These Foolish Things

As I had a very dear friend coming over last night, I thought it would be nice to welcome her with a cocktail - and I had just the thing: "Imbibe A Pop Of Spring Colour", an ad in the Guardian said, and the accompanying picture (above)  looked very tempting indeed.

But as nothing ever goes my way, and minor catastrophes and disasters will be thrown onto the path of  good intentions - my supermarket's strawberries had been reduced in price, hence sold out; I couldn't find where on earth (or rather: where in this obsessive-compulsive hoarding house) I had hidden the cocktail glasses; and upon plan B ('find 3 matching, suitable glasses'), I smashed one in the process of cleaning the dust off.  I also discovered that the bottle of Freixenet Rosada I had deemed to be in the cellar, must have been imbibed on an  earlier some such occasion. So, while I will record the recipe, as created by Shaken and Stirred (Oxford) for Freixenet, that is not what we actually had last night...

I had to use raspberries instead of strawberries, and a bottle of pink sparkling perry, instead of the real thing, and then my friend declared alcohol  a no-no, because she was driving...

Mind you, her raspberry puree with apple, raspberry and cranberry juice looked the better cocktail, as I served hers in a (single, lonely) Margarita glass!

But without further ado, here's the recipe, which is probably even better than the one we had, and that was GREAT!

Freixenet These Foolish Things

2 fresh strawberries chopped or 25ml strawberry puree
15 ml maple syrup
25 ml golden rum
2 squeezes fresh lime
Topped with Freixenet Cordon Rosado

Method
Combine the strawberry and maple syrup
Add golden rum and lime
Shake over ice and strain
Top up with Freixenet Rosado
Garnish Strawberry fan

Glass: Martini



I found the photo on Madhousefamilyreviews, where Cheryl reviewed several spring time recipes using Freixenet.

And if you want to learn more about Freixenet, you can here and here - on spittoon, a blog by AndrewBarrow who actually knows about wine!

According to my cut-out from the Guardian, Freixenet are sponsoring this year's Hay Festival (of Literature and the Arts), so I'll add that link, too. - Just in case... (Every year, I intend to go, and then LIFE happens, as usual...)  

31/5 - 10/6

PS: In case anyone is wondering how the diet is going -- not so well, as I can't keep away from the alcohol! But the men are very keen on Gino's recipes - apart from one, they've all been a great success. More about that some other time. Have to get myself organised, The Cherry Orchard starts on Friday, so I'm doing Box Office tonight, and at the weekend, I'll attend the Little Theatre Guild's annual conference. After that, I'm off to the Fatherland, where - austerity measures or not - dieting and/or staying away from the alcohol is usually quite impossible.

Keeping my Men Fruity

This week, I tried out two recipes from the current edition of ESSENTIALS, which received not so warm reviews. Not so much because the food wasn't nice - in my opinion it was - but because my men are prejudiced when it comes to vegetables.

So, what, the gratin contained squash and sweet potato! It also contained parmesan, didn't it? It was creamy, wasn't it? (Though I replaced the cream with full fat yoghurt and 1 avocado - probably didn't lower the calories but the avocado fat is healthier) I even served them a meat skewer, didn't I?

Squash & Parmesan Gratin, p.119 -- takes 1 hour 20 though
(squash, potatoes, red onion, parmesan, double cream, chicken stock, garlic, parsley; cook covered for 50, then uncovered for 20 at 180)

I thought it was yummy at only 394 calories.

The next recipe didn't work so well because my grill isn't working, and baking the lamb cutlets just didn't do the trick. And can I please remember now that neither man nor boy like lemony things??!!

Meat & Two Veg with a Twist, p.109 -- 30 mins marinating, ready in 30 after that
(2 lamb cutlets per person; marinade made from zest of 1 lemon, garlic, parsley and chili flakes; 'sauce' made from capers, black olives, tinned artichokes & lemon juice; 3 small waxy pre-boiled potatoes each, threaded on to a skewer with asparagus spears; first put the marinated cutlets under the grill for 3-4 minutes per side, then add the skewers - brushed with some of the remains of the artichoke oil - for another 5 minutes; drizzle the 'sauce' over everything; serve. USE YOUR FINGERS)

As I love lemony things, I thought this was great; especially at only 409 calories!

I served both mealsa with a mixed salad. Unless there are steamed vegetables to go with a meal, I always serve a salad, and the men have not only come to expect it, they make their own when they're cooking. So, that's an enormous step towards the 5 a day.

And what's my way of keeping my men fruity? Keep a fruit bowl right next to where they're "working" and replenish with small, easy peel (or no peel!!) fruit, like clementines, plums, grapes etc. The more frugal my main meals get, the fruitier my men become - it's that easy!

Tried and Tasted: Susan's Lite Goddess Dressing

Susan's Lite Goddess Dressing

Tried and Tasted is a popular event started by Zuzana of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. It is an event that celebrates fellow bloggers by re-creating their recipes and writing about them. This month, it is hosted by Vaishali of Holy Cow!, and the blog to be scoured for recipes is the fabulous FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

You would have thought I could have found something more challenging than a sauce from the vast array of recipes on Susan's site, but - I came across it, it appealed instantly, I had most of the ingredients, so there you are!

Susan's Lite Goddess Dressing (click to see the recipe) is a low-fat version of Annie's Goddess Dressing.

Not being au fait with Vegan alternatives to sauces and dressings which normally contain animal products such as eggs and cream, this did not actually mean anything to me. But judging from the many comments to Susan's recipe, the original condiment is divinely tasty but also very fattening. This is where this light version really comes into its own. 2 tbsp of the dressing only have 19 calories!!! And judging from the rave reviews, Susan nailed the taste, too. Now, I can't comment on how close it is to the original, and to some extent, I can't even comment that much on the proper taste of this recipe (see below), but I know that this will feature in my household from now on. The combination of silken tofu, tahini, sesame oil, garlic and herbs was thick and smooth, supremely tasty, and also extremely versatile.

I first tried it out on a salad:

The thick sesame sauce on the buttery taste of the lambs' lettuce made this combination feel wickedly naughty. And did I mention that 2 tbsps only amount to 19 calories?

Then I used the goddess hot on the King of Vegetables, asparagus:

The effect was like a hybrid between a Hollandaise and a Béarnaise sauce, which I attribute to the use of dill and lemon thyme, which together worked like a milder version of tarragon. Better, in fact, than tarragon, which I find too overpowering for asparagus. And while both the above classic sauces contain butter and eggs, and are therefore not only unsuitable for Vegans but also a big no-no for anyone concerned about their cholesterol and/or their weight, one serving of 2 tablespoons only comes to 19 calories, as opposed to about 130 - at least.

It also worked a treat as a lo-cal, no-egg mayonnaise substitute in a potato salad:


I have mentioned that 2 tablespoons only come to 19 calories, haven't I?

I also made a coleslaw with it - which worked up to a point. It was great when I tasted it, but I put it in the fridge and by the next day, the cabbage and carrot had soaked up all the liquid and it seemed far too dry. So, if you are going to use it for this purpose: only mix it together just before serving. (Which I did for the potato salad - just in case!)

Now for the 'changes'. If you had a look at Susan's recipe, you'll find that her sauce looks almost white, whereas mine looks yellow. Well, when I came to add the tahini, I found that my rather large container was hopelessly out of date. Nothing particularly unusual in this household..., where such recommendations are considered only rough guidelines, mainly designed to encourage you to discard perfectly acceptable foods and support large supermarkets with outrageous profit margins. My tahini was a very dense paste and it was probably darker than it normally is. My soy sauce was also the dark variety, and so was my sesame oil. That's my explanation for the more buttery rather than creamy appearance of my dressing.
Incidentally, there was someone else reporting that they had used almond butter as a substitute for the tahini, so that's something else to try, and made me think that maybe peanut butter would also produce an interesting variant. And that's before you've started experimenting by adding other ingredients, such as different herbs, or mustard, or capers and gherkins for a sauce tartare.

This turned out a perfect recipe for me to try out, so thank you Zuzana for organising this event, and thank you Susan for inventing the divinely dressing!