I was VERY surprised to find this enormous (850g) cucumber hidden by leaves at the base of our plantI am starting to worry about just how much food there is in the freezer and the cupboard. Many many fine things but I need to start using them not adding to them. For the month of August I will try and buy only fresh produce and make dinner from food already there at least a couple of times a week.
This week I have food chain so need to be fairly quick Saturday morning at Borough. I have some lovely Irish black pudding in the fridge so am thinking scallops, possibly atop pea puree (joke!)- made a spectacularly good Saturday supper with the addition of new potatoes fried with the chorizo and a peashoot salad on the side. Sunday needs simple, might red cook the ham hock and have noodles and aubergine did that but cucumber salad rather than aubergine. Monday a salad with at least one of the little cans of sweetcorn from the cupboard so long since we had a salad composé I had forgotten how good they are, followed it with a lovely duff. Tuesday pasta crispy fennel worked a treat, Wednesday duck and potatoes courgette in tomato with a crisp cheese topping and a side of garlic bread, Thursday tofu - I know I keep saying it and finally did it! Friday is still a mystery 'twill be duck and potatoes as the man came home this week with fabulous bounty from the garden of his colleague including the courgette we had Wednesday and the potatoes we will have tonight fried in duck fat.
I started at the Ginger Pig where Charlie had prepped lots of meat for food chain for me which is brilliant of him and it makes for really special meals next day. With that in my trolley I bought some pork mince for us which is in the freezer, had planned to have rice wrappers Friday night but it will be another day - £4,25
Then to Shellseekers for scallops but they were £1.70 on the shell so went to Furness instead and bought 6 for £8.10 - which is still expensive but they were exquisite
From Ted's Veg I bought a sweetheart cabbage steamed Thursday night and a fennel bulb for my fabby pasta- £2,15
Eggs from Wild Beef where Lizzie was delighted to have had someone bring back dozens of cartons, which I keep trying to remember to do as my mountain is ready to topple - £1.50
At Neals Yard I bought milk and pasta - £7.20
From Flour Power a loaf of toast bread - £1.10
So my use up what I have plan started well so far - spent £24.30 but also bought oranges, spring onions, lemons, ginger and coriander at Brixton Market and butter, cucumber and a pepper as well as blackberries, apples and suet at Waitrose.
3 comments:
Bron - your cucumber reminds me of a semi-pickled cucumber recipe I've been meaning to make this summer but just haven't got around to it. You salt the slices of cucumber for a few hours in the fridge, rinse salt off, then marinate it in sugar & rice vinegar. Gives you a very crunchy cucumber good as a side but it's the sort of thing I would pick at, while in the kitchen :-)
Azelia that sounds really good - I have a few more cuucmbers on the way so will try it out. My kind of food :)
It was a recipe I tried years ago by Francis Bissell - do you remember her? She use to be the Times cook writer, I loved her recipes, they worked. She brought out a good meat book that I still now and again bring out and she use to go on about animal welfare well before it became fashionable...
I have actually made the pickled cucumber this summer and photographed some of it but just haven't got around to finish it in order to post about it...you know...things you never get around to do eh?
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