Thursday 23 August 2012

Nigella's Croque Monsieur Bake.


I tried this recipe the other week when staying at my Mum’s, she made it for me and a friend in place of a fry up.  It was just as nice! She called it a savoury bread and butter pudding but if your looking it up it’s Nigella Lawson’s Croque Monsieur  bake!
To Make this recipe you need:
6 slices of bread
3 eggs
Half a pint of milk.
About half a block of cheese.
A pack of ham
Some mustard
A sprinkle of salt and pepper
(A bit of butter if your being really bad!)
To make this I got out all my ingredients and started off buttering my bread, grating cheese on to it , popping ham on to that and then putting mustard on top of the butter on one slice of bread. After I did that I popped the two slices of bread together, then cut it in half to make two sandwiches, then put these in a casserole dish.
Now most normal people would repeat this process two times at this point  but I decided to experiment with the mustard...  I tried using less butter and more mustard on one of the sandwiches, then for the last one I decided to completely get rid of the butter altogether and use loads of mustard!

When I’d made up all the sandwiches I whisked the egg and milk together. 

Then I poured this mixture over the sandwiches and sprinkled the salt and black pepper over it.  Where the mix didn’t cover completely I spooned some of it back on to the sandwiches.
Once this was done I popped some cling film over my casserole dish and went out dancing.
On my way back from dancing I called Paul and asked him to pre-heat the oven to 200c and the pop the bake in the oven for about 25 mins. The food wasn’t quite ready when I got home but it was nearly there!  After a little wait we were able to safely say it was quite nice.

 It wasn’t as nice as my Mum’s version I think that was due to my experimenting! Mine tasted very mustardy and felt a bit soggy to me but Paul loved it and there was none left on his plate so I must have done something right! We’re currently experimenting with lower fat meals so this won’t be on the menu for a bit but with some tweaking it maybe something to add to the repertoire....

Thursday 16 August 2012

Recent rocking things!

Recently things have rocked!  There has been more dancing, which is always a great thing in my eyes!  I even danced on a stage in public on Sat 4th August...

Photo courtesy of a friend of one of the other dancers... thank you!
This was a Bollywood work out choreographed by Nisha Lall as part of
the activities of Sheftival, which promoted exercise, sport and music.

I could have stayed at Sheftival and caught a few more bands; instead I headed to Wales for a good catch up with one of my friends and watched history being made in the Olympics.

Last week also saw a return of lunch club for my team with a new venue being invaded... tried!  This month we said good bye to The Hop and hello to The Frog and Parrot! We also saw Olympic fever hitting the office culminating in the office sports day or mini Olympics as I like to think of it! It involved mishaps such as the health and safety worrying three legged race, the controversial egg & spoon relay; as well as my event the hula hoop... a good time was had by all!
Action shot!
On the podium, I came second!

The next day brought more catching up with friends and family, a bout of roller derby.
That blur is the Sheffield Steel Roller Girls All Stars vs Nottingham's Hellfire Harlots.  Good bout but we got thrashed!

Saturday also saw my first roller merby bout...
Like roller derby but with them male creatures instead of female ones... This bout featured Sheffield's Inhuman League vs Manchester's New Wheeled Order.  It was a close bout but eventually we won.

This was followed by a drive up to Leeds for my friend Deborah's flat warming at her lovely new abode! Yet more catching up with lovely friends. (I could get used to this!)  Then all too soon it was time to head back...

This week has mainly been sponsored by overtime at work, a bit more dancing, experimenting with this recipe and looking forward to Jessica Ennis's homecoming on Friday! Should be a hell of a party!

Friday 3 August 2012

Pie Friday.

Tonight I gave in to temptation. (I know, not like me at all!) I went to The Old House for their pie Friday deal, which is more expensive than the one at The Hop down the road... Still they did serve us a couple of nice beef and moonshine pies.
I don't like peas!

Paul does though.
They're a bit more substantial than The Hop's offerings and a good deal tastier.  (We were even allowed plates and real cutlery!)

My pie wasn't quite as amazing as I had been led to believe, the verdicts given on the pies sold here a few weeks before had given me a bit of pie envy when I was eating my Salmon dish.  Maybe I have pie... I mean high expectations.  Still a pie and a pint in a nice bar was a great way to round off the week!