Isolation catering!

[Mark]

Well, I'm not in isolation; Hong Kong hasn't had a lock down, but the bars and cinemas are shut, and nobody wants to go out much. Life is pretty quiet. We're working from home most of the time so that's saved on an hour and a half's commuting every day, so I've got a little more time. What better way to spend it than in the kitchen. Proper food rather than frozen pizza or the likes every night.

Tonight's escapade was some home made mango chutney. Much tastier than the shop bought stuff.

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Yesterday's dinner, Mushroom and asparagus risotto.

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Last week it was some cheese muffins. Very tasty! Very cheesy!!

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

And you can't go wrong with a good old cauliflower cheese. This was before cooking obviously. I forgot to take a photo after it came out of the oven!

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Feel free to show off your culinary skills if you too have been dabbling in the kitchen more than usual.

[casper]

omg looks delicious
cant eat mushrooms myself but everything looks so tasty

[Morris]

Awesome looking food dishes' !

[Mark]

Thanks guys! A couple more to tickle your taste buds.

Strawberry muffins. These are super easy and very tasty. I used fresh strawberries, but they may be better with dried if you can get them.

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Dinner was a cheese and mushroom quiche. Excuse the somewhat rustic look, but if you leave the pasty hanging over the tin it stops it shrinking away from the edges. Makes it harder to get out of the tin though! Again, nice and easy if you use ready made pastry.

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Dessert was crepes with a home made mango sauce. Crepes are shop bought - far too fiddly to make yourself. The mango sauce was a 'bung-it' recipe. Basically, dice a mango and keep 1/4 to one side. The rest is stewed with a bit of water, butter, a little sugar and some cinnamon. Cook it until it's really soft then make with a fork to make a smoothish puree. Then add int he remaining diced mango and cook for a few mins. Then pour and serve!

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Then there was a bit of freshly made tommy soup. Another bung-it recipe. Onion, carrot, garlic, fresh and tinned toms, stock cubes, herbs and pepper. No salt as the stock cubes are salty enough (for me anyway). Simmer it all for 30 mins, then blitz in a blender. Garnish with shredded Parmesan.

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Anybody else spending time in the kitchen? Shout if you want more details or the recipes. Mostly they are either on line or or in my head.

[casper]

quiche looks delicious and the mango crepes... my mouth is watering

[Mark]

Thanks Casper. The Mango Crepes were particularly good. I also do a sort of faux crepe suzette. Melt butter, white sugar and orange juice in a pan and bring to the boil. Add a sprinkle of ground cinnamon, then add a little corn flour mixed with cold water to thicken. You can add a slug of brandy of whiskey if you like as well. Then pour and serve. Quick and simple.
If you've feeling a bit more motivated, use a fresh orange for the juice and also add some of the zest.

I like a good curry, and nothing goes down better and a couple of papadums with some lime pickle as an appetiser. This is my second attempt at lime pickle. The first was an unmitigated disaster! The only limes I could get were the size of lemons, and I'm not sure they were actually limes, even though they were labelled as such. The recipe wasn't very good either. However, plan B turned out much better. This is a bit more complicated and time consuming.

First, chop and juice some limes, add some smashed garlic, salt and chilling powder. Keep the juice, and steam the limes and garlic mixture. Then leave in the sun for 2 days.
Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

Now heat some oil and add mustard seeds and a few other spices, mix this with the lime mixture and also mix in the saved juice. Leave this in the sun for another 2 days.

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr

The recipe says to blend to a course or smooth paste. I like a smooth paste, but with nice big pieces of lime, so I picked out about 1/4 of the limes, blended the rest and then stirred the seed lime pieces back in. It actually came out very pale, so I added a teaspoon on turmeric and some red and yellow food colouring. Things have got to look right!!

Now it's sitting int he cupboard maturing for a couple of weeks, but I did sneak a quick lick of the spoon and it tasted hansom! Nice and tangy, a bit salted, and a bit of a chilli kick to it.

Untitled by Mark Wakelin, on Flickr