hello my little tiramisus!
Do you ever have those weeks there nothing quite works right? After the success of last weeks new recipes I wasn’t ready to repeat myself just yet; however while nothing I made this week was out and out disasters, nothing was an out-and-out win either.
I made fried aubergine in a soy-ginger glaze, but it came out too sweet. I tried pumpkin gnocchi, but it remained a little chewy. In the end what hasn’t made me completely give up on cooking this week in the end was toast. That’s right, partially because it’s hard to completely fuck up toast, but also it was the first meal where it just hit the spot. And that was yesterday. So in case you are tempted to think I am a culinary goddess whose hand blesses every morsel she touches, think again. Sometimes, all you can make is toast.
I have managed to scrape together this week’s list despite my failures, including one item which I meant to put in about four weeks ago and have forgotten every single time!
Honest Burger takeaway
So last week for our Friday treat, as my flatmate finished a big work project we got Honest burgers. I ordered the Plant burger, which consisted of a Beyond meat patty, chipotle mayo, vegan Gouda, mustard, red onion, pickles and lettuce, along with some rosemary fries. While they didn’t deliver the sauces we ordered, the takeaway was here so quickly and the fries were still warm and crisp, which I find rarely happens with takeaway chips. Also, it was a really good burger as the flavours really worked and it was juicy and not too dry, so definitely up there in the restaurant vegetarian burgers ranking.
crispy fried gnocchi with goats cheese, honey and thyme
So as some of you may have seen, I made pumpkin gnocchi this week. They used to sell pumpkin gnocchi in Waitrose, which was delicious, but I haven’t seen it since before the panny d, so eventually I decided to try and make my own as I had a can of puree left in the cupboard. The making was straight forward as I was using a vegan recipe that was just mashed potato, flour and the puree. I put the puree in kitchen towel in a colander to try and remove some of the moisture and then mashed the potato as finely as I could. (My bf likes to mash it normally then put through a sieve to remove any lumps, except I only realised midway through I did not have a sieve, so ended up using a tea strainer instead. You can’t question my commitment to this gnocchi.)
I needed a lot more flour as the dough was incredibly sticky (probably needed to wait longer with the puree in terms of removing the liquid) and then once that was cut up and pronged with a fork for decoration, boiled. They rose up to the top as normal, but just to be sure they were cooked, I fried after. The first time I fried in salt and honey butter which was okay, but the second batch I fried in oil, before separately adding the salt, butter, honey and thyme which were melted together in a separate pan. This got a much more crispy finish, which detracted from the chewiness of the dough. This honey-thyme butter mix, paired with crumbled goats cheese was a really good meal otherwise, so would recommend even with normal shop bought gnocchi.
mushrooms and goats cheese on toast
After a long week of things not going right, I needed something quick to eat before the Drag Race UK finale (sidenote, I know this year’s is an excellent top four and it didn’t matter too much who won, as I would happily go to Porn Idol at Heaven to see any one of them.) I’m reaching the end of the week where the fridge is dwindling but I had a large chunk of goats cheese from the gnocchi leftover and some mushrooms. I then fried up the mushrooms in some butter, garlic, balsamic and soy, spread the cheese on just some normal wholemeal bread and topped with the mushrooms. Very simple, but very good and I wanted to go back and instantly fry some more, so today and going to try with a jacket potato for a gluten free version to see if it works.
Naked Blue Machine smoothie
I used to get the Naked smoothies in the Tesco Meal Deal when I was a student as they were basically the same price as the meal deal alone. Now my days of needing/wanting to buy a meal deal are long behind me, but I still do have a soft spot for these smoothies even though my bf likes to remind me they are so full of sugar (he is a diabetic, not just a nag). I even like the green ones despite the colour, but they are always way too expensive. This Sunday was my lucky day however, as they was half price in Sainsburys; I bought the blue one to really feel like the bougie woman who probably does yoga every day before her business meetings.
Mandy’s biscuits and Guinness Tinnies
It was St Patrick’s day this week and as my flatmate is Irish, we figured we had to do something, in this case drink Guinness and watch Matthew Goode’s terrible Irish accent in Leap Year. Luckily, Emma’s mum Mandy sent a bunch of Irish treats to properly celebrate, including Taytos, Kimberleys, Wicklow’s Cheddar and most importantly my favourite Irish treat, which is her homemade oat biscuits. I don’t know how she makes them to be so buttery and yet so crisp but by god Mandy I will find out if it’s the last thing I do on this Earth.
In terms of things you can buy though, my local Spar has been selling special single cans of Guinness which is actually brewed at their Dublin site rather than their usual site of Leeds, which tasted pretty good. It is best appreciated when coupled with watching James McAvoy and his tight-fitting clothes on Celebrity Bakeoff.
Marks and Spencer Sourdough Bagels
I had these weeks ago when I had the Saint Agur Creme but forgot to mention; I was originally sceptical on the idea of sourdough bagel, but honestly, the best shop-bought bagels you can get. The sourdough means that when toasted it has that light and chewy texture. Which leads me on to the aims of the week…
Aims:
I’ve just started following breadflowers, which is a sourdough bagel and flower delivery service in Manchester, and am currently patiently waiting for them to open as I am now hooked on the idea of a sourdough bagel. Also they do flavoured cream cheese and I have suggested my beloved sundried tomato and spinach cream cheese to them, so keeping my fingers crossed for my birthday.
So since we are finally allowed to go on walks with one other person not from our household, I have started going on a walk with my friend Joe who lives ten minutes up the road. Fearing my company wouldn’t be a sufficient enough bribe for him to come, I have started making different baked goods (also so I get into baking again) including brownies, kaya banana bread (which I am tinkering with the recipe for before I release it into the wild) and this week have decided on blueberry muffins. I used to make these so often I didn’t even need to look at the recipe, so want to get back to that before summer and socialising with groups happens again.
That’s all for this week but before the usual spiel, I should mention a very serious point: my birthday is on the 6th of April and as it is my second lockdown birthday, if you are a food company or just an adoring fan, all gifts of food and money are welcome. Otherwise, as always do get in touch! I’d love to hear your recipes, ideas or just a nice meal you had.
If you enjoyed my writing or found it useful, just a reminder that you can donate to my Ko-Fi or Paypal here.