Sunday once more, sounds a bit like the Mamas and Papas, Yesterday once more. But it is Fathers Day, and Willowy Brunette ( she who doesn’t cook) has gone into baking, baking cakes for us and for her nephews and niece . She made her father a scrumptious Rum Raisin cake, and for the little ones a Beetroot and ginger, which they loved ( just don’t tell them it is beetroot).

Sunday, means neighbourhood Cocktail Hour and today we are actually going somewhere! About 20 yards or so further afield. Up onto a roof terrace, so we can look over the whole of London. We occupy here, two floors but next door they are on three floors, hence a real roof terrace, whereas ours is long theirs is square and so we can still be socially distant but without having to shout across the void. Exciting !

Sunday is also Story time for the three older grandchildren, each week they give Himself a character that they want to be incorporated into a story, I’m not sure what they are this week, something along the lines of a Crazy politician, a Dumb Bat and a Rainbow Princess! Try putting those into an interesting kids story ! Himself works all week on the tale after, Miss Tess declared on the second week, when asked ” It was Not his best “! What a put down from a ten year old ! Since then he has worked hard to come up with the goods.

Meanwhile, I’m on the hook for dinner and it is once again fish ( excuse the pun there) and it is salmon. As it is cocktails and story night I have to be ready with dinner at 8.30 pronto. Therefore Fish it is, especially as I had a delivery from IshFish.

Until today, my favourite way of cooking and serving Salmon, was to pan fry, skin side down ( crispy skin) and spread frozen Anchovy butter over it to serve. That was all about to change and for a couple of reasons.

Firstly I bumped into a foodie neighbour , obviously not literally, we were almost on opposite sides of the street, but he told me where to buy relatively inexpensive Porcini Mushrooms, they are from an English company via Amazon, so I bought a tub ( 500 grams of dried mushrooms, is a lot, but just checked at other outlets, powder almost £10.00 per 100 grams at Waitrose, more expensive at Whole foods)

I had read somewhere about using Porcini dust with Salmon and here was my chance.

So! What to do? Take a few of the wonderful dried mushrooms and with the motor running on your blender ( and a blender does work better than a food processor, or probably even better a coffee grinder )drop in the dried Porcini, with the motor running. Immediately put your hand over the spout, you don’t want to lose any of this precious dust, let the motor run. Tip the jug upside down over a sieve and shake gently into a bowl. Then with a paint brush or mushroom brush, dust out the blender, so as not to lose any. Any bits that have not been ground into dust, DO NOT THROW AWAY, keep in a jar until you need some extra flavouring, in a soup .

Then very simply, I used it by pressing some onto the skin side of my salmon. I have to buy salmon with the skin on as frying it skin side down is the only way to go, you get crispy skin and so easy to see when the salmon is cooked, but not over cooked. And then I just cooked my salmon as usual in a frying pan with a small amount of Olive oil.

I recently did some crowd funding to finance some Young Spanish farmers, consequently I bought 5 kilos of the most wonderful lemons ( currently being preserved for future use) and 5 litres of wonderful olive oil!

Tempus, Fugit, again, week Thirteen midway through June, almost at Mid Summers day. I absolutely love this time of year, light evenings, ( though I have to say not really appreciating them this year) but the mornings! Light at 4 am, light and then sunshine streaming in, just wonderful.

I have made Tabbouleh this week, one of my favourite salads, but for me it has to be made with curly parsley, which seems to have fallen out of favour with the English public. However, Watts Farm, my new delivery source, gave me a choice, Flat or Curly.

Most recipes for Tabbouleh say, use flat leaf parsley, but for me, I assume that the first time I ate it, it was made with curly.

It is a salad from the Middle East and as such there are many variations, some use oodles of bulgar wheat, as in Turkey and Armenia, whereas in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt much more parsley, but honestly try and see how you like it. Personally, my preference is curly parsley and lots of it.

Therefore this is a list of ingredients but quantities vary according to taste :-

1. 1 cup of bulgar wheat
2. A large bunch of parsley finely chopped
3. 1 large tomato diced
4. Bunch of spring ( green onions chopped)
5. 100 mls good olive oil
6. 100 mls fresh lemon juice
7. Cloves of garlic crushed and chopped ( optional)
8. Salt and pepper
9. 1/4 cucumber diced ( optional)
10. Dozen or so fresh mint leaves ( optional)

Soak the bulgar in 2-3 cups of boiling water. Leave it to cool, then drain.

Mix together all the vegetables then add the bulgar. Stir in the oil and lemon juice, taste and add salt to taste.

This salad keeps very well for several days covered in the refrigerator. I often make a bowl of it for me but Himself usually declares it is too much of that green stuff !

Goes well with grilled fish or chicken or just have it by itself. I also added, very un-conventionally , chopped avocado, simply because I happen to really like avocados!

A new delivery service! It arrived on time and as planned. What a delivery service, I could keep it to myself but that would be really mean and no good for them. Let me shout it Loud and Clear.

WATTS FARM, was Great.

And will use them again, delivery on time and to my front door. All beautifully packed and in great condition. Not just fruit and veg but a much much more! I over indulged in FRESH YEAST , but it will freeze, or so Google tells me. When did in last see fresh yeast ? Honestly can not remember.

And, me who Loves grocery shopping, has declared it is Passé. What with Watts Farm, Ish Fish, Costco online groceries and for other stuff, Waitrose delivers the heavy stuff, wine comes from Portugal, so I am sorted, need never go grocery shopping again! Well not strictly true, in 3 months I have been to Marks and Spencer 4 times, to their Flagship stores on Oxford Street, But social distancing is something that they do not observe and none of the staff, who are in abundance, wear masks, so it is seriously only on a needs must basis. Then literally across the street,convenience stores for fresh milk, up until now never busy. Then having seen photos in the press of the crowds, and I mean crowds waiting to enter retail stores, just fills me with horror! What planet have these people been living in for the last three months?

So what have we been up to , since last posting?

Another banana cake recipe ( how many can you have?) and I have to say, that so far this is my favourite, but I think we will stop buying bananas, banana cake, banana ice cream and a whole lot of them in the freezer! Himself is just not eating them fast enough ! And another cauliflower cheese recipe and likewise , I really like this one. Raspberry Jam, simply because I need freezer space, ( too many bananas) so frozen raspberries had to go! And a Chinese spice mixture, a secret not to be divulged!Oh, and I forgot, Mangoes, also needed using and so now we have Mango Sorbet !

Moving swiftly on, here is what you will need for an alternative Cauliflower Cheese:-

1. 1 cauliflower, leaves removed, florets cut into bits about the size of a teaspoon
2. 50 grams butter
3. 200 mls each of milk and cream
4. 1heaped tablespoon cornflour
5. 1Tbs Dijon mustard
6. 75 grams Panko breadcrumbs
7. 100 grams grated cheese, I never use cheddar, but Emmental, but use whatever you are used to
8. Some Parmesan to sprinkle on top ( optional)
9. A few cherry tomatoes for garnish

Cook the cauliflower, and as usual I cook it in the microwave.

Again using a microwave make a sauce by mixing together the cornflour, cream, milk and butter and heat at one minute intervals in the microwave on high. Stir in between. Again if it goes lumpy, whisk or beat and the lumps will disappear . Add the grated cheese. Add the cooked cauliflower and the Panko breadcrumbs .

Pour all into an oven proof dish top with the Parmesan and tomatoes if using and either, just put under the grill to brown, or put to one side until ready to use and reheat in the oven until golden brown.

A good alternative for a meat free dinner.

Saturday is the day that Himself cooks, and making a change from Indian we moved onto Bali. Actually have never been to Bali. One always has the impression that it is full of Australians, but then again, so is Earls Court, London. So maybe I’m doing it an injustice.

However before we move on to his dinner and cooking skills , Virtual Travel sprang to mind! The kids have abandoned and Himself would if I would only let him! This week we went on our Honeymoon to Amsterdam, as did John and Yoko in March 1969. Unfortunately we didn’t get room service ( good staff are really very hard to come by at the moment) but we did have the flowers and the guitar, but no serenading, ( but then again maybe his singing voice is not up to John’s.)

His Balinese dinner was a seafood curry, ( so in reality I suppose not so far from our Indian week.) The only item we did not have in stock was squid and the best that our local food hall could come up with was frozen squid rings, at least they were not coated in a dubious looking batter.

He noted that there were an awful lot of ingredients for the sauce, but then after all, it is the sauce that makes the dish.

For four people you will need:-

1. 4 fish filets, we used frozen Tilapia
2. +/-200 grams fresh or frozen squid
3. 12-16 fresh or frozen large raw shrimp, peeled
4. +/- 150 mls fish or vegetable stock

1. 2 lemon grass stalks cut into chunks

1. 4 Kaffir lime leaves ( optional, if not them use the zest of the lime)

1. 400 ml can coconut milk

For the Sauce

1. 2 tsp crushed black pepper
2. 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3. 1 tsp sesame seeds
4. 1 onion peeled and chopped
5. Chunk of ginger peeled and chopped roughly
6. 4 cloves garlic
7. 4 red chillies
8. 1 tbsp palm sugar ( or just use brown sugar, not the same at all, But !)
9. 3+ tbsp oil

Put all of the sauce ingredients into a blender and process. If too thick add a little more oil.

Cut fish into bite size chunks. Put all of the seafood into a bowl and smother it with some of the sauce.

Heat some oil in a largish pan ( we used a wok), when hot add the rest of the paste and fry for about 3 minutes. Add the lime leaves and lemon grass and half of the stock, when hot add the fish, cook gently for about 3 minutes, add the coconut milk along with the prawns and squid, cook for another 2 minutes. If too thick add some more of the stock. Season to taste.

Serve with rice.

As my previous blog, it is an Indian meal again. Am I not being imaginative or am I just on a roll ?

I don’t know, but the other day I de-frosted a rack of lamb and then thought again, what I could do with it .

I found a recipe for Lamb Chops, which is something I never buy but a rack of Lamb is quickly converted into Lamb chops, which I did.

The original recipe called for two lots of marinade and an overnight marinating. I did neither. I made a marinade and left the chops in it for about 6 hours or so, ie. I did it in the morning and cooked it early evening.

For 2 people you will need:-

1rack of Lamb or 6-8 chops depending on size

For the Marinade

1. 3 tsp cumin seeds
2. 2tsp coriander Powder
3. 2 tsp Garam Masala
4. 3 crushed cloves of garlic ( or more if you really like garlic)
5. A lump of ginger cut finely or squeezed through a garlic press , or for these two items ready bought garlic and ginger paste, about 3 tsps
6. 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper
7. Juice of two limes ( or 2 tbs of lime juice)
8. 2/3 chopped red and or green chillies
9. Salt to taste
10. 1 tbs oil
11. 2 tbs of either palm sugar or just use some brown sugar
12. Some butter to grill
13. Mint or coriander leaves to serve.

Put all of the marinade ingredients into a blender and blitz to a paste. Coat the chops with this and cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Heat your grill on high, make sure that the chops are well coated, put in a baking sheet and brush them with some melted butter or ghee.

Grill the chops for about 4 minutes each side, more or less depending on taste.

Leave them to rest for a couple of minutes and serve on a bed of rice with the coriander or mint leaves.Or as I did with potatoes and beans.

This week seems to have so far an Indian theme, not quiet sure why but it does.

I decided it was time to sort out the vegetables languishing in my refrigerator and use them up. A little bit of this and a little bit of that and so came to mind to make a vegetable curry. Very easy to make and useful if you have lots of bits of vegetables which need using rather than go out and buy an assortment.

The recipe which I came up with is called PAU BHAJI and is very much a staple of the Indian State of Maharashtra which is where Mumbai is located. We were actually in Mumbai more or less by chance a few years ago en route back to the UK from Delhi. We ended up in Mumbai simply because I had insisted that we went to Aurangabad.

I had read that near Aurangabad were the most amazing caves and also the worlds largest monolithic structure. Himself was less than keen but certainly did not regret the detour. #1 daughter arranged through her travel business contacts for us to be collected at the airport and driven to the caves. The Ajanta caves are actual caves carved into the rocks and for the most part, Buddhist, the Ellora caves are not really caves as they were built or carved downwards, took 200 hundred years to carve ( who had the Master Plan ?) these caves represent, Hinduism, Buddhism and the Jain religion. Both caves are World Heritage Sites. They were truly amazing, and this is how we ended up in Mumbai.

I have to admit that we did not eat Indian Street food after #1 daughter ( the willowy blonde ) had been hospitalised , not from eating dodgy food, but just handling very dirty money, so not wanting to experience an Indian hospital we avoided such delights.

However PAU BHAJI is Indian street food and originated in Maharashtra. It is a vegetarian stew and eaten with a soft white bread roll ( this bit has to be a British import from the time of the Raj). Judging from shopping with my daughter at the wonderful sounding supermarket ( more like local bazaar) Honey Money Top, the selection of vegetables was very sad to say the least. Refrigeration and refrigerated trucks are not the norm and so fruit and vegetables are left out in the mid day sun ( think Noel Coward, Mad Dogs and Englishman) and are soon wilting and are long past their best by date ( not that they have one ).

Consequently, I believe that this meal/ fast food dish was simply created to use the vegetables before they went off, and as 42% of Mumbai’s population live in slums, good hygienic home cooking will just not be possible. Nonetheless, it is a very good option, if you like curries, to use up your vegetables.

Therefore to make your PAU BHAJI you will need a combination of the following:-

1. Cauliflower
2. Green or red or yellow peppers
3. Green beans
4. Large onion
5. Spinach, or kale
6. Peas, use frozen
7. Potatoes just a couple

Chop all of the vegetables, place in a large pan and cover with boiling water and simmer until the vegetables are soft, mash them somewhat, as this is eaten on the run with a bread roll it is mushy.

Add

100 grams butter

A squirt tomato paste

2 tsp chilli powder

1tsp cumin

1tsp turmeric

2 tsp curry powder

1tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste

Keep simmering until it is a homogeneous mixture. To serve, add a dollop of butter and decorate with chopped coriander and a lemon slice. It is unlikely that the latter would indeed be added to Street Rood, but if serving at home it just makes it look nicer. Traditionally, served with a soft bread roll, but here, try some sourdough instead.

A busy day on Sunday, online bridge, golf, ( pouring rain, soaking wet, cold), Penthouse cocktail hour, Sunday Story time for three eldest grandchildren, and the day for Himself to cook!

He had a wish, a plan. He wanted to recreate one of the dishes that we had ordered online from a Michelin starred Indian restaurant. We decided that it was a Prawn Moilee, full of coconut and spices. It traditionally comes from the south of India, from the region known as Kerala.

Although we travelled extensively in Indian, whilst willowy blond and family were living there, we didn’t actually make it to Kerala. This was the fault of the Indian Government as I was made a persona non gratis and they refused to renew my visa.

We had planned a trip to Kerala to coincide with the arrival of a new baby, instead I went for just four days and Himself for three weeks but minus the Kerala trip. It was the time of the trial of the Mumbai Bombers and no new visas were being issued and as such I even considered overstaying, as ” What could they do to me? Send me home?” However the “Fixer” who worked for my Son in Law soon put paid to that idea “Oh No Sir, Not good idea Sir, Mother in Law end up in Jail Sir!” So that was that, the thought of jail in the base case was not inviting, let alone the thought of an Indian Jail. And so it was, that I was driven through New Delhi at 3 am only to discover the roads were just as busy, but this time with the gaily decorated trucks as well as the Tuk Tuks, motorcycles and of course cows, camels, people and elephants.

For our version of Prawn Moilee we used

1. 2 tablespoons chopped red chillis ( we have them frozen)
2. 2 tsp mustard seeds
3. 10 Kaffir Lime leaves or fresh curry leaves if you can get them, or none at all if you can’t. I buy the lime leaves from the Asian Grocery store and freeze them.
4. 2large white onions, sliced into chunks
5. 40 mls olive oil
6. 2 tsp garlic/ ginger paste can be home made or shop bought ( jar)
7. 2 tsp ground turmeric
8. 2tbs curry powder
9. A chunk of fresh ginger sliced
10. 400 ml can of coconut Milk
11. 250 mls can coconut cream or half a block of solid coconut cream
12. +/-10 large prawns per person
13. 3 large tomatoes cut into 6 ths
14. Salt and pepper to taste
15. Lemon wedges to serve and chopped coriander

Heat the oil, add the curry/ lime leaves along with the mustard seeds, stir and add the onions. Sauté gently until soft and translucent. Add the ginger/ garlic paste, salt, pepper turmeric and curry powder, cook for about 3 minutes and then add the chillies and ginger.

Pour in the coconut cream and milk, and simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Add the prawns and tomatoes. Serve on rice with lemon wedges and chopped coriander.

We found this was plenty and had sauce left over, so the following night added more prawns and some fish as well.

Very easy and certainly the sauce bit can be made in advance.

Having moved our Travel day to Saturday, slightly disappointed that no one else has been anywhere. This week we decided to go to Luxor in Egypt and to visit The Valley of the Kings and Tutankhamun’s Tomb.

We did actually go there in what seems a life time ago. We went “en famille”, it was a secret holiday for Himself, the kids and I planned it all and he was really upset that he didn’t know what was happening! Being a bit of a control freak ( under statement) , he just couldn’t handle Not Knowing. We started out on the Eurostar to Paris and then onto Luxor , arrived in the dark, but the next morning woke to a view across the Nile onto the Valley of the Kings.

Visiting this region in September, we were told, is not the best time of year, but actually because it is still hot ( and not humid) there were not many tourists at all. Our guide for the seven days we were there, nicknamed Indiana Jones was superb, filling us in on just about everything we needed to know. We flew up to Aswan and then floated down the Nile , and as there were only 15 of us on our boat ( and we were 5) it was a perfect trip.

Not quite the same this time round but we did our best, and of course had an Egyptian dinner ( or maybe Middle Eastern, as they are very much intertwined )

We ate Pan Fried Sea Bass with Harissa and Roses.

For two people you will need:-

1. 4 Sea Bass filets ( or sea bream)
2. 3 tabs Harissa Paste
3. 3 tabs Oilive oil
4. 1 large onion finely chopped
5. 100 mls red wine vinegar
6. 1/2 tsp of each cinnamon and cumin
7. 2 tbsp Honey Or golden syrup if you don’t have honey
8. Handful of currants or sultanas
9. Some chopped coriander
10. 1tsp Ras el Hanout ( a Middle Eastern spice blend which contains Rose Petals) plus decoration
11. 2 tbsp of Rose water
12. Some flour for dusting the fish
13. Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and sauté the onions until soft. Remove from pan, add more oil if needed , dust the fish in the flour and sauté for about 3 minutes on each side. Put to one side. Add the Harissa, vinegar and spices along with 200 mls boiling water, simmer for about 20 minutes to make a thickish sauce.

Add the rose water, most of the Ras El Hanout, honey and currants/ sultanas. Taste and adjust seasoning. Return fish to pan to heat through and serve by spooning the sauce over the fish. Decorate with the coriander and some rose petals from the Ras el Hanout.

Absolutely delicious and I am going to try this with chicken, as I think it will work well.

What is a salad? For me, it should be either a side salad along with a main course, or it could be a small salad as a starter.

We were in Texas not so long again and our friend ordered a Cob Salad. I hadn’t a clue as to what he had ordered. IT came as a lump of lettuce ( Bigger than Baby Gem but along those lines) smothered in blue cheese dressing. Now I really like salads and I like blue cheese dressing but I have to admit that I thought this a bit weird.

Now the trend has spread across the Atlantic ( as these things seem to do), and I saw in the Middle classes favourite shop, magazine exactly that ( well almost) complete with a recipe and pictures! In fact it was a full page spread , with a picture of Baby Gem lettuces with a bit of dressing poured over them! Seriously, do we need a recipe for that? Apparently so. I’m not sure it would get top marks on Master Chef!

I have a new no flour cake recipe, it is to my mind, only OK but worth a try. Maybe better served with vanilla Ice Cream.

It is called Tarta de Santiago . Originating from Galicia in North-Western Spain during the time of medieval pilgrimage, this tart is traditionally decorated with the St James Cross.

You will need:-

1. Oven to 160( fan), 22cm springform tin
2. 300 grams, 10 oz, 1 1/2Cups caster sugar
3. 6 medium eggs
4. 300grams, 10 oz, 2 1/2 cups ground almonds. ( grams and oz do not compare with US cups, hence if you look the quantities for sugar and almonds are different in cup measurements. Do not mix and match, keep to grams, ounces or cups)
5. Zest from 3 large lemons
6. Icing sugar for dusting
7. Butter or spray grease for the pan ( I use spray the one I have at home is available from Amazon, but in the UK, Lakeland now stocks something similar)

Grease the pan before you start. Whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale and thick. I have an attachment on my food processor but whisking either by hand ( a longer process) or by hand held electric whisk, also work. Carefully fold in the almonds and the lemon zest and pour the mixture into the Tin and bake in the middle shelf for +/- 50 minutes. A skewer when inserted into the middle should come out clean. Leave in the pan to cool.

This cake is fairly delicate so care should be taken when taking it out of the tin.

Dust with icing sugar.

June the First, my birthday and as such I actually did not cook, did not cook on Sunday nor Monday. Sunday we went on a wonderful picnic, my eldest grandchildren baked me the most magnificent muffins and made me birthday cards, whilst the youngest made me a photo album( as of course I haven’t seen them for over three months and newborns change rapidly).

I have an abundance of the most beautiful flowers, all my favourites, Peonies, they are available for such a short period of time, I chose them for my mother’s funeral and eldest had them at her wedding. Roses, who can not love roses? And Sweet William , memories of my childhood garden.

On my Birthday, Dentist daughter, the willowy brunette, came for dinner, we sat outside on the terrace and for the first time since the Lockdown began, we ordered and had delivered dinner from outside.

We ordered from a Michelin Starred Indian Restaurant not far from our home. We have walked past it on numerous occasions and as they are one of the finer restaurants offering a delivery service we thought, Why Not ?

We ordered 2x the seafood feast for two, it arrived right on time although the driver from Deliveroo, was confused by the number of entrances to our Mansion Block, but he eventually managed to find the right front door.

Himself set the table , chilled the champagne whilst we waited for the willowy brunette to arrive. Arrive she did, bearing gifts, Bubbles, Flowers and a most magnificent cake! As she said to a shopkeeper, when he commented on her grocery purchases ” Everyone seems to be baking” She replied ,” Well they must be, if even I am so doing “!

The cake was as light as a feather and contained pineapple and star anise. Not be thwarted by the lack of Star anise Powder in the shops, she ordered online, only to be thwarted again, as it cam in star anise form and not powder, so she bashed ( rolling pin) and ground ( pepper mill came in handy). As a dentist she has learnt to be innovative and also precise, although my memories of her wanting to bake as a child, cup cakes always a vivid blue! I must ask her for the recipe! She even bought a special pan to bake it ! I am impressed.

Dinner was really nice even though I am not too sure what we ate, a yellow sauce was delicious, full of shrimp and as there is plenty of sauce left over, I will recycle it this evening using salmon.