Meal 2: Cauliflower Cheese

Please don't call me a cheat but I have made this before and there's no ingredients in it that I don't like... I said don't.
 The thing about cauliflower cheese is that I had to make a roux sauce or a white sauce or a cheese sauce (whatever you like to call it). Pasta is easy to do and although the cauliflower was awkward to chop, all I had to do was boil it. The sauce is where I failed.
 Firstly, as soon as my sister, Leah, saw the video she told me I had put the flour in wrong and that I didn't have to sieve it. And secondly, I just couldn't get the consistency or the taste right AT ALL. But I had no idea how to fix it so I just threw it in with the pasta and the cauliflower anyway.
 A white sauce might be something I have to practice making. Which I did. I made a lasagne recently (blog post to come) which contained a white sauce, but that also had its problems and they were completely different to this time.
 Here's the link to the cauliflower cheese video- filmed by my lovely friend, Sarah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENTpYMX2lnc

As you can see we had a bit of trouble with the salt. Even so, Sarah thought it still needed more salt and my mum thought it was too salty. Can't please everyone eh?

Hannah x

Meal 1: Spaghetti Bolognese

I thought I would start off with something basic and pretty essential. The main thing for me about making this dish was putting in vegetables that I don't like, so I included a courgette and mushrooms into the sauce.

 So I started by chopping an onion and some garlic which resulted in tears, although it wasn't as bad as previous encounters I've had with onions. It must have been a tame one. Next I chopped the carrots (which I like) and the courgette and mushrooms (which I don't like). I'd never chopped these two things before so that was interesting. I really had no clue if they grew, shrunk or stayed the same size when you cooked them so I had no idea what sort of size pieces to cut them into. I also had to make up my method of chopping as I went along. The mushrooms were actually really nice to chop, the feeling of the knife going through the raw mushroom was surprisingly satisfying and I would definitely recommend it. 

 Oil went in the pan, (although my dad told me later I used the wrong type of oil) followed by the onions and garlic which smelt really good as they were frying. Now at this point I wasn't sure whether to add the minced meat next or the vegetables I had just chopped. I opted for the veg (please tell me if I was wrong). I wasn't sure what courgette and mushrooms look like when they are cooked but I took a guess and then threw in the meat. 

 One hurdle I've always come across whilst cooking is flavouring. I genuinely have no idea what different herbs, spices and sauces all taste and smell like so I could never be that person who says "oh it definitely needs some rosemary or thyme..." Most of the time I even forget to add salt and pepper!

 After the meat was nice and brown (number 1 priority is to not poison anyone) I added two tins of chopped tomato and some tomato puree, my friend, Sarah, told me I added them the wrong way around but hey. I then left it to simmer in the pan whilst the spaghetti cooked. 

 Me, spaghetti and any other pasta type thing really don't get on very well. I can never judge how much to use. It always doesn't look like much and then when it's all cooked you realise you've got enough pasta to feed a hungry football team. I ended up asking my dad how much to use. 

 Once everything was ready it was time to dish up and to taste the mess I had just created. Mum said she liked it but it needed more flavouring (see!) and dad just seemed to think the only thing missing was wine. As for myself, I ATE THE WHOLE THING! I couldn't taste the mushrooms at all which was a relief but I could taste the courgettes, which weren't that great but I powered through anyway. 

To see spaghetti bolognese in action check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQqNgQYP9Gk

Hannah x

My Relationship With Food

What makes a good cook? And I don't mean head chef/owner of a restaurant good cook. I just mean someone with an ability to make nice, interesting meals for themselves and friends and family. I am not a good cook. If it was acceptable to feed myself and others cake the whole time I would be an excellent cook, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works.

 My parents are both great cooks so I've never needed to really learn and also I'm a terribly fussy eater so if I'm ever home alone I have no clue where to start and I end up just shoving a pizza in the oven. Done. 

 As I am well into adulthood now, I thought it high time I learnt how to feed myself properly and experiment more when it comes to trying new food. 

 I will try to cook as much as possible and document it in film and/or words. This way of keeping a tab means that hopefully I won't simply give up when I get bored.

 So, here goes nothing. Prepare to witness some awful cooking!

Hannah x