The best laid plans....and sushi rice

Today's plan was to unpack those last few items from my hand luggage and make some sense of the photos that I took whilst in the UK with a view to getting them loaded onto flickr in this month's allowance.

Ha!

That's all I have to say.


So far I have been swamped catching up with all the letters and paperwork outstanding from the last week.

I am still trying to respond to all of my emails, and I still owe my friend a long detailed letter that I started at the airport, ran on for 14 pages and now has dribbled out of content but has not been finished if you follow me.  It currently sounds like the unfinished symphony in D minor - where D stands for depressed - can't send it in that shape she'll be on the next plane out under the impression that I am about to leak claret all over the bath.

But - I have weeded out my flower beds and collected up the last of the poppy and sweet william seeds ready for next year, just waiting for the asters to finish flowering and I'll have a good collection of flower seeds ready.  Can you say "procrastination"?

I also went and 'communed' with my studio, having not dared to be in there for the last couple of days for fear that I would just lock myself in there and not come out.  My  little brain cells are zinging about all over the place putting together all my existing fabrics with the car boot delights winging their way by post to me now.

This is how I feel today .......

One of things that I did do in the UK (mainly thanks to another friend who steered me (literally after I got confused wandering around the shopping centre) in the right direction) was to eat Sushi.

I heart Sushi

And I can't make it to save my life.

I have bought the seaweed sheets, I have found the right sushi recipe, I have the right ingredients, but it just does not taste the same.

Thank you M&S for bringing sushi back into my life.

Sushi ~ cold boiled rice moistened with rice vinegar, usually shaped into bite-size pieces and topped with raw seafood (nigiri-zushi) or formed into a long seaweed-wrapped roll, often around strips of vegetable or raw fish, and sliced into bite-size pieces (maki-zushi).
Dictionary.com

To make sushi rice, use only short grained rice, washed and rinsed well then soaked for 30 minutes before cooking.

Cook in just enough water to cover the rice for 20 minutes in a pan with a lid, first bring the water to a boil then leave on a low heat, finally turn off the heat and leave the rice to steam for a further 15 minutes.

My handy hint :  if you are worried about how much water to use to cook rice so that you don't end up with soggy rice soup, add slightly more water, cook for 15 minutes then drain the rice.

Let the hot rice water drain into the cooking pot, leaving the rice in the colander place it over the pan making sure that the base of the colander and therefore the rice are no longer immersed in the water then cover with the lid - this allows the rice to continue cooking in the steam.  

Leave over the low heat for the final 5 minutes, then leave to continue steaming for the last 15 mintues.

The sushi vinegar is made from 1/3 of a cup of rice vinegar, 3 tablespoons of fine sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.  Heat these together until the sugar dissolves then leave to cool.  With a wooden spatula stir the sushi vinegar through the hot rice, being careful not to mush the rice up with the flat side of the spatula.

Well all this boring paperwork is giving me an appetite, looks like leftover Thai curry from the freezer tonight, bulked out with yet more green beans from the garden and a few more patty pan squashes - from having none last year I am now overrun with the blasted things.

Garden Pea Risotto recipe

I'm on a roll now.  With things finally ready to eat from the garden, I am continuing my domestic goddess impersonation with another fresh from the garden recipe today.

Garden Pea Risotto

2 tablespoons olive oil
risotto rice (1 cupped handful per person)
1 crushed garlic clove
1 finely chopped onion
fresh peas (or frozen) - same volume of peas as rice
1 small glass / 150 ml white wine
2 litres of veg or chicken stock - you may require less depending on how many people / how much rice you are using


For the best flavour, if you can; start the risotto cooking then nip out to pick your peas for the ulitmate in fresh food, if not, pick peas then leave in a bowl in the freezer, start the risotto then use the peas when required by the recipe, but don't leave them in there longer than half an hour.

Fry a finely chopped onion and a crushed garlic clove in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

To the oil add a cupped handful of risotto rice per person.  For risotto you do need risotto rice, otherwise you don't get that creamy texture.  If you use normal rice you get a very good rice side dish though, so it is a win win situation!

Fry the rice gently until it is transparent, then add a small glass of white wine and let boil for a couple of minutes to eradicate the alcohol.

Turn down the heat, and start ladling in the stock, a spoonful at a time; as each spoonful is absorbed add another.  You may not need all the stock depending on how much rice you are using, for 2 people a litre should be enough for the 2 cups of rice, and 1.5 litres for three people, and 2 litres for 4 people and 4 cups of rice.

When the rice has been cooking for about 15 minutes, add the peas, and cook for a further 5 minutes.

The risotto rice should be creamy and soft on the outside but a little firm on the inside, and there should be enough liquid to coat each grain and leave a smear on the plate without the rice swimming in stock and needing a bowl to hold it all together.

At this point you can stir in some butter for extra creaminess, or some grated cheese.  I like mine as is with a couple of sprigs of mint on top.

Day 4 - Stuffed Tomatoes and Ras El Hanout Rice

It was actually dry today so I managed to get some long over due gardening done.

I weeded the greenhouse, and around the outside perimeter too, then transplanted some grown on tomato plants, my two not very happy looking aubergines, and my sprightly pepper plants.  I am so glad we have the greenhouse, it has proved it's value and was well worth the effort of hunting it down in the UK and bringing it with us, even though we did stress over the poly getting damaged before it was erected.

I also managed to plant out my spinach, my purple sprouting boroccoli, and my broad beans.  I did make a start on the weeding, but found that the hunger pangs drove me inside before the storm did.

Tonight's offering is actually a family favourite, another one pot dish (I am such a lazy cook).

Whilst generally I find supermarkets to be akin to the outer rings of hell, I do enjoy specialist shops, and one of my favourites is the North African supermarket in Clermont Ferrand.  This little shop of treasures has all things weird and wonderful, some larder staples and a good range of herbs and spices, one of which is a prepared Ras El Hanout mix for rice.

I have tried to make my own mix, but it can be so difficult to find uncommon herbs and spices in France that it is a false economy to make your own especially as at a bare minimum it needs at least 12 ingredients.

For my stuffed tomatoes then you need some good sized ripe tomatoes, for a main course I serve 2 per person, just 1 for a starter.

Cut the top off and scoop out the centre into a bowl and chop finely, add some minced meat, not much, you only need about 150g for 4 decent sized tomatoes and preferably a drier mince like beef or chicken, add salt, pepper, a chopped garlic clove and a generous dash of paprika and mix together.

Spoon the mixture back into the tomato, top with a slice of mozzarella, and put the tomato lid back on.

Place the stuffed tomatoes in a shallow oven proof dish.

Into the dish add 2 heaped tablespoons of basmatic rice per person, and a teaspoon of Ras El Hanout spice mix per serving of rice, then pour over boiling water until the rice is completely covered and the water level is at least 2 cm above the level of the rice.  Try to use a shallow dish, so that the water does not get deep enough to enter into the suffed tomatoes but sits sort of half way up them.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour covered at 200°C, then uncover and cook for a further 15 minutes.  If your dish is deeper you may need to check halfway through for liquid levels for the rice.

We ate our dinner on our laps in front of the TV, watching Shrek (again), and yet another storm rolled in, and now it is raining again.

Recipe for Ras el Hanout
.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

I teaspoon turmeic

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves