UKC

A small celebration this week - I think the first week that the nicest recipe I've cooked hasn't been the meat one.  It was rice-dhal-bhat made with George Alagiah's recipe.  The dhal is a little sweet (coconut) but some fried shredded savoy with lemon juice balances it up.

Following the discussion last week on food miles, I spoke to my greengrocer.  This was disappointing - as I feared, they had no real idea beyond a wholesaler.  However, I also spent some time in the fruit/veg aisle of Sainsbury, which was surprising because apparently the same produce (same green box) turns out to have packets with multiple different sources (e.g Chile and France) - so I need to look at individual packs, not boxes.

Anyway for next week I got british leeks, cauliflower, strawberries, spinach, mushrooms, rhubarb and courgettes; and stretched to Europe for some pears.  I might try rhubarb in a tub next year. Oh, and a guilty pleasure - a crab.

15 car miles - I had to go to physio.

How was it for you?

A good week for me, though I realised that the pea and ham soup that I think of as being a vegetable soup really isn't. Did a quorn mince lasagna the other night which was really good, not sure my girlfriend noticed. I was deeply worried at the halfway stage as the fried off mince tasted of nothing and had an awful texture, but I guess it shows how little that matters in the final product. Not sure I would use it in a chilli but might try a shepherd's pie.

We are in a bit of a low season for British vegetables at the moment, unless you are willing to eat exclusively salad. Winter vegetables (sprouts, parsnips, cauliflower, sweet potato, leeks etc) have faded but the summer veg has yet to arrive (aubergine, courgette, runner beans, sweetcorn).

I haven't eat meat in well over 30 years, but this week I'm seriously considering eating Chicken & Cat after my veg patch got trashed

Luckily they didn't get into my Polytunnel, the slugs did a good job in there, I draw the line at eating slugs though!

I'm in need of some ideas for a veggie packed lunch, ideally not too complex to construct. My go-to would be sandwiches but what fillings does the panel reccomend?

Apparently all slugs found in the UK are edible.  Please don't take that as a recommendation though, unless you are Shrek "slimy but satisfying."

Sandwiches - cheese? Perhaps with pickle? Hummus and some salad is also good, but doesn't keep quite as well. Falafel can be a bit dry, but ok if you add a condiment you like (mayo?)

Fixed.

Ugh.

Lettuce, grated carrot, hummous.  I'm told that my addition of gherkin to this is a perversion.

If you can summon some energy at the weekend, roast some peppers, courgettes and red onions and put them in instead of the carrot.

I got a magnificent english cauliflower.  Does once again highlight the cheese issue though.

Meanwhile, best discovery yesterday!  Tian.  A one-pan wonder.

Take an oven-proof casserole dish and boil 60g brown rice in it; empty into sieve.

Splash in some olive oil.  Fry a chopped onion and 2 cloves of mashed garlic for a couple of mins then add 2 diced courgettes and fry perhaps 5 more minutes. 

Reduce heat and fold in a pack of spinach to wilt.

Remove from heat, stir in the rice, 150g grated gruyere (that cheese issue still), and 3 eggs.

Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and a bit of parmesan (or more gruyere but parmesan better).

30' in a 180o oven. Yum, yum, yummity, yum.  Serve with either salad (posh) or ketchup (heathen) or both (seek help). 

Don't slugs get a hard rap on the eating front? They are repulsive, but would they be less nice to eat than snails? Not that I've eaten these, mind, outside a French restaurant. I read somewhere that in gardens they harbour pesticides and so are best avoided as food. Might be wrong. Anyway, down with slugs!

Pak choi is now coming in by the armful from the allotment polytunnel. Great in a soup with noodles, or just steamed with a dressing on. A lot of what I plant or sow fails, but this stuff has just grown in profusion in each of the three years I've tried it. So much so that you end up getting fed up with it. 

At work, (I am a college lecturer) I have embraced the home working ethos whenever possible and no-one seems to mind or even notice. I work on several sites spread out over a rural county, but now, armed with a powerful laptop and Skype/Facetime, I can be as responsive to students and colleagues from home as I would be in my office 35 miles away, almost all of the time, for most things except actual lecturing. This saves massively on petrol, time wasted in cars and greenhouse gas emissions, so long as I don't turn the heating on at home just because I am there.  I find that I am as likely to be effective/ineffective/spend time on UKC when at home as at work. However, home is more lonely and the fridge always beckons.

Cauliflower cheese is good but this is a magnificent recipe for aloo gobi - https://theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2016/may/12/how-to-cook-th.... It is a bit faffier than others I've tried but the pay off from pre-frying the potatoes and cauliflower is well worth the extra work. 

I have a good one that I do daily- 

Sainsburys Butternut Squash and Spinach croquettes

Buy a couple of packets (12 croquettes) Cook in oven @ 180 for 12 minutes then keep in fridge.

Take a standard plastic air tight sandwich box I spread a layer of luxury coleslaw covering whole base, then I add a layer of mexican couscous on top. I then add 8 halves of cherry tomatoes and 8 halves of sliced cucumber plus a few pieces of baxters sliced beetroot. Then a couple of handfuls of mixed salad (spinach rocket etc). On top I put three croquettes and shut lid and carry to work.

To add interest I have added boiled eggs, but this is rare as it's more faff. I have this down to a fine art now, all food bought and prepped on sunday and does me all week at work.

Edit - to be clear,  it has to be Baxters!

That looks ace!  I'll earmark half the head.  The other half is going in dips tonight.

Re Felicity Cloake's perfect aloo gobi: another vote from me. Done it many times.

I'm happily eating veggie morning and lunches now, and using soy milk in brews, and its easy. Time to add in some more stuff soon

When you look at the source of the veggies in the supermarket, what are you looking for? I heard an interview with some food bloke on the radio where it was noted that, if your looking at something that is out of season in the UK or likes to grow somewhere hot and it's been grown in the UK, it's almost certain that it's been grown in a heated greenhouse. At this point the benefit from reduction in food miles is nuked and it becomes far more carbon intensive than using imported food.

..except that, now I remember, I put in only a fraction of the coriander she recommends, and leave out the chilli powder. Hot enough without it.

Doing some painting locally for a couple of days. Carried my small amount of tools round in a 70L pack. Can't abide driving short distances. 

Planted out my kale and spinach seedlings this evening. Grown from my own seed.

Yes, that's a really important point and this is a fascinating study (and one, for once, with good academic credentials): https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987

My take is that we (the public) find it hard to navigate even if we want to do the right things, because we rapidly lose a sense of scale and materiality (discussed earlier weeks).

It's interesting that you can get 75% of the environmental benefit of an optimised vegetable diet by pursuing just the big things (red meat; flown produce).

Actually, the paper itself is slightly dry; there's a press release-style summary at http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-06-01-new-estimates-environmental-cost-food#

I think all involved are making great efforts, good on you.

But what I find depressing is how this is all negated without comment from the outside world.

800 extra flights to Madrid for supporters of a football match that lasts 90 minutes (I think) and between two British clubs. 

Wonder if they could have played closer to home or fans watched it on TV?

Woops, I see there is already another thread on this subject.

I love cauliflower with cashew nuts and something green, usually green beans, in a Thai green curry.