So here's the thing. Having discovered that I can actually digest beef without my stomach exacting a terrible revenge upon me, I've remained fairly cautious of which beef products I consume. Far too many of the cheap-and-cheerful options fail to meet 50% of the requirement, even those from higher-end stores. Sainsbury's Classic line impressed me with it's Bangers & Mash so, as part of one of their meal deals, I decided to pick up something different... Something with beef...
The problem with many beef dishes is that you end up with something tough and somewhat rubbery and, I'll be honest here, I wasn't expecting much from this. The packaging proclaims it "British braised steak in gravy with carrots, served with mashed potato" which, let's face it, covers everything you might want to know about the product. The image on the front is nothing special - frankly, it could feature just about any kind of meat, and it really doesn't 'sell' the contents. Based on my (still limited) experience of beef-in-gravy (largely pies, really), I predicted that the meat would be fairly chewy, and probably a little musty.
Also, let's face it, there were bound to be fatty bits.
And gristle.
At least.
Oh, gentle reader, how wrong I was.
For, you see, this doesn't use just any gravy... nor is it yer average beef gravy. Unless my taste-buds deceive me this is, in fact, something similar (though certainly not identical, going by the ingredients) to the onion gravy that featured with the aforementioned Classic Bangers & Mash... only with added chunky slices of carrot.
And the meat? Well, I'm clearly a terrible cynic when it comes to beef, because this was as close to melt-in-your-mouth as one would have any right to expect for the price. Moist and tender, I barely needed to use a knife because it basically fell apart at the merest touch from my fork... and there wasn't even a hint of mustiness.
To be honest, though, there wasn't a great deal of any flavour to the beef... it just seemed to have absorbed the flavour of the gravy. I'm sure there's meant to be a bit of give-and-take in the flavourings - the gravy picking up some of the beef flavour (it's actually made with beef stock, not that you'd notice), and the beef picking up some of the oniony goodness of the gravy. It's not all bad, though... since I'm not necessarily a big fan of the flavour of beef, it just meant I enjoyed this particular product all the more.
On the downside, it wasn't entirely wrong about the fatty bits though, in the whole meal, I only found a couple, and they were very small. There was a notable absence of gristle... which can only be a good thing.
Sainsbury's are also onto a serious winner with their mash. I'm not sure I noticed it so much with the Bangers & Mash, but the mash in this package is extremely buttery (also, it's made with double cream - "From Cows' Milk", no less), and the salt and pepper component is pitched just right for me.
The quantity is pretty much spot on for a single serving - while it's probably no more than equivalent to their Bangers & Mash (and probably less purely in terms of mass), the portion size feels sufficient: I wasn't left thinking "Y'know... I could do another round of that..." which is actually quite a common thought with me and ready meals.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Adventures in Omelette #5: Salmon, Dill & Feta Frittata
Basically the same as the last one, except slightly bodged, so I won't go into great detail.
The biggest mistake was the choice of tinned salmon... It was vile-looking and oily. By the looks of it, a large chunk of meat, skin, bone and all, was cut out of a salmon, rolled up, cooked and shoved into a tin. Whole vertibrae were in there, let alone the spiky bones. About a third of the volume of a small tin was cast aside for looking nasty. It seems, perhaps, that I should have done a bit more research, as the packager in question has "tinned salmon" and "skinless and boneless tinned salmon". Next time I shall endeavour to find the latter... or use the ready-flaked salmon one can find in plastic trays.
Next up was the omission of onion and pepper... The former led to a rather flat frittata simply because there wasn't enough bulk in the mixture. The latter left some mouthfuls tasting a little bland.
Finally, I was a bit crap with the hob - since I cooked this one at my parents' place, and I'm not as familiar with their hob as I am with my own, I ended up setting it far too high. The first clue I got to this mistake was the loud hiss and almost instant cooking of the mixture as it hit the base of the pan.
Still, it wasn't an unmitigated disaster, and my parents said they liked it.
Oh, and I remembered to take photos of this one...
Turned out a little flat in the centre... but that might have been either the frying pan or the hob. The grill certainly did a good job, though.
The biggest mistake was the choice of tinned salmon... It was vile-looking and oily. By the looks of it, a large chunk of meat, skin, bone and all, was cut out of a salmon, rolled up, cooked and shoved into a tin. Whole vertibrae were in there, let alone the spiky bones. About a third of the volume of a small tin was cast aside for looking nasty. It seems, perhaps, that I should have done a bit more research, as the packager in question has "tinned salmon" and "skinless and boneless tinned salmon". Next time I shall endeavour to find the latter... or use the ready-flaked salmon one can find in plastic trays.
Next up was the omission of onion and pepper... The former led to a rather flat frittata simply because there wasn't enough bulk in the mixture. The latter left some mouthfuls tasting a little bland.
Finally, I was a bit crap with the hob - since I cooked this one at my parents' place, and I'm not as familiar with their hob as I am with my own, I ended up setting it far too high. The first clue I got to this mistake was the loud hiss and almost instant cooking of the mixture as it hit the base of the pan.
Still, it wasn't an unmitigated disaster, and my parents said they liked it.
Oh, and I remembered to take photos of this one...
Monday, 21 May 2012
Adventures in Omelette #4 - Tuna, Onion & Feta Frittata
After the flagrant underachievement of my last post, I figured I'd try something a bit more complicated this time. I'm not going to get drawn into a discussion about whether or not this counts as an omelette. Sure, the preparation method is a little different (unless you commonly put your omelette, half-fried, under the grill to finish it off), but this is basically an omelette by any other name... Or, more specifically, an other name: Frittata.
In many cases, the only differences between an omelette and a frittata are the thickness of the finished product, and the fact that some people seem to assume an omelette gets folded... Weird...
This is one of those fine examples of finding an interesting recipe in a book, and then basically shoehorning in the contents of my fridge rather than buying the precise ingredients. So...
Ingredients:
Tools Required:
Start up the hob on a medium-low heat and pour in a tablespoon of olive oil. Also start up your grill, set to about 180C.
Beat the four eggs together in the bowl, chop your onion as finely as your preference dictates, then add to the eggs. Open and drain the tuna, flaking it into the mixture with the fork. Crumble in the Feta, stir thoroughly, then add salt and pepper to taste. It's worth noting that Feta is quite a salty cheese so, unless you're a massive fan of salty foods (and have no fear of hypertension), you could probably do without any extra. Stir it all in, then pour into the frying pan which should be up to temperature by this point. Leave to fry for about 4 minutes.
When the frittata is mostly set, take it off the hob and slam it under the grill for another 4 minutes, by which time it should have fluffed up nicely.
The Results:
According to the recipe I started with, this should serve two (albeit with added salad) but, being a complete porker, I finished the whole thing myself. The main problem here is that the average small tin of tuna contains rather too much tuna. The next problem is that my frying pan is just too darned huge to make a decent, thick frittata.
On the whole, though, this turned out pretty good. I do kind of wonder if perhaps I should have fried the onions on their own for a short while before adding the rest of the mixture to the pan. They weren't completely raw, and their crunch was quite a welcome addition to the medley of textures, but they did seem a little underdone. While I was preparing this, I had an impulsive whim to add some dried chilli, but decided against... and kind of regret it because, even when I got a mouthful with a decent pepper hit, it didn't really have much impact.
The good thing about finishing this off under the grill was that it gave the Feta more of an opportunity to melt and blend into the egg. It also really does make the whole thing fluff up nicely - which will be a strange experience for anyone like me, who had never before grilled a half-cooked omelette.
Apologies for the lack of photos this time - I really have been trying to get a shot of everything (interesting) I cook but, this time, I was just too hungry...
In many cases, the only differences between an omelette and a frittata are the thickness of the finished product, and the fact that some people seem to assume an omelette gets folded... Weird...
This is one of those fine examples of finding an interesting recipe in a book, and then basically shoehorning in the contents of my fridge rather than buying the precise ingredients. So...
Ingredients:
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 80g Feta (approximately), crumbled
- 1 Small Tin of Tuna, drained and flaked
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Tools Required:
- Bowl for mixing
- Fork, also for mixing
- Knife, for to chop onion
- Hob & Grill
- Frying pan
Start up the hob on a medium-low heat and pour in a tablespoon of olive oil. Also start up your grill, set to about 180C.
Beat the four eggs together in the bowl, chop your onion as finely as your preference dictates, then add to the eggs. Open and drain the tuna, flaking it into the mixture with the fork. Crumble in the Feta, stir thoroughly, then add salt and pepper to taste. It's worth noting that Feta is quite a salty cheese so, unless you're a massive fan of salty foods (and have no fear of hypertension), you could probably do without any extra. Stir it all in, then pour into the frying pan which should be up to temperature by this point. Leave to fry for about 4 minutes.
When the frittata is mostly set, take it off the hob and slam it under the grill for another 4 minutes, by which time it should have fluffed up nicely.
The Results:
According to the recipe I started with, this should serve two (albeit with added salad) but, being a complete porker, I finished the whole thing myself. The main problem here is that the average small tin of tuna contains rather too much tuna. The next problem is that my frying pan is just too darned huge to make a decent, thick frittata.
On the whole, though, this turned out pretty good. I do kind of wonder if perhaps I should have fried the onions on their own for a short while before adding the rest of the mixture to the pan. They weren't completely raw, and their crunch was quite a welcome addition to the medley of textures, but they did seem a little underdone. While I was preparing this, I had an impulsive whim to add some dried chilli, but decided against... and kind of regret it because, even when I got a mouthful with a decent pepper hit, it didn't really have much impact.
The good thing about finishing this off under the grill was that it gave the Feta more of an opportunity to melt and blend into the egg. It also really does make the whole thing fluff up nicely - which will be a strange experience for anyone like me, who had never before grilled a half-cooked omelette.
Apologies for the lack of photos this time - I really have been trying to get a shot of everything (interesting) I cook but, this time, I was just too hungry...
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