“Bought Borrowed & Stolen ~ Recipes and Knives from a Travelling Chef” by Allegra McEvedy ~ a Review

As you probably know my computer committed suicide about a week ago and what a time to go!  My real men were on a trip Up North and I had intended to make good use of my time alone writing lots of articles and stuff and generally sorting out all my notes, pics and documents.  No such luck!  I just hope someone somewhere sometime can get access to my hard drive for me.  In the meantime I did a bit of sorting out the fridge and eating.  As you know I love a leftover so I ate well …

~   Panko Crusted Avocado – pretty good actually, just sliced avocado floured, egged, crumbed and fried to crisp.  I had this with Tesco’s Finest Whole Cherry Tomato & Chilli Sauce which I use for so many things.

~   Cream Tea Bread Pudding for One (me) – I found an old scone in the fridge and some out of date (but I use my nose and brain rather than best before dates) clotted cream. My real man had  bought me some strawberries to enjoy in his absence so I layered up sliced scone sugared strawberries and clotted cream, whisked up an egg, sugar and milk and made this …

~   Chorizo Roasted Potatoes – I’m having a bit of a “thing” about chorizo so just tossed together some par-boiled potatoes, thinly sliced said spicy sausage, olive oil and roasted the mixture till bits of it were crisp.  Delicious with roasted tomatoes, crunchy sea salt and a couple of fried eggs

~   Jerk Cheese (!) on Toast – this was a cheesey experiment, I presume, that my darling picked up somewhere for my delectation.  It was fine actually; sort of tomatoey strong cheddar with a slight spiciness which I would not have associated with the famous Jamaican dish.

~   Roasted Butternut Squash with Baked Tortilla Scraps – I love butternut squash, red onion and a spot of chilli roasted together.  Usually I have this on pizza but finding a pack of tortilla wraps that seemed to be stuck together I prised a few pieces off, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and baked them till crisp.  They were good with the squash in lieu of a pizza base.

~   Leftover Porridge Hotcakes, Leftover Porridge & Choc Chip Brownies and Leftover Porridge & Dried Cherry Muffins (yerst – I found some leftover porridge).

… and so on.

Happily during this time a big exciting book arrived (from Conran Octopus - thank you!) so at least I had something to do other than eat!

This is just the sort of book I like; a lovely mix of reminiscences, photos, food talk and recipes and it gave me itchy feet, I want to go travelling again.  Like me Ms. McEvedy has visited all sorts of places but, unlike me, she had the presence of mind to keep notes and also, quirkily, to collect a knife from each location.  Her writing is easy, friendly and personal, her eclectic mix of recipes, taken from 19 different destinations, are interesting and inspiring (I shall definitely be trying the Leafy Green Fritters with Tamarind & Chilli Dip which she had in Burma and the Japanese Confit Salmon in Ginger Juice) and I very much like the useful information given about each destination in the Fact File at the start of each chapter. 

On my preliminary flick I turned, of course, straight to the Caribbean and whilst surprised to see a great sounding recipe for Rabbit Lasagne I realise that this is a book about food actually eaten rather than dishes typical of each country.  I was also homesick to read about the islands and their rum drinks!   In the Fact File she suggests that one doesn’t ask directions for the nearest gay bar!  So true.

And my favourite knife?  I think it was this one …

As I said this is a big book both in scope and in physical size; a big solid hardback with well over 100 recipes and somewhat old fashioned photography by Andrew Montgomery including attractive collages at the start of each chapter.  It was published by Conran Octopus on 3^rd ISBN-10: 1840915773, ISBN-13: 978-1840915778 and you can buy it from Amazon