There hasn't been much epic cooking to write about lately. Last week I can't remember if I really cooked much at all, mostly just used bad language on M4 and defrosted stuff. This weekend I made pasta. Or I didn't really make pasta. I cooked some ready made pasta and tossed it with some veg. That was my culinary achievement of the week.

We went out to our favourite bar with some friends on Friday and the men started a bit of a drink buying competition. Not that I disapprove, it is actually one of my favourite kinds of competitions. And we had a great night. After our friends gave up and went home we found a random nice couple who we started buying rounds with, so for the rest of the weekend we were maybe a bit less energetic than planned.

So I made this non-challenging but satisfying and tasty pasta dish Saturday night and we ate in front of the TV. We don't do that often, we usually sit around a table like actual human beings (oh hello mother, I think I can hear your voice in my head, yes yes, no elbows on the table), but now it was all about hangover cure and being kind to our bodies and minds. Also, I doubt the conversation around the table would have been particularly riveting. So husband watched football and I read a book on my Kindle while shoveling the food in. Sometimes you have to.

Sunday I was going to do some baking, but instead decided to take a four hour nap. I'm not sure if technically you can even call it a nap. But it had been a long week and it was lovely, lots of excellent REM sleep! I had a fantastic dream that I was selling medical technology to private healthcare providers, so far not that unimaginable, pretty much what I do. BUT! In the dream my closest work mate was Keanu Reeves. I like my real life colleagues, but was still quite exciting to discuss pricing strategy and partnership agreements with Keanu. We even organised an awesome sales conference together and he was a surprisingly good salesman and wasn't just climbing roofs and jumping around in a sexy full length leather jacket. Although that would have been fine by me too. And he didn't try to kiss me or anything. Or me him, definitely.

Garlic and lemon mushroom tagliatelle (serves 2)

3 tbsp of olive oil (+ 1 tbsp for frying)
3 gloves of garlic, minced
250g organic brown mushroom (or regular chestnut), thinly sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Zest and juice of a lemon
1 courgette, chopped
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
75 g parmesan grated
3/4 cup of pasta cooking water
2 tbsp soft cheese
Salt
Blackpepper
300-350g linguine or tagliatelle
Fresh parsley and grated parmesan to sprinkle on top

Mix the mushrooms, garlic, lemon zest, thyme, parsley and olive oil.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan. Add the mushroom mixture and fry on medium heat for a few minutes. As the mushroom are starting to colour a little add the courgette and continue frying. Once courgette is almost done add the halved tomatoes, salt and pepper and continue frying until the tomatoes soften and all the vegetables are done.

In the meanwhile cook the pasta according to pack instructions. Drain reserving a 3/4 cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta into the pan. Add in the mushroom-vegetable mixture. Add the pasta cooking water, lemon juice. parmesan and soft cheese. Add some salt and pepper and mix well. Check the seasoning and add more if necessary. Sprinkle some fresh herbs and grated parmesan on top.

You know when you have something itchy in your bra and you just automatically put your hand in there to rummage around and then notice that young Andreas from the Munich office is looking at you across the meeting room table and you then pretend you're fiddling with your necklace? No, me neither.

I once had an ant in my bra through an entire guided tour in an art museum. I was the guide.

But now it's weekend, nothing untoward in my bra to ruin my mood as I potter around in my kitchen.

We started the day with a healthy bowl of porridge, or I did. Husband refused as I had made it with fruit juice instead of milk, because we didn't have enough milk. The fucking princess wouldn't eat it, because it "tasted weird" (hear the whiny three-year-old voice?) so he had a bagel.

He then went to see Deadpool with the kids, I didn't join because I was pissed off about the porridge I had some work to do and dinner to prepare and I think if the world never saw another Marvel film we'd probably be OK.

Why do superheroes always wear tights? I'm not complaining, particularly if Ryan Reynolds (or Ronald Reagan as husband calls him) is the one in the tights. But just wondering.

But the answers are out there and they are very practical! Superheroes wear tights because
- tights allow for the greatest range of movement while providing the entire body with protection
- tights allow quick and easy costume change (providing the hero is wearing the spandex under their everyday clothes, every girl knows that wriggling into a pair of tights is not easy or quick)
- tights are easy to fly in
- they are really comfy

So while the boys were admiring Ronald Reagan's red tights I prepared us this red wine marinated beef stew inspired by a meal that mum and dad cooked for me last time I visited them in Finland. Mum did most of the cooking, but for some reason dad was summoned to check the seasoning at regular intervals and administer the red wine.

They used strips of beef that were sold already in a peppery red-wine marinade. They then just browned the meat added some red peppers, fond and red wine. It was awesome served with creamy garlic potatoes.

I decided to do the exact the same meal, red-wine beef, garlic potatoes and an apple tarte tatin with vanilla custard for dessert. I got some topside roast yesterday, cut it into strips and put it in a marinade trying to guess what was in the Finnish shop marinade. And I left it in the fridge overnight.

Red-wine marinated beef strip stew (serves 6)

1.2 kg beef top-side or silverside roast

Marinade
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp ground black or mixed pepper
2-3 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
4 garlic cloves
1 - 1.5 cups redwine
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cups liquid from a jar of red peppers (optional)

Stew
oil
1 onion
150g roasted red peppers
2-3 tbsp of game or beef fond (you can use 2 beef stock pots)
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup water
salt and blackpepper

Cut the meat into thin strips (kind of like stir fry size strips). Mince the garlic and mix all the marinade ingredients. You can use other herbs if you like, or fresh herbs. 1 tbsp for chopped fresh equals 1 tsp of dried. Mix in the meat making sure it's all covered. Marinade overnight in the fridge stirring it once or twice.

Take the meat out at least an hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature. Chop the onion. in a non stick frying pan heat a tbsp of vegetable oil. Brown the meat in batches removing to a dutch oven or other large pan. Once you have fried your last batch of the beef use the same frying pan to saute the onions until soft. Add the onions to the meat and place the dutch oven on medium heat.

Slice the roasted red peppers and add to the mix. Add the red wine. fond and water. Bring to boil, check seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Place in a preheated oven for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the meat is superbly soft. Do a final seasoning check, it should be quite peppery, so don't be shy with your peppermill.

Game pasta bake with moose and smoked reindeer (serves 4)

This was my easy Saturday baking this week. I also managed to squeeze in a decent amount of cooking. We were originally going to do pizzas, but I asked husband in the morning if he had thought it through because I could also easily do a chicken biryani. "Oh, yes, please", exclaimed husband. "I haven't had rice for ages!" Can't be more than a few days, but who's counting - the man loves his rice.

While husband was hanging out with the kids in town I went for a little walk through our local park and to a Greek food shop called Al-Abbas which to me sounds suspiciously non-Greek. They had interesting little things that I collected in my basket for the total cost of £15. Gone are the days of Saturday shopping when I used to come home with bags of shoes and clothes. Now it's caper leaves, olive oil, fresh herbs and a chunk of feta from a big barrel.

And then I hung out in my favourite place, the kitchen, listening to a Spotify playlist of Finnish pop/rock. I love the lyrics, Finns are such poets. There was a song about a guy called Kari who has a saxophone and whose neighbours hate him. He just keeps happily practicing his scales. It is very important to work on the technique, the song supportively confirms. And there was another one about the great fear of communism which I can easily relate to because I have always had a great fear of communism.

And then there was a beautiful love song which would have made me cry even if I hadn't been chopping onions. It was a duet where a girl and a boy were singing about how they would do anything the other asked, how they would change their religion, stop going to new wars, move north to north-west, burst through bedrock or move to Andorra if the other one asked. Everyday requests in some relationships, I'm sure. For us it's mainly about the laundry or putting out the bins every Tuesday. Particularly the recycling is a bit of a faff. And then they sing about how without the other, without love they were already half way to hell. Bawl.

The guy, singer and actor (he was even playing a baddie in one of the Mission Impossibles) is a very popular artist in Finland. He's one of those no-nonsense proper guys who doesn't talk much but knows how to skin a moose or build a log cabin. We like our men big and burly and quiet.

Interestingly there is a bit of a family connection. The singer guy, let's call him Samuli, his father, a classical composer and musician, and step-mum, a film maker, used to live across the lake in the same village with my parents and their dog would sniff our dog's butt and vice versa. And they had coffees together a few times, my parents and Samuli's parents, not the dogs, but I think the artistic couple were a bit too new age, radical and extreme left wing for my ever-so-slightly conventional and conservative parents with great fear of communism.

I remember dad disapproving the no-carbs diet of the composer and mum being very confused about the film maker lady's skirts (too long, wide and colourful apparently). And then their dog died and later they moved to another little village, so the blossoming friendship fizzled out and there was no reason for me to point my binoculars across the lake in the hope that Samuli was visiting his dad and decided to have a sneaky skinny dip. Just kidding - I never did that.

So to the sweet familiar sounds of Finnish music I made a huge biryani which I served with cucumber laban, flatbread and a mixed salad with fresh herbs and lemon,

And I also made these excellent peanut butter biscuits, really easy to make and they keep for several days. Although they usually don't because husband's boys can eat through a batch in less than 12 hours.

This time I halved the recipe and ended up putting in slightly too little flour, the mathematical challenge of halving 2 1/2 cups proved too much in the fragile emotional state I was in as a results of all the melancholy music, so they came out a bit flat, but equally delicious.

Before and after - big ass biryani

Peanut butter biscuits (makes 48)

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Cream soft room temperature butter, peanut butter, and sugars together in a bowl; beat in eggs.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir into butter mixture. Put dough in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a crisscross pattern.

Bake in a preheated 190 C oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.

Busy week at work again, presenting awesome strategic brilliance to our European president on Monday. Luckily we didn't have to travel to Munich this time to do the presentation. Normally that is our annual highlight that just makes the start of the year that bit more special. We did it through video conference this time which is great, our president is much less scary on video. Although when she hangs her head and covers her ears with her hands and then starts to pull at her hair, it's never a good moment.


And yesterday I had meetings in Manchester. I accidentally booked 1st class on the Virgin train. Our travel policy is quite strict, no Atlantic crossings on the 1st class on HMS Queen Mary II, so I really enjoyed the modest luxuries. Particularly on the way back as the train was almost empty. A Finnish person's paradise - no other people!

And a nice gentleman kept bringing me peanuts and crisps and proper food! I wasn't even that hungry and I'm trying not to eat like a maniac all the time as I recently hurt my back so haven't been able to go running and not sure if I used to buckle the belt in that hole and all that shit. But I can't not eat transportation food. Like on plains, they can bring me anything and I eat it. Really, anything. I even lick my index finger a little to get all the tiny bits of crisp from the bottom of the miniature crisp bag.

So this nice gentleman with his magic cart had options like there was no tomorrow, everything from Lamb Rogan Josh to Macaroni and Cheese and from Deli Plate to Smoked Salmon Salad. Well actually those were the four options. But still quite impressive, much more than most airlines stretch to. Although it is quite impressive how small some airlines have actually managed to make the croissants / bags of crisps / bacon rolls. It's almost a form of art, like these dexterous people with their tweezers who make the tiny boats in tiny bottles.

After finishing my salmon salad, which was also quite tiny, but my new friend gave me a load of options for crisps to go with it, his accent was a bit on the thick side, but I think I heard the word cheese, so I said "cheese" and got cheddar cheese and onion crisps, I had just started looking around for anything else I could eat, when my friend sped in wheels a-squeking his trusted cart now covered with dessert options.

I must not leave without a mention the friendly booze cart lady, whose services of course I bypassed as it was only Tuesday or maybe I tried a tiny glass of the red wine just to be polite and to flush down the final oat cracker with stilton and chutney before pulling in at London Euston.

So, a busy week and an abandoned husband. Last night when I got home he was sitting on the living room floor (!?) eating croissants with weekend's leftover bolognese sauce looking bereft, so tonight I suggested maybe I make him a lovely healthy soup. The neglected husband welcomed the idea, so I made him this healthy and hearty soup with vegetables, lentils, rice and tons of taste.

Wild rice,  lentil and vegetable soup recipe

1 red onion
1 capsicum
1/2 cup of puy lentils
1/2 cup of wild rice
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
2 tomatoes
1 vegetable stock pot or cube
4 cups of water
Salt
Pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Chop all your vegetables and herbs, rinse the lentils. Put everything in a lidded pan. Bring to boil and cook for 30 min or until the rice and lentils are done. Check seasoning, sprinkle some fresh herbs on top and serve with fresh warm brown bread.

Although hopefully not literally on steroids, I used a nice piece of organic brisket, so would hope it to be quite steroid-free. But this is spag bol like you've never had before. Unless you have had this before.

I am reposting this recipe because there is a shocking lack of whole meat bolognese related posts in the food blogging scene. There are  over 11 million results for pasta bolognese, go on try, but they are all made of ground beef. I didn't read them all, but made a sweeping assumption just like that.

To further justify my reposting I also made some crucial improvements (added two bay leaves) to my original recipe and took some new pictures as I made this for our Saturday dinner yesterday. The pictures are sadly as pathetic as the previous ones. I never have much time or energy for choreographing my photos, lighting design goes only as far as to ensure you can't see my shadow in the picture, although sometimes you can, at least a finger or two. I just want to shovel the food into my mouth asap.

I do feel it's my culinary responsibility to point out that you really should not have a bolognese sauce with spaghetti at all, but with tagliatelle (tag bol). But we Brits (I'm not an official Brit, but maybe an honorary one) like to death defyingly go where no one has gone before in manner of Shackleton or Mallory, although they didn't so much defy as die, but never mind that, and fearlessly ignore the Accademia Italiana della Cucina rules about pasta shapes.

I do have a proper reason to go for spaghetti other than mere disobedience, which is as follows. I like whole wheat pasta because it has more taste and has a nicer firm texture. The texture difference it at it's most relevant when you have slightly overcooked your pasta. Again. It is also of course healthier. The problem is I can't find whole wheat in most pasta shapes. Usually there's only spaghetti, penne and farfalle. I think penne or farfalle would be all wrong for this dish. I think penne particularly is just boring, I use it almost never.

So there. My all time favourite bolognese ragu, thick, chunky and fun. Pour yourself a glass of red, fill you plate and sprinkle a good layer of cheese on top. It is the icing on the cake, or as the Italians aptly put it: come il cacio sui maccheroni - like cheese on pasta!

Wowzers. This was tasty. I got the Tibits book from a friend. We used to go to the Regent Street Tibits for lunch often. Not sure why we are not going anymore, maybe just forgot about the whole place. Must go again soon.


For anyone who doesn't know it, it's a vegetarian restaurant on a pretty little square just off Regent Street. They have a huge buffet of all sorts of vegetarian delights, salads, hot and cold starters and mains and a broad selection of sweets as well. You just fill your plate with whatever you like, they weigh it and you pay based on the weight. Sounds a bit canteen-ey, but it's not. It's nice and the food is just awesome. I love that you can have a little spoonful of a dozen different things and most of it is really healthy too.

So I was flicking through the book for inspiration and saw a lovely looking recipe for a spinach and feta lasagne that I hadn't tried yet, so decided to give it a go. I added a few things to the original recipe, because the professional restaurateurs just probably didn't get it right. So I threw in some celery, mushrooms, pesto and nutmeg as well. And also replaced soy milk with normal milk, because I'm just not new-age enough for soy milk.


Husband didn't even realise he was eating a vegetarian meal, he loved it. And together with the red wine it did the intended trick of making him so drowsy he didn't want to go out. I like our Friday nights in our fave Soho bar Little Italy, but also on Fridays I'm just knackered so falling asleep on the sofa is the absolute paradise.

I'm really happy about this, because I used to love partying and was concerned I wouldn't be able to give up and would end up a pathetic 50+ woman in a too short denim skirt with red wine stained teeth and fake tan hanging in bars with people half her age. So thank God I turned into a healthily and acceptably pale and non-denim skirted domestic bore just at the nick of time.

I think husband is on to me though. As we were both half asleep on our respective sofas (my sister questions the happiness of our marriage because we have separate sofas instead of sharing one glued to one another) in front of the inevitable third rate action film, he announced that next Friday he's definitely going out for a drink whatever I choose to feed him. I like a challenge. I might need to pull out the big guns. Lamb shanks should do the trick even on the most determined middle-aged party animal.

The only thing I would say about this recipe is that next time I might make the white sauce a bit thicker and maybe fry the tomatoes (just a quick visit to a hot dry pan) to get rid of some of the water, so the lasagne would cut into more beautiful slices and not collapse non-photogenically on the plate. But is was very, very good.

Tibits spinach and feta lasagne with added mushrooms and pesto

160g feta cheese
3-4 tomatoes
3 tbsp pesto (optional)
400-500g fresh spinach
1 celery stalk (optional)
200g chestnut mushrooms (optional)
1 onion
vegetable oil
2 cups milk (or soy milk)
1 cup vegetable stock
pinch of red pepper flakes
4-5 tsp cornflour
8 tbsp cold water
1 tsp nutmeg (optonal)
200g fresh green lasagne sheets
1/3 cup grated mozzarella / cheddar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Crumble the feta cheese. Cut the tomatoes into slices. Mix the tomato slices and pesto.

Wash the spinach, remove stalks. Peel and chop the onion. Chop the celery and slice the mushroom.

Heat some oil in a frying pan, add the onion and sweat for a few minutes. Add the celery and mushrooms. Saute for up to 10 minutes or until mushrooms and onions are soft. Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until spinach wilts. Season with the red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Bring the milk and vegetable stock to boil. Mix the cornflour with the cold water, add to the liquid and cook for about 1 minute until it thickens. Add nutmeg.

Assemble the lasagne in a 15 x 22cm gratin dish: lightly oil the dish, put in a layer of the white sauce. then a layer of pasta followed by a layer of vegetable and spinach mix and a sprinkling of the feta cheese, tomatoes and white sauce. Keep repeating the layers and finish with white sauce and the final sprinkling of feta. I also rebelliously sprinkled a small handful of grated cheddar and mozzarella on top.Nothing was ever ruined by a handful of extra cheese.

Prick the lasagne a few times with a sharp knife. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 25-30 minutes until bubbling and golden brown.