Current favourite dinner

Spinach, Chickpeas and Poached Eggs

This is becoming a regular dinner around here. It’s vegetarian, has loads of protein and is tasty. It’s not very pretty but sometimes I want quick and easy and this works. It’s not blow your head of hot but like all things, you should adjust the heat to taste. I make it like this and it does about 3 meals, it will do more or less depending on how greedy you are and you can ditch the egg and serve it alone or as a side dish. I have also eaten it cold for lunch and it is the second best hangover food in my house. (The first is a cheese sandwich, I have no idea why it works but it does!)

What

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 red small onions, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 heaped teaspoons cumin

1 heaped teaspoon chilli powder

a can of chickpeas (2 cups or roughly 300g)

2 bags fresh spinach (480g) (you can also use frozen spinach but that makes it a bit more like a stew – still good though!)

As many eggs for poaching as you want!

How

1) In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil over a medium heat, until soft.

2) Add the cumin and chilli powder and cook for another minute.

3) Add the chickpeas, stir through and let them heat up a bit (about 3-5 minutes)

4) Cram the spinach in (this is why it needs to be a large saucepan!) and cover.

5) The spinach will wilt down in the heat of the saucepan but you’ll need to keep an eye on this to ensure that the spinach at the bottom of the pan doesn’t catch before the spinach at the top wilts. So stir it up.

6) When the spinach is all wilted and combined into the onion and chickpea mixture.

7) At this point either eat or poach the eggs to add to the top of this.

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Sunday Music

I’m slightly obsessed by this..

 

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Foodie Penpals

So today would be the day that I told you about the amazing parcel that Nicole sent me. However, it seems that the postman could smell the baked goods in it and ate it!

Ah well, such is life. My July parcel didn’t get to Sally, again I reckon it was the baking that did it!

My parcel sent to Anna, did arrive and you can read about on her blog

Finally, I know I’ve been a ‘missing in action’ recently but September is almost here and there are no more weddings so it should all calm down….promise..

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Sunday Music

The Heavy have a new album, The Glorious Dead..

This is from it..

I could bore for England about how much I like them but if the music doesn’t do it for you, nothing I say will…

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Where I am today

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Christelle and Mike are getting married and it’s Mike’s birthday..

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It’s going to be a busy day..

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The Weekend

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Babysitting, Henry V at The Globe, cheeky cocktails at OXO.

There was also housework and general prep for this week. I’m only at work Monday and Tuesday, a day at home on Wednesday then Thursday and Friday are taken up with Christelle and Mike’s wedding, Saturday is a day with Oli and then collapse in a heap! This weekend was the perfect preparation for that, I feel so good I got up at 5.30am and go for a walk this morning.

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Happy Monday, people!

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Sunday Music

Downtown – Aloe Blacc

This is from the US Tanqueray Campaign

Love the music, Tanqueray is one of my staple gins and Idris Elba. I make that 3 out of three..

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Friday Night Cocktail

I love my home city and I love gin and The Londoner combines both..

 

I saw this here and had to try it. It was one of my birthday party cocktails and whilst I would only drink one they are a great introduction for people that don’t do cocktails.

What

50ml gin

25ml Chambord

25ml grapefruit juice

25ml lime juice

How

Put all the ingredients in an ice filled shaker

Pour into a chilled glass

Drink

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Oli and the animals

On Saturday, the family (me, Ma, Ben, Laura and Oli) went to Whipsnade.

It was a lovely day, the nephew was less than impressed with the ‘new, red buggy’ and I found his tantrum about sitting in it “I’m too big for the new, red buggy” very amusing. Nothing funnier than a kid having a tantrum and being very specific at the same time. Anyway he did sit in his buggy for a bit and a compromise of putting on his rucksack was reached.

 

First we saw the bird display

 

Gizmo the Owl

Laura explaining to Oli that he couldn’t stroke the birds…

After that we saw the sea lions

Playing dead

Oli consulted the map and then we went on the steam train and looked at some more animals..

Camels, hippos, flamingos (my personal favourite!), wallabies…

Mother and baby wallaby. They have the run of the park..

 

 

Elephants…

 

We also saw penguins, fish, butterflies, and other stuff but there are just too many photos for one post..

 

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Custard Powder Cake

 

The Friday before my birthday I had a party, it involved people, cocktails, pizza and cake. The cakes were, ginger muffins, pavlova and this cake. I knew I would be making the cake the day before the party and this one looked easy to make and I was interested by the addition of custard powder.

Despite the bad photos (this is what you get for baking late at night!) this is a really great cake. It all comes together in the food processor and it’s just like a really good victoria sponge. In fact that’s exactly how I treated it, there’s whipped cream and jam in the middle. It was so good and so easy to make, I made another one to take into work the following week. The only thing you have to do ahead of time is make sure the butter is soft.

The recipe comes from Feast by Nigella Lawson.

 

What

200g plain flour

3 tablespoons custard powder

3 teaspoons baking powder

half a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

4 eggs

225g soft butter

200g caster sugar

How

Put all the ingredients except the milk into the food processor

Process until it all comes together.

Divide into two 20cm sandwich tins and bake in a moderate oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Leave to cool in tins.

Put whatever you want to in the middle and eat!

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