in the week and as an added bonus I roasted a further batch of just squash at the same time which made good use of the already hot oven. 




I can now honestly say that I just had a salad for lunch :-)

Like a fish in water...Salmon with a twist

"I can do it..."

Yippee - we are home!  And whilst there is still chaos everywhere, it is just so lovely to be back in our own home again!  We have missed being here and Keith the dog spent a lot of time sniffing around.  I spent the same amount of time dusting, hoovering, dusting some more and smiling to myself.  How lucky we are to have a home, to feel warm & safe.  We had a lovely time where we were staying - Keith even improved his swimming a bit although he is still not too sure about deep water, judging by the photo ;-)  Still, it's good to be back!

Before cooking

Salmon burger...yum!

Not all the work has been completed yet, so there is stuff all over the house but we can work around that for now.  I couldn't wait to get back into the kitchen and try some of the recipes I promised to write about.

If like me you are quite partial to a burger, you might enjoy what I cooked for my dinner tonight: salmon burgers. 

Making these couldn't be any quicker or easier and I really loved the taste and texture.  And if you want to reduce the amount of red meat you eat or just fancy a change, then I can highly recommend these.  You could also replace the salmon with fresh tuna.

Home, sweet home...almost

We are back home!  Well, sort of - I was there for a couple of hours and am now travelling to an event (F1 racing) for the weekend.  As of Monday, however, I will be home for good - finally :-) The kitchen/diner is looking incredible - there are a couple of things still to be finished but I am amazed at how beautiful and light it all looks.  There will be plenty of space to cook, bake and enjoy meals and lots of storage space as well.  One of my favourite things will be the large pull-out larder - no more hunting for ingredients in the depth of the cupboard we had before.  It did the trick (and I am very grateful that we had a kitchen at all) but the new set-up will just be so lovely to be in.  If I was grateful before, I am even more so now!

Have a lovely weekend and I will be back with the first of many new recipes next week...yippee!

Counting down

Well, we are into week 4 of the works at home (not unexpectedly, given all that needed doing) but the good news is that we'll be moving back in on Friday!  I am very excited and can't wait!  I have a long list of recipes to try out as well which will be great.  For now though, here is another little idea to jazz up a classic dish: the good old scrambled eggs.  A fabulous standby meal in itself, why not whisk in a couple of teaspoons of pesto to add something a bit different?  Green eggs might look a bit strange but they sure are tasty :-)

Mock mayo

I love mayonnaise - in sandwiches or burger buns, as a dip...yummy.  I do, however, also love fitting into my trousers, so I try not to have too much of it too often.
A very good and tasty substitute that won't ruin the waistline is this simple little trick: mixing plain yogurt with mustard.  And it couldn't be easier: for one portion, simply mix 2 heaped teaspoons of plain yogurt (2% fat or more) with a little mustard (Dijon, grainy or whatever you have) and season with salt and pepper.  It's creamy and tastes just as good as mayonnaise...without the guilty conscience :-)

Fresh fruit

So, here we are: week 3 of our building works has started.  I know it's silly but I am beginning to feel a little homesick.  I've travelled lots and have been away from home for weeks on end before but this is different: we are only around the corner from home, so it's tantalisingly close and yet I can't really go back because there's too much going on.  They are making great progress and we are on schedule but I really can't wait to be home again :-)

Food is still pretty basic but tasty nonetheless and I have been watching a couple of great food shows on TV for inspiration.  The brilliant Nigel Slater created a couple of amazing yet simple dishes in one of his TV shows that I will definitely recreate and write about when we are back home.

I have just finished making one of my favourite things in the world: fruit salad.  Now, I know it doesn't take any skill whatsoever to make one of those but I think you just can't beat the taste of fresh fruit.  It is the one thing I really couldn't live without (or I'd be pretty miserable if I had to).  And it never fails to amaze me how nature creates these perfect little (or large) gems that are just bursting with flavour.  In my fruit salad today we have melon, strawberries, blueberries, a few grapes that were left and a kiwi - I might add a bit of banana just before serving.  I can't think of anything more delicious.  My slow Internet connection still means that uploading photos is not possible but just take my word for it: the salad looks divine :-)  Not too much longer now and I will be back in full swing with cooking, posting and sharing photos!

The simple life

It's week 2 of our building works at home and we are still in hiding at our cottage.  We are keeping things simple here - patchy internet connections have meant that we are not spending time at the screen.  Food is also simple - stir fry dishes, salads etc.  I made a quick & tasty soy and honey glazed salmon salad for lunch today. Yum!  What I miss though is making bread - I will make some wraps or roti tomorrow, just to feel like I'm doing some baking :-)  We had some shop-bought English muffins the other day and were horrified at the amount of sugar they contained (they shouldn't have any!).  Have you also noticed how much sugar is bring added to everything? I do like a sweet treat now and again but do we really need sugar in ham, bread etc?  I really don't think so!  Just keep it simple, I'd say!

I can't wait to get back to proper posting - please bear with me in the meantime.

No kitchen, no internet

Well, at least that's what it feels like at the moment.  We have moved out whilst the building work is being done at home and were lucky enough to find a small dog-friendly holiday cottage nearby.  The only downside is a very slow internet connection (almost non-existing) and the lack of space for proper cooking.  Oh well, it's not forever!  The beautiful weather definitely helps and makes me want to eat salads etc.  Continuing the asparagus theme from the other day, we bought the local green variety today and had this grilled with an egg on top - easy, healthy & yummy!  And the egg yolk doubles up as the dressing - perfect.  I do have a photo but given the internet timing out when I try and upload this, I will add it in due course.

Lucky dip...baked sea bream

It's been a busy couple of days...we are having building works starting on Monday with a wall being demolished, the kitchen being ripped out (sniff...) etc, so we are having to box everything up. The end result will (hopefully) be a lovely space to cook and eat and we can't wait to have it all finished.  Since Keith the dog will most likely be too keen to help, we have decided to move out for the duration of the works - the builders will be living here in the meantime.

There hasn't been much time for trying out recipes whilst all this has been going on and we've been keeping it simple.  In fact, for the last couple of days we have been having a lot of leftovers from our freezer.  The thing is that I keep forgetting to label my freezer bags and boxes, so now and again we don't know what we will have to eat until it's been defrosted.  I call it lucky dip ;-)  Tonight we definitely were lucky as I knew what was in the package - sea bream.  I simply topped it with a bit of butter and tarragon and put some garlic and chorizo inside (using up some bits and pieces from the fridge before it gets turned off next week) - we then baked it in foil in the oven for 25 minutes at 180 degrees and had it with oven chips and salad.  Simple and delicious!