Un spaghetti tunisien

Des fois je cuisine pour toute la famille et jéponds à des demandes spéciales. Ainsi donc, ma femme et mon fils m'ont demandé de faire un spaghetti tunisien la semaine dernière. Je me suis donc exécuté. C'est de l'ouvrage: non seulement il faut couper les légumes, mais ma femme n'aime pas les champignons crus, alors il faut que je les fasse cuire aussi. Cela dit, une fois terminé, on a des réserves pour nourrir une armée. Une armée qui a deux ou trois jours de campagne, parce que c'est rare que les réserves durent a-delà.

Spaghetti tunisien

Depuis que je suis sans emploi, je fais plus souvent la cuisine. J'aime cuisiner, pour autant que la recette soit simple et familière. Sinon, c'est souvent une catastrophe. Mais enfin bref, ma femme aime quand je fais ce classique qu'est le spaghetti tunisien, même quand je n'y vais pas de main morte avec la harissa. La photo n'est pas géniale, vous ne voyez pas les échalottes ou les champignons, mais ça vous donne une idée. Il y a des restes, alors on en mange encore ce soir.

Garlic and a Wolfism

 I haven't shared a Wolfism in a long, long while, even though he says a few every week that are really funny and witty. So a new one was in order. He asked me recently this question, which I could not answer: "Daddy, why is garlic so famous?" If you have an answer, any answer, good or bad, please write it in the comments.

Vampire Repellent Meal (A Transylvanian Recipe)

For today's fourth(!) countdown to Halloween post, a recipe I found on the YouTube channel Tasting History. I have been following it for the last two years or so and I particularly love the seasonal stuff Max Miller does. He often gets some really nice videos for Halloween. This one is about a meal that comes straight from Transylvania and is full of garlic, thus perfect to keep vampires away. There are also lots of information about one of Halloween's favourite monsters, the reasons why vampires hate garlic and it looks like a great roast beef recipe, so it's definitely worth a watch.

Le temps du spaghetti tunisien

Des fois, ça m'arrive, je fais revivre une tradition régionale dans la perfide Albion. Bon, je suis un peu trop dramatique. Recommençons Des fois, ça m'arrive, je fais revivre une tradition régionale dans ma famille ici. Parce que c'est aussi un des repas préférés de ma femme et je lui ai fait découvrir. En plus, petit loup aime ça, fa' que... J'en ai fait assez pour qu'il en reste pour un deuxième repas pour chacun. Le spag tunisien, c'est aussi bon réchauffé.

Spaghetti tunisien... avec saucisses

Petit billet gastronomique: le mois dernier, je me suis fait un spaghetti tunisien. Jusqu'ici rien d'anormal. Mais, comme ma femme et petit loup étaient chez les beaux-parents et que je soupais en célibataire, j'ai décidé d'ajouter des saucisses. C'était la première fois que je faisais ça, mais je sais que beaucoup rajoutent de la saucisse à leur tunisien et je songeais à le faire depuis un bout. Enfin bref, c'était vraiment un repas cochon. Mais c'était bon en tab. Je vais le refaire c'est certain.

Le spaghetti tunisien fait les manchettes

Durant mesvacances, mon père m'a envoyé cet article du Quotidien sur le spaghetti tunisien. On y fait l'histoire du met. Mais grâce à un lecteur de Vraaie Fiction, je la connaissais déjà. La manchette n'est pas la plus récente, mais je me devais de la partager ici. Et ça me donne envie d'en manger un.

Spaghetti tunisien

Il est assez rare que je fais à manger, mais quand je le fais, c'est en général apprécié pour toute la famille. Enfin bref, j'ai préparé un spaghetti tunisien il y a quelques jours. Je crois que c'est le repas préféré de ma femme, enfin celui que je sais faire qu'elle préfère. Sauf qu'elle ne veut pas trop de harissa, Wolfie pas du tout, alors je rajoute la harissa dans ma portion. Et il faut que je fasse cuire les champignons, car ma femme ne les aime pas crus. C'est un peu plus d'ouvrage, mais bon. Mais enfin bref, je suis quand même assez fier de mes talents pour faire un spaghetti tunisien qui a de l'allure, alors je partage ici une photo rien que pour la food porn.

Spaghetti tunisien

En fin de semaine dernière, j'ai fait un spaghetti tunisien pour la famille. La première fois cette année. Je l'ai fait sans sauce harissa, ce qui m'a paru une hérésie, mais ma femme n'aime pas ça trop piquant et petit loup non plus. J'ai rajouté la sauce dans mon assiette, ça fait quasiment aussi bien. Le seul vrai ennui, c'est que je n'avais pas d'échalottes, mais on a fait sans et ce fut quand même assez bien. Et j'ai des réserves pour le dîner d'aujourd'hui.

A bruschetta with a twist

As those who can read French might have known from a previous post, I recently made bruschette (yes, the plural is with an e, not with an s) for the family lunch. One of the things I learned spending time with Italians at uni, apart from a bit of Italian, is how to make bruschette: you toast a piece of bread, you grate a garlic clove on it, you then pour a bit of olive oil on it, then add a cut tomato, or some passata, then add grated cheese, preferably parmesan, then that's it, you have a healthy meal for you and your loved ones. You can of course do a few variations with bruschette and add different things. Which is what I always do with Wolfie: he loves them, but with olives. I put some one day on his, he won't have any without since then. Maybe I should do the same for my own bruschette, come to think of it.

Bruschetta "classique"

Hier pour le lunch, j'ai comme eu l'inspiration de faire des bruschette, puisqu'on a beaucoup, beaucoup d'aïl (longue histoire). Ça me prend parfois, c'est un met que ma femme aime vraiment et une des choses apprises de mes amis italiens qui m'a souvent sauvé quand j'avais une fringale. C'est niaiseux à faire: on fait une toast, on gratte de l'aïl sur la tranche, on met de l'huile d'olive, on rajoute une tomate coupée (ou de la passata), ensuite on met du fromage râpé, pde préférence du parmesan (ici c'est du cheddar). Bien entendu, on peut amener des variations, par exemple petit loup aime ça avec des olives. Mais j'ai décidé d'en faire une classique pour la photo. Et en passant, on dit bruschette au pluriel et non bruschettas et le ch se prononce "k".

Un plat de spaghetti tunisien

J'ai blogué hier sur le spaghetti tunisien et il m'est soudainement venu à l'esprit que je n'avais fait que montrer des pâtes dans un grand bol, sans garniture ni présentation. Comme food porn, c'est plutôt minimaliste. Alors voici le spaghetti tunisien dans son assiette (enfin son bol), avec tout ce qui va avec: champignons, tomates, échalottes et fromage râpé (du pseudo-parmesan). J'aurais pu y ajouter des saucisses merguez, il paraît que ça va bien avec ça et elles vous donnent plus de protéïnes. Mais c'est délicieux comme ça aussi et c'est très estival comme met. Je l'ai mangé avec une bièr rousse, mais idéalement ça se prend avec un vin rouge, enfin j'imagine. Bon, on dirait que je suis en train de transformer ce blogue en critique gastronomique, alors j'arrête tout de suite.

Spooky Spiced Pumpkin

For today's countdown to Halloween post, we will talk about seasonal food. Or, to be precise, Covent Garden's soup of the month. Every month, they have a special soup made with seasonal stuff, and every October it is of course Halloween related, made with pumpkin and something else. Even the container looks really spooky, with a Jack O'Lantern on it! As you can see for yourself on this picture. Every October, I buy at least one carton of their soup of the month and I try to blog about it for the countdown. Because sometimes you eat pumpkins, when you don't carve them.

So anyway, they have a different recipe every year, which sometimes is used again. This year it is the Spooky Spiced Pumpkin. Which I think I might have eaten before, under this name or another. It has a bit of spice in it, but not too much, just enough to give it a good kick. My wife, who does not like soup or pumpkin (but sometimes enjoys Covent Garden products), actually enjoyed this one very much. She has a cold at the moment and she said it made her feel much better. Not sure if it's the spice or the pumpkin. Or the garlic bread, which we often have to go with soup. Be that as it may, if you love Halloween, I think you need to have Spooky Spiced Pumpkin soup on the menu at least once this month, if you live in an area that sells it (which is I guess the British Isles, not sure if they are anywhere else).

Fashion against vampire bites

Second countdown to Halloween post tonight, just for kicks, as I had a bit of an inspiration. You know, dear reader(s), that I sometimes obsess about what to use to fight against supernatural forces. I posted both in 2012 and in 2013 about the arsenal to use against what I called the Forces of Darkness. I think about it from time to time, about offensive weapons and also, of course, anything that could be used as defense. It struck me today that the polo neck, or turtleneck could be a fairly good protection against vampire bites. Because obviously it conceals the neck. Sure, it offers limited protection: the vampire is extremely strong and if you are unconscious, he has merely to pull the polo neck down or ripped it off. But it is better than having the vein exposed, for one, and one can improve the protection: a necklace of garlic flowers, or one single garlic flower used as a sort of brooch, or simply have garlic rubbed over the fabric, could greatly increase your chances of survival against these bloodsuckers. And put a crucifix on if you are a believer (or even if you are not). There are other advantages to polo necks: they are warm on a cool day or in cold crypts where vampires dwell, they are rather banal and you would not draw attention onto you when chasing the nosferatu (unlike say a combat uniform) and they are just very comfortable. I wear one every Halloween night, just in case.

Scream of Pumpkin

For tonight's countdown to Halloween's post, I have decided to plug tonight's dinner: the soup of the month of New Covent Garden Soup Co. Which is called this year Scream of Pumpkin. If this sounds familiar, it is because it is. I blogged about these Halloween themed soups before and I think I might make it a tradition every year, make one post of the countdown about the soup. A tradition within a tradition, in a way. So in 2012 I mentioned the Ghoulash, in 2014 the pumpkin, Stilton and sage soup (unimaginative name, but still my favourite so far) and as early as 2008 the Hocus Pocus (I don't remember much about this one).

So, how does Scream of Pumpkin
compare to the others? It is not as thick or as filling as the Stilton one or the Ghoulash. It has interesting ingredients: apart from the pumpkin (always good in a soup), carrots and the tomatoes, it also has blood orange, which gives it an unusual flavour. It also has garlic, apparently to keep the vampires at bay. So it is tasty, albeit not as hearty as I'd except an October soup to be. We had it with garlic bread, our usual accompaniment with soup. So we had extra garlic to keep vampires away.

Le temps des olives

J'ai acheté des olives au marché français hier. Parce que pour moi, le marché français se résume beaucoup à faire des stocks d'olives que je mange en une semaine. Il y en avait une grande variété: sans piments, avec noyau, sans noyau, grecques, à la provençale, avec anchois, avec feta, etc. Je n'ai pas acheté de celles avec feta que vous voyez sur la photo de gauche, cela dit j'ai pris une grande variété. Celles avec aïl sont incontournables, j'ai aussi un faible pour celles aux anchois, j'en prends quelques grecques ainsi que des olives à la provençale, parce que c'est difficile de faire plus français que des olives aux herbes de Provence. Vous ai-je dit que j'aimais les olives? Oh et la dame vendait de la moutarde de Dijon aussi, mais j'hésite à en acheter car j'en ai déjà ici. Et c'est pas aussi spécial que les olives.

Pasta and sausages

This picture was taken during my last Christmas holidays, at my parents' home. My parents have a set of bowls that are perfect for Italian pasta dishes, like this one. I made the pasta sauce. I blogged about the recipe before. You need sausages, a tin of tomatoes, garlic and balsamic vinegar. Oh and a spoon of sugar to soften the acidity of the tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Be careful with the vinegar: I made the mistake to throw a huge drop in my wife's vegetarian version, and the sauce was black. I am too ashamed to show you the result of this one, but I am proud of my sauce overall, so decided to upload this picture. I am often a lousy cook, the few meals I can actually make I like to display them.

Halloween soups

This is tonight's Halloween post, about my new Halloween meal: pumpkin soup. As a child, before my brothers and I went trick or treating, we used to eat pizza for our early supper.But now as an adult, and as an expat living in England, I eat the soup of the month of Covent Garden Soup Co on Halloween night, and in many nights leading to it. Usually, their special October recipe is Halloween themed. It has pumpkin with whatever else. I accompany it with garlic bread, just to be decadent. This was last year's soup, with Stilton and sage.

In 2012, they had made a ghoulash (see the pun?), which was delicious, but I think last year was their best so far. I think it is because of the Stilton. There is just something about cheese in a soup. I love all pumpkin soups, all variations of it, although I am not sure the taste of pumpkin is very distinctive, as it is not very strong. But it gives the soup a nice colour, if nothing else. And it is nice to use pumpkin as something else than Jack O'Lantern. This year, it is going to be the ghoulash again, and you can find its recipe on their website of you want to try it. Sadly I could not eat the pumpkin soup on Halloween night: I was sick with a nasty cold so I had chicken noodle soup instead. But this year, it is going to be pumpkin soup and garlic bread.

The bread and olives at Boulters

With the new year, I am trying to start again the Friday (or Saturday, or weekend ) tradition of plugging a menu or a piece of the menu in a pub or a restaurant. Tonight, it is something I ate at Boulters when I had a lunch with colleagues. I could plug more than one thing on their menu, but I want to focus on one particular item in their starters. I am talking about the Homemade Rustic Bread (as they announce it), with olives, confit garlic and dipping oil (and balsamic vinegar). First, a warning: while what I had as a main dish was quite small (but delicious, and more on it another day), the rustic bread and all its accompaniments were very filling, enough actually to make for one meal. In fact, I think it could be shared by two people and they would still have enough for a lunch each. But, s it any good? It is delicious. I love olives, and the confit garlic was a discovery to me. I was a bit too enthusiastic with the garlic: I had it all and stank of garlic all afternoon and the day after. I guess it should also be a warning, but it was worth every bite. So delicious in its simplicity.

Pseudo Italian pasta and sausages

This picture at the top left was taken at Felicini in Manchester, an Italian restaurant which was recommended to me by one of the people of the ABF. It was my meal, penne pasta in a sausages and olives sauce. Buried in Parmesan, as you can see, I always bury pasta with cheese, unless it is macaroni and cheese, in which case I just have it like that. Before I go further, I wanted to quickly plug Felicini: they were professional and very efficient, serving me within and hour because I had to see a play. And the meal was delicious. It was quite nice and it inspired me to cook my own variation of this dish, which I did last weekend.

You can see the picture of said dish at the bottom right. I used British sausages, heavily garlic flavored.I bought them in a local artisanal food shop. The owner gave me a few advices about making the sauce: no more garlic as the sausages already had plenty, and a bit of balsamic vinegar. I cut the sausages in small bits, fried them, then added a tin of tomatoes. I added a tea spoon of sugar to get rid of the acidity of the tomatoes and poured a generous drop of balsamic vinegar. No olives, no onions or anything like this. Only tomatoes, sausages and of course the Parmesan on top of it all. I drank a Sicilian red wine with it. It was not authentic Italian gastronomy, but it was fairly close.