Like all of us, even the librarycook can get struck in a rut. So the October issue of Delicious was perfect – featuring poke bowls, super foods, clean eating, and all those other icons of contemporary cuisine.
But what to cook? Would it be the loaded sweet potato with broad beans and chilli? The ochazuke broth with salmon and brown rice? The chipotle chicken wings? Or the grilled coleslaw with yuzu mayonnaise? They all sounded good. Even if the librarycook wasn’t quite sure what some of these things were.
The final choice? Cauliflower with pepitas and turmeric labneh. It ticked all the boxes, thought the librarycook. The vegetable du jour, cauliflower. Pepitas? The librarycook thought she might have some of those. Labneh? Just unfamiliar enough to slot right into the zeitgeist. Best of all, it was to be served in a bowl – just like all those bearded artisanal hipsters are doing.
A little bit of organisation was required – that turmeric labneh wouldn’t make itself – the librarycook had to do that, a day ahead. But then it was easy – cauli in the oven (small glitch due to the new oven being much hotter than the old one). Cooked wild rice (with currants) into the bowls, along with the labneh, the chargrilled (definitely not burnt) cauli, some flaked smoked trout, with the lot being scattered with pepitas and mint. Or parsley – the librarycook looked up from her book just in time to notice that some species of garden pest had demolished the mint overnight.
The final product! #getinmybelly
The score?
Hipster factor, 9/10.
Taste score – it was pretty good.
Serving suggestion? 2/10.
The bearded hipster chef was proposing that this was a breakfast dish. An hour’s preparation time for breakfast? How would the librarycook put down her book in time the night before, to get up early enough to slave in the kitchen? Don’t hipsters eat toast in the mornings, like the rest of us?! Anyway. It made for a very pleasant dinner.
But the librarycook wasn’t finished with the October’s Delicious. A family birthday called for a special dessert, and trusty old Jamie Oliver was there to help. His Pimm’s and Strawberry Cobbler was lovely jubbly, wicked and pukka – let’s just say there wasn’t much left. And this one was really easy – into the oven with the strawberries, Pimm’s, brown sugar and orange zest, and into the blender with almonds, flour, sugar and butter. Chuck (another Jamie-ism) globs (technical term) of the almonds et al onto the strawberries, put it back in the oven, read a chapter, and voila! Dessert is served.
The Strawberry Cobbler I made over the weekend!
