Leftover fish curry

As I write the title to this post I'm aware it doesn't sound a big turn on. Leftover fish. Hmmmm. But trust me, it was good.First of all the fish wasn't cooked, merely the odd bits and pieces that hadn't found their way onto the kebabs that our friend Rich's mate Chris was rustling up for a big family barbecue (mainly tuna and swordfish). Chris is a chef so you'd expect him to come up with something good but this was an impressive use of the scant contents of a holiday villa storecupboard.Apparently he sweated off a few onions and peppers and about 4 cloves of garlic over a very low heat for about...

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Fruit 'martinis'

Back from the Emerald Isle which was indeed looking very green after all that rain.I had a really great trip and a fabulous birthday - the best I can ever remember.Believe it or not I'm off again in 36 hours, this time to France to try and establish whether my mother-in-law can manage to go back home after her fall a couple of months ago or whether she'll have to go into a home which she understandably doesn't want to do. Tricky.No time for much in the way of creative cooking in the meantime but here's a great idea I picked up from a lovely hotel called The Old Convent we stayed in in Co. Tipperary....

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Oh, the joy of a good apple pie!

Isn't this a thing of beauty?I wish I could say I'd cooked it myself but these are the apple pies they make at the Farmgate café in Midleton, Co. Cork.There's something very special about an Irish apple pie. The filling is a wonderful chunky mound of sweet fruit, the pastry wafer thin and crisp with a lavish dusting of caster sugar. It's much lighter and less stodgy than an English apple pie.Judging by this recipe the crucial difference is that they use eating rather than cooking apples and a high proportion of fat to flour - plus some sour cream.I'm off cooking duty this week but shall have to...

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Yikes! Ireland is expensive!

We're over on 10 days holiday celebrating a Big Birthday (Mine. One of those ones with an 0 at the end) and I can't believe how expensive Irish restaurants are. The main courses in the restaurants in Wexford we looked at last night were all between 20 and 30 euros, pretty well London prices and certainly much more than we would pay in Bristol. Wine, which is hugely popular in Ireland, is really pricey too.Fortunately breakfasts such as the wonderful one we had this morning at McMenamin's (above) are so lavish that one doesn't need lunch so I reckon a strategy of blow-out breakfast, afternoon tea...

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Maybe the answer is halal meat

Following my earlier moan this week about cheap cuts I passed what looked like a halal butcher yesterday in Shepherds Bush in London which was selling all kinds of inexpensive cuts of lamb from an amazing £1.24 a lb. It was also really well trimmed of fat. We used to buy halal meat occasionally from a Bangladeshi grocer where I lived in St Albans and it was particularly good for stews, tagines and curries. I didn't have time to explore yesterday but there are loads of really cheap places to shop round Shepherds Bush including several middle eastern greengrocers and a flourishing street mark...

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'Cheap cuts' aren't always cheap

The unrelenting gloom and unseasonal temperatures made me feel like making a stew on Saturday when we were having friends round so I bought four big pieces of organic short ribs or 'pot au feu' as our local butcher calls them. It was a bit of a shock when they came to over £12 but by that time I'd got so carried away with how good they were going to taste I couldn't bring myself to buy something else. And it was great, and it did serve 6 which is only £2 a head (well, probably £2.50ish with the veg and the wine) far, far cheaper than anything you'd get in a restaurant. But it blew a big hole in...

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Raspberry and yoghurt pots

This is my favourite breakfast at the moment - well, most of the year, actually, but fresh raspberries happen to be in season and reduced at most of the supermarkets currently.A handful of raspberries, a heaped tablespoon of plain yoghurt (we use soy as my husband is dairy-intolerant) and a sprinkling of granola. It looks especially pretty layered up in a tumbler like this, a form of presentation the French are particularly keen on and call a 'verrine'.You can also of course make it with thawed frozen berries - cheaper for most of the year - or with a cooked fruit compote. We have it with apple...

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The return of marge?

Next week A level results are announced so I've been frantically busy with my new Beyond Baked Beans student cooking page on Facebook (note the subtle plug ;-)The great thing about it is that students can upload recipes and videos direct and we've already got some great ones on the page.One which has caught my eye is a video of a 'Really Moist Chocolate Cake' which was submitted by 15 year old Rebecca Carey who recently won the Guild of Food Writers young cookery writers competition 'Write It'.What's interesting about the cake is that it contains a good dollop of yoghurt (hence the moistness)...

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Sunday afternoon bargains

We haven't quite got our act together since we got back on Friday so found ourselves scouring the local shops at 4.30 for something for supper tonight.Tesco Metro turned up trumps with a pack of three pork chops which had been reduced from £3.37 to £1.69 and some reduced spring onions (67p down to 35p, which is actually what they should be at this time of year). I cooked the chops on a ridged grill pan and deglazed the juices with some white wine which had surprisingly survived the 10 days I'd been away, chucking in a couple of thin slices of the butter at the end. Half the onions got stir fried...

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Latest salvo in the supermarket price war

Back to Blighty yesterday to be greeted by a full page ad in the Times (and probably other papers too) publicising Sainsbury’s ‘Big 5’ deals on fruit and veg. Which bears more than a fleeting resemblance to Aldi’s weekly fruit and veg promotion, the Aldi Super 6. Could it be that the big boys are getting rattled by the migration of an increasing number of newly budget-conscious customers prepared to give the discounters a go? I suspect it could. According to recent figures from the market research company TNL Aldi’s sales increased over 20% in the 12 weeks to the 15th of June, giving it its highest...

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