Wednesday Crispy Salmon

As I write this, Joe is grumbling about the blog.  Invariably we write it after meals, with food and booze squeezed inside us and sleep coming upon us.  This is not a recipe for a happy Joe!  Luckily for us though, I am a much more sunshine happy individual and will beat Joe's grumbling out of him if need be (not really, I'm too weak for violence).  Anyway, I'm not too sure what he's got to moan about - after a 10k run Joe returned home to dinner of crispy salmon on a bed of stir fried noodles and vegetables in a satay sauce WITH PRAWN CRACKERS!!  Take away shmake away....  this boy is spoiled rotten.

Crispy salmon

Stir fried satay noodles

Monday's Chicken and Noodle Broth

I won't deny it, I'm getting pretty nifty with this butchering lark.  We bought a chicken this weekend for Saturday's curry, and I took it apart so we had leg meat for the curry, breasts for another meal, and all the bones for a yummy stock.  This stock slow cooked to make it crystal clear and it seemed only right to make it star of the show in a chicken noodle broth with sweet corn and spring onions.  It was super tasty and felt pretty virtuous afterwards.  Now we just need to get over the biscuit addiction....

Chicken and noodle broth

Tuesday - Spicy Chinese Turkey

Jo was quite ill yesterday but she is a hardy Scot who won't let a little thing like a sore throat get in her way! So after getting through a full day in the office, she then got to work in the kitchen. In a flash, she has knocked together turkey mince into a deliciously spicy dish, to go with stir-fry and soba noodles - remind me why I am marrying her again?? ;o)

Spicy Turkey

Stir-fry and noodles

My first plate!

Monday Stir Fry

So Joe and I have been a little distracted this week...can't blame anyone else and it's not even for an interesting reason, it just means we're a little behind on out blog posts.

No fear though, just because the post isn't up doesn't mean we didn't do food!  Monday was a race against time - home late and wanting to have a relaxing evening after the hectic weekend - I promised Joe dinner within 10 minutes!  And I almost made it - hot prawns with pak choi and stir fried noodles - in 12 minutes!  Grrr!  Next time I'll chop faster and prove its able to do a from-scratch meal in sub 10 minutes.  Challenge on.

Hot prawns with pak choi

Stir fried noodles

Noodles, prawns and prawn crackers.  The race is on.

Saturday - Jo's Spring Rolls with a Fragrant Chicken Broth

Last week I dismembered a chicken to make slow cooked chicken in a tomato sauce.  I also used the remains of the carcass to make a chicken stock for a nice mid week supper.  As invariably happens, I forgot to use it for a mid week supper and on Saturday was faced with cooking it or throwing it away.

Joe was of the view that I wouldn't be able to make a Saturday night dinner using boring chicken stock/soup - it wasn't fun enough.  Well that was enough for me.  Challenge accepted.  Coupled with an aim to finally make some well presented food (you may have noticed presentation is not my strong point), I searched the recipe books and settled on some Chinese inspired dishes.  It is Chinese New Year, after all.

First up were some spring rolls.  Well, unfortunately for me, these were a bit of a disaster.  I'd seen a recipe at some point which suggested filo pastry was suitable for spring rolls.  I made my vegetable mixture, seasoned with some soy sauce and hoisin and wrapped up the rolls.  At some point between placing them in the oven and taking them back out again, there was a disaster.  Stuck pastry, spilled filling.  Huge fail.

Onwards and upwards though, and proceeding with the fragrant chicken broth with noodles and dumplings.  I flavoured the broth with ginger, garlic, chilli and lemongrass and set it on a very low heat to simmer.  The pak choi, julienned carrots and peppers were steamed on top, and small pork and prawn dumplings were fried in a separate pan.  The dumplings were then finished in the broth, topped with lime juice and spring onions and voila - lovely flavoured soup, dumplings, topped with a butterflied crevette.  And it didn't look too shabby either...

The spring rolls - I'd advise by-passing this picture quickly!

Fragrant chicken broth with steamed vegetables and pork and prawn dumplings

Tuesday - Back to Work!....Boo

After having such a hefty time off work, for some reason Tuesday and being back to work rolled round very quickly!  We both had a proper back-to-school feeling on Tuesday morning - struggling to get out of bed, do anything at any sort of speed, or feel remotely enthusiastic about the day ahead!  It probably didn't help that it was blowing a gale, pouring with rain, and bloody dark.  God, I hate January!

Anyways, much like the first day back at school, being back at work wasn't actually so bad!  It felt like everyone was still waking up from hibernation, but I'm sure that won't last!  Joe and I are both now struggling with disgusting illnesses too, but hey ho...  I do at least know how to make myself feel better - spicy stir fried turkey with cashews and green peppers and stir fried noodles with pak choi and broccoli.  Lots of leafy greens, ginger and chilli - the perfect way to blast out a cold!  Still no booze too....how very virtuous!

Turkey with cashews and green peppers

Stir fried noodles, broccoli and pak choi

Monday....and another speaking event! (by Jo Girl)

A few weeks ago Paul Thomas of the Leeds Salon and Culture Vulture contacted me to see if I would like to take part in one of the debates he was putting on about food.  The Leeds Salon is a discussion group which debates a huge variety of cultural, social and scientific issues.  Each session focuses on a different topic, and last night's was foodie based (hence my participation!).  Looking specifically at Rob Lyons' recent book, "Panic on a Plate: How Society Developed an Eating Disorder", we were considering attitudes to food and how it impacts on society in general.  In a very, very small nutshell, Rob's book argues that the West has a bountiful supply of food, much better than was ever available historically, and yet somehow has developed an obsession with what we eat: how much, where from, what kind and so on...

The other panelists were Ursula Philpott, senior lecturer at Leeds Met and expert on nutrition and diet, and Nick Copland, of many things, including Shelf Life, The Source in Kirkgate Market and Homage 2 Fromage.  It was a really fun evening, and clearly a subject everyone feels quite passionate about.  Some of the key themes were that there is a certain distrust of the messages in the news about how bad everything is for you, and that attitudes to food have changed over the years.  I stand by my views that people simply don't exercise as much these days but eat the same, or more, and that the easiest way to get people to appreciate their food is to engage in it, understand where it comes from, and experience pleasure from cooking and eating the end result!

Anyway, rant over, and back to the important thing - our dinner!  We got home at some point after nine last night so it was a quicky - prawn, ginger and spring onion dumplings in hot and sour soup.  Hot and sour soup is most definitely the best thing to eat when it's cold and you've been caught in a downpour - it warms you all the way through with heat and chilli.  Add to that some tasty prawn dumplings, noodles and veg, and you're on to a winner. 

Before the big debate started: (from left) myself, Nick, Ursula, Paul and Rob

Precooked dumplings

And the soup

Monday - Hot, Sweet and Sour soup (by Jo Girl)

Joe and I seem to be making a habit of late nights at work these days, which is impacting on my cooking! Terrible!

So Monday this week was hot and sour soup, which is one of my favourite quickie meals - really good for you and pretty tasty!  I make mine with lots of ginger, chilli, tomatoes, turmeric and tamarind.  This one had some pineapple thrown in as well for a bit of a change, as well as prawns, chicken and some egg to thicken.  All good stuff.........

Because all of that sounds a bit too healthy, we also had some prawn crackers on the side!  We also made the most of having some World Foods dipping sauce on the side, which was very nice (website here).  We used it for a stir fry recently, but I much preferred it as a dipping sauce  - very tasty!

The soup

And some cheeky prawn crackers!  Always some naughtiness....

We also had a bit of the World Foods sauce on the side, which I much prefer as a dipping sauce

Wednesday - Review Fuji Hiro - Leeds

On Wednesday night Joe and I met Hunter Pig for dinner at Fuji Hiro.  Fuji Hiro is one of Leeds' secret delights - a tiny cafe selling brilliant Japanese food.  The tables are Formica, the room is pretty stark, and the menu is small, but the food does not let you down.

They have a deal where you get any side and main course plus a bottle of beer for £14.95.  Perhaps not the cheapest deal in town, it is good value for the quality of food on offer. 

We went for gyoza dumplings (prawn for Joe and I and beef for Hunter Pig) which are meaty and flavoursome.  Gyoza pastry is thicker than sui mei so the dumplings are much more filling, and really satisfying.

For mains I went for the spicy yaki soba (spicy fried noodles with chicken, prawns and vegetables) and the boys both had chili chicken men (noodles topped with chicken in a spicy curry sauce).  The portions are massive, so while not super cheap, you do get your money's worth.  My only (small) grumble is that I always want to up the vegetable-to-noodle ratio when I have noodles but that won't stop me going back again.

When the weather is crap and you need some spicy food, you could definitely do worse than popping into Fuji Hiro.

Asahi Japanese lager

Me and Hunter Pig.  Oink oink.

Fuji Hiro's press accolades

Tools of the trade

Prawn gyoza

Gyoza dipping sauce

Chili chicken men

Spicy yaki soba

Thursday night thai chicken skewers

Tonight was another long run for Joe (and a pathetic short run for me) so I thought I'd treat him with spicy chicken skewers and noodles.  Joe has insisted that I put on the picture of the raw chicken, which I think is a little gross!

Pre-cooked chicken skewers

stir fried vegetables with rice noodles

The finished chicken skewer product!