Chilli Carrot Pasta and Orange Drizzle Cake

You know I do appreciate my weekends.  Come Friday afternoon, I look forward to closing the laptop and tucking it away in its case along with the mouse.  I can then turn my head to my Friday evening and watch some light TV like Gogglebox or Have I Got News For You (but that was not on this week),  so I turned to Netflix and settled on watching  Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods about four African American veterans return who return to Vietnam decades after the war.  There were echoes of Treasure of Sierra Madre.   

I haven't cooked much this weekend though as I needed to rest.  Its been an extremely busy week, in fact its been unbelievably manic since April, which is in stark contrast to  a number of people I work with who say that their pace of life have slowed down and they could get used to it, I can only wish I had that privilege.  

So I am sharing this Chilli Carrot Pasta Salad that I made late last month.   It was one of those recipes where I thought i was being both frugal and innovative with the carrots. However the idea in my head was better than the actual execution of the recipe.  I don't know why I thought the carrots would break down like red lentil dal and cling to the penne pasta like sauce, but that is not what happened. The carrots were grate-y, in fact looking at it you would think there were red lentils in this, but no.

The flavours were alright though - mildly spiced.  The recipe is not dissimilar form the Garlicky Rainbow Chard Pasta Salad, but with the addition of carrot.  Once the carrot had softened up, I used my hand blender thinking it would turn smooth, but it just grated the carrots - I don't know what I was thinking, in fact i wasn't thinking properly.  Regardless of the texture, it tasted okay and was alright to tuck into for working lunch at home. 

I also made Orange Drizzle Cake adapted from the  'Lemon Balm - Lemon Drizzle Cake'  that I shared last month.

It was good. 

I am sharing this Chilli Carrot Pasta Salad with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.

Garlicky Rainbow Chard Pasta Salad

I made this Garlicky Rainbow Chard Pasta Salad last month with the last of the overwintered rainbow chard that was growing in the garden vegetable plot.

The rainbow chard would still be there, but it had begun to bolt, so it had to come out of the ground and make room for the new plants.  I made a number of dishes with it, including Rainbow Chard Pakoras aka Onion Bhaji's - that were delicious, but not as good as my mothers or sister-in-laws.

This pretty Rainbow Chard Pasta Salad was heavily flavoured and scented with garlic, but I don't mind having garlic breath.  It was splendid to tuck into during the busy working week. For those of you who may be interested in the recipe, there is not much to it really.  This is really a tarted up version of Aglio Olio.  

I am sharing this Garlicky Rainbow Chard Pasta Salad with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. Garlicky Rainbow Chard Pasta Salad.

June in My Kitchen

So I have found some time for myself to sit down and blog in what have been some very busy days and they are not over, as I start work all over again tomorrow.  I am looking forward to taking some annual leave. I really did not think I would say that whilst in quarantine as I thought working from home would be less tiresome, but it has been anything but.  I am hoping to take some time off early July and of course when I do, like most of the world I won't be going very far, but i need the break its been manic at work, it really has.

Anyway, let get down to what is in my kitchen this month.  

Last year I volunteered to be a recipe tester for a cookbook for a charity called Heart & Parcel.  Well I finally got my hands on Heart & Parcel cookbook.  Heart & Parcel was established in 2015.  The project supports women from ethnic minority communities in Manchester to develop their English language (ESOL) and communication skills by coming together to cook dishes from around the world, sharing recipes, stories, experiences and connections. All the recipes were contributed by migrant, asylum seeker and refugee women. 

I tested for two recipes including this Middle Eastern recipe called Aubergine Fatta - Iraqi Salad with Toasted Bread, which was delicious by the way.

I have put on some weight.  I know haven't we all - I know why in my case though, mostly because I have not been exercising, rather than excessive or comfort eating.  

I have been eating melon.  I have been making an effort in slicing them and sitting down to eat them with some mindfulness.  I have really been enjoying eating them.

Some gifted mangoes. I loved eating them, squished the pulpy fruit in its skin, then bit off the nib and sucked the sweet mango smoothie fruit.  

I cannot blame my excess weight on junk food, like i said its lack of exercise, but you may think otherwise as i share a vegetarian burger. I am only sharing this because of the home grown pea shoots.

I am trying unsuccessfully to cut down on my excessive coffee drinking too.  I find myself drinking five to six mugs a day when normally I would have two.  The last time D went to the supermarket, he picked me a selection of fruit teas.  I like the Echinacea & Raspberry, Spiced Ginger and Cranberry & Blood Orange, but I was not at all keen on the Mango & Strawberry combination - it just doesn't seem to work well. 

He also came back with some Maldon sea salt. 

We were grateful to get a delivery of Strong White Flour for breadmaking.  Those of you may remember from my last  In My Kitchen blog post that we were running out.  This will last us a good while. 

Talking of fruit earlier, we also harvested our first bowl of homegrown strawberries and wild strawberries that taste like sherbert that of course demanded either cream or ice-cream - of course we had neither, but we did have Greek yogurt.  The strawberries not only tasted amazing, the fragrant was quite powerful too. 

As my kitchen is relatively quiet with new and exciting things, let me share with you what's been going on in my parents kitchen.

Some of you may remember that last month on my In My Kitchen blog post I shared that I had made Nigella Lawson's 'Chocolate Brownies'.  Well this inspired my niece and nephew to have a go at making some Brownies in their own home. This was the final result elevated further with white chocolate drizzle and strawberries dipped in white chocolate.  I wish I was there! 

I am sharing this post with Sherry's Pickings who kindly continues to host the In My Kitchen series in these difficult times and its goods to be able to participate and continue to support the event. 

First Strawberries and more blooming roses

Some little joys. 

First of the strawberries from the garden including wild strawberries which i am sharing with Dave over at Happy Acres who hosts Harvest Monday every week.

The blooming roses have certainly put on a good show. 

The roses are even strewing down like garlands at a ceremonious occasion.

Here is our garden vegetable and fruit plot plan. Credit for the plot diagram goes to D, of course. 

So much going on...like these mixed lettuce growing in an old drainage pipe.

The runner beans are beginning to climb and flower up the natural stick climbing frames.

Here they are from another angle.

Beneath them courgettes and perpetual spinach. 

Below is Blue Kale and Blue Kohlrabi, as well as Kale from the neighbour.

These are pea shoots - the idea and inspiration came from  an old garden show - I will update as soon as I remember its name. 

And finally, red gooseberries

The red gooseberries look a bit sad this year - they are not the size they normally are, still time to grow, but i think they are suffering because of lack of feed and the right soil. But presently I cannot do much about that as we are still socially distancing and being sensible, so no garden centre trips for us. 

Reflecting and eating Rainbow Chard Pakoras

I've had a busy week working from home made harder by the racism both here and in America,. The racism is not new, it's continual, its painful and its gut wrenching, its real. I've cried these tears before, now I cry for young people who have had to witness the brutality against black bodies replayed over and over again. I know that pain. Black Lives Matter.

One of the reasons i started my blog was for my mental health and wellbeing.  It was my escapism. My space away from those racial  microaggressions in everyday interactions as my work evolved around discrimination and prejudices and social justice, I consciously made a decision not to write about those things here, because I did not want this space tainted by ugliness of other peoples behaviour, but people have become more emboldened in recent years that even i cannot pretend anymore.  

Subtle racism has even seeped from some food bloggers in the past. I often noted as a non white vegetarian food blogger that started ten years ago, I was often excluded from the collaborations that thrusted some white food bloggers into the 'limelight', they would never extend the invitation to me and in some cases 'actively' exclude me.  It still happens. They know they have this power, privilege and influence, but they would never admit that racial bias played a part in their interactions with me.  I know it did. I will write about that some other time. Today is not that day.

As the only brown face in white spaces there were no safe spaces for me, so Blogging became therapy from both overt/direct and covert/indirect racism.  Growing vegetables was therapy.  Cooking was therapy.  Baking was therapy. 

So without further ado here are some Rainbow Chard Pakoras aka Onion Bhaji's that I made last weekend.  I am missing seeing my family, my father and mother (who are shielding), my brothers and sister in laws, my nephews and nieces - my intergenerational family.  I look forward to joining them again to sit down and eat pakoras and samosas.  I don't make Pakora aka Onion Bhaji's that often partly because I do not have a deep fat fryer and partly it's something my sister in law will knock up for me when I got over, so Pakora's like Samosas always feel like a treat for me.  But the hankering for fresh pakoras got me motivated and it was perhaps one of the best recipes I've made with the last of the Rainbow Swiss Chard (that had begun to bolt in the garden).  I shallow fried the Swiss Chard Pakoras in a wide pot.  They were delicious, crisp and mildly spicy. 

Still as much as the Rainbow Chard Pakora were delicious, I long to eat again with my family and know that they are all safe, not just from coronavirus that is disproportionately affecting Black and Brown people in the UK, but also from the racism that constantly ripples in our lives, we are always on edge for the tirade, the racial tsunami ...

Blooming Roses

I've had a busy working week, so I was grateful for the long weekend.

It gave me time to do some cooking, baking and gardening, as well as reflecting and resting. 

Shelter from the bright sunshine

So here are some photographs of progress in my vegetable garden plot.

Progress on the carrot box.   I will thin these out at some point.