Retirement

Trulyscrumdiddlyumptious has gone into retirement (maybe only temporarily. We'll see)

I'm currently hanging out at http://mywonderwomanknickers.blogspot.co.uk/

Feel free to pop over and say hi! 

That moment when you don't know what to do with a veg box ingredient..

I really had no idea what to do with fennel, so looked for a recipe and found a tomato and fennel gratin.

What to have with it though? The WW website (GRR) had spiced turkey meatballs on it so we gave those a shot as well. It was actually a really good meal - a few roast baby new spuds and some green stuff finished it off well!

The mark of a good recipe book..

...is when the pages are all stuck together.
Orange Carrot spice muffins. Definitely a family favourite.

Ahem

peers round the edge of the door and sneezes as dust floats everywhere....
Um. Hi!
waves and grins a bit sheepishly..
It's been a while, huh.

Lets not pontificate on how UTTERLY RUBBISH I've been at blogging as of late (like the last, erm, 9 months...No. I haven't been having a baby. I've just been crap.)
Lets just get on with a recipe shall we??

Joanna's Purple Sprouting (From my beloved Leon 2)

I got a big bag of lovely purple sprouting in my veg box and that can only mean one thing.. this delish sausagemeat, chilli, fennel and purple sprouting dish. I even bought sodding Weight Watchers sausages to do it with (more of that later I'm sure) but only because Asda didn't have any own brand reduced fat ones which I'd far rather have bought evil WW.. bad enough I'm paying them to keep an eye on what I eat.

Recipe itself is a doddle with only a few ingredients..

Heat oil in a large frying pan, fry off garlic, chilli flakes and fennel seeds.. Add the sausagemeat, smush it up into crumbly bits and leave it to go golden on one side then stir it about again. I have to admit, I like it when it sticks to the bottom as all those brown crispy bits scraped up and added to my dinner makes it for me. Add the chopped purple sprouting in and stir it about for a while. I don't like it quite as crunchy as this recipe makes it (not when it's lovely veg box stuff with real stalks as against the slightly bendy supermarket version) so I tend to start off by pushing the sausage to one side of the pan, frying the broccoli in the oil for a bit, then putting in a couple of splashes of water on the purple sprouting ONLY so that it steams a bit. You don't want to be steaming the sausage as well. Uck. Then mix it all back together and scrape up the extra sticky crispy bits you got from underneath the sausage.

Finish with lemon juice..

We had ours with roasted carrots and parsnips as I'm on this stoopid diet, however it's MUCH better with crusty bread!

Cheating a bit..

So this was work not home but it is the first wedding cake I've ever done and whilst not being entirely happy with it, I was a bit proud that I managed to do it whilst the boss was on hols.

Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Summer Cake

http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/05/strawberry-summer-cake/

I made this a couple of weeks ago. It was lovely!!
This was my version:

Before

After

Oh Leon Leon, how I love you Leon!

This is the book that brought back the mojo. I've cooked and cooked and cooked and loved eating from this.

I love it. It's fresh, simple food, fast. I am totally inspired..

Sadly I didn't take photos of last night's dinner which was Chicken with preserved lemons and olives and Sunshine Salad.

Papas Con Bravas, Italian Broad Beans, Courgette Ceviche

Fried courgettes with green sauce, roasted cauliflower with turmeric, 30th b'day salad

Cooking tonight's dinner (after all the chopping!)

Lots of stirring pans all at once :)

Spicy fried fish, 30th b'day salad, roasted cauliflower, broccoli with cashews, garlic and chilli.

Love it.. so many more things to try.