I made my first batch of pesto this weekend. Our one basil plant is only small (we've had it a few weeks), so there were just barely enough leaves to make two peoples' worth. It's just as well there was so little, really, since I also needed to make it by hand, with a mortar and pestle. It was all much easier than I thought it'd be, and turned out quite nicely, if spicily. I don't know what kind of basil we have, but it certainly has some bite to it.
Friday night's experiment came courtesy of my newest cookbook, Carluccio's The Complete Mushroom Book. The mushroom strudel was a fun chance to play with filo dough, but would have turned out more excitingly had I only chosen my mushroom combinations more adeptly.
Colston Bassett Stilton, the cheese which helped spur these last many months' sampling, is available in supermarket fridges 'round these parts. Such a cheese-oriented nation.
I'm not sure I would have thought to order rosewater ice cream left to my own devices, but I'm very glad I've now tried it - refreshing and lightly fruity. This was just one of a variety of highlights from last night's dinner at a Turkish restaurant near Victoria station, Kazan, where we ate with easterbunny and aca. More details will be the subject of some other post.
This week's kitchen-related quest is to find shelf dividers. John Lewis does not sell them. Argos only stocks them in assorted three-packs.
easterbunny and 