A Lunch so Sudden even I was surprised!

I would imagine that I am the only person to have had this specific combination for lunch in Newcastle, or perhaps the World, today!  It made pleasant eating, however, so no complaints.

~  Menu  ~

Leftover Senegalese-ish Groundnut Stew Sauce

Fried Aubergine Slices

Toast

Glass of Red Wine

Today’s lunch was so sudden it even surprised me.   Just as the bacon & egg stottie cakes were being served for my menfolk and I was thinking of bread and cheese for myself I looked in the fridge and had an idea!  

I discovered a small amount of leftover groundnut stew type stuff which I may, or may not, explain about in a few weeks time if I remember.  I also had half a very lovely shiny aubi leftover from a curry I made yesterday and, of course, I always have the potential for toast.  It all worked well together – the sauce is made from peanuts, tomatoes and chili, so just my sort of thing, and went well with the fried aubergine.

I drank a small amount of red wine with it because we are on the road again tomorrow and I feel we shouldn't really travel about with too many half empty bottles in the car.

This evening we are having Steak and Red Wine Casserole so that I can freeze the leftovers to add to my F-i-L’s collection.  The recipe is dead simple and always delicious.

Dead Simple Steak & Red Wine Casserole

1 kg diced braising steak

Flour

Salt & Pepper

4 tbsp or so olive oil

4 medium onions – coarsely chopped

4 beef Oxos or similar

Quite a lot of red wine

~   Toss the steak in enough flour, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss again.

~   Heat the oil in a large, deep pan and cook the steak a few pieces at a time (if the pan is crowded the steak will stew in its own juice rather than fry and brown), stirring about a bit till the meat is brown.

~   As each batch of meat browns lift it out of the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

~   Add the onions to the pan together with a little more oil if necessary and cook, stirring frequently, till it starts to soften and has touches of brown.

~   Return all the meat to the pan and pour over enough red wine to come almost to the top of the meat.

~   Crumble in 4 beef Oxos, stir in and bring to a boil.

~   Turn down the heat, cover tightly and simmer for ages – maybe 3-4 hours till the meat is fall apart tender. 

If the gravy is too runny take out all the meat and boil the gravy down to your required consistency, if too thick add a little water. 

Channa Aloo ... perhaps

~ Menu ~ 

Crisply Fried Aubergine Slices topped with Greek Yogurt 
Chickpea and Potato Curry 
(Channa Aloo perhaps?) 
Various scraps of ice cream 
Coffee

This was the last day in our caravan for the season; the site closes tomorrow. Now we start our strange annual meanderings, hopefully leading up to a few months in the Caribbean but possibly not. I have tried, and succeeded, to almost run out of food so today himself had a bacon and cheddar omelette and I had the remainder of a bargain aubergine (perfect and only 10p!) I bought the other day. I shallow fried slices till crisp, topped them with the last tablespoon of Greek yogurt and ate them with a small curry I cobbled together.

Channa Aloo-ish

The curry was very simple – half a medium onion and 2 small potatoes diced and cooked in 1 tbsp olive oil, covered, over low heat till tender and starting to brown. I added 2 tsp Patak’s Madras Curry Paste, fried it for a couple of minutes and then added about 225 ml water and half a can of leftover chickpeas I had found when defrosting the freezer. I brought the curry to a boil, turned down the heat, covered and simmered gently whilst preparing my aubergine, which was also very simple …

Slice aubergine about 1 cm thick, season both sides and fry in olive oil over quite a high heat till crisp and brown and, as it happens, meltingly delish inside. They do absorb oil so add more as needed. Drain well on paper towel and top with a dollop of yogurt which not only compliments it greatly but also goes well with curried dishes. 

 When I was young and spry I always I disgorged my aubergines by salting and leaving them around for a while to remove their bitter juices. Now I hardly ever do so and am not sure if this is because: a) the value of disgorging was an urban myth, b) aubergines are now sold younger and sweeter, or c) I am older and can’t be arsed. As a prime example I did not salt the aubergine mentioned in this post and it was perfectly fine. 

If, however, you fancy a bit of disgorging this is what you do … ~ slice aubergine ~ put into a colander suspended over a dish. ~ salt the slices liberally and turn to coat ~ leave for about 30 minutes ~ rinse with cold water to wash off the salt and any extracted bitter juices ~ pat the slices dry with paper towel and continue with whatever you had planned for them. 

For dessert we ate up various scraps of ice cream from my ice cream book experiments including a very alcoholic Cherry Bounce ice cream and Caramel Chocolate Semi Freddo. Coffee completed the meal which was sort of lunch, honestly, but was not eaten till almost dark due to our frantic packing away and cleaning. I don’t think we’ll be having much for dinner – probably just a brandy for me and maybe some chocolate. After all everything needs finishing off!

Every few months for the last 16 or more years we have packed up everything and moved on and it is both an interesting and an irritating life. Sometimes I will think 

“where is my … palette knife, for example …, oh yes, 4,000 miles away (or wherever)” 

So inconvenient. On the other hand I often think 

“ooh goodie, not long till I see … my sister, my brother, my nieces and nephews, my friends, the hills of Northumberland, the tropical sun, our boat, my palette knife etc."

PS. Research has revealed that modern growing methods result in virtually seedless aubergines with no bitter juices. Ha – not my aging process after all.