Sunday 24 July 2011

New Mix for Getting Fucked on Flirtinis

Let's Get Small by Ace Inhibitor    Here is a new mix.  It's not very long, so you have no excuses.  It goes quite well with a Cambodian Beef Salad and a warm glass of shut the fuck up.

Cambodian Beef Salad


Health food. This cost a few quid the first time, but once you've got some of the ingredients in, they'll last for a few salads. Got this one from Rick Stein off of a youtube vid, so, as the recipe on the vid rushed by in less than a minute, I had to employ a bit of intelligent guesswork. I still have no way to check if I'm doing it right, but it sure tastes fine to me. Right... so I got some steak (fairly basic frying steak, but it worked ok) which I cut into strips and laid down in a bowl. Finely chopped some lemongrass and put that with the beef, then squeezed a lime over it and some fish sauce. The lime juice "cooks" the beef if you leave it for half an hour or so, meaning less washing up added to the extra satisfaction that you are eating "caveman style". So, while that was doing its chemical thing, I thinly sliced some thai shallots (I've since run out of these little treasures, meaning another walk to the Asian supermarket is imminent), a red birdseye chilli, a little bit of gem lettuce, a big handfull of beansprouts, lots of roughly chopped thai basil and coriander and peanuts, yes you heard me, and put them into a bowl. Now for the skanky bit. Shrimp paste. This dangerous condiment comes in a jar and it is the same shade of grey as the face of a dead old man. And it smells like that man's ballbag. However, once I mixed a bit of it with some more fish sauce, some brown sugar and some water I had a feeling it would taste ok. So now the beef was ready, so I threw all that, along with the lime juice and lemongrass, in the bowl with the other ingredients. Finally, the shrimpy death sauce gets poured over and the whole lot is mixed up. I then ate the whole thing rapidly as it was delicious and made me feel like I'm on some kind of pretentious macrobiotic diet and never drink or stay up late ever. And, ladies and gentlemen, it can do that for you too.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Bastard's voice is in my head...

Mushroom Risotto


This is a pretty standard mushroom risotto.  Nothing particularly innovative, just following the rules as the rules are good rules.  What you can see here is some chopped onion, mushrooms (oyster, shitake, dried porcini soaked in boiled water for 20 mins) and garlic (note massive garlic bastard behind the chopping board.  This is the Daddy of garlic).  Keep the mushroom water, put a bit of a stock cube in it (chicken or veg) and put it on a low heat.  Onion and garlic go into some foaming butter and a bit of olive oil in a frying pan, very gently, to soften them.  Up the heat a bit, put in all the mushrooms and soften them up too.  Then comes the rice - about 2 mins for that, just to make it a bit translucent.  Add a bit more oil or butter if its too dry.  Then comes some white wine - I used about half of one of those mini bottles.  Once thats reduced, start ladling in the mushroom stock.  This is the part that won't suit those of you with low attention spans at all.  But then you're probably not cooking anyway.  ONE ladle at a time, low heat, stirring slowly till its gone, then a bit more.  In other words, you have to stand at the stove and stir for about half an hour.  I generally have something on the radio to keep me company through this part.  Once all the liquid has been absorbed (and it looks vaguely like a risotto), get some parmesan in there, and some salt and pepper.  I threw some parsley on at the end, partly because it tastes nice and partly because I knew I was going to take a photo of it for this wanky blog.  Enjoy.

Saturday 16 July 2011

Breakfast

Italian piccante sausages, poached eggs, toast, black coffee, standard bloody mary with a red wine float.  Worth getting a hangover on purpose.

Friday 15 July 2011

Thanks, Bjork

Cardiacs. Like after a real Scottish breakfast.

Studaism

Just added some of the blogs my students made for this project to the blogroll. Check em out. We have literature, travel, animation and abject stupidity. Enjoy.

It's Friday, It's Souleyman the Magnificent

Weekend Shopping Adventure

Today is Friday and I intend not to cook.  At my favourite pub they have a nice line in invented pizza toppings (hops being a mainstay) so I might get on that.  Priority one for tomorrow is to hit Leith Walk again for assorted foreign objects to cook with.  Asian supermarket, Italian deli, Polish shop.  I've been making a lot of Thai salads lately and I need to stock up on herbs, beansprouts and steak.  If anyone knows of a green mango in Edinburgh, holla.  I intend to pair it up with dried anchovies and see what it does to me.  Also, in the Asian supermarket, I'll try to find the most outlandish frozen meat (current winner: pig uterus) and photograph it for you all.

Stay hungry.

Thursday 14 July 2011

‪Vegan Black Metal Chef Episode 2 - Easy Meal Ideas of The Ages‬‏ - YouTube

‪Vegan Black Metal Chef Episode 2 - Easy Meal Ideas of The Ages‬‏ - YouTube

We must include this. Apart from Albini's blog, this is the "hot" food blog, appealing to "demographics" "everywhere".

Basic Seafood Pasta


This is what hungry English teachers (or this one, anyway) crave after a long day knocking heads together.  It's really a piece of piss.  I boiled some pasta (usually De Cecco linguine, but they didnt't have any, so it's spagettini), chopped some garlic, a chilli and some fresh oregano I happened to have.  Took the pasta out of the pot, refreshed it under cold water and left it.  I also found an end of a chorizo sausage, so I diced it and chucked it in a frying pan on a low heat with the garlic, chilli and oregano for a laugh.  In went a few scallops (the cheap tesco kind in a packet.  They were there, they were about to go off, so they were cheap.  I buy quite a lot from the pikey section).  Some browning of scallop.... then a shot of white wine.  After a bit of reduction action, a few chopped cherry tomatoes, and some chopped parsley.  Once the tomatoes start to break down, some "mussel meat".  I think this tesco nonclemature is sinister, but, again, cheap.  They were already cooked, so just needed warming.  At the same time, the pasta went in to warm and mix through.  Then, find a plate.  It was probably the one you used for breakfast - rinse it off, and put your dinner in it.  I had some parmesan, so I drowned it in dem shits.  The process in its entirety was accompanied by the aforesaid wine, which also was poured out to accompany the meal.  It was delicious, as most simple food is.  And it allows you to down at least a half a bottle of wine without really thinking about it.

Dinner

Hello. I have to make a blog for a project at the English school I teach at. It was my idea, FOR SHAME.

Its a food and music blog. There will be videos, recipes, food experiences, dj mixes, ranting, raving, raving, raving. There will also be photos of some of the food I make, as this will encourage me to clean the kitchen. Tonight's dinner is seafood linguine. I'm telling you about it now, in case I forget to blog about it later.

Mange tout, Rodney, mange tout.