This is not so much a foodie Corner as Foodie Rant this week. The wonderful soda bagels I'd been buying for the last two weeks (see last week's Foodie Corner), have now completely disappeared from the shelves in Tesco. Not even an 'Out of Stock' label. Why?
I love Tesco (I love Supermarkets), but … they do so badly at providing an alternative to 'plastic' bread etc. There's row upon row of steamed, 'plastic' bread, rolls etc, but barely anything natural. The wonderful bagels from the Natural Bagel Company, and the Genesis Crafty soda bagels are now gone (after only two weeks instore), and my enquiry to the staff elicits the usual blank look, a shrug and the inevitable reply, "It's Head Office."
I know it's controlled from Head Office, but please can someone listen to us foodies who want to eat 'proper' bread, bagels, wraps etc (ie ones that aren't full of emulsifiers and mono-diglycerides: ie hydrogenated fats). Do you want that in your food?
I'm lucky enough to be able to get Hobbs House organic wholemeal bread, or their Sherston white (which I order from a local Delicatessen), but sometimes I like a muffin, crumpet (Warburton's), or a bagel. Come on Supermarkets, offer us a better choice please, and when are you going to start selling grated carrot?
Only Asda sell it, and it's such a brilliant and versatile ingredient for the time-pressed cook. You can sprinkle it onto salads for a great colour and crunch, use it in sandwiches (dry, or mix in with any 'wet', mayonnaise-y type filling), wraps, or add it to any number of hot meals or soups – either at the last moment if you want it crunchy, or a couple of minutes before serving if you want it softer.
I know it's easy to grate carrots (if you're doing a load and have a food processor handy), but not if you just want a handful, as if you use a grater the bits fly everywhere, and the Asda carrots aren't as watery as if you do them yourself either, which makes it nicer on a salad. I've asked Tesco before, and look expectantly every week but …
Hey: got some fruit going soft?
This is SO easy. Just get ripe plums, peaches or nectarines (or a combination), and cut them in half. Take the stone out and lay them in a baking dish. Top with either whole strawberries, blackberries or raspberries and bake in the oven at about 160 degrees for around 20 minutes.
Two ingredients, and only takes a few minutes to prepare. This is one I did last night for a BBQ, just before I popped it in the oven. (If you've cooked a main meal, just put them onto the top shelf of the oven – switched off – while you eat it, and they'll be cooked by the time you're ready for them!)
Serve with any sort of cream, greek yogurt, fromage frais or ice cream and some nice biscuits. My current number ones are these Raspberry Shortbread Thins from Sainsbury's. (Sorry this photo's so small, but the one I've taken myself won't upload. It's an intermittent/irritating problem with WordPress.)
If you want to be posh, you can add liqueur (ie Amaretto), vanilla extract and/or chopped nuts (you don't need any sort of sweetner as the fruit's very sweet), and if you've got any left, it's wonderful cold mixed with natural yogurt (cheaper and better than all those sugar-filled ones).
I've spent the last 17 years of my life having to prepare, cook and clear up from a meal in about 10 minutes maximum (before then being able to actually take that food up to my room to eat it), so have got many healthy recipe ideas that have only a handful of ingredients and literally take moments to prepare. I'd love to turn them into a cookery book one day. It's got a great title …
PS Don't forget: make sure you wash all fruit and vegetables before use. Think how many people's dirty hands have been on that food before you bought it (especially if it was loose in a Supermarket). Do you really want to put that in your mouth? Just a thought …
PPS If you're a Cafe/Sandwich shop/Restaurant owner; have a sign up TELLING your customers you wash your salads etc. It would certainly make me make a point of buying from you!
