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[rebness]

I wish my camera would work! I want to take photos of all the neat English Meals I have made in the last few days. Uh, when I say English, I may be including the cuisine of most of Europe. Oh, well. This is what I have done, you guys:

 
Apple Crumble
This is my quintessential autumn pudding. My mum and I went scrumping (ha) on the farmland adjacent to us and came back with a haul of unloved British apples which-I-can't-identify. Our two oldest apple trees have died, sadface, and the other two are too young to provide us with a decent haul.

The only proviso for this pudding was that I had to do it because my mum is sick of me being afraid to cook any dessert. It was gorgeous! I used some of that walnut syrup I got from Destrehan plantation in Louisiana when I was preparing the apples and oh, my God. It was gorgeous. 

Spanakopita
Jamie Oliver has gone all Graecophile, which I am really digging. We followed his 30-minute recipe for spanakopita (spinach and feta filo pie) which totally takes longer than thirty minutes but is worth it. It's the best spanakopita I have ever, ever had, all those of Greece included. Oliver uses a lot of lemon and pine nuts in his recipe and the difference in taste is amazing. Definitely making this for the New Year buffet. I also recommend the cucumber salad he does on that page, though go easy on the chillis unless you're a sadomasochist with your mouth like me.

Greek Chicken
Okay, so I went into a bit of a rage when my mum proposed Greek chicken because -- and I gaped -- the stuffing wasn't my beloved sage and onion, but rice. RICE IN MY CHICKEN. Then again, the recipe was given to her by a Greek friend who cooks the most amazing stuff, so I gave it a go. It was really good! We added a touch of butter to the rice, lemon, garlic, all kinds of herbs, onion and a cheeky bit of parmesan. It made a lovely stuffing that was also less dry than usual, so I was less ragey by the time it was done.

Tonight, I'm making lasagne but can't decide on what I'm going to do with it to make it a bit special. Ideas, flist? 

Comments

[rebness.livejournal.com]

To be honest, apple crumble is a very inexact recipe! It demands on how much you love fruit, or if you prefer crumble (ohmygod I love crumble). Here's Jamie Oliver's recipe: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fruit-recipes/apple-crumble and there's a simple BBC recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/applecrumble_2971

It's very simple to make, but gear it towards your own tastes and nom on it! Mmm!

When I say pudding I just mean... er... dessert, I guess? But only working-class English people say dessert. *sniff*

[zhonghua2000.livejournal.com]

Oooh thank you. I think I would mix/match both recipes to taste and very definitely - extra crumble. x