Roast Pigeon

Monday, 27th June

Rubbed the pigeon with olive oil, roasted it simply and had it with roast potatoes with bacon and creamy leeks.
The pigeon looks very bony in this picture but there was a good portion of breast meat too. The flavour was quite strong, but good. Maybe a little dry though.
The cream sauce for the leeks curdled. No idea why though.

Swordfish

Sunday, 26th June

Marinated the swordfish steak in sake, soy and mirin for a while, fried it with the marinade for 2 mins each side then put it in the oven for 5 minutes with the spring onions. Served with boiled rice, wakame and lightly sauteed shitake with lemon juice and ponzu sauce.
The steak looks well seared but inside it was perfectly cooked, juicy and tender. I don't think I have ever cooked a swordfish steak better. The trick with finishing in the oven seems to work for everything!
Belgian beer to accompany the japanese-y meal.

Merguez and potato fry up

Thursday, 23rd June

Fried the merguez for a few minutes only, then took them out and gently fried onion and boiled potato in butter for a few minutes. Sliced the merguez and put them back in, poured over two eggs beaten with parsley and topped with a chopped green chili (from the balcony!).
I don't usually eat eggs, but this as a meal made from whatever I could find in the kitchen. I made sure not to overcook the sausage or to fry everything for too long, so the flavours were still quite fresh and nothing was dried out or burnt. The spiciness of the sausage and the chili made for a lip-tingling dish that went down very nicely with a beer.

Chicken with Red Peppers

Friday, 17th June

Sainsbury's Cooking of Spain, p67. Served with mashed potatoes and aubergine fritters, ibid. p48. Very tasty, especially the fritters, but the chicken I used was an older, larger bird and it came out very dry, despite long cooking. The fritters are just sliced aubergines dipped in milk and a little egg, and then floured and fried. Lovely contrast in texture to the chicken sauce. I don't usually do mash, but this came out nice and creamy, with plenty of chives, butter and cream mashed in.

Sardines on Toast

Wednesday, 15th June

Does this even count as cooking? Very nostalgic though. Haven't had this for years.

Barbecue

Sunday, 12th June

What a great steak!