Lamb’s Devilled Kidneys Recipe. I’ll Stick to St. John, thank you

Just before Christmas, all  of a sudden, I had a kidneys craving. It was ironic as in October I’d suffered with a terrible kidney infection which had sent me rushing to A&E, off sick from work for a week, tending to myself with two lots of antibiotics and codeine (which I promptly put to the back of the medicine cabinet when I read how addictive they can be).

I have no idea where this sudden rush came from. In an ideal world, I wanted to have it at St. John or a similar restaurant but I instead decided that I would try cooking it. Off I went to Tesco, purchasing TWO packs of lambs kidneys. I read various recipes and settled on my trusted chef Nigel Slater, who had a great but simple recipe of devilled kidneys.

How to Make Effortless Easy Hummus – that tastes great | Recipe

One day last week I made home-made hummus. So what? I know you’re thinking. There wasn’t a motive behind it. I was at the supermarket and saw the pre-packaged stuff and suddenly felt like making some. I Googled “hummus recipe” and came across a Guardian article with a whole thesis on how to make the best hummus. It was really long winded. Involving soaking chickpeas in bicarbonate of soda and boiling them and all sorts. Nevertheless I got home and put my chickpeas to soak in some bicarb for a few hours. I noticed afterwards that the recipe said to soak them for 24 hours – then boil chickpeas for four hours!

F*** that I thought – I didn’t recall hummus being so laborious. There must be easier methods. Again I Googled “hummus recipe” and noticed the first link which was a BBC URL. The recipe said it was for “quick hummus”. This was far more digestible (‘scuse me pun).

Happy Valentine’s Day Eve, Eve | Scallops with Bacon + Haddock Provençal Style

Ok…. just so you know, I wrote this on 12/02/2013 but then my director decided to take me out to get sloshed last night so I’m posting a day late! Boom.

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Yesterday it was Shrove Tuesday, typically known as the day when EVERYONE makes pancakes and everywhere that sells pancakes makes a killing and has ridiculous queues. My Old Dutch and the pancake stall on Berwick Street were high on my AVOID list.

Instead of “celebrating” Shrove Tuesday I decided to celebrate Valentines Day two days early – known to me as Valentines Day Eve, Eve. Why? Because the OH is off to Paris today for work. Oh yes. Paris. The city of romantics. He won’t be in Paris for Valentine’s Day though. He will be in Tunisia by tomorrow. When I heard this I asked him “don’t your company consider events when planning your work trips?” His reply “yes, except that they don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day in a Muslim country”. Touché.

Avocado Egg Roll Recipe | No Mayonnaise! Just Avocado, Egg and Seasoning!

I don’t know what it is about avocados. I just love them – seriously. I know they are only supposed to be good for us in moderation (as all things are). They are supposedly fatty – but healthy fats (so I keep telling myself). I have a whole list of avocado recipes I’m dying to try – in particularly a very special one which I won’t reveal right now.

For today – I introduce you to a quick lunch favourite and an alternative of Egg Mayonnaise sandwiches – another recipe I like – except mayonnaise – deathly mayonnaise. So bad for you – and even when you buy a low fat one, the cynic in me thinks “what have they replaced the fat with?”. The only thing I use mayonnaise for these days is coleslaw – because there really is no other alternative (anyone that suggests putting salad cream in coleslaw should be shot).

Anyway… Avocado Egg Rolls. Here’s how you make them. Try it – your life will seriously improve if you do 🙂