What's everyone eating this week?

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

You're enjoying the local offerings, Alexandria.
Nice one.

Yep, that does look packed with taste, Sakkarin.
And jolly different too. I'd call you an adventurous cook.

I was baking yesterday for a short while - deep pan blackberry and apple pie for my OH's birthday.

Minnesota, good luck going down through the contents of your fridge.
I find it difficult to choose what to do with existing ingredients - rather than a fresh shop.

Boiling hot today (OK, 24deg ish).
I think I'll give the bbq an outing today, and get the deckchairs out.
They were much admired on the beach in the Costa Brava ..... I'm not sure the locals had seen them before, and being made of wood they stood out amongst the plastic beach furniture.

Dead comfy too - thank you John Lewis.

What to do on the bbq ...................

[jeral Profile]

Sakkarin, re your burger. There was one on TV yesterday which used a sticky spicy syrup-consistency sauce (secret recipe so dunno ingredients) to make a jam of the meat. Firmer than a Sloppy Joe but not a patty.

The meat was minced bacon, fried with chopped onion, with the sauce stirred in at the end, hence calling it a jam. I've never seen bacon minced and mixed for a burger, or for anything else for that matter, which is surprising as I'd imagine it'd make a great breakfast burger with an egg.

For completeness: The whole ensemble, typically a day's worth of food lol, was:
Bun base, slice of cheese, dollop of cooked greens (prob. collard), decent splodge of the bacon jam, tom slices, then thick layer of chopped slow-cooked brisket, and bun top.

[Alexandria Profile]

Since, I am with a tour group from Sydney, Australia and we just checked in to a Hotel on Vieux Port, Marseille, the vote was: we shall go for Vietnamese today ..

Unlike many other cities, there are quite a number of wonderful Vietnamese Restaurants.

In Montpellier, yesterday, we had lunch at a lovely rural restaurant 30 Kilometres north by the Aqueduct and I had the Smoked Salmon Canapés which were served with a small salad of fresh greens and a lovely vinaigrette ..

[QinNortham Profile]

jeral, when the late Denada in Australia was living in Texas she gave me a recipe for bacon jam. I only made it the once because it was such a faff although Mr Q rather liked it (I didn't). All I can remember is that it took about 3 hours of standing over the hob stirring and involved very finely chopped streaky bacon, finely chopped onions, cider apple vinegar and............black coffee. Sure there were probably other ingredients but not sure what, maybe garlic, maybe maple syrup,just can't recall.

Alexandria, the food on your "trip" (I know it's work) sounds wonderful.

[WhitefieldFoodie Profile]

Me and Tiff are in Croatia. We spent a little time around Krka NP and Plitvice Lakes, before heading to Zadar and Split. We then ditched the hire car and isalnd hopped to Hvar and Korcula and now I am sat having a beer over looking the old town of Dubrovnik.

The food has been very tasty, simple fare. Lots of lovely pasta dishes, fantastic black risotto with cuttlefish, great barbequed meat and fish and some lovely Dalmatian wine. The Grk is particularly going down well, ice cold.

PicsArt_1504108968505.jpg (136.89 KiB) Viewed 4363 times

PicsArt_1504108913914.jpg (238.6 KiB) Viewed 4363 times

[Sakkarin Profile]

Denada in Australia was living in Texas she gave me a recipe for bacon jam

Did a bit of digging and found it in one of Denada's posts, fortunately the original website is still there...

Denada's post:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=482&p=10984&hilit=bacon#p10984

The recipe link:
http://www.homesicktexan.com/2009/09/ba ... -home.html

[QinNortham Profile]

Sakks, thanks for that, I remember Denada saying her grandchildren loved the stuff and always asked she make it when they came over from Australia or the UK.

Whitefield, absolutely wonderful photos!

[jeral Profile]

Many thanks both for the bacon jam links. It looks like it might be an acquired taste, loved or hated if eaten by itself rather than as a chutney dressing. Definitely not what I expected the "secret sauce" ingredients would be, but quite enlivening with chillis and caffeine. Maybe it's something originally devised in those parts to tart cowboy baked beans up years ago to keep them going.

Back at the ranch here, marinated fresh tuna dry-pan fried, with baby pots and spinach, with a jus of water, tamari, lime juice, teensy spot of brown sugar, S&P made quickly in the hot pan. I tried marinating and grilling some last time as I've never tried grilling any -and I won't again lol, hence happily back to pan frying.

Something tomorrow made with short crust pasty that I've bought as a change from flaky. All this talk of eggs makes me think smoked salmon quiche and hopefully a bit of pastry left for a couple of small fruit tarts.

Someone (sorry forget) mentioned blackberries. I think they're what I call brambles (the shrub's name). If so, in Tesco yesterday they were £2 equating to 10p per bramble. Ouch. Oh well, nothing wrong with apple tarts instead

[Renée Profile]

What super photos and a beautiful country, WF! Thanks for posting.

I met my granddaughter, Charlotte in Manchester and we had lunch at Cote Brasserie. Joan, I remembered that you mentioned cod croquettes, so that's what we had for starters, with roasted red pepper aioli and wilted spinach. They were made with salt cod and were so delicious. After that we had poulet grillé with boulangere potatoes and a vegetable, followed by crème caramel for dessert.

[jeral Profile]

WhitefieldFoodie, what's Grk? ('scuse ignorance).
I imagine it being good ice cold means sunny warm weather and in an idyllic setting too

Waterfalls are mesmerising aren't they in the way one's eyes are drawn to them.

Renée, tasty lunch. How's Charlotte now? Taller and older are a safe bet

[Renée Profile]

Charlotte's fine, thank you and very good company. She's 20 now, would you believe! She will be starting her final year at Swansea University at the end of September and then hopes to join the Army.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

WhitefieldFoodie, what's Grk? ('scuse ignorance).
I imagine it being good ice cold means sunny warm weather and in an idyllic setting too

Waterfalls are mesmerising aren't they in the way one's eyes are drawn to them.

Renée, tasty lunch. How's Charlotte now? Taller and older are a safe bet

I think Grk is a brand of beer, best drunk (obvs) on the island of Krk!

What you need for a light lunch for two is a couple of beers, and three oval saucers - chips, tomato /onion salad and cevapcicci (kofte or rissoles) - to share

Never made it to Plitvice, jealous now will be in Zagreb soon though

[QinNortham Profile]

jeral, the recipe Denada gave me wasn't a link although very, very similar. It was more like a chutney in texture than a sauce. I think I overdid the coffee element and these days I rarely drink coffee except on holiday (I refuse to drink Liptons or Twinnings tea). Suspect it was the over coffeering that put me off. Your tuna sounds lovely, one of our favourites along with swordfish, pan fried is the way to go!

[Alexandria Profile]

Yesterday for lunch was Vietnamese.

Dinner was at the Hotel and French Provençal ..

Today we are enroute to The Pyrenées and then tomorrow we shall cross over to Northern Spain and go home to Barcelona ..

So, we shall be eating lunch & dinner in Carcassonne.

Do not know yet as it is only 11am and I am on the Tour Coach ..

Spending some time online ..

[Alexandria Profile]

[quote="WhitefieldFoodie"]Me and Tiff are in Croatia. We spent a little time around Krka NP and Plitvice Lakes, before heading to Zadar and Split. We then ditched the hire car and isalnd hopped to Hvar and Korcula and now I am sat having a beer over looking the old town of Dubrovnik.

The food has been very tasty, simple fare. Lots of lovely pasta dishes, fantastic black risotto with cuttlefish, great barbequed meat and fish and some lovely Dalmatian wine. The Grk is particularly going down well, ice cold.

PicsArt_1504108968505.jpg

PicsArt_1504108913914.jpg

[/quote

Whitefield Foodie,


What lovely photographs ..

Yes, I loved Dubrovnik ! I had some amazing shellfish and fish there ..

It was many years ago ( mid 1990s ).

Have a wonderful trip ..

[Alexandria Profile]

[quote="WhitefieldFoodie"]Me and Tiff are in Croatia. We spent a little time around Krka NP and Plitvice Lakes, before heading to Zadar and Split. We then ditched the hire car and isalnd hopped to Hvar and Korcula and now I am sat having a beer over looking the old town of Dubrovnik.

The food has been very tasty, simple fare. Lots of lovely pasta dishes, fantastic black risotto with cuttlefish, great barbequed meat and fish and some lovely Dalmatian wine. The Grk is particularly going down well, ice cold.

PicsArt_1504108968505.jpg

PicsArt_1504108913914.jpg

[/quote

Whitefield Foodie,


What lovely photographs ..

Yes, I loved Dubrovnik ! I had some amazing shellfish and fish there ..

It was many years ago ( mid 1990s ).

Have a wonderful trip ..

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Foodie
I've just bought my husband 2 "wild water swimming in Spain & in France" books for his birthday.

And the pictures in them look just like that.



All you can eat buffet, yesterday.
Sliced ham, cheese, quiche, tomato. From the deli counter, not home made - not even home sliced
Lemon potato salad I made tho.

[Petronius Profile]

Oh foodie, thanks for the photos – happy memories for us from a trip earlier in the year, and the year before. That water NP is just something else. We loved Split, Hvar, Korcula and just about everywhere else we went. Dubrovnik was hot and packed with tourists – like us!

Wednesday, mackerel fillets fried, yes frying pan, and tried my hand at Rosti potatoes (a la Mark Hix) – as some of you will know I don't get on with frying, (hence no photo) but OH was happy. I ask nothing more.

I've done rosti before and as some of our potatoes were starting to sprout - I did six for the freezer. Should be interesting.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Did someone mention Bacon Jam? Ahaaaa!

Here's the recipe I decided on:
1 kg smoked bacon
8 cloves garlic
1 large onion,diced
1 tsp hot sauce (I use my brand,called C4!) or chile powder
1 1/2 cups freshly brewed coffee (don't even DREAM of Maxwell House!!)
1/2 cup white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 square dark chocolate ( I used an excellent local brand called "El Rey" Bucare)
1 tsp sage
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup water
Chop the bacon roughly and fry in its own fat until just beginning to brown. Remove from the fat and drain on kitchen paper. Fry the onion and garlic in the bacon fat. Once the onion has softened, add all the other ingredients (includingthe bacon) and cook gently, over low heat, for about 2 hours. Blend roughly (ie - you want to retain a little texture, not have a paste) then bottle.Cook for 25 minutes in a water bath, cool, store - if you can resist.
For those purists amongst us, the measures above are approximate. A cup is a teacup. A large onion is a large onion. Freshly brewed coffee means just that: real, strong coffee. The chocolate was 65% pure cacao. .

When I first presented this to my clients, they went nuts. I sold out on the first day of a 3-day event.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I bought a couple of pots of bacon jam from my butcher some time ago
It was lovely but other than putting it in toasties and burgers I wasn't sure what to do with it