Friday 22 January 2010

i can only provide so much


12 minutes to eat, and 400 back copies of vogue to consume. this happened...

4 mini chicken bits fried in a bit of oil and torn into even smalled bits
1 courgette peeled into long thin ribbons with a potato peeler
2 big handfuls of spinach chopped into strips
1 packet instant noodles
2 small cloves of garlic and a small lump of ginger finely grated and soaked in about 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 miniature fennel bulb sliced
1 shallot thinly sliced
smooth peanut butter
sweet chilli sauce
sesame oil
soy sauce


With the garlic and ginger soaking in the oil get on with chopping all the vegetables otherwise you have to do terrifying speed cooking which is too stressful and always ends up burning.

fry the garlic and ginger in about 2/3 of the oil in which its been soaking for about 30 seconds then quickly throw in the chicken, fennel, spinach and courgette and stir fry for a few minutes. meanwhile (you may have to employ a sous chef at this point if like me you can't handle the speed cook) mix together peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce, sesame oil soy sauce and the left over garlic and ginger infused oil. I used about 1 dessertspoon of peanut and chilli and slightly under a teaspoon of the others but it completely depends on your taste, add more or less as you require then pour the whole lot in the wok with the noodles and fry for a further few minutes. serve with strips of cucumber and chopped peanuts.

Saturday 2 January 2010

oh yes i remember this


new years day
...doesn't count. surely no one else does anything more than cooking three packets of tesco value chicken flavour noodles and dribbling them down themselves while they stare mindless at 'the big fat quiz of the year' reruns either. surely...

new years day 2
The problem with our fridge is that it is always full, but, mysteriously, contains nothing to eat. Several jars of condiments and pickled, chutneyed items arrive in the post, in bulk, and stay untouched until these moments, such as post-apocalyptic party cleaning, when you are frankly ravenous, and willing as never before to eat sweetcorn relish and Baobab Tree of life jam.
On this occasion
the fridge is bare apart from beer and some extremely questionable minced beef and I have just been tidying for 2 hours only stopping to realise that the kitchen looks exactly the same. In a bid to be a bit january '10 new leaf etc I decide not to eat half a baguette and instead concoct this salad, vaguely mexican- therefore exciting!, far healthier and uses up some limp bits of fridge growth that used to be lettuces.

dressing:
1 teaspoon of mexican salsa verde from tub lurking in fridge
3 dessertspoons olive oil
1 dessertspoon white wine vinegar
1 squeeze lime juice (this was nigh on impossible for me, the only lime to hand being about as juicy as a bullet)
chopped parsley (about a pinch full)
1 pinch each salt pepper and white sugar

-whisk this together with fork.
-chop up end bits of tragic lettuces
-slice up very ripe avocado (half of)
-cover with thin strips of smoked salmon
-dress and consume.