Another day without the Hubby so another opportunity to make a dish I know he won't eat but I will! I figured I had to give another recipe a try from Amelia Freer's cookbook Cook. Nourish. Glow. even though the last recipe didn't fare so well.
Anything tastes good with an egg on top, so when the book naturally fell open to this recipe I knew it was one to try! Let's hope this recipe for Roasted Peppers with Baked Eggs will do better.
Yay or Nay: Undecided
I did make a few changes to this recipe; I added quinoa and replaced some veggies with what I had on hand so it is different from the original. On the plus side, it is a quick meal to throw togther and the egg adds a rich creaminess that you would otherwise expect by using cheese. Also, the harissa adds some welcome heat to an otherwise kind of bland meal. HOWEVER! Maybe it is down to technique and not overstuffing the peppers - but adding the egg on top was like mission impossible! The peppers kept toppling over so couldn't keep the egg on top, the filling didn't allow the egg to sit on top and the egg kept sliding all over the place so I ended up with pretty much half an egg.
Tip: Scoop out a hole/groove/pit to place the egg in or you'll end up with eggy mess!
We're always looking for a new place to eat and somehow I saw an article about a place that sold mussels and frites, a classic Belgian meal and suddenly I was craving mussels. I remember in London there was a restaurant, Belgo, that just sold mussels and frites in different sauces - but the best thing was, whatever time you turned up that's how much your meal was, so if you arrive at 5, then it would be five pounds!! I don't know if they still do this but I loved that place, with it's ahead-of-the-times industrial lighting and dim lights.
With some research I found Food Network's recipe for Spicy Mussels with Chorizo and Wine. I was looking for something that I could eat without the lashings of butter or cream. I figured with this recipe I could make a couple of changes quite easily; swap butter for olive oil and cream for cashew cream and it would still be tasty.
Yay or Nay: Yay
I don't know why I hadn't made this sooner, I mean it was so easy to make - a doddle! Super quick to prep and cook, I had to break cooking into two parts as I had to work late and figured the mussels would taste better freshly cooked instead of steamed and then reheated later. So I made the sauce and then once we were ready to eat, heated up the sauce, put the mussels in and added the cream.
TIP: I would up the harissa and red pepper flakes for a but more heat but this was delicious to mop up with some crusty bread!
There's nothing better than a surprise right? By chance someone at work had left a pile of old Bon Appetit magazines on the communal table. Honestly I have never flicked through the magazine or considered reading it, but seeing as there was nothing else to do during lunch I figured it can't hurt. The surprise was, they were pretty informative and definitely inspiring for mid-week meals. Yes they probably require a little more work or ingredients you can't quite get your hands on but it's worth a try!
The recipe for Passport Pasta intrigued me as it sounded as delicious as a meaty pasta I usually make but switched up with harissa and Merguez sausage.
Yay or Nay: Yay
It was better than I expected, the chorizo gave it a kick and the feta added a nice salty element. I do have to say that actual merguez sausage probably would have elevated this but could not find it for the life of me! Next time I might make my own sausage based on Ottelenghi's recipe in this weekend's Guardian instead.
