12 Monday Feb 2018
Posted in cooking, homecooking, sherry, spain
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You can tell it’s winter because I don’t normally cook like this for myself. Though in fact this made about three meals, the best being a garlicky chicken sandwich on a crusty roll, with a bit of soy mayo and crispy greens on top. And of course a generous glass of fino sherry was added to the sauce while cooking. Maybe I should start writing my own sherry cookbook?
30 Tuesday Jan 2018
Posted in casa azahar, food & drink, home, homecooking
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What started off as “what can I do with this chicken breast?” ended up as a rather nice garam masala, after a bit of a fridge forage. I think I should spend a week just using stuff up, or perhaps hold a fridge forage dinner party. Could be interesting. Or maybe just weird…
22 Friday Dec 2017
Posted in casa azahar, food & drink, home, homecooking
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I absolutely adore roasted piquillo peppers and use them in all kinds of dishes, even just tossed into salads. I usually use a different (superior) brand to this, but as these come pre-sliced (and are way cheaper) they also serve their purpose. Anyhow, I went to make a quick tomato sauce the other day and was about to add some of these when I thought to look at the use-by date, since I had been away in Málaga and actually couldn’t remember when I’d opened this jar. Well, the expiry date was about a year away but then something else caught my eye… in small print on the back label it said that once opened the peppers must be kept refridgerated. No problem there. But then it said “for a maximum of 48 hours”. Whaaat??
I’ve been eating these things for years and I am quite sure I have used them even after having been in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or even longer. The only time I wisely decide not to use them is when I see they’ve gone all furry (obvs). But they seem to last a long time, and fellow foodie pal Lynsey @larosillacomida tells me that as long as they are still under the brine in the jar then they are fine. Which these were. And they hadn’t gone furry. But I still ended up tossing them. Dammit.
But honestly… 48 hours??? I’ve never heard of any preserved food spoiling IN THE FRIDGE after such a short time. What is the point of preserving them if you have to eat the whole damn jar once it’s been opened? This can’t be right.
29 Wednesday Nov 2017
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It’s been RAINING here in Sevilla the past two days, something that we are all quite grateful for. Well, except for getting the laundry dry. But it also means that it feels like “stay at home” weather. So after going to see my GP today (nope, still no clue as to what THE PAIN is about) and doing some shopping, I came home and made a totally comfort food rainy day lunch. Garlicky pan-grilled swordfish, stir-fried courgetti and twice-fried chips with soy mayo. And well, have been home ever since. Doing this and that. A bit of work stuff (as always). Netflixing with cats. In PJs.
Sun will be back with us tomorrow.
16 Tuesday May 2017
Posted in food & drink, homecooking
Ever since I discovered the joys of online grocery shopping I also discovered that El Corte Inglés tends to throw in a couple of “gift items” with each purchase. This time it seems we hit the “jackpot” with some B&J cookie dough ice cream, a package of sugar-laden chocolate granola, a DULCE caffé latte thing and… Pasta Lover Pasta!
I have no intention of going anywhere near the first three items mentioned. But in the interest of gastronomy and science, today Peter and I decided to give the pasta thing a go, if only to find out why it was somehow better to cook spaguetti in a microwave for 5 minutes and smear some packaged sauce on it, rather than boiling it for 9 minutes and then adding something nice on top. Here we take you through the steps…
For those of you who think it is FAR TOO MUCH WORK to boil some water in a pot, with Pasta Lover all you have to do is add water to the plastic pasta tub and pop it in the microwave for five minutes. Then you shake out the excess liquid using the lid, which also functions as a strainer, and which would be a great idea if half the pasta didn’t slide out into the sink in the process. So after scooping the pasta out of the sink and adding it to what was left in the plastic container, you then open an extra-large “ketchup packet” of Pasta Lover Sauce made with 100% Natural Ingredients, plop it on top of your oddly textured pasta and there you go.
Trust me, if you are actually a pasta lover – or any sort of food lover – you will NEVER want to eat this. In fact I can’t understand why anyone at all would want to eat this. At the most it shaves off maybe 4 minutes of prep time. And the price – 2.25€ single serving – is NOT cheap. WTF?
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