Fluoro & Moro

First the fluoro.  I was going to set myself the challenge of not wearing blue jeans for a week and it started well with the Mango dress and failed miserably the day after when I decided to wear the fluro stripe tee from Maison Scotch.  The tee simply works great with jeans so I just wore jeans.  Why make it difficult for yourself just to prove a point?

Maison Scotch Fluoro Stripe Tee

Falmer Heritage Skinny Boyfriend Jeans (old)

Converse All Star Ox Sneakers

I like the tee. I guess it would be considered trendy for a village school playground in Yorkshire.  In London, I would simply disappear, engulfed by the sea of significantly trendier mums.  I'm thankful actually - it would stress me to feel that I needed to make any more effort than I do already.  There are many many days when no effort is made - believe me.  And the necklaces were fun but they lasted an hour round my neck before they started to annoy me. It would be different if I was working in an office but when wiping down the worktops, they just get in the way and besides they kept catching my hair.  You know when you get a hair caught in a necklace chain and then you yank it and pull out a hair by accident?  Hurts like hell.

Maison Scotch Camera Necklace (came with top)

Dorothy Perkins Knot Necklace (old)

Susie Ho Bracelet 

Another bracelet I made a few years back using leather and freshwater pearls.  

And good old Converse for running after the kids in.  I do like to do a good nosey at the other mums in the playground in the morning and though there are a handful of us who wear Converse, I'm the only one with this taupe shade.  It's very sad that I know that.

Converse All Star Ox

Anyway on to the Moro.  I made the chicken, bay and garlic recipe today which was taken from ... you guessed it ... the Moro cookbook.  It's not my cookbook - none of the cookbooks in this house are - they all belong to the Grumps who actually reads them page to page.  And then points out what he would like for his dinner.  He has learnt the rules though - all ingredients and instructions need to fit on 1 page.  Any more and it's not happening.  I still don't like cooking any more than the last time I blogged about not liking cooking but even I can follow this recipe and turn out a half decent meal.

  

Pollo al ajillo

Chicken cooked with bay, garlic and white wine to you and me

Recipe as follows (taken from Moro the Cookbook by Sam & Sam Clark).

Serves 4
Ingredients:1 medium organic or free-range chicken, about 1.5kg, jointed into 8 pieces, skin on breast and wings, skin off legs and thighs
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic bulbs, cloves separated, skins on
6 bay leaves, preferably fresh
200ml white wine or fino sherry
100ml water
sea salt and black pepper


MethodSeason the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or frying pan with a lid over a medium heat and add the olive oil.
When the oil is hot, add the garlic cloves and fry gently until slightly golden.
Remove with a spoon and set aside. Now add the chicken, in batches, and fry for 3 minutes on either side until golden brown all over.
Return the garlic to the pan along with the bay and pour in the wine, shaking the pan as you do so to help the wine emulsify with the oil.
Simmer for 2 minutes to evaporate some alcohol, while turning the chicken in the sauce.
Stir in the water, cover with a lid and simmer for 4 minutes.
Take out any breast meat (if cooked), and put to one side.
Continue to cook the brown meat for another 10 minutes.
Add the breast back to the pot, season and add more water to the sauce if required.
Taste for seasoning.

I love the bit where it says the "wine emulsifys with the oil" and I quote it to whoever will listen whenever I cook it as I think it makes me sound all knowledgeable and stuff about cooking.  Oh yes ... and serve with a dollop of buttery mash to make it super scrum.


And when I went in the M&S food hall for a flying visit, there were all these strawberries, raspberries, cream and meringues stacked at the bottom of the escalator where they knew I would pass by.  I gathered the whole lot up and decided I would have decadent fruit for puds.  Bear in mind, I had Eton Mess in mind when concocting the following.

Ben's Bang Tidy Version

My Not So Bang Tidy Version

Break up a meringue nest.  Throw fruit on. Dollop of extra thick single cream (I don't like whipped cream), and a squirt of M&S's raspberry sauce.  Deelish.  And the bonus is, it's got fruit in it so it's healthy, I swear!


Enjoy.