We've been away for the last few weeks hence the quietness on the blogging front but hopefully this post will tidy up a few odds and ends and get a few recipes out there and bring everything bang up to date.
We left Norway on the 9th October for Copenhagen to see Crowded House at Amagerbro. It turned out to be an old Cinema converted to a concert venue and the size was small enough to be intimate, big enough not to be like playing squash with elephants in the back of a mini. The band were on excellent form and seemed to tear up the set list from the first song to the last and we were treated to all the classics and few belting new tunes. All round top gig.
Then we went on the UK to make wedding arrangements. We have a date - 31st May 2008. I assure you now that the Kitchen will be closed that day!
I also managed a walk in the Lakes while we were in the UK and we were treated to a mid october day so lovely I was wearing shorts!
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Before we left for Copenhagen we managed to harvest some of the plum tomatoes we've been growing just for the purpose of making passata. I have to give credit where due and I used this recipe here. A by product of this process was I had a lot of lovely tomato juice left over so last night we made a quick pasta supper and the recipe is as follows:
We left Norway on the 9th October for Copenhagen to see Crowded House at Amagerbro. It turned out to be an old Cinema converted to a concert venue and the size was small enough to be intimate, big enough not to be like playing squash with elephants in the back of a mini. The band were on excellent form and seemed to tear up the set list from the first song to the last and we were treated to all the classics and few belting new tunes. All round top gig.
Then we went on the UK to make wedding arrangements. We have a date - 31st May 2008. I assure you now that the Kitchen will be closed that day!
I also managed a walk in the Lakes while we were in the UK and we were treated to a mid october day so lovely I was wearing shorts!
*****
Before we left for Copenhagen we managed to harvest some of the plum tomatoes we've been growing just for the purpose of making passata. I have to give credit where due and I used this recipe here. A by product of this process was I had a lot of lovely tomato juice left over so last night we made a quick pasta supper and the recipe is as follows:
Chop up some onion and a fresh chilli.
Heat a little oil in a pan and add onion and chilli and fry gently.
Add some bacon that is chopped up and some courgette.
Put on some water to boil for the pasta.
Add the tomato water to the frying pan and leave to simmer.
Add some salt to the pasta water and when it is at a rolling boil add pasta.
Dash of cream to the frying pan. (We added a dash of flour to thicken up the sauce and it worked really well.)
When pasta is cooked serve with some fresh basil leaves on top.
Just a few things to remember
The tomato water is pretty salty already so you're not going to need a lot of seasoning.
Add a little water to the flour before it goes into the pan.
It was a simple and tasty supper and best of all it was using left overs that might ordinarily have been thrown out. Always good to live up to the Kitchen's ideal to waste nothing.
It was a simple and tasty supper and best of all it was using left overs that might ordinarily have been thrown out. Always good to live up to the Kitchen's ideal to waste nothing.
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While I was cooking that supper I was suddenly struck by the question of whether rosemary and chilli were a good combination. I'm not sure but it sounds exciting so hopefully there will be some experimenting and reporting back.
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Finally it is worth mentioning that we have been very lucky this year in the Kitchen to have got hold of some fantastic home grown ingredients - garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, turnips, chill, basil and carrots to name a few. It does make a difference to your cooking when the ingredients are fresh. I'm hoping when next years growing season comes around all the things we've learnt this year about the Scandanavian growing season help us to manage the plants better so we get a bit more and I can have the challenge of making sure nothing is wasted!
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