Little apple licker.

Dr W and I have entered into the weaning process a little naively. As we are both very fond of our food, the presumption was that Mini Bean would be too now that, as her official Food Facilitators, we are allowing her access to food. 

In hindsight, if the only flavours you have known are sweet breastmilk, sweet strawberry Calpol and sweet orangey Infacol (other wind easing remedies are available...) then broccoli may be a bit of a shock. 

Broccoli was a bit of a shock. As was courgette, sweet potato and watermelon. We removed the pear as it was a bit old and unpleasant even for our highly experienced adult palates.

Really, this face says it all. I do like the non-courgette holding hand though. Like she's summoning a waiter. Or her personal assistant. Or like it should have a tiny glass of champagne in it.

We did try the baby classic of mashed banana but an equally unimpressed face was pulled. And some comedic gagging.

I felt a bit sad that she hadn't had a more positive reaction. But she hasn't yet shown any interest when we've been eating so it makes sense if she's not friends with the food yet. 

In the spirit of offering not forcing, this morning Mini Bean grabbed and sucked a spoon dipped in blended cherries and yoghurt. Nope. She gummed a bit of my toast for a minute or so before spitting it out. Better. And licked an apple that I bit a few chunks of out of and handed to her. Not too bad. Well done Mini Bean.

It's going to be an interesting journey.

Mini Bean and the boob.

Poor Not Another Carrot. So neglected. But for good reason. Mini Bean was born in February and I assure you that the last thing I wanted to do in the months following my last post was to eat, let alone cook. So this blog would mostly have been about tinned soup, toast and the occasional ginger nut. Dull dull queasy dull.

But now I have gained a (not so) tiny human and a sweet tooth. Hello confectionary. Goodbye tooth enamel.

With Mini Bean's half birthday and the introduction of solid food imminent I wanted to talk about how 9lb 11oz became 18lb 14oz.

Now, this isn't specifically a pro-breastfeeding post. I just wanted to share my experience so please bear with me.

I always wanted to breastfeed and honestly never considered an alternative. It made sense to me to feed my baby myself if I could. And it was free. And I do like free food.

Unfortunately Mini Bean had a traumatic birth and consequently was taken from me immediately, placed on a drip and sent to NICU for 5 days. I wasn't able to attempt to feed until day 2 or 3 (it's a blur) so I thought I'd missed my chance. On the 4th night Mini Bean was allowed off her drip and out of NICU. She shared my hospital bed and that night my milk came in. If my c-section had allowed me to jump for joy, I assure you I would.

We had a lot of breastfeeding support from the midwives (best people I've ever met) but when we were allowed home my brain went to mush. In tears I called a friend with a young baby who visited us that morning. I am so incredibly grateful for her help and I hope I can do the same for someone one day.

The next couple of months were spent experimenting with feeding positions (tricky big baby) and going up and down the roller coaster of loving the warm smooshy (it's a word) feeling of nursing my baby and the processing the responsibility of being the sole source of food.

Now nearly 6 months down the line she pretty much just gets on with it. If distracted at times. And sometimes we have a (new) tooth/nipple related incident. It takes perseverance and patience but I am happy I did it this way. I am now part of the 1% of women in the UK still breastfeeding at 6 months. I'm interested to know if this stat surprises anyone else?

I realise that I had, and have, the choice to replace or supplement my breastmilk. It would give my the flexibility to return to the freedom of my life before Mini Bean. But I have no expectation or desire for my life to stay the same. I'm ok with our arrangement. It works for us.

The point of this post (well done if you've made it this far) is to say how thankful I am that I was physically and emotionally able to breastfeed and that I received the support I needed to make it work. I love it and I plan to continue until Mini Bean is weaned, whenever that may be. It feels right. And if there's one thing I've learnt in 6 short months of being a parent, it's to trust your instincts and to do what you feel is right for you and your baby.

Ok. That's it.

Next time on N.A.C. - Mini Bean gets her snack on. Baby Led Weaning style. 

Breakfast wine and pineapple cubes.

Yes yes. Long time. I know. Think of it as a sabbatical. A blog-type one.

But more about WINE.

I used to be the manager of a wine shop. Yup. Manager. Of a wine shop. I did wine exams and everything. I even ran a wine club. Are you surprised, considering absolutely none of my posts so far have been wine based? I was young (well, younger than I am now) and relatively inexperienced but I learnt from some truly inspirational and highly knowledgeable people and I had a great time. Then it all went a bit corporate and I had the opportunity to move so I took it. I don't think I'll ever have a job quite like that again.

Since leaving the shop I have neither had the money or the focus to do anything more than buy the odd bottle of interesting wine. Which is ridiculous because wine is awesome (cynics, bear with me here) and wine people are some of the most interesting and amusing people I have ever met. That's what copious amounts of good booze will do for you.

Ok, so I did fraudulently attend the London International Wine Fair in 2010 but only because they kept sending me my trade invitation. It would have been rude not to. But I finally went to a wine tasting last night and it was fab.

Hello wine cynics. Yes, hi there, do you have a minute? Awesome, thank you. Things to think about-

1. You need to have an open mind. New experiences are good.
2. You can't say that you don't like something unless you've tried it. Keeping it simple, check out the Wiki list of grape varieties. That's a lot of different grapes. With a lot of different flavours. It's not just red, white and pink.
3. You don't have to like everything. It's about the experience and the excitement of coming across something that may just blow your mind.
4. Whatever flavours you taste, you're not wrong. Everyone's palates are different and, this is beauty of it, in the end it's all about what makes you happy. And if wine doesn't make you happy then stick to gin.

Wowza. What a lot of waffle. Anyway, here goes. It's been a while so I'll keep it simple. If interested see links for a bit more info.

"What have the Romans ever done for us?" -Wednesday 25th May 2012 - Raisin Wines, Bath


Roero Arneis, Alasia, Piedmonte, Italy 2010
White peach and moscato grape with delicate almond notes and zesty citrus on the nose. Surprisingly savoury on the palate. Peppery, herbal and a distinct oil of lemon finish.

Vernaccia Di San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy 2010
A rich nose of honeysuckle, pear and peach lifted by subtle citrus. A contrasting brisk acidity on the palate shows bold lime with a rounder slightly nutty finish with a small amount of the sweet fruit suggested by the nose.

Verdicchio Diei Castelli Di Jesi, Pallio Di San Floriano, Marche, Italy 2010
My favourite of the whites. Warm aromas of vanilla custard on the nose with a rhubarb-like acidity and subtle herbal notes. The vanilla follows through onto the palate with full, ripe stone fruit, beautifully balanced with a long mineral, citrus finish.

Salice Salentino, Giardinelli Vineyard, Puglia, Italy 2008
Raspberry jam, bitter coffee and sour cherry (breakfast wine?) on the nose lead onto a dark espresso palate with subtle fruit and a tiny lick of salinity.

Chianti Classico, San Felice, Tuscany, Italy 2008
Cassis, raspberry leaf and dark dried fruits with a smokey, savoury nose. Very smooth but with fresh black cherries on the palate.

Doricum, Nero D'Avola, Sicily, Italy 2010
My favourite of the reds. A nose of warm ripe plums with the contrast of herbal raspberry leaf. Smooth liquorice flavours on a palate packed with jammy berries, more of those plums and a refreshing but well balanced acidity.

Moscato Passito, Zibbibo, "Palazzina", Araldica, Piemonte, Italy 2006
How can you not enjoy a dessert wine? Sweet cantaloupe melon and tangy grapefruit on the nose which follow through onto the palate and are joined by honeysuckle and the boiled sweet flavour of pineapple cubes. I wanted cheese with this one.

So, there we go. Seven wines, a fun, informative evening (a BIG thank you to Colin at Raisin Wines) and only a slight hangover this morning. Highly recommended.

Brrrrrr. Raspberries?!

New year, new post. And a Happy One Year to Not Another Carrot. Even if it did get rather neglected in the latter half of 2011. Must try harder.

So to start the year I have an unusual post for you. A dessert. (Just to illustrate how infrequently I cook desserts I did just type desert and had to correct myself... Not so palatable, a bit dry, too many camels.)

Dr W likes a crumble. I like making a crumble. This works out well. Arguably one of the most simple, flexible desserts to make but also one that can be the most disappointing. You need a good balance of fruit to topping, the fruit must not be too sweet or too tart and the topping, well, I think that's down to personal preference.

You could make the topping crunchy, spicy, nutty, oaty, cakey, oaty or whatever you want really. All you need is a mix of flour/oats/muesli/nuts/spices and sugar bound together, until it looks like crumble topping, with a bit of butter. Not marg. Butter. If using unsalted, add a small pinch of salt. If you add too much butter, add a bit more of the oats or flour. If you make too much, it will freeze. It's all very simple.

How I make my topping depends on what fruit I am using and what I have in the cupboard. Plain apple needs some spice so add cinnamon, nutmeg or good old mixed spice to the mix. For plums (plumble), pears, peaches, apricots a little bit of whatever spice you think goes is good. I don't think berries in crumble need spice but feel free to disagree!

But enough of the waffle. Dr W's choice- Apple and Raspberry Crumble. The raspberries are British and frozen, courtesy of Waitrose (large punnet currently on offer at £1.89). So I don't feel guilty about having raspberries in January. Ok, I do a little bit.

Makes 2 generous ramekins.

For the filling-

1 large bramley apple (cooking apples hold their shape better when cooked) peeled, cored and thick sliced, handful of raspberries (added and heated through at the end) cooked gently in a wide frying pan with butter and soft brown sugar.

Today's crumble topping (recipe subject to change!)

A handful of porridge oats
A handful of self raising flour (makes the topping slightly cakey)
Half tbsp light soft brown sugar
Half tbsp dark brown sugar
c.1 tbsp butter

Rub ingredients together until it looks like crumble topping.

Assemble. Bake until golden and bubbly. Serve with custard. Or cream. Or ice cream. Or all of the above. Piggy.

Pum-pum-pumpkin.

Well. What a long time. Again. So straight onto the pumpkin in a can. Bought last year with the view to making a pumpkin pie that never materialised. I decided it needed using this year despite the 2013 use by date (I know, the wonders of modern technology) mainly because it was taking up my limited cupboard space.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies This was my first time using measuring cups and it was, actually, quite liberating. Truly. Thank you my American colleague Veggie K of The Famous Potato Party for the lending of the cups. I will return them, promise.

I am assured by VKofTFPP that even real American chefs use canned pumpkin and I have to say if definitely cut my post work snoozy baking time quite nicely.

I've never used so much spice in a recipe. Multiple tablespoons of ground cloves, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg (my addition) went into this recipe so opening the oven during cooking made my eyes water. Ouchy.

I really really enjoying baking these and it was nothing to do with the gin martini with extra olives. Easy to make, pleasing to bake and fun to assemble! I absolutely hate butter icing (oily sweet bleurgh) so my whoopie pies were filled with mascarpone sweetened with icing sugar and a little cinnamon.

I only took one not so good picture of a finished pie but should have taken more before they went to work.

TA-DA!

Say hello to the gob, the bob or the BFO.

More to come. Defo.

Battered quince.

I have been patiently watching and waiting for the right moment to pick the fruit from the big old quince tree that hangs over the wall near my flat. When I got home from work yesterday evening it looked like someone had decided to give it a helping hand. All the fruit from our side of the wall was now lying on the ground with a few artistically piled up on a low wall. Hm. So this morning, in my pajamas and slightly manic bed hair, I gathered up the least battered, intent on jam.



Look at the quince and it's textured paving slab bruise. Poor quince.

Quince facts. Related to apples and pears, you don't see the quince around very much now. There is an ornamental version with very pretty coral coloured flowers which much more popular. Like the medlar, it's a traditional fruit used mostly for jams, jellies and for stewing. Bright yellow when ripe, the fruit gives off a sweet, slightly tar-like perfume. Sounds odd but actually rather nice.

Having hoarded empty jars (sorry Dr W) for most of the year it was probably best that I continued the jam theme.

1 kg jam sugar
About 8 fist sized quince (or equivalent)
2 lemons
Water

Zest and juice the lemons. Pour the lemon juice into the bottom of the pan that you intend to use. Peel, core and chop the quince into small pieces putting them in the pan with the lemon juice as you go. This stops them discolouring. Bleurgh. Pour in just enough water to cover, add the zest and boil until soft which doesn't take long.

When soft, mash the fruit with a potato masher (yes!), add the sugar, bring to the boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Turn down the heat and stir often until the jam thickens and turns pinkish. Pour into hot sterilised jars (wash well then in the oven for 10mins at 200°C) and seal with lids then leave to cool. PLEASE BE CAREFUL OF HOT JARS! Ouchy. Made one big pickle jar and two normal sized jars. Good for toast and pheasant.

So, back to the carrots.

Once again it's been a little while since my last post. And again, sorry about that. It's been a summer of full weekends and rather tired, easy, cheap, not particularly bloggable weekday suppers. We've eaten a lot of chickpeas. A lot of pasta. And a lot of Quorn. *yawn*

But with Autumn pretty much upon us and Winter ominously looming I promise, PROMISE, pies, stews, soups and baked goods various.

Anyway, spurred on by my jam making success earlier in the year I thought I'd give it another go. And in the spirit of the blog I chose carrot jam. Yes. Carrot jam. Why? Well, post jam making I'm not sure it was my best choice but it's not unpleasant. Just, um, unusual. See Hugh for the recipe.

Now for the justification. Try and get through this bit. Carrot jam may sound unusual but the carrot was massively important during the rationing of WW2. Really, it's a jam of necessity but as vintage is very popular these days I figure that carrot jam is cool. Yes.

A few words of warning. Only make this jam if you have a food processor. Or over-developed arm muscles for grating. Do not just use granulated sugar. Use jam sugar with added pectin to help it set. I trusted Hugh and used granulated and I was there for a loooooong time. I only got it to set (ish) by adding more sugar when I had finally got bored of waiting.

So the final product, with it's cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, is like the jam equivalent of carrot cake. Miss Hurley Burley at work suggested a good piece of tangy, crumbly wensleydale cheese to accompany it. I think she's right. Think chilli jam not strawberry and it's not so weird. Well...

Tart.

Gypsy tart. It's mostly sugar. It will give you a headache. It is delicious. Make it. Niffa makes a good one.

Only from Kent.

Good Morning Alfie Cat.

Simple things.

Pretty garden.
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Sunshine, morning coffee.
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And a very friendly puss cat.
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Love.

These are a few of my favourite things.

Hi there. It's been a while. Which is ridiculous as there has been lots of nice food over the past two months. Sorry about that.

It's been holiday time so Dr W & I have been to East Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Kent, London, Hampshire and back to Somerset. Wowza.

We were totally spoilt by friends and family and we were, of course, very well fed.

I will tell you about all this but first the table that greeted us on arrival at D&R's in lovely Faversham.

That is a table of tasty favourite things. Cheeses, salami, chorizo, salad, pickles, bread, WINE. Super.

Yak Yeti Yak Yeti Yak Yeti Yak

Birthday treats for Dr W. A visit to Nepalese Restaurant Yak Yeti Yak. Having never eaten Nepalese food, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. My geography is also unreliable so I did have to familiarise myself to exactly where Nepal was. It's here. By the way. Just in case.

So, drinks. A banana lassi for Dr W (pudding in a glass) and a limey iced-tea for me. Virtuous. Gin tonight.

We started with poppadoms and spiced pork momo, the Nepalese dumpling. Delicious steamed dough with a filling of cumin spiced minced pork. Slightly spicy but with the type of warm heat that you get from lots of pepper rather than chilli. I could (but should not) eat a lot of these!

For our mains we chose Yak Yeti Yak chicken and pork bhutuwa (see menu) served with bhat (rice) and musurko dal (lentils).

All in all pretty awesome food! Recognisably Indian spices but with cleaner flavours and less of the ghee rich sauces. Also served on hot, shiny brass plates called thali. Very pretty yes please.



A really lovely meal. Well made food, friendly service and cosy restaurant.


Finished! When can we go back?

Q. What did the cheese say when looking in the mirror?

A. Halloumi!

Crispy halloumi with cous-cous, salad and caper dressing.

Prepare the cous-cous and salad, dust the halloumi with flour and fry until golden and crispy.

Put walnut oil (I ran out of olive oil), lime juice (no lemons), capers, salt, pepper and sugar to taste in a clean jam jar and shake! This is fun.

Oh, and there's some roasted butternut squash in there too. Yum.

Kweetch.

End of veg box quiche.

Courgette, leeks and mushrooms cooked in a little butter until soft. Put veg in a blind baked pastry case and pour over whisked eggs, whole grain mustard, cream cheese (cake leftover) and grated cheese.

Garnish with tomato. First use of the word "garnish" in the blog. I think. May there be many more.

Bake until golden and firm.

Birfday.

Dr W's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAYZ! Crank's carrot cake.

150 g grated carrot
2 eggs (from happy chickens)
100g brown sugar
5 tbsp rape seed oil (sold as common-or-garden vegetable oil, check the label!)
100g self-raising flour
1tsp ground cinnamon & 1tsp ground nutmeg
50g desiccated coconut & 50g sultanas


Whisk the eggs and sugar until fluffy and whisk in oil gradually. Fold in all the other ingredients and bake until golden and it passes the skewer test. Proper simple.

Piped (oh yes) with sweetened, lemony cream cheese and decorated with orange and lemon jelly slices. Retro fun!

This cake is the carrot cake my mum makes. And it's the reason why I dislike most other spongy, oily, overly cinnamony carrot cake.

Like all Crank's veggie recipes, it's well considered and packed with flavour. Buy a Crank's book. It's pretty easy to find original 1980s copies in charity shops for not much money. You do have to be a BIG fan of cheese, nuts and pastry though... Oh hang on!

(p.s. hello again)

Pie Love You.

Winter food. In May. And why not.

Beef, carrots, onions and garlic cooked slowly with bay, red wine and stock until soft and melty which will take about 3 hours. Worth it!

Cook thick slices of fat field mushrooms in butter and mix with the beef.

Put in dish of choice and top with pastry of choice. In my case, puff.

Brush with beaten egg (for the shiny), bake and think of snow.

Falafel fun times.

Falafel. Did you just think doner? Avoiding or joining (dirty) the kebab queue 2am Sunday morning? No. Well yes. But don't rule out this quick and tasty street food. Street food's very on trend... Yup.

Yes I cheated. It is very easy to make falafels from scratch (as Nigel will show you) but I like this mix. It's probably as close as I get to putting a plastic container of spaghetti carbonara in the microwave. It's also very cheap which is awesome.

Served with parsley and tomato cous-cous (not "coos-coos" Delia), cucumber, yoghurt and lemon.

Season dry cous-cous, just cover with boiling water and leave to stand until the water is absorbed. When cool (-er/-ish) fluff with a fork, add chopped parsley, fresh tomato and a little olive oil.

Make your falafels a la Nigel or as per the box. Add lemon juice and S&P to taste to plain yoghurt and use for dipping.

Falafel goodness. Not just for the early hours of the morning.

The Elephant Garlic.

As well as our venison sausages, the farmers market also provided us with THE BIGGEST CLOVE OF GARLIC I'VE EVER SEEN. A whole 60p bought me one clove of elephant garlic from the Isle of Wight.

Fancy food for a fancy clove of garlic. Lemon and garlic baked chicken on gnocchi with leeks and cheese. Odd? Well yes. But good.

The chicken thighs were baked with a quartered lemon, the whole MASSIVE garlic clove, S&P and olive oil.

Cook sliced leeks and two (normal sized) garlic cloves with a little olive oil and a splash of water until soft. When the chicken is pretty much cooked (juices running clear), boil the gnocchi for 2 mins (they will float to the top of the water) and mix with the soft leeks and (optional) strong cheese of your choice. Season to taste and serve.

Ok so it was quite garlicky.

Actually very garlicky.

Which was fine for me but poor Dr W did struggle a bit with the garlic burn so omit the garlic from the leeks if you think it might be too much for you. Chicken.

Dr W can cook.

I have been treated this week. Dr W, who works about an hour away from home compared to my ten minutes, has managed to get home before me and start cooking.

I realise that I do take over in the kitchen. I am aware of this. And it's a bit silly because Dr W is a very good cook but for practical reasons I generally cook because I get home first.

But this week has been lovely. When Dr W and I were first together and when I used to work irregular late shifts he would cook me toad in the hole for when I got home. Nice man.

Dr W's Toad. Cook the sausages with a little oil and make a batter using the following- 110g plain flour, 290ml milk, 2 eggs, salt and mustard powder.  Chill the batter for as long as possible and when the sausages are starting to brown, turn the oven up and pour the batter over them and cook until risen and crispy. We use a deep dish so that you get a crispy Yorkshire pudding top and a nice doughy underneath. Use a wide, shallow dish if you want crispy all over!

We've also had pork meatballs (minced pork, egg, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce, S&P) with fried mushrooms and potatoes cooked in a delicious veg stock (made with end of veg box onion, carrots & leeks).

Meat and three veg. Excellent venison sausages (same as the toad, 2 packs for £5!) with savoy cabbage, very carrotty carrots and mashed swede. With red onion gravy.

Cook the sausages in the oven, boil and mash the swede with butter, S&P, steam/boil the carrots & cabbage. Cook the thickly sliced onion in olive oil until soft then add water from the carrots, a good stock cube, a splash of sherry vinegar and a sprinkle of mustard powder.

We had eaten very well this week. All thanks to Dr W.

AmSam misses...

...Lyon's Maid Zoom ice lollies.

This is not a Zoom. This is a generic rocket lolly. Very different in all but shape and not a patch on the original.

The original had layers of blackcurrant and raspberry ice with a curious love-it-or-hate-it creamy banana layer. All in suitably luminous colours of course.

For me, a Zoom lolly is school holidays in the Channel Islands, rockpools, blow up dinghys and slightly sandy salad cream egg sandwiches. Bring the Zoom back please. Colourings, additives, sugar and all.