Work Beer

Merry Christmas.

I love having a beer as I finish the working day, particularly on an empty stomach.  It helps me wind down and helps build an appetite.

Tonight I had this amazing white ale from Iceland (not the CHD supermarket). It apparently has tasting notes of coriander and orange peel.

If you see it, try it - http://www.einstokbeer.com/

People in Exeter can get it here - http://www.whistlewines.com/

Pasta

I made one of my favourite meals last night, which is fresh pasta with Garlic & Chilli Olive Oil. You basically slowly cook a bulb of finely grated garlic and a couple of thinly sliced chilies in lots of extra virgin Olive Oil. Leave it in a pan for about half an hour and on a very very low heat. Boil your pasta in heavily salted water, you don't have to use fresh stuff, any kind of pasta will do, although these guys would disagree - The Geometry of Pasta. They also suggest 12g of salt to 1L of water. I'm not really into the idea of weighing things, but it's a good book and worth buying for the stunning graphic design.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it, but keep some of the starchy pasta water, this is to be mixed with the oil and will become your sauce. So yeah, mix it all up, the oil, pasta and a cup of starchy water. Zest a bit of lemon over it and a big squeeze of the juice. Serve with thinly sliced fresh basil and tons of Parmesan or Pecorino or Grana Padano. This will give you lovely breath, but kick your mouth in the cunt with flavour.


I ended up drinking a lot of wine and getting rather stoned, so the washing up was left til this morning. As I entered the the kitchen in search of breakfast, I discovered an oily pan full of sticky garlic and chilli, so I fried a couple of scoffy eggs in this dirty pan and toasted some giant sourdough soldiers to dip in the golden yolks. Oh, what's that? A little bit of left over Pecorino in a bowl? Why not?

Poor Old Quiche

I've always hated what I thought was Quiche, but actually it can be pretty good. The supermarkets sell what look like yummy asparagus & salmon frisbees, which have been festering in a cardboard box for days. These things are always a disapointment. But as I'm writting this I'm eating a quiche so fucking tasty I have to constantly take a break from typing to shove some in my mouth. Here comes another mouthful! Scoff!

I'm sure this has been done before, but to me it started more as a joke, but then I really liked the idea, cooked it and then I started eating the thing and then loved it.


Basically it's a squash (you can use any type) with the seeds removed and a load of quiche mixture shoved in there. Because it takes such a long time to cook the squash make the mixture a little more liquidy than usual. Good times.




onion
eggs
splash of milk
nutmeg
salt
chili powder
cheddar
1/2 a lemon (juice and a little zest)
thyme




Use these ingredients and you will have a very tasty quiche. You are not a moron, so add your own stuff, mix and match ingredients. Your kitchen, your rules. Here are some variations I just made up, they may be dogshitpiss, but cooking is all about experimentation and fun.

onion

eggs

dash of cream

nutmeg

salt

pepper

goats cheese

1/2 a lemon (juice and a little zest)

rosemary

or if you want to be really fucking crazy

red onion

eggs

coconut milk

ginger

salt

fresh red chilli

bacon lardons

1/2 a lime (juice and a little zest)

fresh coriander

I think the reason I like this idea so much is because pastry is a bit of a bore, I can never be bothered to make it, cook with it or eat it.