Sunday. I decided to take Max for a good long run before it got too hot. As it turned out, we were 1km into our run when the heavens opened and it poured. So I was in need of something tasty on my return.
The TV had been showing footage of the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations and patron’s lunch, part of which was a picnic hamper packed with foodie goodies sourced from all over the UK.
I was inspired by their smoked salmon starter, and decided to make my own version, using the half price organic cold smoked stuff I’d bought in Dobbies yesterday.
2 small slices, chopped finely with a knife and fork (use the back of the fork to mush it a bit more)
Add a good heaped teaspoon of Skyr, or other thick natural yoghurt.
Squeeze in half a lemon, and add some fresh black pepper.
Arrange attractively, using red peppers out of a jar, capers, and tortilla chips.
For dinner, it was back to Ella, and what she claimed was the Best Sweet Potato.
One of the issues I’d had with Click-and-collect-ing is that you can’t choose the size of your veg. I’d been hoping for some chunky sweet potatoes suitable for baking, but instead my bag contained long thin ones, more suited to making wedges. So that’s what I did.
The filling was half a can of black beans, sauteed with mushrooms. The recipe said 7 mushrooms, or 150 g. I’m glad it added the grams, as my mushrooms, having been unable to select myself (see above) were on the large side, and in fact 3 of them took me to 150g.
To the pan, I added a teaspoon of jarred chillies. and 3 chopped cloves of garlic. The recipe said to saute these in “lots of olive oil”. Lots? How much is lots? Is that 3 tablespoons or half a bottle? Actually, I find you don’t need much oil when cooking mushrooms, as they release their own liquid.
A dressing was also required – 2 teaspoons tahini, the juice of a lime (size unspecified), a teaspoon of honey, and pepper and salt.
I missed when reading the ingredients that there was an avocado as well, so my version omitted it.
It was a very edible meal. But just too….earthy. There was no contrast or light and shade in the flavours. The sweet potato is earthy, the beans are earthy, mushrooms are earthy, the tahini dressing is…yes you’ve guessed it, earthy. Even the lime juice wasn’t enough to lift it. And a cookery book that claims to be “no sugar” but merrily adds honey to recipes is failing my nutritional awareness hurdles.
Filed under: Food, recipes | Tagged: Deliciously Ella, smoked salmon |
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