chorizo tomato pasta sauce

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So, I’d written a whole blog post yesterday on my chorizo tomato pasta sauce and I managed to wipe it un saved. *sigh* let’s try again shall we? :)

To make the sauce you will need:
Half an onion sliced or diced as you like
One tin chopped tomatoes
Chorizo ( I used 2 uncooked cooking chorizo from asda)
Black pepper
Dried oregano

Place a pan over medium heat, I use a non stick pan for easy clean up ;)
Add your chorizo to the pan, no need to add oil as the chorizo releases some when cooking.
When the chorizo has released some oil, add the onion and allow to soften.
Add chopped tomatoes to the pan and allow the mixture to become unctuous and reduced.
Now I get enough flavour from my chorizo that I don’t add salt or garlic, but hey if that’s what floats your boat, then go ahead and add some to suit your taste preference!
Just before serving your sauce over fresh cooked pasta season to taste with oregano and fresh black pepper.

Quick yummy and ready in under 20 minutes
I’m just about getting enough time to make lunches, never mind photograph and blog them, so no pics with this post. But I did have this as a pasta pot yesterday for lunch. Topped with shredded basil and heated in microwave for 3 minutes. Very tasty and very filling too :)

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An inspiration………

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I’ve just this evening stumbled across a very inspirational blog. It’s written by a nine year old girl and it’s about her daily school lunches.

Martha (or veg as she calls herself on the blog) writes about her daily school lunches on Never Seconds when I found out she was only nine I was amazed! Her writing and photography skills are amazing :)

Recently the local council tried to shut her blog down, but thanks to Martha’s amazing audience and the power of social networking< sense prevailed and she’s now up and running again.

I hope you all go and give Martha some love and maybe if you can support her charity, Marys Meals that would be great too!

I’ve succumbed…..

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To buying another kitchen gadget. I’ve purchased a dehydrator. Brilliant way to save fruits and veggies before they go off, just bung veg in soups, stews sauces etc. Use fruit for baking, snacking, dried citrus fruits for christmas decorations, dry herbs for cooking and flowers for decorating. The list goes on and on! How many times have I had to compost fruit and veg cos I’ve not been able to use it all quick enough? No more waste in this house I tell ya! :)

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Hello, I’m here!!

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I’m such a dodgy blogger! I’ve looked at the blog for aaaaaaages and keep thinking “yea, I must write another post” then promptly forgot.

Anyhow I’m sat in front of the laptop, typing this out so, it’s a start, no?

I’ve gotten back into my kitchen vibe again and have found some gorgeous books for my cook book collection, most of these happened to be bargain reductions from a local discount store.

Here’s what I’ve picked up lately so you can have a look for yourself

The Commonsense Kitchen (one of the best books I’ve found, more of a lifestyle than a cook book)

The Backyard Homestead
Grandma’s Ways for Modern Days

The Encyclopedia of Country Living (40th Anniversary Edition) (technically not mine yet, but I do have it on pre-order)

Cook books galore!

Favoured books in my collection are
The Puddin Hill Cookbook
Forgotten Skills Of Cooking

The Everything Meals for a month Cookbook

So that’s the cook book addiction done, next I’ve whizzed through blogs snipping my favourite recipes to try at a later date, oh and eyeballing projects I really really want to have a go at myself, like Making Home Made Vanilla Extract! or how about some furniture rehab?

I’ve even gone and organised my pantry cupboard!

Pantry re-organisationMuch to my hubby’s relief the collection of jam jars in the shed detatched utility room, are no longer redundant, I did tell him I was saving them for a purpose!

jars

I’ve also instigated house rules

house rulesso now when one of the sprogs or the hubby “forgets” I just point to the rules that hang in my dining room :)

So lest I be accused of rambling too long, I will leave the blog as is for now. I will make more of an effort to update things as I go along, can’t make any promises tho!

Long time no bento!

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It’s been such a long time since I wrote a blog post, I’m almost out of practice!
Anyhow for Shizuoka gourmet , here’s my attempt at omurice for my bento at work tomorrow.
Omurice is filled with rice and green onion, mixed salad on side, peppery watercress and cocktail beetroot.

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A small pot of fat-free French dressing completes the box. I will pack some fruit and a bottle of water to fill out my lunch.

Pho with rare beef

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1 tbspn soy sauce
1 tbspn honey
2 tbspn fish sauce
2 sirloin steaks with fat removed
375g rice noodles
1 litre chicken stock
5 slices ginger
2 tbspn lime juice
1 cinnamon stick
2 tspn sugar
3 star anise
1 tbspn light flavoured oil
1 bunch bok choi
1 red chili

put the soy sauce, half the fish sauce, honey and a pinch of salt in a dish and stir to combine. Add the steak and marinade for 5 minutes.
Place the rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water and soak.
When soft, drain and refresh under cold running water.
Place the stock, 500ml water, ginger slices, lime juice, remaining fih sauce, cinnamon stick sugar and the star anise in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Heat a large frying pan over a medium high heat and sear the steaks for two minutes on each side.
Remove from pan and allow to rest.
Put the noodles and bok choi in four bowls.
Top with sliced steak, pour in the hot soup and top with sliced chili and some julienned ginger.