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Cooking

My landlady can't stick onions. At this point, everybody born before 1979 is thinking, `Well, she can pick them out and leave them on the side of her plate, can't she?' But it's worse than that: Simply the smell is enough to make her retch. In consequence I don't get to eat as many onions as I'd like. Indeed, I simply don't have them at home. Or spring onions. Or leeks.

Also, she doesn't like strong smells of any kind. These obstacles, coupled with my near-legendary indolence, means that I don't do as much cooking as I should, preferring to subsist on all sorts of pre-prepared crap.

So when herself announced that she was off on government business for a week I decided to pull my socks up and try to cook a healthy (or at least healthy-ish) meal everynight. Also, I'd just read ` Bad Food Britain: How a Nation Ruined its Appetite' by Joanna Blythman and so was feeling suitably ill-disposed towards the food industry.

What follows is an entirely pointless attempt to chronicle that week, with the added bonus of some frankly sub-standard photography. Could be worse: Could be lots of photographs of my cat. Anyway, haven't you got work to do?

Saturday 2006-08-12

Dinner

Wasn't particularly hungry, so opted for a light thingummy-jig in the evening: Homemade guacamole, corn chips, and a Bloody Mary to accompany it. Quick, easy. Added too much lime juice to the guacamole and would have preferred blue corn chips---an affectation I picked up on my travels---but the whole thing wasn't bad and there's a bit of fruit and vegetable in there.

Accompaniment: `Some Do Not': Ford Madox Ford.

Onion count: Spring onions in the guacamole.

Sunday 2006-08-13

Lunch

Gratin of peppers and Chorizo, accompanied by homemade potato and parsnip bread. Worked just fine. The bread didn't turn out quite as well as it usually does, but it was acceptable. Recipes by Delia.

Accompaniment: BBC Radio 4.

Onion count: Spring onions in the bread (note to self: Use grown-up onions next time); onion in the gratin.

Dinner

Roast chicken with roasted vegetables. Chicken came out very nicely, but I put the vegetables in too early and they were overdone. That's overdone in the sense of being basically blackish.

Accompaniment: `Some Do Not': Ford Madox Ford.

Onion count: Roasted onions.

Monday 2006-08-14

Dinner

Cold roast chicken with salad and the potato and parsnip bread. Not too bad. Made stock from the chicken carcass which turned out to be very handy.

Accompaniment: `No More Parades': Ford Madox Ford.

Onion count: In the bread, as before.

Tuesday 2006-08-15

Dinner

Toad-in-the-Hole. Here's a top tip: If the recipe says `plain flour' and you spend ten minutes wandering around muttering to yourself `remember to use plain flour', don't go and pick up the self-raising. Anyway, the batter pudding turned out pretty dreadfully---albeit basically edible---but the sausages, boar sausage from the butcher by the Grafton Centre, were pretty good. Served with courgettes fried with tomato and onion, and garlic mashed potatoes. Also the most extraordinary onion gravy. Recipes by Nigel Slater.

Accompaniment: `A Man Could Stand Up': Ford Madox Ford.

Onion count: Good. Onion gravy and onion with the courgettes.

Wednesday 2006-08-16

Dinner

Kidneys in two mustard sauce with onion rice and sweetcorn. Recipe by Delia. I do love kidneys. I especially love kidneys with onions. Lambs' kidneys from the butcher by the Grafton Centre.

Accompaniment: `Parade's End': Ford Madox Ford.

Onion count: Onion in the rice, onion with kidneys.

Thursday 2006-08-17

Dinner

Haggis with mashed potatoes, mashed parsnips, and pan-fried leeks. Shop-bought haggis, I'm afraid. Couldn't think of where to obtain a sheep's pluck, couldn't think of how to prepare one. Should have been served with turnips, but I don't really like turnips, so I substituted parsnips (mashed with a bit of parmesan from the Cambridge Cheese Shop) and leeks.

Accompaniment: BBC Radio 4.

Onion count: Onion in the haggis, plus leeks.

Friday 2006-08-18

Dinner

Cottage Pie with cheese and leek crust. Got some fantastic minced steak from the butcher by the Grafton Centre. Managed to avoid putting too much cheese on top: Bit of gruyere, bit of Lincolnshire Poacher from the Cambridge Cheese Shop. Served with huge quantities of baby spinach.

Accompaniment: `The Jungle': Upton Sinclair.

Onion count: Onion in the Cottage Pie, Leeks on top.

Saturday 2006-08-19

Dinner

Steak and chips. Splendid piece of rump from the butcher on the market. Chip-cooking instructions by Nigel Slater. Served with caramelised onions, fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes. Burp.

Accompaniment: `The Jungle': Upton Sinclair.

Onion count: Caramelised onions.

Sunday 2006-08-20

Lunch

Asparagus gratin. Recipe by Martha Phelps Stamps.

Accompaniment: BBC Radio 4.

Onion count: None. Bit of an oversight there.

Dinner

Sausages and boulangerie potatoes. Boulangerie potatoes recipe by Delia. Cumberland sausages from the stall on the market. Served with spinach.

Accompaniment: `The Jungle': Upton Sinclair.

Onion count: Boulangerie potatoes are crawling with onion. Mighty fine.

© 2006--2006 David Redhouse
Information provided by David Redhouse
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