fourlittlecarewpigs's Xanga

Time to get things back on track

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:23:15 GMT

Alright folks. The Carew pigs have slacked off. Big time. We're very sorry, but we've also had some personnel changes. We're now down to three piggies - from Spain, USA and Iran. That doesn't mean we haven't been eating and we're going to try our very best to be diligent in reporting culinary greatness. Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away so stay tuned!

Just a teaser - this is what we ate last night:

Arroz a la cubana - rice arranged into a little mound and covered with passata tomato sauce; a couple of sausages grilled; steamed veggies; a fried egg; bread to mop up the egg.

Carob brownies with icing - these brownies are made with carob powder instead of chocolate, delish! The recipe from Moosewood calls for raisins and walnuts, too. The icing is a tasty cream cheese, carob, vanilla and sugar mix. If you want the recipe, give us a comment!

To be continued... Happy eating!

A big wolf blew our house down, so to speak

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:50:03 GMT

The Carew Pigs are taking a break from cooking. Not by choice. By force.

The refurbishment that was supposed to happen to our house has been extended indefinitely and we've been forced to move out. Thankfully, we've found lodging down the street, so we're still the Four Little Carew Pigs. Thank goodness.

Once we get our feet back on the ground, expect photos... before and after.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

American Thanksgiving, Piggie Style

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:14:21 GMT

The Carew Pigs are back! After a bit too long neglecting this site, we're going to try our best to put up our favourite meals. As a starter, keep reading for a detailed account of our epic Thanksgiving meal.

One of the Pigs is American and thinks Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever invented, so for the second year in a row, she has undertaken the task of creating authentic Thanksgiving dinners like the ones she grew up eating back in California. Last year we squeezed just two guests in - this year we were 12 sitting around the table in our tiny kitchen. A party is only as good as the guests and this night was one hell of a good time.

The menu:

Starters:

Pear and parsnip soup (the Canadian's concoction) with German potato bread baked by our dear German friend. In the soup, we suggested people put a slice of dolcelatte blue cheese in for extra kick.

Pinchos (bite-sized Spanish delights) with jamon, Spanish goat cheese and French honey on a toasted slice of baguette. These are quicky warmed in the oven and eaten right away. The Spaniard and American piglets made these just quickly enough for them to be devoured by our guests. Little did they know how much there was to come.

Main course:

Turkey with Italian Christmas stuffing - This is the stuffing of all stuffings. The primary ingredients are plums, chestnuts, walnuts and various meats, but a bit too much sherry also went into it and as a result, the stuffing is quite potent. Not recommended for lunch as you may be a bit tipsy for the rest of the day!

Green beans and Brussel sprouts fried in garlic and hot sausage

Garlic mashed potatoes

Cranberry sauce - Yes, brought back in luggage from the States this summer.

Dessert:

Apple pie - somehow, this put everyone into some sort of extacy. Or maybe it was the "Love Cream," our new name for whipped cream. Because it's whipped with love.

Pumpkin pie - the American piglet's FAVOURITE pie, so she made four... two with ground pecans and two standard, plain pumpkin pies. We'll be eating those for a while. It seems that people who haven't been exposed to the concept of pumpkin pie tend to look on it with suspicion and it isn't eaten as enthusiastically.

Chocolate cake - a tiny wonder of a cake with quite a punch. Baked by our lovely Swedish friend!

...and to finish it off....

The American piglet's most proud import - her dad's Moscato di Pantelleria - one of the most gorgeous dessert wines ever. Pantelleria is a tiny island off the south west of Sicily and very close to Tunisia. The Zibibbo grape is used to make this slightly sparkling, golden coloured wine that tastes exactly like the grape itself.

Brutte ma buone - "Ugly but good," these hazelnut meringues (with a little bit of orange and lemon rind) are so tasty and perfect with the moscato. They come from the northern part of Lazio (Italy), near Lago di Bolsena where the hazelnuts are supposed to be especially good. According to the cookbook (Cooking the Roman Way by David Downie), they can also be made with almonds, but are then called brutti ma buoni using the masculine.

Several bottles of wine and champagne later, our guests left happy as clams.

Overall, a stunning success. Now maybe next year we'll be able to cram 14 into the kitchen....

Half-term fuels culinary excellence

Tue, 30 May 2006 17:38:13 GMT

Ok, we hate to brag, but this past weekend has been a real treat. Because it's still half-term for one of us (the one who happens to wield quite a creative presence in the kitchen), stay tuned for further delights.

Friday

Yup, those are zucchini/courgette boats filled with zucchini/courgette, onion and green pepper (fried a bit first). Ideally, these should be put on low heat in a pan with a bit of oil and the top on so that they steam. We did it in the oven this time and they came out a bit dry. A bit of romano cheese on top is tasty, as is cheddar.

With that, we had couscous with a mushroom sauce and fresh carrot, pine nuts and tomato. On the side, as usual, some steamed broccoli.

Saturday

Pork ribs.... smothered in a mixture of parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt. They take about 25 min in the oven.

And on the side, green beans with olive oil and garlic.

For dessert- a fruit salad of mango, pineapple and rasberries.

tbc...

Fish food

Tue, 30 May 2006 16:27:23 GMT

We try not to repeat a meal too often, but this is our belated Christmas Eve dinner (which we ate on Epiphany) the second time around. Fish fish and more fish. Yum!

Prawns! Just steamed and then cooled.

Octopus! Covered in paprika, sea salt and olive oil.

Salmon! These were leftovers from the night before. We cooked an entire salmon, but couldn't quite finish it. It was baked whole in the oven and filled with garlic, parsley, s&p and butter. Delish. Things got a little carried away, though, when we discovered that half-eaten prawns could be used as finger puppets:

Um yeah, anyway. This moment of bad taste may have been fueled by the surprisingly potent vinho verde from Portugal.

When the weather heats up (for a brief second), take advantage.

Fri, 26 May 2006 20:45:19 GMT

The first week in May was really nice in London. It felt like summer, finally. The Carew Pigs celebrated (as did many of our neighbors) by cleaning up the barbecue. Here is how we celebrated the 1 May Bank Holiday. People thought we were crazy (it had rained earlier in the day), but we trusted the BBC weather page and for once, it was right!

No summer party should go without sangria. Besides red wine and a couple shots of vodka, banana, orange, apple, lemon, sugar and cinnamon make this muy deliciosa y peligrosa.

Even if we're poor, starving artists, we delight in pretending we're posh. This endive, pear and blue cheese salad has a homemade dressing made from olive oil, salt, pepper, Finnish mustard and blue cheese. Really tasty!

Drool... Speaks for itself, no?

And to finish, the Finnish carrot cake, again. We love it.

A few ideas...

Fri, 26 May 2006 20:31:08 GMT

... for those nights when we're not feeling too creative and we're left staring at a pile of vegetables.

When in doubt, make curry

This curried concoction (sorry, no photo) is not up to our usual standard, but sometimes, things get desperate. Just put onions, garlic, spices, canned chick peas, cauliflower, tomatoes, and mangetouts into the pot, along with coconut milk, for as long as each item needs to cook. Season with salt and serve with steamed basmati rice.

Or pasta - of course

Here we have the ever-pleasing spaghetti alle vongole. Clams! With with white wine, garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper and NO CHEESE. In Italian food, cheese and fish do not mix. In fact, they should never mix except on a tuna melt. Please, people, don't mix cheese and fish. Fish is so delightful on its own. We'll now step off our soap box. For the moment....

More pasta

One of our favourites. Spinach with garlic, olive oil, s/p, ricotta and romano or parmesan cheese. In this case, cheese is good. This recipe takes about 15 minutes and we often have it when we're eating late, about 11pm. Oh wait, we always eat around 11. Ha.

From the other side of the Mediterranean

By the way, don't you just love our tablecloth?

Spanish tortilla is so good and so simple, like a lot of Spanish cooking. Just potatoes (fried), onions and egg. If you want the recipe, you have to ask for it. The salad has, besides your basic lettuce, olives, shaved carrot, feta and tomatoes with just salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and Spanish olive oil as a dressing. Easy.

We begin...

Fri, 26 May 2006 20:09:23 GMT

...with a birthday meal. Like many Carew dinners, this one was well-balanced.

The Menu - 25 April 2006

Steamed broccoli (with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice)

Mashed potatoes with gravy (made quickly from the juice from the roast beef)

Finnish roast beef

Followed by

A selection of French cheeses, brought back the previous week from Paris - Roquefort, Camembert and a hard goat cheese of some sort.

Crusty French bread

And to finish

Carrot cake of Finnish origin

Our wines of the night

Bordeaux Superieur - Chateau de Reignac

Grignolino d'Asti - La Fiammenga