Mackerel and beetroot salad

This is my first post for a while. We are finally settled into the flat, though I keep opening the wrong cupboard for things! We have also been very busy in the kitchen, all will be explained in future posts.

Yesterday I was in the familiar situation of sitting in front of my laptop working on my thesis. Bored of MS Word, I was trying to work out what to have for dinner. I wanted to use up the beetroot we had. Then I remembered we had some smoked mackerel and dinner was sorted. I roasted the beetroot in a foil parcel with balsamic vinegar and olive oil until soft (about an hour). I dressed some lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and cucumber with some olive oil. I pre-boiled some new potatoes and sauteed them. I made a horseradish and yogurt dressing (1 tsp of horseradish sauce, 3 tbsp of yogurt). It was a good salad. It made me feel summery, even if the weather outside was anything but summery!


This week in the box we got:

• Beetroots
• Lettuce
• Courgettes
• Broad beans
• Turnips
• Cabbage
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Carrots
  

Frittata for the climbers

It's amazing how bored I get in front of laptop these days. This week I have doing data analysis, which is as boring as it sounds. On Wednesday I wanted something different for lunch so I made some different salads. I made Jamie's pasta salad, potato salad and a carrot salad. I had it with some tinned tuna and some bread. Of course making the salads did allow to spend sometime away from the laptop, which was a happy coincidence.


The Veg Box arrived this week:

• Baby Cauliflowers
• Spinach
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Parsely
• Rhubarb
  
• Carrots
• Onions
• Potatoes
  

The presence of spinach was a happy one, as I was going to Dumberton with Andrew and Stuart. I remembered a recent post from cottage smallholder for frittata. I thought it would be good crag food. We had a great evening in the sun and they actually managed to climb something too. The frittata was great way to finish the evening. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the frittata but this one of the boys enjoying the frittata will have to do.

Summer finally arrives

On Bank Holiday Monday we got out of the city and went and spend some time outside. So we went for a walk up Ben A'an. It was so hot and there were some great views on the top. Before we left I got some bacon out of the freezer in preparation for purple sprouting broccoli pasta. However, on the way back we passed Gartartan Farm Shop. So we went and bought some beef, more specifically steak.

I only had one recipe in mind. It was Jamie's again, seared carpaccio of beef with roasted beets, creamed horseradish, watercress and Parmesan. It meant that I could use some of beetroots from the veg box.


This salad is great and means I can use my Le Creuset griddle pan, which makes me happy. We had it with ciabatta that I made the other day. It may not have been what was planned but it was wonderful.