We're still eating!

I know, I know... this post is looooong overdue. At the New Year, Paul said we should "begin as we mean to go on." I was struck by the beauty and rightness of that statement and thought 'Yes! We will exercise more, watch less tv, eat better... and I will keep the blog up-to-date!' The very next day I started a post about our New Year's Eve meal at The Cowshed, one of our favorite restaurants in Bristol. It was a fabulous, 7-course meal with one of the highlights being the starter of Beef Carpaccio with Soft Boiled Quails Egg. It was another truly lovely meal at The Cowshed and a perfect way to re-commit to our blog.

But then I found myself too busy sitting on the sofa and watching tv obsessively to post. The only part of our New Year resolution that we held up was of course, the eating. I'm not sure whether we can say we're eating 'better' but we are definitely still eating.

With Paul now in Bristol full-time - a Christmas miracle! - we're eating at home more and trying to eat out less. I have instituted a weekly meal plan so we can save money by shopping for only what we need for the week and we can eat more healthily ... at least that's the theory anyway. Our last two shopping trips have seen us get suckered in by weekly offers and BOGO deals which translates into a freezer full of sausages, ground beef, and ice cream bars. It also translates into a grocery bill that should probably cover the two of us for the whole month! It's early days yet... maybe the system just needs tweaking :)

So, you ask, what are we eating tonight? Well, since Paul's official arrival in Bristol, I have become quite the domestic goddess. Despite his insistence that he means to pitch in and cook, his long days at the office...ahem, lab... seem to drain all his cooking energy and this little lady has been putting in alot of time in the kitchen. It's been quite fun actually as for the past two years I've been chained to my computer on skype and rarely cooked anything that took longer than 10 minutes to make.

I'm back to making old favorites and trying my hand at some new recipes. Tonight I went for a good old British classic: Toad in the Hole.

Toad in the Hole is sausage baked in a yorkshire pudding. (Yorkshire pudding, for those who are unaware, is not what us Americans call pudding. It is more of a flaky, bready pastry) It's very simple to make but I was a bit daunted about the yorkshire pudding. Everything I've heard about making yorkshire pudding is that it can be a bit tricky to make correctly. You make a batter with egg, flour, water, and milk and pour it into a baking tin with oil that has been heated to a very high temperature in the oven. As it bakes, it puffs up and has a bready base with light and crispy edges. It seems that where the problem comes in with making yorkshire pudding is if the oil isn't hot enough, it won't puff up.

I decided to turn to the wisdom of one of Britain's most trusted chefs, Delia Smith. And Delia did not let me down.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/toad-in-the-hole-with-roasted-onion-gravy.html

I didn't bother with the onion gravy - I went for instant gravy - because I really wanted to focus on getting the yorkshire pudding right. I baked the sausages as directed and then put the baking tin on the gas burner. I added some oil since it didn't seem like the sausages had released enough... and Delia said this was the thing to do. Delia said when the oil was shimmering to add the batter. I waited and waited, pushing the sausages back and forth so they wouldn't burn and because I felt like I needed to be doing something. The oil was spattering everywhere and I didn't see any shimmering... How long should I wait? I wondered. I can sometimes get antsy when cooking and jump the gun. Clearly, when making yorkshire pudding, this would not cut it. So I waited a bit longer and went for it.

As my first attempt at Toad in the Hole baked away in the oven, I washed up the dirty dishes from the week's other meals. Every few seconds I glanced at the oven door, willing the yorkshire pudding to puff up. And lo and behold, 30 minutes later, a beautifully puffed toad in the hole came out of the oven. I was cautiously giddy with my success but knew that the true test would be when Paul came home and tucked in.

And the verdict? "Absolutely gorgeous!" And a request to have it again tomorrow. We certainly have enough sausage in the freezer, after all it was 3 packs of 6 for only 10 pounds!

Now it's off to bed to rest up for the weekend. We're off to London for a little football at the Emirates and a spin around the Tate Modern... and what else, more eating adventures!