Sandwich tastic

After the castophries of firstly the sandwich that was from the Lovin Oven in Newport on Friday and then forgetting to take both my breakfast and lunch to work with me today I decided to treat myself to a Chandos Deli special.  This time I opted for a hummus & chilli jam baguette and it was very nice.  My main critique being that the bread wasn't at its best but that's what happens if you buy yesterday's and compared with the Lovin Oven's cheese baguette, which in fact should have been described as a plastic square mank baguette I can only be grateful to the shining beacon of sandwich light that is Chandos Deli.

Best blog dinner yet (fish pie)

During my sushi making class I was advised that before trying to cut sashimi  with proper sushi quality fish I should first practise on a lower grade fish and make fish pie or something from it.  Knowing my desire to do this Dom happily volunteered to make fish pie using a recipe once again from the Billingsgate market cookbook.  We therefore brought a lump of salmon from Rocks Fishmongers on Whiteladies Road, which I was rather impressed by as it had the  best range of fish I've seen in any fishmongers in Bristol.  When we got home I then cut the fish as I had been taught and all went well.  Dom then took over in the kitchen department and created what I can only describe as magic.  The fish pie had dill in it and tasted delightful.  We used soya milk rather than normal for the sauce  but you wouldn't have known the difference and you'd have to ask Dom what other great things were in it if you really want to know.  It was ever so tasty though the sauce had a great flavour to it and the feeling it gave was one of overwhelming comfort food and snugliness.  Overall marks: 9.5, my only critique being that I felt it could have had the tiniest extra amount of seasoning.

A Friday delight

Last Friday Dom cooked a chickpea & aubergine tagine.  The tagine was built up to be what only can be described as a unmitigated disaster by Dom but contrary to her tales of woe it was actually very tasty.  She served the tagine with couscous that I flavoured with Harissa powder, lemon and black pepper. The flavours in the tagine were very good, subtle and not overly spicy. The aubergine was nice and the chick peas which  were from dried were a delight.  As a side note the chick peas were what had caused the tales of woe which we endured earlier on in the night. We had got them out and soaked them overnight but neither of us had realised that they needed boiling for an hour and half until nearer the time and therefore hindering the quick after work dinner that was intended.  Dom however rose to the challenge and dinner was served at 19:30.  Overall marks 8.75.

Pepper suprise

Tonight I decided to give my Yo Sushi cook book a second chance after the trick that was the Katsu sauce, this time putting my faith in their firecracker rice.  Some might say that this was a gamble as although Ash eats the rice a lot at Yo I've never actually tried it.  The recipe was very easy and the resultant meal was pretty tasty.  The main problems being that I only had dark soy not light as the recipe suggested so mine came out a bit brown looking, I put way too much spring onion on the top and finally there was a bit much pepper in it.  I need to go now and take some indigestion tablets but overall marks were a  7.0.

Undercooked rice and other ingredients

Last night Dom cooked black beans and rice a la one pot cookbook.  This dinner took  about 2.5 hours to cook and by the time it was done or not so done we were both very hungry.  Overall the flavour was good possibly a bit too much stout and also Dom had added sugar at one point as she was concerned that the flavour was a bit bitter.  This just had the effect of a strangely sweet initial flavour.   The salsa that she served with it was very nice but my personal view was that it could have had a bit more heat.  The main problem however was that Dom used brown rice, this meant it didn't actually cook in the stew.  After an hour of waiting patiently from the point that we added the rice, we gave up and ate it as it was.  Which in this case was as hard as anything and I still have jaw ache today.  Overall marks 5.5, nice in principal but the execution let it down.

A word of warning

This is to be my last post of the day and its a cautionary tale, chocolate and pink pepper does not taste nice!

Brownie day ( not like the guides!)

Apologies for the picture quality, lighting wasn't very good.  Today we spent half the day packing up the dining room in preparation for moving.  After this mammoth task I decided we needed a treat.  I'd made these Brownies a few weeks ago based on a Jamie Oliver recipe but with the addition of orange zest, orange juice and chocolate chips and the results were splendid.  One of the most chocolatey things I've ever eaten.  Once again they didn't let me down and cheered up Dom no end.  I'm going to give them a 9.0 out of 10.  P.S.  They had about half a bottle of brandy in them as well.