Thursday 19 September 2013

Pot-au-Feu

First of all in the 'real' sense.   Spurred on by Cro Magnon's similar recipe on his site the other day, I decided to make a really healthy pot-au-feu of my own invention for lunch today.   It elicited a "very nice" from the farmer, which is praise indeed - so try it sometime.

I cubed in fairly large chunks - 2 large carrots, 1 large parsnip, 1 large potato, 1 large onion, 1 large turnip (white).   I added vegetable stock (made with a cube) to cover and cooked it in the oven for three quarters of an hour until the vegetables were cooked. Then I took it out of the oven and added - 1 chorizo cut into chunks, half a savoy cabbage shredded, a handful of runner beans topped, tailed and cut into pieces, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of cannelini beans, and cooked it for another half an hour.   We ate it in large soup bowls and it was delicious.

Now for two other 'pot au feu' type stories.

There is a large field opposite our house, to the South West(that means we are North East of the field).   Today there is a fairly sharp wind blowing from the South West and today also the farmer of that land has decided it is a good day to spread the slurry as he has finished his silaging for this year.  All our doors and windows are tight shut, but nothing can keep out the strong smell of slurry.   It's bad enough when it is our own farm slurry but somehow when it belongs to another farm, it is worse!

Now for a story about my morning's mail.   Three letters - all for me - all marked Private and Confidential and very important looking.
The first one was to tell me about the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate in November and to ask whether I would like advance tickets - surely hardly private or confidential (and I don't intend going anyway).   The second - in a very smart cream vellum envelope - was from some private finance firm to see if I would like them to manage my finances.  (no thanks).   The third, and most annoying, was from my bank outlining my affairs for the year in my Current Account.   I have been in the same bank since I was about twenty years old and have had good service from them.   I have had loans for a couple of cars over the years.   They tell me the average amount I have had in my current account over the last year (not far short of a thousand)  and the average debit balance over the last year (nil).  So far so good, but I read the small print and it says:
Current overdraft interest rates - (I have never overdrawn in my entire life) 19.9%.  Current credit interest rates - no credit interest is payable. 

Could someone please explain to me why the banks can get away with charging this high interest on anyone who overdraws and yet someone like me who always keeps well in credit, gets absolutely no interest on their money at all.  It does lead me to ask whether this is in any way connected with the large bonuses which seem to be paid to Bank folk with increasing regularity.

The whole mail this morning leads me also to ask - isn't this paper, which comes through my door every morning, just a terrible waste of trees?

 

14 comments:

mrsnesbitt said...

Love the recipe Pat and am going to give this a go. I will substitute the chirozo for Linda McCartney Rosemary and Red Onion sausages as these are my current fad they are lush and are on offer in Morrisons....£1 a pack!!!! This will also mean it is SW savi and can be eaten on an extra easy or green day or red day!!!!Will explain one day but for the moment will add this to my recipe collection and call it "Weaver's Sausage Sensation!" lol Dxxxx

Crafty Green Poet said...

the recipe does sound nice with mrsnesbitt's veggie twist to it.

Junk mail is certainly irritating and banks, well, my so called ethical bank is now in difficulties, largely because it started trying to compete with the big banks, so i have little faith in any of them. (Apart from Triodos, the one truly ethical bank, but it doesn't offer current accounts)

G said...

Your meal sounds really nice I must try it myself. Today I have cooked two meals a stew and ox tail very slowly with lots of vegetables, one pot, less washing up.

The amount of paper I get from my bank also annoys me as does the fact that I don't get any interest on my current account unless I pay in a large sum of money each month and also have several direct debits. As for the extremely low interest rates on savings.... words fail me until I meet a politician who would like my vote.

Out of interest have just looked up credit card interest rates on the web. One company charges 627.0% for a credit card designed for those with a less than perfect credit status. No interest charges - Single monthly fee of £15 per £100 borrowed, or part thereof.

John Going Gently said...

Nice one pat...
The first stew sounds cracking
I am making it tomorrow

Anonymous said...

Your recipe sounds very good. My husband (who does 90 percent of the cooking here) has a dish that is similar, but he cooks it in a solar oven. The Arizona sun is perfect for solar cooking and it doesn't heat up the house.
Sandy @ My Yellow Swing

Heather said...

Your recipe sounds delicious and is very seasonal. Hope the 'good country smell' soon gets wafted off to somewhere else. Our mail is mostly letters from charities - the ones that send a free gift really infuriate me. As for banks, they are certainly not what they used to be. In the good old days they provided a service. The latest thing in our local bank is to have only two cashiers on duty which at times generates a long queue, but two other members of staff are there specifically to greet customers and ask what transactions they have come to make. The cashier then thanks us for our patience when we reach her. Mine is wearing thin!

Reader Wil said...

Yesterday I watched TV and quess what? I saw the beautiful Yorkshire Dales in the programm Rail Away. I thought of course of you and Denise! You live in a very beautiful part of the world.Kind regards from Holland!
Wil

A Heron's View said...

Personally I would omit the sausage and addd cloves of garlic and accompany it with garlic buttered toast.
Yes we are very partial to garlic!

Cloudia said...

Change must come or we will all be further enslaved by the wizards of finance. Surely you might find even token interest elsewhere and vote with your feet.


Aloha

Hildred said...

Lunch sounds delicious, - the slurry not so much so!!!

I hear what you are saying about Banks, Pat, - they are the same world wide I guess. My pet peeve about the mail is that everything that gets put in the local post office gets sent to Vancouver to be sorted by a large machine that continually makes mistakes and holds up the mail for days. I swear it sits and molds in corners of the Vancouver Postal facility....have I made this complaint here before?

Em Parkinson said...

I made a choritzo stew last night with chick peas and fennel so I will try yours too.

The banks are scandalous and there would be an uncut forest somewhere in the world if I never got any of that nightmare pile of junk every day!

MorningAJ said...

Don't talk to me about banks! One of the things I've noticed lately is that one of them (Halifax I think) is offering £100 to anyone switching to their new current account. But the fees for the account are £15 a month. So - you stay with them 10 months and you're £50 out of pocket.

Sounds more like robbery to me.

Gerry Snape said...

..I would have said the same as you about paper a waste of trees until this years treat in Sweden and then travelling on to Norway....trees trees trees and most of them ...for paper....an empty land ...so grow those trees!!! Lovely post Pat...

The Weaver of Grass said...

Enjoy that recipe all those who intend to try it, as it is or with various alterations. Thanks for calling in.