Lou's Great bargains

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  Bath

I've found a great offer for all you foodies, 

The Bath Prior has The Priory Restaurant which is truly a great restaurant.

The Executive Head Chef is Michael Caines MBE

Michael Caines MBE

It is fine food at it best with quality and locally produced food and great services, I have eaten there a number of times and it’s certainly not cheap.

But this offer is too good to be true it called there Spring lunch offer

Three courses from the Seasonal lunch menu for £25.00

The only draw back is it is only Monday to Thursday throughout May but I think I may be taking a day of work to enjoy a meal there at that price.

http://www.thebathpriory.co.uk/restaurant/ 

How’s the gardening coming along

How’s the gardening coming along

I planted theses 3 weeks ago when we had that lovely weather

Peas

I’m growing Pea Hurst Greenshaft Seeds

http://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Vegetables/Vegetable+Seeds/Pea+Hurst+Greenshaft+Seeds_192081.htm

The ones in the pot are doing really well

peas in the pots

But the ones I planted in the raised beds have been eaten by the birds, I birds love peas, I should have covered.

As you can see below all gone,nothing 

birds ate them all

Replanted today and 

So it may not look pretty but it's got to be done 

covered up

Thai Green Curry

Thai Green Curry

My Post of the 15 January 2012 gives the recipe for Green curry paste; I make the paste in bulk and freezes in Ice cube trays.

Last night a cooked up a really hot Thai Green curry it was lush so hot it may my lips tingle.

I used Two of my  Green curry paste ice cubes if you do have time I would suggest taking them out of the freezer and allowing them to defrost, I forgot to do this and so place straight into pan (it spat everywhere and made a right mess of my cooker, slightly dangerous  as well  )

You will also need

5 tbsp coconut cream
1 tsp fish sauce
180ml chicken or vegetable stock
180g chopped chicken, (I use chicken  but you could use -seafood, pork or tofu or even vegetables like baby corn.
100g peas (you are suppose to use pea aubergines , but I really don’t like them as they are so bitter also very hard to get hold of in England)
2  kaffir lime leaves, shredded (You may need to use dried as yet again very hard to get hold of fresh , I have my own kaffir lime leaf plant)
3 red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
Handful of Thai basil leaves (if you have them not to worry if you have not as the homemade curry paste as a ton of basil in)
In a saucepan add  curry paste you decide on how much as it depends how hot you want it , I added two Cubes of my homemade curry paste as I wanted it hot
Mix, stirring continuously until aromatic – taste to see whether the spices are cooked.
Add coconut cream, and allow to come to the boil.
Add the fish sauce and sugar to taste, pour in the stock and bring back to the boil, then put in the meat or tofu, and the peas (or pea aubergines). Simmer until cooked through, then stir in the lime leaves, red chilli and basil leaves. Stir in a little more coconut cream if it's too spicy, and serve with jasmine rice.


Guilty secret time
I also love to cook up a few chips to eat with the curry as I love dipping the chips in the curry it’s so wrong but so right. 

Thai Green Curry

Rhubarb & strawberry meringue pots

Rhubarb & strawberry meringue pots

As I wrote the last post last week when I could not get my blog to play ball 

I have cooked up today Rhubarb & strawberry meringue pots

all you need is 

450g Rhubarb, cut into 4cm/1½in chunks

100g golden caster sugar

grated zest of 1 orange

1 tbsp strawberry conserve

2 egg separated 

 Preheat the oven to 180C/ Gas 4/fan oven 160C. Put the rhubarb in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over 50g/2oz of the sugar and the orange zest and stir together. Cover and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until tender. (Alternatively, you can cook the rhubarb with the sugar and zest in the microwave for 10 minutes on full power, stirring halfway through the cooking time, until just tender.)Remove the rhubarb from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

Stir in the conserve then the egg yolks. Divide the rhubarb mixture between four ramekins. Put on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 10 minutes until lightly thickened.While the rhubarb is cooking, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Sprinkle over half of the remaining sugar and whisk again.

Gently fold in the rest of the sugar. Pile the meringue on top of the rhubarb to cover it completely and swirl the top. Return to the oven for 10 minutes until the meringue is puffy and golden. Serve immediately.

Forced Rhubarb

Forced rhubarb

Sorry for not posting recently, I've been away on holiday and again my blogger has been playing up

But Gardening season is nearly on us and so today I have been tiding the garden up.

And came across a nice surprise back in January I thought I would try and see if I could grow some forced rhubarb, I already had a rhubarb grown which I gets lots of rhubarb of in the summer, but thought, nothing lose so I place a tub over my crown and left it and surprise surprise I had some lovely forced rhubarb which I will cook up next week.  

from this

to this 

Quadruple Chocolate Brownie

As it was a rainy Saturday I thought a spot of baking was in order, but wanted to make something completely indulgent so forget double chocolate or triple chocolate, I decided to go all out and see how much chocolate I could get in it resulting in my Quadruple Chocolate Brownie.

It worked a dream but should come with a health warning as it is full of calories as you would expect.

Quadruple Chocolate Brownie 

Ingredients

175g/6oz plain chocolate powder  (70% cocoa solids) I always use Green & blacks as the best I have ever found

275g/10oz unsalted butter

175g/6oz milk chocolate, cut into large chunks

175g/6oz white chocolate, cut into large chunks

175g/6oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla essence

325g/12oz caster sugar

85g/3oz white chocolate, cut into small chunks

85g/3oz milk chocolate, cut into small chunks

method

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas3. Line a 30x20x3.5cm tin with lightly buttered greaseproof paper or foil. I know brownies should be square but I like to use a round tin.

Put the large chunks of milk chocolate & white Chocolate and butter in a large bowl, place over a pan of simmering water and allow to melt.

Sieve the flour and baking powder & plain chocolate powder into a bowl and set aside. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and stir in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla essence. Fold in the flour, and the small chucks of milk & white chocolate.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared cake tin. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. The top should be firm but the inside should feel soft when cooked. Allow to cool in the tin. Remove the brownies from the tin .

delays

Sorry It's been a while but my blogger went down and would not let me post.

but I do have a treat for you with Quadruple Chocolate brownie