Friday, February 12, 2010

I wanted...I bought...I made


Still spectacularly cold most of the time so wintry things are high on my list, with plenty of steaming continuing. Saturday I am making steamed pork hock and have already ordered one from Charlie at the Ginger Pig. It will be the centrepiece of another Chinese dinner with rice and some veg which turned out to be less than successful - made a stirfry of courgettes with salted duck egg yolks - they looked so pretty in the picture! - but they were oddly grainy and not great. Sunday I am back to trad Brit with rare roast beef and steamed leek pudding, which I am seriously looking forward to fabulous it was too with steamed courgettes and roast potatoes and carrots as the guy at Booths told me they were great cooked that way and he is a man who knows his veg. Monday I think steamed aubergines made a fabulous noodle soup with the stock from cooking the hock some dried noodles, green, the whites from the duck eggs and the last of the meat shredded through it, Tuesday the forecast is for sleet so I'm thinking time for soup steamed smoked bacon and smoked trout in a bowl, a rich and complex for such a simple thing, with rice and a coriander salad, Wednesday steamed eggs again steamed pork with eggs and rice and greens, Thursday tofu steamed eggs en cocotte with fennel salad and crusty bread and Friday we are out.

Cold and busy at Borough early Saturday. Quite a queue at Ginger Pig but a cheerful John was happy to bone out a pork hock dinner Saturday with leftovers for lunch Sunday that Charlie had put aside for me earlier in the week. Sharp knife and talent meant the hock stayed in one piece - would take me a million years to do it myself. Also bought a piece of topside roast Sunday then lunches for a few days and some smoked bacon leek pudding- £17.70

The smoked salmon stall was there and I was delighted to discover they also sell smoked trout dinner Tuesday steamed with smoked bacon from the freezer. Bought half for £7

At Booths I bought potaotes, cabbage, clementines, leeks, garlic and carrots, heritage ones that are deep purple halfway through to their core - £7.50
At Wild Beef I bought eggs and porridge oats - winter is with us for a while yet it seems - £3.50

Had a wander round that section of the market but couldn't find the tofu people - am wondering if they've left
From Gastronomica - who now, finally, have a large corner stall in the centre of the market with a fine display of meats and cheeses I bought a sheet of parma ham meant for steamed eggs but ended up as sandwiches for lunch Saturday - £5

By this point I was seriously cold - my fingers felt like frost bite was setting in despite being encased in leather gloves so made a quick dash to Neals Yard for cream and milk - £7.40

Had bought bread at St John Friday so that was plenty for the weekend so it was back on the bus for home having spent £48.10. Later that day I went to Chinatown and spent another £20 on staples, including a jar of fabulous chilli sauce made crunchy with szechwan peppercorns

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