May 14 2008
Ladies who lunch (at tea time)
I had the gals round from work on Monday, and made for tea a simple dish from the lunches chapter, along with an easy but effective pud.
- Sesame Peanut Noodles
- Nectarine and Blueberry Galette
And the good ladies brought me flowers. What stars they are, the lot of them.
It is fair to say that a great deal of Nigella Express is not Halal. Particularly when I’d lost my nerve in the halal butcher’s at the weekend (the man behind the counter was all grumpy with me!) and so was essentially looking for a vegetarian recipe; something I’ve bemoaned the lack of in the past. However, approaching the lunches chapter with an open mind presented to me these fabulous sticky noodles which I will certainly be making again.As it is supposed to be a lunch dish and supposed to be made in the morning before eating at a later stage, the noodles were supposed to be pre-cooked (I just used normal ones) and none of the veg is cooked at all. I had misgivings about the raw mange-touts but they were fine. Crunchy and sweet and an important crisp and fresh contrast to the sweet peanut sauce. The sauce comprised peanut butter (Skippy, bought specially for another recipe!), soy sauce, garlic oil and lime juice. There was also supposed to be sweet chilli sauce but I clean forgot about it! We didn’t think it was a glaring omission.
This was pretty tip-top and both D and I enjoyed it for lunch the following day. However I would say that Nigella clearly eats less at lunch than we did at tea, as after five of us had eaten it needed added to in order to spin it out to two further lunches. The recipe said it would give eight portions. Eight not very hungry people.
Not only did it look foxy it tasted scrummy too. Whilst the nectarine started out under-ripe, once blasted in the oven it was soft and its piquancy was a lovely counter to the sweetness of the base and blueberries. Dougal and I have since agreed that in the future we would use more fruit in this. All round though I would recommend this galette as an easy peasy way of knocking up a most impressive looking pud (but not one for you Mike- this definitely gets away with looking messy!)
That galette looks delicious.
I finally bought the book and I love it - seeing as I currently make the banana/chocolate chip muffins at least once a week, I decided it was time!
I did the chicken and bacon with white wine last night, was very nice - and so quick (but I guess that’s the point!).
And you have no idea how jealous I am that you are making things I have not yet tried!
I am concerned that you have had trouble with the Forgotten Pudding though; thus far my main problems with Nigella (and not just Nigella Express) have been the puddings. I’m quite looking forward to that recipe so I hope it won’t prove a disaster for us too. Did you peek?
I will confess my problem with the pudding.
Firstly, I had no cream of tartar so I made it without, and it wasn’t so much gooey as like bubblegum. I now have cream of tartar.
No I didn’t peek!
Secondly, leaving it in my oven overnight made it taste DISGUSTINGLY like oven cleaner. I haven’t used oven cleaner in my oven for about six months (yes, yes, I know but I hate doing it) and nothing else comes out tasting of it, but it appears that meringue easily absorbs flavours and I never cleaned the oven out properly after using it!!!!!!!
Both looked fab - still not sure about savory peanut butter dishes but should perhaps give it a try.
The nectarine pudding is particularly impressive looking - Dougal might be wrong about more fruit as that might stop it rising. Sounds like a good reason to make more apricot jam
Suburban Mum: it is fair to say I have never cleaned an oven and I’m not sure i ever intend to do so. I mean you generally heat the things to well over 100ºC…and it’s not like anything you cook in it ever touches the sides… I do not own any cream of tartar either but I know now not to skimp on it!
Lizzie: the noodles were sticky and peanutty- à la Chop Chop which I think you’ll agree is acceptable. As for the fruit stopping the puff pastry rising, well the middle didn’t rise anyway. I think just a bit more nectarine- as if it had been a properly big nectarine, would do the trick.
Well, something I made did touch the sides - a pie spilled it’s filling all over the bottom of the oven, plus god knows what the previous owners did in there, so I felt it was necessary!
I just made the pistachio chocolate fudge and rocky road crunch bars - they were absolutely delicious. Make them at once (particularly the rocky road, I fear that may become a regular fixture around these parts). Took pics - will blog them later!
you ought to pass on the noodle recipe to PiJe… I can’t believe he wouldn’t take to it instantly, being full of Skippy! (PB, not Kangaroo…)
K