Welcome to yet another mad and wild and new departure. This is all so novel that it's almost exciting to write... Almost.
Yes, this is the inevitable food part of my new blogging plan, a blogging plan for the ages. Or for the year, at least. Hopefully there'll be something for everyone! Or just the hope that everyone will read something.
Once again, I find no small inspiration from my old friend, Emily P. Burt. She's gone and done all sorts of things that I probably won't even get near because she's so cool and good and excellent, and this latest venture is thankfully more of the same eloquent and eminently readable style: "Eat Happy!", documenting trips to various eateries in her current city of Cardiff. She does a bunch of other stuff than just write about recipes and places, so keep up on her twitter to find out all the interviews and other coverage as well.
I have always had a... Difficult relationship with food, to put it lightly. I have an even more difficult relationship with my weight because of it and have only now, in my advanced age, reached the princely weight of 11 stones. I try to look after myself as best I can (so you can stop worrying so much, Mother), and this extends to my often bizarre eating habits. I am picky. I'm as picky as hell, actually, and now I have my ever-increasing lactose intolerance to watch out for as well. I have heightened senses of taste and smell, and have weird issues with food texture as well; I'm one of 'them' who has difficulty mixing "wet" and "dry" food - you know what I mean. Having any more than an impossibly meager splash of gravy with a Sunday roast is considered pushing the boat out, par example. I'm a nightmare at dinner parties due to my odd tastes as well: At last year's Burns Night dinner I found myself on the edge of sanity trying to stay polite after allowing myself to be forced into trying haggis, a personal horror of both taste and texture if ever there was one. Sometimes it's very embarrassing. It makes me very anxious.
I initially learned to cook, therefore, to make sure that I could control what I ate, to make sure that it would definitely be something I would enjoy. My knife skills can be a little, er, rough and ready sometimes but good intentions and taking care often make up for holes in technique. I've been told I normally underseason my food as well, but I'm fine with a less intense taste as it's not a sense that's exactly deficient. Although I'm still a fiend for take out, I actually enjoy whipping up a dinner or perhaps an especially hearty lunch. The flip side? Washing up, the source of many arguments in my short life already, which (let's face it) nobody really wants to do ever at all in the whole and entire world. As I said earlier, the next level of control is the lactose avoidance, which can be amazingly and disappointingly difficult, like finding out the milk powder used as a thickening agent in ready meal curries makes you uncomfortable. Add to that the fact I'm basically allergic to ice cream, life seems cruel and unnecessarily mean. Or just plain unfair (life's not supposed to be fair blah blah blah).
Also, being a young gentleman about town, the big city here, I go out to many exciting places to exchange my money for food and table waiting. I often run a constant gauntlet of making myself ill (seriously guys milk powder is in almost everything), but life's too short to let a bit of bloating get in the way of enjoying one's self (seriously fuck milk powder). I am a regular offender at several places round Truro (especially the Old Alehouse), where I have a reputation as an excellent customer. I was thinking about this the other day actually; not only am I polite to the staff, often help clear up or definitely take glasses back to the bar, behave well... But also I hand over all my money all the time. I also make sure I don't be so stupid to make passes at the staff as well, because that always works out for me doesn't it? Jeez.
Anyway. I'll be using this as a kind of signal post, and yes I am going to turn into one of those people who takes pictures of food even more so than usual. As always I will make my first review some place where I have been a lot so we can get started comfortably (like last week), and then see how we go. In the meantime, here's my recipe for a thai-style stir fry that I've been eating a lot of recently. It looks like more work than it is, and prep and cook time shouldn't cost you more than a half hour.
INGREDIENTS
Nam Pla (fish sauce) Light and Dark Soy sauces Noodles or Rice
Chicken or Turkey, thinly sliced Spring Onions Garlic cloves Root Ginger
Red or Green Chilies Mushrooms Broccoli Basil leaves (fresh)
METHOD
Okay, first of all get your rice or noodles on the go. I use medium egg noodles for kind of everything, but anything should be fine according to your taste. I just boil the noodles in unsalted water for 5 minutes and then drain, with just a bit left in the pan.
The rice is a different ball game. On a high heat, melt butter in a pan with a tight fitting lid. When the butter is melted pour in however much rice you're using and stir so all the grains are coated. Whatever you use for a measure doesn't really matter, as long as you can definitely pour in twice as much boiling water once the rice is coated. Stir up to get all the grains down from the sides of the pan, and once the water starts boiling again, place the lid on top, making sure it's been firmly wrapped in a cloth. Once the lid is on, turn the heat right down straight away, to its lowest amount, and keep it like this for 15 minutes. Once the time is up, turn the heat off but leave the lid on; this way, it can stay hot for up to an hour. When ready, serve! The rice ought to be fluffy grained and not too dry - you can pack it into bowls to make a timbal if you like. Speaking of bowls I like to use them to group ingredients, as you'll see...
Prepare your ingredients. You can get "stir fry" packs of meat at major supermarkets, which are perfect for the job. Otherwise, just cut Chicken or Turkey breast fillets into thin strips. Slice the spring onions up either diagonally or into straight rings - white scallions will also do a fine job here. For the mushrooms, either pull the legs out and slice the head and legs thinly, or for button mushrooms cut into four. Once prepared, these two can go into a bowl together. For the broccoli, cut to your preference; personally I chop down the florets from a Calabrese head, or just cut the stalk away if you get hold of some blessed tenderstem...
Next, skin and finely chop three cloves of garlic. Then slice the ginger - you don't want too much here, perhaps a piece an inch long by half an inch wide. Finally, the chili. Either red or green is fine, just cut up into rings, and dispense of the seeds if you wish; I like the heat but I know plenty of people don't. Make sure all of these go into a bowl together. Chop or simply tear a healthy portion of basil leaves and make sure you don't forget about them!
Get a wok screaming hot. Hobs these days sometimes come with a central burner especially for woks, so use that if you have one. Just pour in either sunflower, groundnut or plain vegetable oil to the wok so it covers the bottom and sit on the highest heat you have until it starts to smoke. Do not use olive oil, as it will burn, and the wok will be ruined. Once you've reached temperature, throw the meat in and stir fry until the outside is sealed. If you cut it into thin strips, it'll cook very quickly indeed. Once the outside is all sealed, pour in one or two teaspoons of Nam Pla, according to taste. Be careful with this stuff, as it has a very strong flavour! Err on the side of caution if you're worried about overdoing it. When the edges are beginning to brown a little on the meat, pour the contents, meat and sauce, into a bowl for later (we'll throw it back in at the end!).
Return the wok to the heat and add a little more oil. When you're ready to go, add the ginger, garlic, chili and broccoli, and fry - make sure the garlic doesn't catch but let the broccoli cook as well. Pour in one teaspoon of Light Soy sauce. Then add the spring onion and mushrooms, and fry them out too. Once you're happy with the veg, pour the bowl of your meat back in, and toss all the ingredients together. Pour in two teaspoons of Dark Soy sauce. Keep stirring. Remember what I told you not to forget? Good! Add your basil leaves and stir everything together for a minute before you serve. At this point you can add the noodles if you want, but the rice might be a but much in the wok. Plate or dish up as you see fit.
Ideally, this will serve two as a kind of medium to light supper alongside a dessert, or a hearty meal for one. Service!
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