Cooking
Thursday evening: made aubergine dip to take to the clothes swap at frankie_ecap's on Friday, based on a recipe from MFK Fisher: chop an onion and saute in olive oil, peel and cube a couple of aubergines, saute until they start to brown, add a tin of chopped tomatoes, half a cup of vinegar (I used white wine vinegar but this would be worth experimenting with), salt and pepper; cover and cook for about one and a half hours, stirring occasionally; add a tablespoon or so of Worcester sauce (the bottle in my cupboard was incredibly antique when I looked at the sell-by date, so I used a mixture of Thai fish sauce and tabasco), stir and leave to simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until you have a nice thick mixture. At this point Fisher says beat the mixture but in my experience it's already fallen to a nice but not too smooth consistency. Leave for 24 hours before serving.
Friday: in intervals of monographing like the clappers, made (also for the clothes swap) some foccacia (following the recipe in the Collister/Blake Bread Book, which I can give if anyone is interested), and a brown pumpkin seed and sultana loaf, from a book I have which is horridly weak on basic principles, but nonetheless has some interesting ideas: 1 lb (450 g) wholemeal flour, 4 oz (100 g) white flour, 2 oz each pumpkin seeds and sultanas, celery salt, mix together. Cream the yeast with a quarter of a pint (5 fluid oz and I can't think how many ml) of tepid water, and add to the dry ingredients with about the same amount of water, into which I think it's nice to shake a little roasted pumpkin seed oil. Proceed as usual. I also made the horseradish dip thing: fromage frais or Greek yoghurt, plus creamed horseradish or horseradish sauce (if you want an extra zing add some wasabi), mixed altogether, makes nice dip for crudites, also goes extremely well with smoked fish.
Saturday: after that frenzy I didn't, as I'd hoped, have time to whip up any rolls for Saturday breakfast, but there was plenty of rice bread to make good toast with.
Today's lunch: seabass fillets rubbed with ras al hanout, a Moroccan spice mix with rose-petals, brushed with avocado oil, healthy-grilled - nice, but would have been better for a squeexe of lemon or lime: served with butternut squash roasted in macadamia oil, tenderstem broccoli steamed with chopped ginger, and the warm green bean and fennel salad: cut your fennel into thin strips, and blanch in a little boiling salted water for about a minute, remove into the serving bowl, and then steam the green beans in the same water (you can also thinly slice some mild red onion and put this into the bowl before you put in the fennel), make a dressing of olive oil and tarragon vinegar (and extra tarragon if you are so inclined), and when the beans are cooked to al dente, add them to the fennel, pour over the dressing, and toss
This week's bread: the German three-cereal from Collister/Blake, but with some wholemeal flour as well.