What does Holy Week hold?

Today is Palm Sunday; the start of Holy Week. This week sees Lent drawing to a close. I gave up sweets this year and have not particularly found it a hardship as I have still been allowed other sweet treats. The year I gave up chocolate was the hardest, with other foods eaten to excess by way of compensation during the six weeks of Lent and a huge Easter Egg as reward when I crossed the finish line!

With Maundy Thursday celebrating the Last Supper, it got me thinking about what my ideal meal would be were it the last thing I ever ate. Whilst I enjoy food, I eat to live rather than live to eat and have very few favourite or memorable meals. Prisoners on Death Row are asked what last meal they would like and, dependent upon which State they are incarcerted in, may or may not be granted it. It's hard to imagine being in that situation. Perhaps an easier question would be to ask what meal people would choose if they returned from a desert island or, indeed, the jungle on I'm a Celebrity ... Interestingly on that programme, when only given the bare essentials of rice and beans, contestants generally crave salty, spicy and sweet foods. Flavour, it would seem, is more important than quantity.

My fairly humble meal would be as follows:-

Caprese salad (made with the finest & freshest ingredients)

Asparagus, broad bean, pea & goats cheese risotto (made with the finest & freshest ingredients)

Warm chocolate brownie with ice cream (made with the finest & freshest ingredients)

Naturally they would each have to be prepared and cooked to perfection with just the right seasoning, dressing and ooziness. At the end of the meal I would say "that was delicious" and then, as my childhood family tradition dictated, would have to spell that word ... D E L I C I O U S ! Incidentally, we weren't part of a spelling bee; Delicious was the only word we regularly spelt out loud!

We have also reached British Summer Time, when civil time in the UK is advanced 1 hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time. This will mean lighter evenings and, although the mornings will be darker to start with, days will stretch. The prospect of summer with countryside picnics, seaside barbecues and candlelit outdoor dining is enough to gladden the heart of even the grumpiest souls.

The week ahead will, as well as the Easter festivities, include April Fools Day. Ours is a family of jokers and wind-up merchants and one of our best tricks was played on my son who is very car-proud. We informed him that we had noticed a small chip on his windscreen. He rushed out to find exactly that; a frozen french fry placed strategically near his wipers! I wonder what word he was thinking of spelling ...

In Awe of Iron!

Last week many people around the world will have celebrated St. Patrick's Day, the commemoration of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Whilst many will have attended church services, many others will have spent the day in pubs and bars enjoying a pint of the black stuff; Guiness.

In days gone by doctors would often recommend that pregnant ladies, and those who had just given birth, drink Guiness in order to restore their iron levels. Not only would this not have been good for baby but probably did very little to boost mum's iron intake either. Similarly, vegetarians have been known to suffer anaemia because of the lack of meat in their diet. It would seem that Vegetarians should not be drinking Guiness either due to the likelihood that it contains traces of fish bladder used in the fining process. However, a good vegetarian diet should not have the need for Guiness nor iron supplements just because we don't eat red meat. We now know that a diet of plant foods should be enough to control our iron levels.

Sources of iron rich plant foods are:-

Pulses and soya bean products

Dark green leafed vegetables

Fortified breakfast cereals

Wholegrains

Dried fruits

Black treacle

Plain dark chocolate

Foods containing Vitamin C should be combined with these iron rich foods in order to aid the absorption of the iron.

As well as celebrating St. Patrick's Day this week we could also embrace the First Day of Spring. Yes! For those who enjoy growing their own produce it's time to start chitting those potato seedlings ready for planting out. After all, eating potatoes, especially with their skin on, is a great way to boost your iron intake.

Mums know best!

Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK when we show our appreciation and affection to our mums.

For most of us, memories are often associated with shared meals with our loved ones. I remember my mum's baking more than her cooking. I would return from school to the smell of a cooling tray of buns, ginger cake, cold tea fruit cake, rock buns or freshly baked bread. In the holidays my sister and I would help her bake and take it in turns to scrape the bowl out and eat the yummy raw cake mix.

Her meals would be the standard fare of the time - meat and two veg, a fry-up or a casserole. We always had a pudding or a slice of cake to follow. A couple of savoury treats stick in my mind; mashed potato with crisps crumbled on top (bizarrely potato with potato topping) and a salad side dish of shredded lettuce, onions, sugar and vinegar.

I grew up in the 1960s/70s and remember slightly space age food like Kellogs Rise and Shine, an orange powder which, when mixed with water, became a breakfast orange juice. Another memory is of saving the top of the milk for a few days and then whipping it to use as cream on desserts. One favourite pudding was a fruit crumble. Every September the whole family would go blackberry picking. Mum would then bottle the fruit so that we had a ready supply throughout the winter months. Once, whilst eating a blackberry and apple crumble I felt something crunch in my mouth - urgh - a snail shell! How it had escaped the picking and processing I'm not quite sure but, luckily, it was before I became a vegetarian!

Another favourite memory is of a holiday to the continent in 1970. Most time was spent in Germany where my dad tried to teach mum a few native words. My parents have always been fond of a cuppa and cake so we often frequented die konditorei. Mum walked in and in her best german called out auf wiedersehen (goodbye!) whilst dad raised his eyebrows and my sister and I giggled delightedly. On the same trip we stayed with Dutch friends who sprinkled chocolate vermicelli on their morning bread which seemed the height of decadence.

My family are fond of saying "do you remember when ..." and off we go down Memory Lane. Today, let's raise a toast to mums everywhere for making memories.

The Best Ever Beans on Toast!

An easy meal for a Vegetarian is often a baked jacket potato or beans on toast. When I was younger we used to return from a camping weekend and, whilst my parents unpacked, my sister and I would be sent upstairs for a bath and then return downstairs with rosy cheeks and damp hair to a quick and easy supper of beans on toast before bed.

I have always loved this simple meal and it's definitely my "go to" meal when I surface from a migraine, need to line my stomach before a night out on the tiles or just want a quick comfort fix.

In my early twenties I met a girl who came to temp in my office. It turned out we had lots in common and liked all the same things. One day whilst discussing what we would make for tea, she mentioned a recipe for Bean Rarebit in a Marks and Spencer Salads and Snacks book. I had the same book, given by a family friend for my 21st birthday! I rushed home to make the posh beans on toast that night and, some 30 years later, still make it occasionally. I have adapted the recipe a little over the years but it remains a firm favourite.

Bean Rarebit (or posh beans on toast) Serves 1 hungry vegetarian

20g butter

1 small onion finely chopped

1 garlic clove crushed or grated

1/2 pepper, deseeded & thinly sliced 

1 can Heinz Five Beanz

2x15ml spoons tomato ketchup

1x15ml spoon vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

(I use Hendersons Yorkshire Relish)

Salt & Pepper

1x5ml chilli powder

Cheddar cheese grated

2 slices hot buttered toast

Melt the butter, add onion, garlic, pepper and fry til soft. Add the beans, ketchup, W sauce, salt, pepper, chilli powder. Cook for 5 mins. Add the cheese and stir for 3 mins until melted. Place on hot buttered toast and serve immediately (like my lava latte, I like mine hot). Enjoy!

The recipe from the early 1980s used baked beans and kidney beans but I use the Five Beans now. It also states a green pepper but now, of course, we have the choice of red, orange, yellow and, I have recently discovered, black pepper!

Buon Appetito!

Friday night saw me enjoying cocktails with the girls at a local Italian chain restaurant. We then sat down to peruse the menu. Well, it never takes me long to choose as I just look for the V sign and decide. On this occasion I had the choice of a pizza or one vegetarian main - Parmigiana di Melanzane (aubergine bake). Luckily I quite like aubergines but many people don't. Whilst my friends were tucking into their steaks and fish I may have had to put up with a pizza. We ordered, the food arrived and yes, it was fine. 

My point, which I mentioned to the waiter, is that there is not enough choice on the menu for vegetarians. The Manager then arrived at the table and informed me that he was a vegetarian too. We had a discussion about the menu but he had only been veggie for a year and because the restaurant was a chain, it seemed his hands were tied. He did promise to send my feedback on though and hopefully something will be done as this was an Italian under the umbrella of Individual restaurants.

Still, my last dining experience with that chain had been worse. On that occasion I had ordered a butternut squash and sage risotto. For some reason there was no V alongside so I had checked with the waiter, explaining that I ate neither fish nor meat. Lo and behold, it arrived with a piece of prosciutto balanced on top! The waiter's response to my outrage was "it's just a garnish" and a free replacement. The risotto placed in front of me ten minutes later was, in all likelihood, the same dish with the meat removed and a quick blast in the microwave but I succumbed to my hunger and ate it anyway. The waiter's remark? "It's free. Please smile." Unbelievable! 

The Wild Side of Life!

It is with regret and repulsion that I have to report that my much loved dog, Max, ate a whole squirrel this week. He crept out of the undergrowth crunching small bones before I saw the bushy tail disappear down his throat - ew. In the six years I've had him he has dispatched and buried 2 rabbits without eating them so this latest escapade came as a bit of a shock. It has lead to the realisation that I need to monitor which television shows he watches.

Looking back on the week, he was in the room when Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast was aired. Jimmy Doherty suggested that grey squirrels were a pest and harmed much of the countryside but, on the plus side, could in fact be eaten! The boys then went on to show various means of preparing, cooking and eating them.

This is nothing new as up and down the country (and abroad), people are holding roadkill dinners, parties and barbecues. Whilst in the USA this may constitute moose, deer, antelope and elk, in the UK it's more likely to be rabbit, pigeon, pheasant and, of course, squirrel. There are people who will eat any meat and the more the merrier.  The one that really turns my stomach is the River Cottage 10 bird roast where birds, in order of size, are stuffed one inside the other - so wrong.

Before becoming vegetarian I worked for a Consultant who would hold a supper party for all the junior doctors as they left and moved on to a new post. He lived in a lovely house in the countryside and supper would always be rabbit stew. Even then I would struggle to eat it with images of Peter Rabbit and Squirrel Nutkin flashing through my mind.

From now on the only cookery programme my dog will be allowed to watch is The Bake Off. At least they show a cute little squirrel in a beautiful setting without a chef sharpening his knives in the background. Today is the first Sunday of Lent and Max is definitely giving up squirrel and, hopefully, horse poo which he is also quite partial to ...

Sweet Treats!

Forty-four years ago today; 15th February 1971, the UK was decimalised! I would have been eight years old then and vividly remember going to the local shops with my sister. I bought a packet of cherry Tunes and the shop keeper asked if I would like my change in new money or old. New of course! It was very exciting 'though I can only hope that I had a bad cold at the time, buying something as boring as Tunes! In those days I would have had the choice of Opal Fruits to make my mouth water, a finger of Fudge which was just enough, a Big One which stuck out a mile or Fruit Pastills which I would have had to put down or pass around. I would have known all this just by watching TV. Equally, I could have bought Trebor Mints which were a minty bit stronger and stuck them up somewhere to make them last a bit longer! I would have known this from the songs in the school playground!

In those days my sister and I each chose just one chocolate treat every Saturday. Hers would, invariably, be a Picnic and mine a Crunchie. Nowadays there is a vast array of sweets and chocolates available, 'though rarely advertised on television, presumably for health reasons. I have a very sweet tooth with a particular fondness for chocolate. So much so, in fact, that when doing a supermarket shop when my own children were younger, the checkout girl asked if I was having a party! Being the advertising man's dream that I am, I had simply stocked up on everything that was on offer! BOGOF was my mantra.

This week sees the start of Lent hot on the heels of Pancake Tuesday. I once gave up pop 'n' sweets 'n' crisps 'n' buns for Lent but made (and ate) copious trays of flapjack as a substitute. This year I aim to give up sweets although Marks and Spencers have brought out a range of vegetarian jelly sweets using pea protein rather than animal gelatine. This is good news for Vegetarians who generally have to avoid jelly sweets. However, the names of the sweets do rankle a little - Percy PIGS and Colin the CATERPILLAR!