European Stuffed Peppers

Well tonight, Ian is at Badminton. Which means it’s time for me to write an update!

The wines are doing well- both the elderflower and the fennel have been racked and are clearing beautifully. We’re going away next week so we expect them to be lovely when we get back!

The crafting is going really well too, although it’s taking up all my spare time. I’ve perfected the art of knitting whilst walking to work, which is pretty cool, and allows me to get a couple of hours more knitting done each day! I am still working on the stall for Alderney Week, and it’s now looking like it’s going to be overflowing with lovely stuff!!

And as for cooking- Stuffed Roasted Peppers were this week’s wonder meal! These aren’t the cheapest meal in the world (peppers can be expensive, but buying them at a market or in Sainsburys rather than Tesco helps!) but they’re healthy and delicious to boot!

I stuffed half of them with chorizo, black olive and rice (I pre-fried the chorizo and olive with onions and stirred them into the cooked rice) and the other half with roasted tomatoes, mozzerella, basil and lentils- thereby making a two-country meal!

Why don’t you give it a go!

Stuffed Roasted Butternut Squash

My latest adventure!

This butternut squash recipe is mostly made up, however I took approximate cooking times from the BBC recipe that you can find here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3938/roasted-butternut-squash-with-goats-cheese. Despite this, I had to change the cooking times but there you go, that’s just for reference!

Ok:

1 butternut squash, halved. You only need half per person MAX, this stuff is really filling. I got mine for just over £1.50 from Tesco and it will definitely do two meals or more!

Half a red pepper (if desired)

Some cherry tomatoes (if desired)

Some chopped up bacon (I use cheap cooking bacon and it’s already chopped up) if you want- however you can leave this out to make a great vegetarian dish!

Some sort of cheese (I used mozzerella as that’s all I have in my fridge!)

Garlic, onion, cooking oil.

Ok, so first you need to half the butternut squash, clean out the seeds, and criss-cross the flesh. Then pour olive oil on it (just a little!) and some herbs if you like too (I just used dried mixed herbs about an hour after it had been in the oven).

Put the halves in the oven at about gas mark 6 (200 degrees) for an hour. Now I think this depends entirely on the size of your squash, but mine was in for a good hour and a half in total!

Chop up the other veg into similar sized pieces, I just kinda cubed everything!

Now, about 30mins before the end, you can either seperately roast your veg and fry your bacon, or I just quickly fried everything off to get them off to a start. Don’t be afraid to use a fair bit of bacon if you’re a meat eater- the flavour really comes through and it’s delicious!

About 10mins before you think your squash is ready, mix the mozzerella in with your chopped roasted veg and your bacon, and stuff it all into the hole where the seeds were, then put it back in the oven… smells good huh? Trust me, it tastes that good too!

I served mine on a bed of green salad!

Lambs hearts on toast- a definite success!

After my success with oven-roasted lamb’s hearts yesterday I decided to try something a bit more exciting.

I had a whole heart leftover, so for lunch today I sliced it, and fried it to heat it up. I then added a splash of red wine and a dollop of creme fraiche, and cooked until the sauce began to thicken, finally pouring it over fresh bread gently toasted and smeared with butter.

This was a definite success! The creme-fraiche-wine-heart-juice sauce soaked into the bread, and the heart added a bit of meaty texture to the otherwise somewhat ‘squidgy’ dinner! The heart tastes a lot like kidney, and is VERY filling, presumably due to it’s dense fibres. Ok, so that doesn’t sound so appetising, but I’m definitely having this again! Heart is very cheap- these two have made me two meals now, and they were 75p for the two from Tesco! That’s just 40p a portion! There’s probably a whole lot more that can be done with them too, so I’ll update you next time I get some in!

 

 

Lamb’s Hearts!

Well, tonight I tried cooking lambs hearts. There’s not a lot I can say about this, since I bought them from Tescos ready-stuffed (mushroom or something) for 75p for two, and put them in the oven exactly as it says on the packet (30mins in the oven at 180 centigrade/gas mark 4). I can tell you that they were delicious, cheap, and definitely recommended, although I couldn’t taste the stuffing at all.

They taste a bit like kidney, and are very filling! I’m a big eater (you could probably guess from the fact I bothered making this blog at all) and I cooked two- I couldn’t even finish one with the accompanying chips! I admit I’ve had less of an appetite recently but I put it more down to the dense muscle fibres- in other words a little feeds a lot! Also, if any of you are anatomy-related students out there… it’s great revision if you can stomach it (har har)! I’m trying the leftovers on toast tomorrow… will let you know how it goes! I’ve heard hearts are great in casseroles (definitely want to try!) and fried- will also keep you posted on this!