We happened to be doing an errand in Shawlands on Friday when we decided to message Heather and Ewan to ask them round for dinner on Saturday evening. We were delighted that they accepted and we popped into Stalks and Stems greengrocers in Pollokshaws Road to find inspiration for the menu. There were some very exotic fruits and vegetables on display, and from these we chose two papaya and a celeriac. I knew that I had a recipe for celeriac soup somewhere and with a bit of searching I found it in my Covent Garden Soup Book. James made it; it had a very subtle delicate flavour which I thought was lovely - James however found it a bit TOO subtle and thought that it could have benefited from something extra, like perhaps garlic croutons. He served it with his home made bread, always a winner.
The papaya proved to be more problematic. I found recipes online for papaya salad but not for a tagine or curry as I had hoped. Perhaps papaya is too soft a fruit to hold its own in with slow cooked meat. Instead I cooked a chicken tagine recipe that included olives and lemon and a heap of spices that made it very hot. It was however quite tasty and seemed to go down well with our guests, with whom we had a relaxed and pleasant evening.
What to do with our unused papaya? Well, I have frozen one of them (I cut it into chunks, air froze it on a baking tray, then divided it into small bags). And I made the second one into smoothies - there was enough for four large smoothies - using almond milk, turmeric and honey. James and I have consumed them over the last couple of days and have found them to be delicious and refreshing. However after each one I have had quite severe stomach cramps and wonder if there is a connection. Mind you it doesn’t take much to irritate my stomach lining; in that respect I am indeed my father’s daughter!
No comments:
Post a Comment