Monday, February 27, 2006
Buttered Brussel Tops & Beans 'n' Bacon
I should really improve my planning. It's only Tuesday and we're already out of useful dinner material. Is it only me or do you also occasionally find yourself standing in front of an open fridge full of what Lofty and I have come to term "stuff" - bits and pieces which could easily form part of a meal, but in the combination available aren't really good for anything?My mum rarely has anything but stuff in her fridge, but she rarely eats anything but stuff: a bit of cheese, a few olives, some ham, the odd vegetable in olive oil, some stale bread... Strangely, some of Munich's more inventive inhabitants have declared this daily stuff munching a new trend in food. The labels change whenever the new issue of Elle Bistro or some such magazine, full of 'gourmet' recipes designed to be seen but not cooked, comes out. Antipasti, tapas, finger food, mezze and Brotzeit have all come and gone, but brought little change to people's eating habits. The individual fridge bits may vary a bit - Parma ham may, for example, be replaced by Serrano ham, hummous served in place of Obatzta or Ciabatta take over from baguette - but the general concept stays the same. Eating leftovers for dinner in a manner that you would never tell your friends about lest they scream out in hysterical bewilderment "You had goat cheese on rye bread accompanied by Chateauneuf-du-pape?!? How did you survive the experience?" (By the way, if you have to deal with such people occasionally and for some reason don't want to tell them to mind their own dinners, have a look at GourmetSleuth.com. After an hour there, you will sound like a connoisseur of all things culinary and you may even be able to convince them that your favourite convenience food is the newest trend that they have simply not picked up on yet.)
Fortunately for all of us, I have no need to lie about my inadequacies, nor to start food fads involving freezers and microwaves. Unfortunately, though, even i cannot survive without a freezer - although, coming to think of it, we did not have one for five years and managed fine. We even survived without a microwave or an oven and with only two hobs at my disposal. I simply used a Remoska, an electric baking device advertised by its make
r as "the best kept secret in the Czech Republic", and roatated my pots on the stove a lot. I'd never go back to it now, but you can cook a perfect three course meal like that. Anyway, on Tuesday, I had to fall back on a few old tricks to make use of stuff without having to serve stale antipasti. There were some aging Brussel tops left, along with a handful of green beans, some potatoes, carrots, a few rashers of bacon... We also still had a quiche that I'd frozen a few week back, so the solution was quite clear: Quiche with mixed veg and buttered baby potatoes. And being as you have already got my recipe for quiche, I will only share the vegetable secrets with you today.For the Brussel tops:
at least 4 handfuls of cleaned Brussel tops (remove the thick, hard stems, but don't worry too much about the thinner, softer ones; also, you can shred the leaves if you want to, but I prefer to leave them whole)
2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp hot water
salt to taste
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. When it is beginning to bubble, add the Brussel tops. Stir well to coat the leaves on all sides with butter, then add the water. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the Brussel tops are tender, but not soggy. Season to taste with salt.
For the carrots:
150 g carrots, cleaned (you may peel them if you feel you must, but do know that peeling will always kill a lot of the vitamins in your vegetables and is entirely unnecessary from a hygene/health point of view)
50 g butter
1 tsp sugar (you can omit this if you want, but it does help to emphasise the flavour of the carrots; just make sure that you don't accidentally add too much, lest you end up with desert)
a pinch of salt
parsley (optional; I rarely use it, but many British people seem to be fond of the combination)
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Cut the carrots into slices. Unlike what you may have been told before, there is no right or wrong thickness. Thinner is not better, it just needs less cooking time. Some people like to precook the carrots, but I think that this causes the vegetables to go soggy and flavourless, not to mention lose any vitamins left in them. Add the carrots to the melted butter and toss them very gently until they are evenly covered. Stir in the sugar, salt and parsley (if using), cover with a lid and cook gently for 5 to 7 minutes until carrots are tender, but maintain a bit of crunchiness. Reduce the heat if you feel that the butter might begin to brown.
For the green beans:
150 to 200 g green beans
2 to 3 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped
a few spoonfuls of dry white wine
salt to taste
Fry the bacon in a large pan over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until the fat has come out and the remaining bits have gone crispy. Pour the fat off into a medium saucepan, add the beans and mix well. Reheat, then add the wine and season with a pinch of salt. Cover and cook gently for 5 to 10 minutes until the beans are tender, but not too soft. Add a few drops of water if the pan appears dry. Serve topped with the bacon bits.
Christine at 6:51 pm
