Granny Wobbly's!

I am often disconcerted, when walking through Wadebridge, to see this displayed in a window!

~  Menu  ~

Salmon & Asparagus Hash

Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise

White Wine Spritzer

A Tad of Granny Wobbly’s Finest

Coffee

Today’s lunch was very sudden yet very satisfying.  

My leftovers comprised 3 cold cooked new potatoes, about 3 ounces (oops, sorry, I mean 85g) of cooked salmon and 4 stalks of asparagus which surprised me as I thought I’d finished the lot off yesterday.  So I made ...

Salmon & Asparagus Hash

~   I snapped the asparagus into short lengths and cooked it in a non-stick pan with a little oil, salt and pepper till al dente.  I much prefer asparagus roasted, sautéed or grilled to steamed or poached; tastier and a nice texture.  I set the asparagus aside.

~   Heated a spoonful more oil and added the new potatoes which I crushed in a manly sort of way and fried over medium heat till crunchy and golden.

~   A broke the salmon into little bits and added it to the pan together with the waiting asparagus.

~   Chivvied the whole lot into a sort of cake arrangement and decanted it onto my waiting plate.

All that and I didn’t even use a knife!!

(I'd like to apologise for the poor quality of this picture but you get the gist!)

The roasted garlic mayo that I have been so enthusiastic with is from M & S and I love it.  Yes I could, and indeed do, make my own but this is so delicious and handy, has a long shelf life, comes in a useful squirty bottle and doesn't upset my real man with it's garlicky aroma as it does when I make my own! I have quite a passion for it with fish and potatoes.

Granny Wobbly

I went to Wadebridge the other day.  Every time I am there I assume a vague, possibly gormless, look and wander into Granny Wobbly’s Fudge Pantry where I “test” their sample fudges and hope they don’t recognise me.  I may invest in a moustache!  Having been “surprised” at the excellence of their product I then buy some as is only right and proper.

If you haven’t tried Granny’s Wobbly’s wonderful fudge and you live anywhere near Cornwall for Gawd’s sake come and get some or order it online here.

The vanilla fudge I bought was intended for some fudgy experiments for my forthcoming book (see below) but so far I haven’t got round to trying my ideas and could hear it calling to me from the cupboard.  

“Suzy – you know you want me!”

What could I do?

A bit more about the wonderful Granny Wobbly (actually there are two of them and one is a chap!) who make, on the premises, the best fudge I have ever tasted; rich, crumbly and perfect, in five standard flavours; Vanilla, Maple and Walnut , Rum and Raisin, Butterscotch and Chocolate plus a weekly mystery flavour and other specialities.  In addition to the basic flavours I myself have assiduously tried their Lemon Meringue Fudge, their Sparkly Chocolate Mint and the Christmas Pud – some while ago now.

News From Way Into the Future!

My "Forthcoming book" was published in March 2013 as The Leftovers Handbook and a second edition is now available under the new title Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers. 

Read More Here

The Wonders of Wadebridge

Today’s lunch was soup again – I’m very partial – made from the carcass of a roast chicken.

Chunky Chicken, Leek & Potato Soup – serves 2 generously

A roast chicken carcass – not too thoroughly stripped 
(see here for how to use every part of a chicken)
1 large leek 
1 tbsp olive oil 
1 large baking potato 
500 ml water or stock

~ Put the carcass into a pot (break it up if necessary) and add the water or stock. 
~ Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. 
~ Turn off the heat and remove the chicken from the stock - set aside a few minutes till cool enough to handle. 
~ Manually strip every last bit of meat from the bones (there are two particularly succulent nuggets of flesh, known as oysters, on the underside of the chicken), and set the meat aside. 
~ If you are not in a hurry return the bones to the stock and cook for a while longer but it’s not essential - you can always add a stock cube! 
~ Cut off the root end of the leek, remove the outer layer and cut the leek into pieces. Clean carefully. 
~ Cook the leek gently, covered, in the olive oil till soft. 
~ Peel and slice the potato and add to the leeks. Pour over the chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer till the potatoes are tender. 
~ Using a potato masher crush the potatoes into the soup. 
~ Taste and season and stir in the reserved chicken pieces. 
~ Reheat as needed but Do Not Boil once the chicken has been added or it will toughen.

This is delicious with croutons and frazzled prosciutto torn into pieces and baked alongside the croutons till crisp. See here for how to make deliciously perfect croutons from leftover bread.

Yesterday I popped into Wadebridge for a couple of hours – got myself some delicious soup enhancing Vicky’s bread, from Relish. I was so pleased to see The Vine open – the superb greengrocers, until very recently known as Stokes on the Platt, which had a bit of trouble, closed briefly and was saved by shop staff and the people of Wadebridge.

I like Wadebridge - it's a real town with real shops, many of them, including Relish and The Vine, selling really good food; two excellent butchers (I pondered lamb shanks but I think I’ll get some later this week) a fishmonger, Granny Wobbly’s of course, and the lovely greengrocers in question – also lots of charity shops which are another reason to go there.

Fudge being made at Granny Wobbly's

We have been nomading around for years so I am used to packing up all our belongings and moving on, I thought I was quite good at it. Not so apparently - I have, for a while been wondering where some kippers had gone - opening bags and boxes in an ever more cautious manner. Eventually I decided I must have left them in our caravan which we vacated almost 2 weeks ago. – so yesterday we went and had a look. Thank God we did because they were just on the verge of becoming seriously under-pleasant and I think by next April they would have been well past their best.