thepassionatecook

Spaghetti with tomato, prawn & watercress

I feel a quick weekday pasta recipe is in order... I haven't had much time for cooking lately, let alone for writing up recipes - too much studying going on, lamentably!

This is a super-quick recipe you can whip up in 15 minutes - and that includes boiling the pasta... count in some extra for cracking open a bottle of white to go with it, but this is to show that fast food doesn't need to come out of a plastic tray, you can still eat healthily, provided you have a chance to do some shopping on the way home, of course!

For those of you who even find the trip to the supermarket unmanageable on an average day, there's help at hand if you live in the London area: it's been a little while now, but the lovely Farnleigh of SCRATCH dropped off one of her food samples at mine and I whipped it up for a quick lunch. I have always wondered who would step into Rocket's footsteps and it seems we now have a more than suitable successor! Meals from Scratch provide meal kits that allow you to enjoy a freshly cooked meal with minimum effort and maximum flavour... their delicious creations come with pre-chopped vegeables, everthing in the right amounts, perfect for workoholics, but also a real treat for singles who only ever need half an onion and a dash of cream for a recipe and end up throwing most of what they buy away. 

I've only tried the "Crayfish, tomato and feta pasta" they had at the time, but the rest of the range sounds equally delicious and changes regularly so you don't get bored... give them a try, they're available at St. Pancras Station and various other places around town.

Red deer loin on Jerusalem artichoke gratin with saffron apples and green beans

Oh yes, the awful Austrian lady has been cooking bambies again! Apologies to all of you who feel personally offended by people indulging in wild meat, but in my humble opinion these animals probably suffer far less than your average pig being raised too fast on barely a square meter of space, then lorried across Europe in the blazing summer heat for good measure... plus, I feel safer eating meat from an animal which doesn't rely on food sources other than what it finds in the wild, instead of consuming GM crop and a good measure of antibiotics and growth hormones.

On to more pleasant things. I don't eat meat very often, despite my culinary heritage, but when I do, I go out of my way to secure a prime cut and venison is certainly on top of my list. Actually, my list would probably read: wild beef (from these lovely people), venison, selected cuts of pork imported from a small Austrian farm near my hometown). Rarely do I get my hands on some boar or kid/goat and if there's suckling lamb available in the spring, I'll jump at the occasion, too. Par contre, I can do without rabbit or any type of roadkill ;-)

I am lucky to have a decent butcher around the corner, their meat may not be labelled organic, but they do seem to work with farmers who put emphasis on ethical rearing, free-range environments free from fertilisers and pesticides, and they're always on the lookout for speciality meats like salt-marsh lamb etc. Their game is probably what I enjoy the most - if you order well in advance, they can supply almost anything (probably not armadillo, but you catch my drift).

The other day, they had some red deer and I bought two individual pieces which were meant to provide a quick dinner - it only needs a few moments in the pan and some more resting, but it's a pretty fast fare. Instead, luck would have it that I was browsing some magazines my Mum had brought me from Austria recently and came across a super simple recipe for a red wine sauce which I wanted to try and some saffron apples - and delayed our quick Friday-night supper for a slightly more elaborate meal the next day.

Now, although the list of ingredients is long, this is a really simple combination for when you have a dinner party - one that even the most inexperienced of cooks is going to be able to muster. A gorgeous gratin of jerusalem artichokes, a wonderfully easy and tasty sauce made by simply combining red wine with herbs and maple syrup, some french beans, pre-cooked al dente, then wrapped in bacon and fried just enough to reheat, and a great splash of colour provided by some apple slices stewed in apple juice, white wine and saffron... a dinner fit for a King!*

*(and if deer or venison is hard to come by or you're a bit squeamish at the thought, I can imagine this combo going really well with pork medallions as well - smear with dijon mustard on one side, then sear on both sides until browning and rest in the warm oven for 10 minutes.)