Video of my delicious lamb steaks cooked on the bbq and eaten with Chinese stir fry and fresh mint.

The other night was very sunny and I just fancied some lamb steaks and thought instead of an oven cook, grill or fry I would cook them on my small bbq. Whilst I was enjoying cooking and filming and savouring the smells of the wood smoke (takes me back to my boy scout days) I was aware of the outside interference of squeaky kids arriving home from school through the village. I have done my best to remove the aural distractions. I hope that you enjoy the video and don't salivate too much.

Phil xx

Beef stir fry with sticky Hoisin sauce

I have been so busy with my theatre writing lately and my full time Tesco job combined that I have started to look at tasty things I can cook in a hurry so I have more time to devote to my play and reviews and interviews. It never seems to stop but I love it.

On that note I purchased a nice big rump steak the other day (perfect for stir fry - you could also try the slightly more expensive fillet ends) and sliced it up for two stir fries. I added one lot to the wok for five minutes, added some chopped haricot vertes for a fresh crunch for another two or three minutes, tasted for meaty juiciness and turned the heat down. Then as a final part of the stir fry I threw in half a bag of Chinese stir fry leaves followed by a single bag of Amoy straight to wok noodles and lastly added and warmed through a sachet of hoisin stir fry sauce.

A nice cold beer to go with it and I was very happy, replete, and ready to start writing again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To give the stir fry something extra I picked some fresh mint from the garden and added a few leaves to the top. Scrummy!

 



 



 

 

Rib eye steak, new potatoes and green beans

Is it really four weeks since I last wrote on this blog? Possibly so! I have been so busy with other paid aspects of my writing that time just flies by and ... well it just flies by.

My main concentration has been on completing a twenty page feature on plays with a connection to the First World War and other interviews with the good and the great from the world of theatre for Sardines magazine. Also I have been reviewing plays right left and centre and doing my day job too.

Have I cooked much of interest? Well, possibly not although I did attempt to make some lamb meatballs the other day in a fit of a - must cook something nice - moment. They were ok and perhaps I went a bit barmy with the chilli but they were edible and I have frozen some for future usage.

I also made a huge fish pie which was totally delicious and lasted three for four days. I would highly recommend adding single cream in the first cook of the fish mix. Plus if you can't afford or simply don't want to shell out for smoked haddock then smoked Vietnamese River Cobbler is a good substitute and a fraction of the price of the haddock.

The weather has been exceptionally nice today so I have had a bit of a cleaning blitz around the house and washed some cushion covers form the front room amongst bed linen etc..

Today I have been in the rare situation where I haven't had to attach myself to my laptop and type away my fingers. Although yesterday I could have screamed as I managed to delete an interview with the director of Pilot Theatre off my Dictaphone by accident. I was trying to be clever and attempt to make an audio clip for my theatre blog without really understanding how to do it. Ooops deleted! So I had to try and recall the basics of what was discussed. Not easy and I would have preferred to have kept the original with the fine details.

Today I have had a nice lunch of fried rib eye steak, new potatoes and green beans with horseradish sauce. Unusually no cats from next door tried to deprive me of any of it!

After lunch I took my lily white legs outside for a soak in the sun. A nice glass or two of Hereford Argentinian red wine (tempranillio/malbec) helped pass away half an hour whilst I chatted to my elderly neighbour Betty.