Food and Cooking – Angus Thinks…

Really Great recipe for shepherds’s pie

Angus Hardie — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 00:59:25 +0000

I went out this evening to a pub (McEwans brewhouse) and had a really great vegetarian shepherd’s pie. It had a 5 bean chilli base, topped with mash and covered in cheese. I really want to try it at home, since I’m getting bored of some the recipes I’m currently using.

It was served with a side of garlic bread. I definitely would have it again, because it was really good.

My current thoughts on this are:

Bean and Chilli mix
Fry onions and add tomato paste. Add drained beans and chilli. Simmer

Potato Mash
Cheddar cheese topping.

Completing the dish
Put the bean mixture into a small oven proof dish. Add the potato on top, then cover in cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or so.

I’m going to give it a go later this week.

Baking Pizza

Angus Hardie — Mon, 13 Sep 2004 05:53:15 +0000

Amazon.co.uk: Books: The Pizza Express Cook Book

I just tried the basic recipe out of this book this evening and it made an amazing pizza. It was better than some of the frozen varieties. I used the dough recipe, topped it with a tomato sauce in a jar and added grated mozarella cheese (+ a few olives that I happened to have)

It tasted fairly close to the restaurant pizzas, which is an amazing result for a home recipe. I definitely think I’m going to stop buying frozen pizzas.

Unfortunately the book’s availability isn’t very good. Amazon doesn’t seem to be selling new copies directly. If you get the opportunity pick up a copy, the recipe I tried worked well and tasted great and the book has an interesting history of pizza making and of the Pizza Express company. I think I picked up my copy for £2.99 at one of the cheap book shops. It’s definitely a good book.

No Chopsticks?

Angus Hardie — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 07:57:15 +0000

Despite being absolutely huge the Sainsbury’s at Cameron Toll in Edinburgh doesn’t sell Chopsticks. I even went so far as to ask! Not one chopstick to be found (although presumably I would need at least two to actually get anywhere with eating)

I wonder that they don’t have a little stack of chopsticks next to the Chinese ready meal section. Buy meal, chopsticks and plate altogether.

Perhaps it is no wonder that Sainsbury’s non-foods aren’t selling very well? I really liked the old layout more than the new layout. Especially the cookery section; I never seem to be able to find what I want now. The food section was improved though and I think it’s currently my favourite supermarket in absolute terms. In practice I probably shop most often at Safeway in Mordun because it is slightly closer than Sainsbury and it’s a downhill walk on the homeward journey (Sainsbury is uphill on the way back).

I’m definitely curious to see how Morrisons is going to change it. The refurbishment date is thought to be in August.

I wonder if Safeway sell chopsticks? I didn’t look last time I was there.

I’ll probably go to one of the Chinese supermarkets as recommended by David to buy new chopsticks, or Edinburgh Bargain Stores which seems to sell almost everything (although probably not chopsticks)

Improved Popcorn technique

Angus Hardie — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 16:00:48 +0000

I’ve been working away on my method for making popcorn at home in the microwave.

I realised after a while that leaving the popped popcorn in the microwave after it has popped just causes it to burn, go brown and taste bad. So my current method involves removing all of the cooked popcorn aboout half way through (as soon as a good proportion of the kernels have popped). Then putting the rest of the (unpopped) kernels back into the microwave.

This seems to give a much better result, the popcorn is removed fairly quickly after popping and the whole lot tastes much better. If only there was some way to remove the kernels without stopping the popping. I begin to see why people have these hot air machines. I still think this method is slightly cheaper though.

Sugar Syrup Kind of works

Angus Hardie — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 13:22:05 +0000

I tried making sugar popcorn with sugar syrup yesterday and it pretty much works. Although I used icing sugar (because I had surplus) and I think next time I’m going to try using granulated instead. I found that melting it with about a spoon or so of water seems to work although now I’m only metlting it to the point where it becomes liquid.
The first time I tried it I cooked it longer and ended up with a caramel like consistency, which is ok, but not really what I’m looking for. Although I might come back to that style at a later date.

The basic idea is that you melt the sugar and pop the corn separately, then combine after cooking.

Popcorn?

Angus Hardie — Thu, 27 May 2004 19:14:24 +0000

I tried making popcorn at home in the Microwave today. I started with corn kernels (unpopped) and put them in a covered dish. Then I microwaved them for three minutes and to my amazement, most of them popped.

Seemed to turn out about the same as the commercial microwave popcorn.

Tom suggested that I should try adding melted sugar over them if I want a sugared popcorn (although he apparently hates that)

So I’m probably going to try that next time.