"an item or piece of something, typically one left over from a larger piece or set." Oxford English Dictionary
My excuse today is lack of time to check something out very fully. However, today I have come across a few little things that caught my attention. Some may lend themselves to further exploration, some not. Some are sort of postscripts to earlier posts. So a bit of this and that. leading to more or finishing something else perhaps.
Anyway here they are:
Jam
The picture above is of Rhubarb, chipotle and lime jam (in a cheese toastie) and it's a featured recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi in The Guardian's Word of Mouth newsletter. This is the first oddment I saw today - rhubarb jam - really? And then rhubarb jam with chipotle and lime - even more really? Sort of weird and wonderful at the same time and so very today - and then to go and put it in a cheese toastie. Rhubarb is always quite expensive it seems to me, so unless you have rhubarb growing in your garden and you don't know what to do with it all, you probably won't be making rhubarb jam. Now rhubarb fool is absolutely divine and I would recommend that. Anyway I thought the combination wonderful and intriguing in a very 'today' and Ottolenghi way. Then further down the newsletter I found a really amusing article by Tony Naylor on How to eat toast and jam. For a moment I thought about writing an article based on it, or about jam, but then I remembered I had done something, I think, about jam recently. So just read it if you have a moment. Lots of things to smile about. Though I totally disagree with his statement:
"a smooth, seedless, firmly set jam is essential. No one wants rogue pieces of fruit disturbing the momentum of this snack, with their intrusive bursts of real flavour, pips, skin and fibres."
Although now that I look at it again he is probably being ironic.
Woolworths have taken to sending me emails - designed to look as if they have carefully considered what I eat, and have sent me some recipes tailored to my tastes to help me out. This came today. What the hell are cachapas? Is there really yet another form of Latin American sandwich? Yes apparently there is. They are from Venezuela and are a kind pancake made from a batter that contains cooked fresh corn. I have to say the Woolworths version looks pretty tempting if you are planning a brunch occasion at home with friends and family they would fit the bill nicely. They are normally filled with cheese, but of course you can fill them with whatever you like. Looks like potentially kid friendly food as well, and they were pretty simple to make. Serve with tomato chutney according to Woolworths.
Cauliflower
The next Aldi catalogue arrived with the junk mail and it too was touting recipes from their website. This one is, as you can see, is called Grilled cauliflower skewers with pumpkin hummus. Now I have seen a vast range of things done to cauliflower but never kebabs. But then why not? Cauliflower must be in season because not only did Aldi have another two cauliflower recipes - Roasted cauliflower, garlic, lemon and ricotta pasta - which is pretty self-explanatory and Cauliflower nuggets, but then when I later browsed the latest Coles Magazine I found several cauliflower recipes within. Back in the day all we thought you could do with cauliflower was cauliflower cheese. Now you can do almost anything with it - even make a pizza base I seem to remember.
Classic Hollandaise sauce
I seem to be concentrating on the letter C for some reason. Well sort of. Anyway, tucked away, amongst all the trendy stuff in the Coles Magazine, so that you almost wouldn't notice it except for the gorgeous photograph, is a recipe for how to make Home-made Hollandaise sauce. The weirdest thing though is not that they should do this - they always have a How to section that tends to focus on something classic, but they don't give you much idea on what to do with it once you have made it, other than a vague statement:
"Perfect with seafood and steamed veggies, hollandaise sauce is a must for your Easter spread."
You would think they would have featured at least one recipe that showed it off wouldn't you?
Jamie Oliver 7 Ways
I went to Doncaster today shopping for birthday presents for my youngest grandchild, and along the way I picked up a bargain copy of Jamie Oliver's latest - 7 ways. Well as you know by now I'm a Jamie fan and I wanted to treat myself with something. My other option was Anna Jones' One Pot, Pan, Planet but I just couldn't bring myself to fork out the full price of $50.00 for it. Another day perhaps. Now I certainly don't need yet another cookbook. Indeed there are those who claim the cookbook is dying because we can just get recipes from the net. The trend they say is towards the memoir/cookbook. And indeed that Guardian newsletter had two articles on the topic, one by Vanessa May with the focus on Hetty MMcKinnon's latest book and the other a retrospective look at Marco-Pierre White's, now almost classic memoir White Heat. Well maybe a topic for another time perhaps. In the meantime I shall be enjoying reading through Jamie's latest, in which he has researched the 18 most common ingredients being bought in Britain. An interesting list in itself - and yes cauliflower is on there but not chorizo although sausages are. I wonder if Australia shops for the same things. I shall have more to say about this purchase. I'm not sure what it says about me, that I bought it, which is a whole other thing.
Pasta things
There's always pasta. No. 1 pasta thing. Rachel Roddy's recipe for Spaghetti with olive oil, tomato and anchovy. Another simple pasta classic and one of my own favourites. Her article from that newsletter is all about the olive oil. but the recipe is worth looking at.
Number 2 - in my birthday gift meanderings, I also bought some genuine Naples pasta for my son - the Gragnano pasta. Fancy pasta as my daughter-in-law suggested. Why is pasta so gorgeous looking I wonder? I took ages deciding which one to get, but settled on those wide ones with the curly edges. The Gragnano brand is definitely worth a post sometime.
Number 3 - What to do with leftover lasagne sheets was the title of yet another post in that Guardian newsletter. Not hugely imaginative I have to say but there was one little tip - any bits of broken pasta that gets leftover now and then, collect together in a jar and add to soups and things.
It's been a busy week and there is more busyness to come - a day with interstate visitors tomorrow ending with dinner at Paris Go, and birthday home-made pizza with the family to celebrate Max turning 6 on Sunday. Doubtless there will be lots of inspiration to come from those. And there actually is more in The Guardian's newsletter as well. There's nearly always something interesting to read in it.
In fact I've just noticed Chorizo cauli fried rice. Now how about that for coincidence or affirmation perhaps that we should all be going mad with cauliflower and chorizo? I do like them both, and yes, they would complement each other perfectly, but I would have to make sure that my chorizo was not a spicy one. David wouldn't like it otherwise.
Happy weekend.