Shopping for kicks, got the weekend to get through

[venta]

At the weekend, while not frolicking in record shops or climbing trees, I did a lot of cooking.

And before that, I did a lot of shopping.




That's what £20 looks like[*]. It's kind of the opposite of Living Below The Line, really - there's some very profligate purchasing going on there.

For curiosity, I just tried totting up the cost of the same batch of veg on tesco.com. It came to £17.70, plus the price of potatoes because I couldn't find loose potatoes of the same sort, and have no grasp how much that bag weighed. It's all pretty approximate, because "a bunch" of spring onions and "a bunch" of radishes may not be the same size. "An aubergine" may not be the same size, either. But it was actually not as much cheaper as I'd feared[**].

I'm willing and (currently) able to pay a little extra for the privilege of having a proper greengrocer within easy walking distance of my house. Looking at that selection, I now feel slightly guilty for having not bought more of the unusual things they sell :)

With the exception of the beansprouts and the sugar snap peas, everything is either as-is or in a friendly brown paper bag that will be re-used or re-cycled. And I can buy almost everything in the quantity I want, rather than the quantity Tesco has pre-packed for me. Of course, the obvious downside of that is that if you do want a large quantity of something you still have to pay full price for it rather than buying a huge discounted bag.

Rather disappointingly, the sugar snaps had (by the time we tried to eat them two days later) developed a rather distinctive coat of fluffy grey fur :( That's never happened before, and I shall be grumbling profusely to the greengrocer about it on Saturday. I should probably have let them out of their packaging anyway, but I think two days is a reasonable amount of time to expect non-fluffiness.

June is looking frantically busy, so I spent most of the day cooking things to go in the freezer. I'll defrost them as I run past during the next month.

I was halfway through making a batch of small lamb koftas (destined to go in my bento box at intervals) when I realised that it relied on having a food processor. If you haven't got one, ran the recipe, then ask your butcher to double-grind the lamb, and grate the onion, and do a whole bunch of other things that sounded a right palaver.

Instead I used my singly-ground lamb, and chopped everything finely but not obsessively, and threw the finished mixture through my long-suffering meatgrinder. It actually worked reasonably well, though on cleaning the grinder afterwards I found a small cache of pieces of onion which had got left behind. I am currently unsure whether using the grinder in this way constitutes another episode of meatgrinder subversion.

I also made some more of the coconut-flour gluten-free brownies (it was World Baking Day at the weekend, after all). Baked at a slightly higher temperature, they came out fine. I have a lot of coconut flour left, though. I may try experimenting with other less forgiving cakes, but the internet's dire warnings about potential disasters have scared me a bit. If anyone's got any particular recommendations, do let me know.

[*] OK, legally it cost £20.82. But if you're the sort of person who shows up most weeks and buys a basket full of stuff, your friendly local greengrocer rounds down to the nearest whole can't-be-bothered-sorting-out-change.

[**] If I wanted proper cheap, I'd go down to the market stalls on Uxbridge Road where they sell "any bowl for a pound". You can get some really good deals there, but you do have to want what they're selling. You can never rely on them having anything particular on special offer, though they're great if you happen to want a bunch of stuff and are willing to work out what to cook when you get home.

Comments

[shermarama]

(Dammit. I've now got the Shirehorses version of your post title in my head.)

I've got so used to having markets, that I think I'd find it really hard to not have them. London Road in Brighton, Roman Road and then Nag's Head in London, Ten Kate Straat in Amsterdam, Blaak here... I can do supermarket veg if I have to but it's never the same, somehow.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever lived (conveniently) near a proper fruit-and-veg market that I could get to regularly - though I'm sure there must be one somewhere in West London. I should check that out, only I may be at risk of constantly trying to buy All The Things (see below ;)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Also, I didn't know there was a Shirehorses version! YouTube and Spotify can't furnish me with it. Which is probably for the best :)

Edit: Oh dear, just had it found for me. I was right, it was for the best!

[eniel]

Markets/grocers within walking distance is the one thing that I miss living on the outskirts of the town. While it's great to have a supermarket within walking distance, the vegetable and fruit there, with notable exceptions, always look droopy and somewhat forlorn. Part of the reason for which I signed up with Abel&Cole. That said, now that I have All The Kitchen to myself (rather than a measly cupboard and a shelf in the fridge) and that the weather is nicer, I think I'll start cycling into town and see what else I can rustle up from their stalls.
Must resist buying all the things though.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Buying all the things is a real problem... if someone piles bright red peppers up next to glossy aubergines and big ripe tomatoes, I will want to buy them. Having had radishes in my lunchbox practically every day last week I wasn't intending to buy any more but they were so pink! and their leaves so green!

At Christmas, some of the shops on Uxbridge Road had great big pyramids of shiny oranges, still with their leaves on, and I kept wanting to buy them - even though I don't actually like oranges.

In fact, let me near a veg market and I am a total liability...

[eniel]

My first reaction was "But ratatouille freezes really well!". Which is only a displacement of the issue, since your freezer space is also limited...

*grins* Christmas oranges do tend to be a problem. I sometimes solve it by combining orange drizzle cakes with candied orange peels (often covered in chocolate). Otherwise, walking away, slowly from the displays is said to work. Or so I hear ;)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Our local market is big on the 'bowl of stuff for a pound' model. We've had some interesting and unexpected meals after I've been walking back from town that way and had a loose pound in my pocket.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I do remember appealing for help on LJ some years back when I got home from such an excursion and realised there was no way I could realistically eat nine very ripe avocados all by myself :)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

In that situation myself, I baked them, figuring they might at least keep longer in the fridge that way. But after a few days I was pretty sick of avocado (temporarily, fortunately).

[venta.livejournal.com]

I don't believe I've ever baked an avocado. Should I?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I hadn't before that occasion, but it turned out to be really nice.

Halve, skin and stone them, put them on a baking tray, and you can just drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and maybe a bit of ground chili flakes, and bung in the oven at 180 for half an hour or so.

Or you can get more fancy and break an egg into the stone-hole, or fill with a mix of grated cheese and chopped onion, etc etc.

I suppose another way might be to scoop the flesh out of the shells, mash it up with a load of other goodies, and return it to bake in the shells. That could be fun!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yup, I had a little google after posting that comment, and was quite intrigued by the idea of baking them with eggs inside.

Does the texture change, or do they just end up like avocados, but hot?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

The latter (IME). I mean they softened up a bit, but they didn't collapse like a courgette or aubergine does.