Squid and sprout stir-fry
My sister sent me a recipe:
Large handful of sprouts, sliced very small
Small handful of prawns (defrosted frozen ones are fine)
1 small red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed (I know, I know, it doesn’t sound enough)
2 x 1 inch chunks of preserved ginger in syrup, chopped fairly small (or you could use a bit less fresh ginger and a spoon of honey, I suppose, but the preserved stuff is really good)
Juice of half a lime
Sesame oil and soy sauce
Fry sprouts and onion in normal veg oil until nearly done. Add prawns, ginger, garlic, sesame oil and soy sauce and fry for another few mins. Then add lime juice for last min or so.
I made it last night, and very nice it was too. Except, the fresh shrimp at the fish counter looked a little pricey, particular when compared to the squid at $2 a lb. However, it may have been a false economy, as I hadn’t realized just how much of a squid is taken up with horrible squishy innards that you have to remove. 5 squids or something, just for one portion. Before and after:
can a vegan…
… enter, in good conscience, into a “touch and see mammals” room? if so, are they permitted to “touch” or only to “see”? if they, say, ride a huge stuffed bear, or play with a buffalo skull, is this a sin?
this and other difficult questions (see below) await us on the way to the communist future.
a question of timing…
revolutionary temporality has always been a difficult issue. great thinkers have devoted a great number of pages to the subject. here at the wrong side of capitalism, we do our best to tackle these and other difficult questions, so in the spirit of this monumental task, we pose the central question of revolutionary time:
do we round up the capitalists first, and then cut the guts out of the bureaucrats? or, alternatively, are the guts prepared before we catch the capitalists to string them up?
Beef and blackberries
This recipe was inspired in unequal parts by the Autumn weather and the discounted goods counter in Tesco. It ended up being a little like my favourite jewish recipe, prune tzimmes, which was pleasing. It was a little bitter, though, so I’d recommend you taste the blackberries first and add sugar as necessary (or possibly salt, which Heston Blumenthal claims counteracts bitterness). I ate it with brocolli and cous cous, but carrots and cracked wheat would probably have been a better choice.
- Braising beef, cubed (I’m no expert on beef cuts — brisket might be good)
- Blackberries
- An onion, roughly chopped
- Balsamic vinegar
- Rosemary
- Salt, sugar and black pepper
- Brown the beef over a medium heat
- Add the onions and cook till translucent
- Add the blackberries, vinegar and seasonings
- When the blackberries have softened a little, add some water
- Cover and leave to simmer for an hour or two
Sloe Gin
Apparently, sloes (find them for free in a hedge near you) are a good way of turning cheap nasty gin into something drinkable. You need quite a lot of sugar, but I reckon it’s still a good investment. I am trying it with vodka, too, and will hopefully remember to record the results.
See www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/sloegin_7722.shtml
Possibly confusing it with kedgeree
Should paella have hard-boiled eggs in it? I cooked some last night, and added an egg to supplement the last of some special-offer prawns, but was then stricken with worry that I’d perpetrated a terrible Spanish/Anglo-Indian confusion.
On which note, am I the only person to think that the decline of kedgeree at breakfast is yet another indictement of late capitalism?
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Why don’t I eat more soup?
35p a tin (or three tins for a pound). Add a couple of slices of bread, and you’ve got quite a big meal for under 50p; you can’t go wrong with that. Although Sainsbury’s seem to only have three sorts of soup, they are the three best sorts: Scotch Broth, Pea and Ham and Vegetable (actually, I’d trade the last for Lentil and Bacon, but you can’t have everything). I didn’t know what was in Scotch Broth, so I asked the internet, and I found this recipe (I also found an American recipe that recommended adding yoghurt, but the less said about that, the better).
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Carrot risotto
I have somehow managed to have this blog for about six months without a food section. No more: to rectify that, and because I’m feeling in a peculiarly wintery mood today, here is one of my favourite recipes for this time of year.
- A cup of risotto rice
- Two large carrots
- About two pints of stock (probably chicken or vegetable would be best)
- A large clove of garlic
- A generous teaspoon of five-spice powder
- Two bay leaves
- A large knob of butter
- Olive oil
- Parmesan
Chop the carrots into fairly small pieces, or grate them. Fry the carrots slowly in the olive oil until slightly browned. Add the garlic and continue frying. Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil. Put in the five-spice powder and bay leaves, and salt (depending on how salty your stock is). Add stock a ladle-full at a time, stiring continuously in the approved manner. When the rice is cooked (you might not need all two pints of stock. Or you might need to add some more water), add a final ladle full of stock, the parmesan (lots of it) and the butter, stir, cover and leave for a few minutes until the stock is absorbed.
Add the black pepper and serve, either on its own, or with some form of stew, probably involving chicken livers, allspice and oranges. Other good winter risottos are pea and taleggio or leek, sausage and tarragon. I once made a ‘scottish’ risotto with lamb mince and scottish cheddar, which was surprisingly nice, served with a parsnip salad.
Obviously, I wouldn’t recommend actually following my instructions; I’m not Delia Smith. But hopefully this recipe will suggest interesting things for you to cook.
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