Wednesday Green Pancakes!

Tuesday this week was Shrove Tuesday, traditional day to eat pancakes of all sorts and generally clear out the cupboards before the frugal Lent period.  I've never given anything up for Lent before, and this year is no different.  I don't have too many vices and I failed miserably giving up the booze in January so I'm not punishing myself!

Joe had dinner out with his other wife on Tuesday so we postponed pancakes for a day.  I'm sure Joe spent the day convinced he was going to dine on naughty pancakes stuffed with nutella (my personal fave) but oh no, not when I'm in the kitchen!  Today we had green pancakes (i.e. made with parsley, rocket and oregano) with chorizo, roasted shallots, tomatoes and goats cheese.  It was a pretty tasty dinner although the herbs might have been a little overpowered by the chorizo!  Ah well!

Green pancakes with chorizo, goats cheese and tomatoes

Monday night light eggy treats

Monday is Joe's late night at work, which means it's mine too as we drive home together.  As we were working late I wanted something quick, light and tasty.  Little did I know that Joe had scoffed his face with biscuits and Soreen (his new most favourite thing) so wasn't even hungry!  Humph.........

I made a super light omelette with chorizo, peppers and mushrooms, whipping the egg whites until fairly stiff and mixing in the yolks with some paprika.  It makes a cross between an omelette and a souffle but was pretty tasty, even for someone who usually dislikes eggs as much as me!

Omelette with Spanish flavours

Friday - another weekend already?

We've had a good, but busy week this week, so we rounded it off by an evening at home with comfort food, wine and movies. 

Since Joe is running so much at the weekends, he informed me that he needs to fill up on pasta.  I'm not usually a huge fan, but luckily back in December we were given some nice pastas by @gustoitalianouk in our hamper of goodies. 

I made a slight fusion dish of pasta with chorizo, grilled peppers, broccoli and prawns in a tomato sauce.  It was seasoned with smoked paprika and everything came together really well - livened up with a squeeze of lemon, it was light and tasty - no stodge in sight.

Pasta with chorizo, grilled peppers, broccoli and prawns

Pasta, topped off with some fresh parmesan. 

Tuesday 27th December - Edinburgh!!!

On Tuesday we escaped the Wirral madness to what we hoped would be a slightly calmer Edinburgh.  Having decided to take the train rather than drive after our eventful holiday driving last year, we made the short journey back to Leeds and then hopped on the train.  Unfortunately (but rather entertainingly so) the train was also full of very early revellers heading to Glasgow for the hogmanay celebrations - fair play, only 5 days to go until new year!  I don't think I've ever seen vodka being swigged from a bottle, followed by a swig of coke - it looked fairly rancid.  We managed to have a very quick catch up with my Uncle John and Cousin Rosie, who collected us at the station, and spent the afternoon playing with Baby Tom and drinking all of mum's wine! 

It's lovely to be back in the 'Burgh for a few days between Christmas and new year, catching up with family and spending some time sightseeing.  We're also making the most of scoffing some of my mum's food, and were treated to some very tasty monkfish with roasted vegetables and chorizo - looks like my mum and I have similar cooking tastes! She also stuffed us further with a very nice apple and dried fruits crumble - thanks mum!

monkfish tails with vegetables and chorizo

Monkfish and potatoes - yum

Apple crumble

crumble with cream - dessert of champions

Wednesday Night and Last Day at Work

Phew................I can finally say it was my last day at work for the year! Get in!  Joe and I have both been working hard recently so we've taken a proper amount of time off over Christmas, and neither of us are back at work until the 3rd of January!

Joe is celebrating properly, out with work in Manchester.  He is staying over and has said he will not be drinking very much - I quite simply do not believe him and am expecting to be proved right when he crawls home off the train tomorrow!  I, on the other hand, will be feeling virtuous after my yummy bacon, chorizo and pepper salad (oh yes, bacon AND chorizo!) and stubby beer - what could be better?!

Warm salad of bacon, chorizo and peppers

Saturday's Tapas Feast (Jo Girl)

Anyone who knows us knows that Joe and I have a love of Spanish food, so much so that we're planning on going to Andalusia for our (first) honey moon next year. 

 During the week, Joe decided that he wanted to indulge in a tapas feast on Saturday - spanning the whole early to late evening, with some nice drinks and relaxing.  Cue some childish competition over who would cook what, and whose would be best!!

Joe went for the sensible option and actually did some research before buying ingredients - I was a little bit more haphazard than that!  I think that says a lot about us!  On Friday, Joe went to the Kirkgate market, returning with clams, mussels, baby squid, pork loin and lamb's kidneys, all to be turned into tapas treats!  We also picked up some sherry (it's very in vogue apparently!) and some Estrella Daam Inedit from Harvey Nichols, to accompany our dishes.  Estrella Daam Inedit is a Catalan Pilsner, made in conjunction with Ferran Adria of el bulli which is tipped as the first beer to be drunk specifically with food, like a good wine.  It is a really tasty beer, and definitely one to try.

I was first up.  I made a chickpea, squid and clam stew, with tomato, garlic, chilli, lots of lemon juice and parsley.  It was yummy - deep tomato and flavours of the sea.  I am also a huge fan of chickpeas, which are much maligned still.  This was then joined by patatas croquetas con jamon, also known as potato and ham croquettes!  These were also pretty tasty, served with lemon and paprika mayonnaise.  Piping hot, crunchy on the outside and soft on the middle, this was a good start.  2-0 to Jo Girl!

Squid, chickpea and clam stew

Patatas croquetas con jamon

A little bit later, Joe ventured into the kitchen!  Armed with his internet research, he produced tigres (stuffed, roasted mussels) and pinchos morunos, which are marinated pork kebabs with paprika, chilli, lemon and cumin.  The mussels were amazing - full of salty, sweet mussel flavour and a little kick of chilli.  I've never gone in for mussels like this before, but I will definitely have them again.  The kebabs were also very good and full of flavour.  These ones came with the Estrella and it was a match made in heaven!  Joe catching up on 2-2.

Tigres

Estrella Daam Inedit

pinchos morunos

After some exciting time watching the Strictly final (I was initially a Harry Judd fan but defected to Chelsee Healy during the night - she was robbed!) I went back to the kitchen to make the final dishes: chorizo in sherry and stuffed, breaded peppers.  I'm not sure how Spanish the peppers actually are, but they were really tasty, stuffed with cheese, parsley and chilli.  The chorizo was full of deep chorizo and sherry flavour, with a little bread for soaking up the juices.  Yum.  I'd say an overall win to Jo Girl: 3-2!

By this time we were so full that the lamb's kidneys have been bumped!  They will make a fine lunch another day instead.

Chorizo in sherry

Stuffed peppers

Friday Night Pizza (by Jo Girl)

It's been a long week, with lots of things going on from working away to debating competitions to cheese tastings.  Our quality time together has been fairly rushed of late, which is unlikely to change as we head into Christmas.  This means that when we get a Friday evening in together, we just want to relax and have fun, rather than get obliterated.  We certainly are getting old!

So Friday night this week was a chicken and chorizo pizza with chips and home made remoulade, followed by mince pies with blue cheese and a viewing of Up!

Starting with the food, who wouldn't want to have chicken and chorizo pizza, with peppers mushrooms and jalapenos?! We also received a celeriac in our veg box last week.  It went pretty well in soup, but whenever we go to France I have to have remoulade, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try a homemade version.  Made with mayo, Dijon mustard, lemon and capers, it was pretty good but a little heavy on the moutarde!  However, Joe usually doesn't like remoulade and I have won him over so it was a win!

Joe was also on mince pie duty, having been disappointed in his effort last week.  This time he used the homage 2 fromage night so inspire some blue cheese mince pies, which were really good - that salty cheese brings out the flavour of the mince meat really well!

Post dinner entertainment was a viewing of Up, which I had never seen before.  It was highly recommended by Wolf and Gelt last week, and I must admit I absolutely loved it (even if it made me a little teary - don't tell anyone!).  If you have not seen this film, I can only suggest you find a copy and settle down to watch it, it's brilliant.

Remoulade

Chicken and chorizo pizza

A close up - chicken, chorizo, peppers and jalapenos.  Yum.

Joe's plate - complete with slightly burned chips.  Oops.

Blue cheese mince pies

And the finished mince pies.  Very tasty too.

Tuesday night experiments!

When I don't have enough time to cook I get a bit stressed.  For some reason, cooking is one of the few things that really relaxes me after work, so I get huffy when things get in my way!  After having to ask Joe to make dinner last night, I didn't care that we didn't leave until after seven - I was cooking!

Today was also experiment time - a veg box from Riverford last weekend means we have lots of food in the fridge so it's a perfect time to try something different!  Tonight was potato cakes with a poached egg and tomato and chorizo sauce.  It took quite a lot of simultaneous activity but ended up pretty good!

Four pans on the go - just before the eggs went in!

And the finished product...poached eggs on potato cakes with a tomato and chorizo sauce

Oh and also an excellent wine delivery.  Fifteen bottles just before Christmas.  Awesome.

Monday Pan Fried Salmon

After a nice weekend with comfort food like mash and pastry, it seemed like a good idea to go for something light on Monday.  Step up pan fried salmon with chorizo, leeks, tomatoes and spinach (with chips on the side - not pictured!)  Not such a bad effort and on my way to feeling healthy again..!

Pan fried salmon with chorizo, leeks, tomatoes and spinach

Saturday night Moules et Frites (recipe alert)

After our tasting at Create Joe and I stomped through the rain to do some shopping.  As well as picking up my dad's birthday present (which isn't until 15 November but I am super prepared) and getting me some new running shoes so that I am no longer a cripple (thanks Joe!!), we popped to the Kirkgate market for some treats!

We picked up some salmon, which I am curing to take with us to Wales next week with Frenchie Dog Eyes and Sam, bacon ribs (Joe's request) and mussels for a Saturday night treat.

The mussels were transformed into moules and chorizo in a spicy tomato broth, served with chips.  It's a seriously easy dinner which tastes amazing - see below for the recipe.

Cleaned Welsh mussels (in honour of their deserved victory this morning)

Chorizo

Our vino, which we have had a few times but only just worked out the joke in the title.  Doofuses.

Waitrose olives for a pre-dinner snack

Olive stuffed with green chilli (which did not taste of chilli - a little disappointing)

Our cocktail stick man

The dinner table

Frites (not home made I'm afraid - I'm a little scared of deep friers!)

Moules and chorizo with a spicy tomato broth

The moules - a close up!

And dessert...they are now all gone - fatties!

Moules with Chorizo (for two)

800g-1k live mussels, cleaned, beards removed and any dead ones discarded (if they are open, and don't close when tapped on a hard surface, chuck it - not worth the risk)
150g chorizo
2 tomatoes, with core removed and chopped
chilli
cumin
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
glass white wine
parsley, finely chopped
juice of half a lemon

1.  Remove any skin and chop the chorizo into 1cm square pieces.
2.  Put the chorizo in a pan on a low heat and cook down for about 10 minutes until the paprika oil has come out and the chorizo is lightly browned.
3.  Add the chilli (I used half a teaspoon of dried flakes but fresh would be fine), about half a teaspoon of cumin and the garlic.  Cook out for about 2 minutes and then add the chopped tomatoes.  Cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.  At this stage I threw in some frozen peas but these are optional!
4.  Add the mussels in to the pan along with the white wine and stir quickly through the sauce.
5.  Put a lid on the pan and cook at a moderate heat for 4 minutes (the sauce should be bubbling fairly quickly).
6.  After 4 minutes sprinkle over some chopped parsley and squeeze in the lemon juice.  Stir it in and then serve with frites or crusty bread and the rest of your white wine!

Wednesday - Transfer window chorizo!

As happens occasionally in the foodandbiscuits household, I was a little uninspired when Jo got the ingredients out of the fridge to make dinner. We both got home late, and when I am hungry I am grumpy and just want something with chips!! However, once again Jo impressed me with her imagination, and made this speedy chorizo stew with eggs on top!! - yum!!!

We also had the football transfter news on and would like to welcome Craig "hunchback" Bellamy back to the mighty reds;

And say a "bye-bye" to Mikel "lego head" Arteta from Everton (at time of writing this has not been confirmed but I am sure it will happen - ha!)