Dinner for one

I've never understood it when people say they can't be bothered to cook for themselves. It does give you a warm glow to cook for other people who enjoy your food but if it is just you then you can have exactly what you want. My family are away for half-term so I have the house and veg bag all to myself.

I went to a conference on food blogging at Msmarmitelovers underground restaurant on Saturday. It was fun and inspirational, tips on writing in general as well as increasing the readership of your blog. I'm not sure if I can be bothered with all the search engine optimisation stuff but interacting with other food bloggers was something they suggested that sounded like more fun. With that in mind I checked out the updates of my favourite blogs and found that Dinner Diary's latest post was breaded veal. I'd just got a rose veal escallop out of the freezer so I left a comment on their blog and started planning my dinner for one.

To go with the Veal Milanese I had beetroot boiled and then sliced up and fried in butter with a sliced apple until the apple was soft. The apple was one I found in the bottom of my fridge and I think it would have been better with one that wasn't past its best but they worked well together. I also had potato mashed with some chopped cooked leeks which would definitely not have gone down well with certain members of my family but was devoured appreciatively by my discerning audience of one.

Is organic food elitist?

Just got back from the Soil Association and one of the issues that came up repeatedly was that organic food is perceived to be expensive and only for the middle-classes. There are companies whose business model relies on getting a premium price for their organic produce - above and beyond any extra expenses in growing organically like extra labour. On the other hand there are lots of people working hard running community projects aiming to make organic food available to more people. 

It doesn't feel elitist when I get a bag full of muddy carrots and potatoes but picking up my veg bag on Friday morning it seemed like a good opportunity to compare the prices of what was in my bag. The first column is Sainsbury's on-line price for standard loose veg, where available, or where packaged adjusted to get the same weight. The second column is the price for organic from the supermarkets, I had to shop around different on-line supermarkets to get the whole bag. I pay £9.25 for my bag.

500g carrots                        37p        72p           

575g parsnips                      89p         1.69

1.5kg potatoes                    £1.19       £1.94

125g mushrooms                54p          50p

400g leeks                        £1.00         £1.65

small cabbage                      76p         79.5

punnet of raddish & alfalfa sprouts  - not available at any of the major on-line supermarkets £1.59 from Abel & Cole (organic)

500g Jerusalem artichokes - not available from any of the major on-line supermarkets £1.81 from Abel & Cole (organic) BUT £4.10 from www.finefoodspecialist.co.uk and it doesn't say they are organic, that is £8.20/kg - you can buy them at True Food Co-op for £2.95/kg a bargain!

The contents of my bag worked out at £4.75 for the things I could compare for standard supermarket produce or £7.30 for supermarket organic. If I add in the Abel & Cole prices for the two things not available at the supermarkets my veg bag is  £1.10 more than the non-organic produce and £1.45 less than organic supermarket produce. 

So supermarkets do put a large premium on organic food except for cabbages and when I looked the organic mushrooms were actually cheaper as they were on special offer. My veg bag is a cheaper way to buy organic vegetables as is True Food Co-op (and presumably other community enterprises.) It is also easier as I had to shop around to find organic versions of all my veg and as I said some wasn't available at all. So is organic food elitist? I don't think it needs to be although it is in some people's interests to maintain a high price. Perhaps the question should be 'are Jerusalem artichokes elitist?' The supermarkets certainly seem to think so.  

 

Spicy bean sprouts

I've mentioned the sprouted seeds before. They come in the veg  bag when there is not enough farm produce to make up the value of the veg bag. They come from Sky Sprouts in Devon and are a mixture of sprouted Adzuki beans, Mung beans and Chickpeas. 

I used a handful of last weeks tub in a sandwich (with smoked aubergine dip - yum!) and the rest in this spicy lunch on Sunday. 

This recipe includes grated fresh ginger. I keep pieces of whole ginger in the freezer and grate it straight from the freezer when I need it. I would have used fresh chilli but as I didn't have any I used some Very Lazy red chillies, flakes of dried chilli in white wine vinegar - very useful.  

ingredients

serves 2

half an onion, chopped

teaspoon of cumin seeds crushed in a pestle & mortar

1/2 teaspoon grated ginger

teaspoon of Very Lazy chilli

200g mixed sprouted beans

shredded savoy cabbage heart (or whatever green stuff you have)

Fry the onion for 5 mins , and then add the cumin, ginger and chilli and cook for a further minute. Add the beans and cabbage and cook until heated through.