Sunday 22nd October
And just to prove it, here's a photograph of the soup, all steaming straight out of the pot!
So I thought, since I didn't make my five days a week blogging about food, I'd best have another go. And next week is quite an important one, food wise, because it's payday. With all the opportunities for overdoing it that that brings. So I suppose I'd best tell you what I've eaten today - it's not been good folks.
Basically my shopping for the weekend included minced beef, cauliflower, leek, and bread. I'm afraid that where I should have done something sensible and low cal like spag bol, frankly I just didn't fancy it, and I did want a way I could get loads of garlic into my diet, raw if poss. I don't know about you, but I don't know many recipes for raw garlic (short of swallowing them whole, which I don't intend to start trying!) so I made (cringe, cringe...) burger and chips, with garlic mayonnaise. It's been my one high fat meal of the week, so it's not as bad as it could have been, and you should see the way I make it.
Firstly, I get a potato, and slice it into very fine sticks. I popped it into a bath of water for half an hour to get rid of the starch coming out of it (I don't think this makes the blindest bit of difference, but it seems to make them cook a bit better.) Then having dried them on kitchen paper, I tossed them in about a tablespoon full of oil, before popping them into a hot oven for about 45 minutes. I make my burgers by grating a garlic clove into the meat, with some salt and pepper. I've tried not using salt, but this seems to be one of the few dishes were a grinding or two is absolutely essential. I then give it a good mix with my hands - it comes together not unlike a dough. Then I form it into patties, and put it back in the fridge for a couple of hours. After they've stood for a while, I pop them into a heated dry non-stick pan. As they cook enormous amounts of fat are released, and I've take to using the spatula to hold the burgers steady whilst I pour the hot fat out into the washing up water. That cuts down on the fat that the burgers cook in, and is actually in them - and I've not added anything to that. It's a pure meat burger, with the kick of garlic, but you can use any sort of meat and any sort of flavouring. Try pork burger with some grated ginger & spring onions. Goes brilliantly with rice.
The mayonnaise is a standard one, with a small clove finely grated into a couple of spoons full. You can scoop it up with your chips - it's an indulgent meal alright, but boy it touched the spot!
