salads | Ramblingrose

Welcome to my blog/journal/whatever

This is the real guts of this website. The old website and its archived posts is still available at its old url. Newcomers might like to dip into it every now and then.

Welcome to you all. Amazingly I still don't seem to be running out of ideas on what to write - well occasionally - but I have my writer's block strategies to turn to - see the text on the right. Check this page for the latest posts and if something interests you just click on it. It's easy to leave a comment and I love to read them. And now you can subscribe to the blog and get emailed notifications of new posts. And sorry I just don't understand Facebook.

"We are not here for long. So let's at least make ourselves something good to eat."

Nigel Slater

"I was born hungry, not a cook."

Julia Child

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well"

Virginia Woolf

Writer's block

Every now and then I can't think of a suitable topic and so I have devised a few strategies to get around this.

Lucky dip

The first strategy I devised is to go to one of my three cook book bookshelves, close my eyes and pick a book. Close my eyes again and pick a page. It's really quite an enlightening method of getting over writer's block.

'A word from'

My second strategy is to devote a post to the thoughts of one of my favourite cooks. Hopefully it will introduce them to you

Or

I shall choose a picture I have come across and extemporise on that.

A second kind of lucky dip

I have been thinking about first recipes in cook books - so I shall choose a book not quite randomly and then look at the first recipe for inspiration.

Comments I love reading your comments. Just add a name - any name - it needn't be yours, add an email, ditto, type in your comment and hit the Comment button. Done. Wix sends me an email to tell me what you said, so I can respond if needed. Mostly I just read and enjoy. If you would like to subscribe to this blog and get notifications of new posts then click here. It's free - just a way of knowing what I wrote about today.

enjoy

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Beetroot mezze - well small things?

"For me, a mezze dish has to be completely self-contained - fully flavoured and ready to go without needing anything else to make sense." Yotam Ottolenghi Ok - this is not really a small thing. It's Beetroot and red onion tarte tatin by Elena Silcock on the BBC Good Food website and I'm in the process of making it - or something like it now. Why? Well it's our last local book group meeting tonight, for which we all bring a plate. I'm hosting, and my particular challeng

6 days ago

A Persian comfort dish

"a nostalgic Iranian childhood snack" Naz Deravian/The New York Times It began with The New York Times' Naz Deravian and yesterday's desk diary dish Dooymaaj salad - an intriguing enough name for me as a foodie blogger, to have a second look. You may not be able to access the recipe because eventually The New York Times retreats behind a pay wall. However, I'm guessing that you are unlikely to give this a try anyway. This is one of those dishes from other places in th

Nov 29

Nasturtiums - a first recipe ramble

" Besides being delectable, these floral “greens” seem indulgent, whimsical, and oh-so-gourmet." Kitchen Lane The painting is by Monet. He loved them so much that one of the alleys in his garden at Giverny - the main one in fact - was lined with profuse beds of nasturtiums. Everybody says they grow like weeds - are weeds in fact - in the western world anyway - having originated in Central and South America - and then having been brought back by the conquistadores, they spr

Nov 27

It starts with the plate

"I am so obsessed with my serving platters that before I decide on what to cook, I first select the platters I want to serve it on ." ...

Oct 10

Contrasts and a bit about layers

"Sweet meat must have a sour sauce" Ben Jonson (1572-1637) Opposites attract they say, although I'm not at all sure that this is true...

Sep 17

First day of spring - time to think about salad?

"Choose one hero ingredient and let it lead the way." Ottolenghi I'm really not a salad person. There I've said it, as my son would say....

Sep 1

Leftover roast lamb - Jamie to the rescue

"Lamb leftovers are slightly trickier to use up than beef or chicken. The meat is very fatty, which makes it unctuous and flavoursome...

Aug 22

Samples

"a small amount of something that shows you what the rest is or should be like" Cambridge Dictionary Samples is perhaps particularly...

Jul 19

Carrot salads

"Creative freedom is a huge carrot." Adam McKay I don't think Adam McKay meant, what I have taken to mean from the above quote. I think...

May 30

Mouthfuls

Mouthful "an amount of food or drink that fills your mouth, or that you put into your mouth at one time" Cambridge English Dictionary...

Apr 24

Chaat

"anything – crisps, samosas, leftover chana masala – can be chaat" Diya Mukherjee/Vittles I have been increasingly aware of late of...

Apr 8

That other problem

"Of course, you could wait to eat until after the sun goes down, if you have the backbone." Zoe Williams/The Guardian This is a problem...

Jan 30

Green beans in a salad

There are few ingredients that can do anything for a french bean ... but a little chopped shallot, melted butter or a crushed clove of...

Jan 4

Watermelon and pomegranates

Yesterday's painting of the day from Cézanne was the above - Watermelon and Pomegranates. Well it's food isn't it, so this is my today's...

Dec 19, 2024

Coleslaw - not what it used to be

"Like many other culinary words – carpaccio, confit, trifle – its meaning has broadened, and now cabbage may not even be present at all."...

Oct 30, 2024

Cool as a cucumber

"Pert as a pear-monger I'd be, If Molly were but kind; Cool as a cucumber could see The rest of womankind" John Gay 1732 I was going to...

Sep 26, 2024

A Turkish? salad - collected or created?

"a thrilling mix of flavours, textures and colours that is almost too glorious to look at." Claudia Roden Geography is what has guided...

Sep 22, 2024

Olio

Olio: "A dish of many ingredients" Dictionary.com "a miscellaneous mixture" Merriam Webster Dictionary I confess I thought 'olio'...

Sep 12, 2024

Simple essentials - Nigel's first recipes

"Small details that make a big difference" Nigel Slater It's first recipe time and working my way through my bookshelves I have come to...

Sep 3, 2024

Crudités extremes

"the main object of an hors-d'œuvre is to provide something beautifully fresh-looking which will at the same time arouse your appetite...

Mar 20, 2024

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ROSEMARY'S

RAMBLINGS

daily musings on food