Made something similar this evening (but without pasta!)
Kofta type kebabs made with Aubrac steak haché and fritons de porc fermier (need some fat with the lean steak), onion ras-el-hanout jaune and a lot of parsley. While combining the ingredients, I reflected on the various reasons why there’s few places in the world where one might come across that combination. Cooked in oven on max fan grill setting.
Earlier I’d roasted a chopped up aubergine then tossed it in the bulgogi sauce that @TFJWM had introduced us to the other week. Don’t make any oriental dishes as such, but enjoy incorporating an eastern ingredient into Mediterranean-ish dishes.
We also had a salad of various local Lot Valley tomatoes and a sort of salsa made from a couple of boxes of €0.99 cherry toms roasted in olive oil, preserved lemon and harissa. In summer always have a batch of that sort of thing in the fridge - oregano, anchovies, lemon rind, capers and cornichons are other useful additions.
Mustn’t forget the local yaourt de brébis - thicker and more sour than the supermarket stuff.
Love summer cooking - for me it’s fairly spontaneous combinations of whatever we’ve got that seems right at that moment.
Coincidentally, in an idle moment yesterday I had a question in my head about whether hot food has a higher effective calorific value than the same dish eaten cold. The answer seems UK to be, in theory, yes but, in practice, no
Happy to see several mentions of this remedy. Alcohol is supposed to be a diuretic (obviously true) but who cares? The stuff that’s 58 centimes/50cl at Lidl and Leclerc isn’t really beer anyway, right?
I still live by that rule, reminds me I must order some teabags from Amazon as the boxes in Carrefour of Yorkshire were very close to use by date and I can tell stale teabags very easily. I dry the teabags out and put the residue round certain plants outside, mum always did with the roses but they had real leaves never bags.
I eat what I fancy and what I have in the fridge or cupboard. Currently the new air con is so good I actually felt a shiver yesterday. Had a craving for coleslaw again recently so yesterday had a couple of the pork fricadelles from Lidl, some coleslaw and lettuce with a daily avocado on top. I also like Ebly mixed with different veg and eaten cold with vinaigrette (home made of course with Kuhn sweet and sour mustard in the mix)
Yeah right?….when I’m working inside or outside, I look forward to the time of the day a.k.a. ‘beer o’oclock’ and life is so much better sinking a cold one and generally chilling out later in the day !
When it is so hot don’t usually eat lunch but we do have a dish of sorbet in the afternoon whilst watching a movie. And there’s always plenty of ice cold Badoit ready to drink. We steer clear of booze and just drink mineral water and (for me) tonic water which I drink to help reduce my cramps. But actual food is not a requirement for us when it is so hot.
Vitello tonnato is a simple, but classy starter or main in this weather, and can be begun a day or two in advance. I’m going to get some veal on Friday’s market and prepare it ready for Sunday evening.
Try them again, AM. Sometimes foods appeal more after re-trying them.
Never had meatballs made as yours are but they sound interesting. À Swedish friend made us some real Swedish meatballs, they are tiny and cooked in the oven first of all. They were very nice and nothing like IKEA offers in their cafe. I stick to an old Italian recipe which everyone loves. À mix of beef and pork mince is good- not the low fat versions. I notice that people are using lentils and meat mince together now, also v good.
Meatballs in various kinds are popular across Europe. Bifteki/kephtedes in Greece, cvapi in Bosnia, cevap cici in Austria-Hungary, as well as those already mentioned and with reasonable meat it’s hard to go wrong.
My mother would use breadcrumbs and an egg for meatballs, but I found that rather dry. In some parts of Greece they added grated potato, and that could keep it moist, although other parts definitely used breadcrumbs plus a mix of beef & pork with ouzo for flavour, baked in the oven.
For me, pan frying and being careful not to overcook works well with lower fat mince. If the meat has a high fat content then oven cooking will help render the fat and make it less greasy. It also makes it easy to transfer the nice flavours of frying over to the sauce if you have one.
