Husband has been away visiting his family for a week now and already I have disintegrated and dug out our wedding videos. It's only a question of time now before I'll be putting on the wedding gown.



But on the other hand I have been trying to enjoy my new temporary single life and freedom and do all the things that I can't do when he is home.

I thought there isn't anything I can't do while he is here, but during this first week I have come to realise there are quite a few things his otherwise very gentle presence prohibits. So far I have uncovered the following important things I can now do with my newfound temporary freedom:

1. Watch Food Network and Good Food channel without the need to ever switch to news / football / a Steven Seagal movie
2. Put fresh coriander in every dish
3. Comb my hair back without trying to hide my vast forehead

So you don't have to scratch our subservient surfaces very hard to unearth some outrageous and rebellious behaviour.

Unlike the last time he was away, I decided this time around I will actually cook myself proper meals instead of defaulting to my bread and cheese habit. So this week I have actually eaten some homemade food. I have made some stuff that I wouldn't necessary have cooked for husband, like a big bowl of lovely roast vegetables and couscous with lots of chilli and coriander, three c-words that husband is not keen on. And I also made a fish roe linguine. A terrible mistake. Very fishy. The whole house smelled like the Dubai fish market in July.

And I made a beautiful Niçoise salad which husband wouldn't find too controversial but would prefer the tuna fully cooked, whereas I  just quickly seared the fillet the way it should be done.

This is my version of the Salade Niçoise, so forgive the absence of beans. I have nothing against beans, but I find them a bit boring. The Ben Affleck of green vegetables.

Salade Niçoise with fresh seared tuna (serves 2)

2 fresh tuna fillets
Salt
Pepper

Optional marinade for the tuna:
Juice of half an orange
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp soy
2 tbsp garlic infused olive oil

Salad:
2 hard boiled eggs
2-3 boiled potatoes
2 tbsp of capers
10 olives
4-5 anjovies
1/2 a red onion
Handful of cherry tomatoes
A bag of rocket
1 large head of baby gem lettuce

Vinaigrette:
1 garlic clove
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/3 cup oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional to pickle the red onion:
Sprinkle of sugar and salt
Red wine vinegar

If you want to marinade the tuna, mix all the marinade ingredients and leave the tuna steaks to marinade in it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. But you can just season the steaks with salt and pepper.

Cover the potatoes with water in a pan. Salt well and bring to boil. In about 20 minutes (depending on the size of your potatoes) lower the eggs carefully with a spoon to the boiling water and cook for 7 minutes exactly. The potatoes should be done now as well, but if not continue cooking them until they are done.

While the potatoes are cooking assemble the rest of the salad.

Slice the onion very thinly. I like to use the mandolin.You can use the onion as it is, but I like to pickle it quickly by just sprinkling it with a little sugar and salt and a generous splash of red wine vinegar.

Prepare the vinaigrette by crushing the garlic into a lidded glass jar. Add the rest of the ingredients, close the jar and shake to mix well. Check the taste and adjust seasoning.

Toss the salad leaves and halved cherry tomatoes in some of the vinaigrette dressing and place on a platter. Add the olives and capers onto the platter.

When the potatoes and eggs are done add some oil on a frying pan. When hot add the tuna steaks. They only need 1 minute per side.

While the tuna is cooking quickly slice the potato and peel and quarter the eggs and add on the platter adding some anchovies on top.

Slice the tuna steaks and place on top of the salad and drizzle with a little of the vinaigrette.

Husband left me yesterday. Not completely, thank God, although I recently had a nightmare that he was filing for divorce on the grounds of embarrassment. I have a clear and audible voice which he finds acutely embarrassing in public situations, he on the other hand mumbles, which I find annoying. And talking of dreams I had one where my sister was telling me I was starting to look really old.  My jaw particularly was alarming. "It must be really difficult", she empathised.

But no, jaw is still reasonably decent and husband has not left me completely, but just gone to visit his family. Although it is for four weeks. FOUR WEEKS! I'm already beginning to forget what he looks like.

But luckily I am a calm and undramatic adult, so I wasn't crying all the way home on M4 after taking him to Heathrow yesterday. And I didn't smell his T-shirts when I got home, because that would have been just silly and a kind of a chick-lit cliche, which obviously doesn't happen in real life at all.

But as an ever-devoted wife during the last week before his departure I focused on managing the volume of my conversation in public places and cooking him his favourite foods to make sure he will come back to me.




I asked him everyday what he would like for dinner and his requests were lovely and simple like seafood pasta, which I made on his last day here and true to my incapability to manage the amounts I cook I am now left with a massive container that would probably still feed about 60 people.

Another request was boiled potatoes (like my mum makes them) and roast chicken legs, But then his younger kid announced that he would be coming for dinner and to stay with a friend of his, so I changed the boiled potatoes to home-made oven chips, because of lack of evidence of teenagers' love for boiled potatoes. I made 20 buffalo chicken wings, 6 large chicken thighs and 9 drumsticks with lemon, garlic and herbs and 1.5 kg of oven chips, with a big loaf of garlic bread thrown in. And almost all was polished off.

Husband's kid is a good eater, but his friend was just awesome. I love it when people eat a lot. I told the guy he can definitely come again! Maybe it was just different food from what he normally gets, or he's just a big eater, but for a skinny teenager (and I am used to skinny hungry teenagers) he really could put it way. On the way back home after my substantial breakfast spread munching through the container of peanut butter cookies I had packed with them he had told my stepson that "She's a really good cook!"

My steak and chip dinner wasn't a request by husband per se, but it's a lovely man-meal that he is not going to get in the next few weeks.


I have become really good at barbecuing steaks. I don't really like to fry them on the pan anyway anymore because of the amount of smoke and smell in the house. And the sound of the fire alarm. It's not as bad as at my sisters' where every time she is frying steaks the fire alarm goes off and they then also get a call from the security company and have to insert passwords into all kinds of systems to avoid the fire brigade arriving. Maybe it's payback for being so judgmental about other people's  perfectly normal jawlines.

So I won't let seasons deter me from my coal barbie, but will keep going through the winter. With steaks you don't have to stay outdoors for that long, just quickly pop the steaks on and go back to turn them once or twice. Probably not more than a minute of mandatory outdoor time. I am a hardy arctic fox after all.

Sometimes I cook the steaks just as they are, or maybe with just some herbs and of course salt and pepper, but sometimes I love to marinade the steaks. This marinade is absolutely awesome, I have used it on fillet and sirloin steaks and boy are they amazing every time. This time I thought these might have been the best steaks I've ever had. If these won't bring husband back to me, then I don't know what will.

Marinated sirloin steaks

2 sirloin steaks, thick cut and matured
1/3 cup olive oil (or vegetable oil)
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup red wine
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a plastic bag. Remove all visible fat from the steaks and add the steaks to the bag rubbing the marinade all over the meat. Refrigerate overnight or for a few hours turning once or twice.

Take out 3-4 hours before cooking to get properly into room temperature.

Get your charcoal grill going or whatever method you are using. You can fry in a pan, but whatever you use, make sure it's hot.

Fry 3-4 minutes each side seasoning lightly with salt once done. Let rest for 5 minutes in a warm place and serve with healthy side dishes like oven baked sweet potato chips, asparagus and salad
.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, and I don't want to brag or anything, but after about 3 months on my revised healthy eating plan husband's HbA1C, which is the long term measure of glucose control, had gone back down to a level that is considered pre-diabetic. The doctor was flabbergasted and asked what was behind this miracle. The wife, answered husband.



I have to give him part of the credit. He's been a very good boy and has completely cut out chocolate and other sweet snacks from his daily diet and is sticking to the contents of the lunchbox I lovingly prepare for him every morning. It usually contains sandwiches made with rye or other wholemeal bread and filled with lean meat or oily fish, tomato and cucumber slices, and for snacks there is unsalted nuts and seeds, fruit and veg like mini-carrots or cherry tomatoes.

There are occasional relapses I'm sure, when the lure of the bounty bar beats the crudites, but that's ok.  Like last Saturday when I dug out some chocolates for the kids, husband ran to the bowl crying "Chocolate!" then grabbing a few explaining he hadn't had any for a long time and happily munching away. No one has to be perfect every single day, what matters is the long term trend. Husband did a "how long do I have left" test on FB and apparently he's going to live another 66 years, which would take him well onto his second century, so that's good news!

I may need to review my red wine and cheese consumption if I want stay here for same amount of time and I definitely think I should if only to make sure there is someone around cooking him healthy meals.

This fish bake has all sorts of good things, like spinach and broccoli and of course the fish, filled with good oils. The potato topping is made healthier and lower GI by leaving the skins on and replacing some of the potato with sweet potato which surprisingly is lower GI than the regular tattie. We find it a bit sweet on it's own, but it works great when used half and half with normal potatoes. If you let the potato slices cool after par-boiling you can even create a nice pattern. Mine were too hot to handle, so the design is a bit more rustic, but beautiful:



Superfood spinach and broccoli fish pie with potato and sweet potato topping

A couple of sprays of rapeseed (or other healthy) oil
2-3 unpeeled potatoes, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin)
2-3 unpeeled sweet potatoes thinly sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Florets of one broccoli
A bag (150-200g) fresh spinach (roughly chopped)
Zest and juice of a lemon
2 fillets of salmon, cut into chunks
2 fillets of cod, cut into chunks
3 heaped tbsp of 0% fat yoghurt (or a couple of tbsp of low fat sour cream)
Small bunch of fresh basil, dill or parsley or 2-3 tsp dried herbs
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200ºC

Par-boil the thinly sliced unpeeled potatoes and sweet potatoes in slightly salted water until they have softened a little, drain and set aside.

Spray a large non-stick pan with oil and saute the onion with a small sprinkling of salt for 2-3 minutes. Add minced garlic and continue frying for a minute or so. Add the broccoli florets and saute for another five mins. Add the spinach and black pepper and cook until the spinach begins to wilt. Spread the vegetables evenly in a baking dish.

Prep the fish, remove bones and skin and cut into bite size pieces. Season lightly with salt and pepper, add the chopped fresh or dried herbs, yoghurt, zest and juice of a lemon and mix well. Spread the fish mix on top of the vegetables.

Top the dish with the potato slices, season lightly with salt and pepper and give the top a light spray
of olive or vegetable oil.

Bake for 25 - 30 mins or until the potatoes are golden and crispy around the edges.

Here's another comforting wintry recipe, there will be lots of stews ahead, just warning y'all. (Too much Pioneer Woman lately, soz.) But this one is also quite elegant somehow. Probably the cider, adds elegance to any occasion.

You could make it even more elegant, by roasting the joint whole and then slicing and serving it with the sauce on the side, like my grandmother and mother, both formidable cooks and elegant ladies, would have done for a fine Sunday roast. But I felt a bit more edgy and modern, so I cut the roast in chunks. I may not be a crazy anarchist, and you will never find me living in a tent on Parliament Square with banderoles saying "Out with the old" or "One solution: Revolution", but at least I cut my joints the way I like.



I did feel a bit guilty chopping the beautiful topside roast.

Reindeer of course is impossible to come by in most parts of the world, but this recipe can be made with venison or other similar game meat. I don't know what that might be, kangaroo perhaps. Or even beef.

Reindeer is quite a unique taste, a lot stronger and more gamy than red deer or moose meat, but similarly dark and lean. It has a very elegant, strong taste that will work beautifully with just a simple salt and pepper seasoning, but it's nice to try something different. I love marinading meat anyway. It's one of my favourite things together with period drama and Christmas.

I did this recipe for husband and his boys the other weekend. I also did a Greek lamb stew in case the boys would be squeamish about eating reindeer. I think they have eaten reindeer at least in small doses before, but I wasn't sure if this would still be too much. I shouldn't have worried. The lamb was really nice as well, but the reindeer went down even better.

I think Finnish Lapland fingerling potatoes (Puikula PDO!!) or potato mash would be the best accompaniment to this dish. But I was a bit short on Lapland fingerling potatoes only available for the 42 minutes the Arctic summer lasts, and didn't feel like mash, so I made herby roast potatoes which were really nice.

Reindeer in creamy cider sauce

800g reindeer topside roast

Marinade:

1 cup apple cider
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp dried thyme
3 cloves of garlic

For the stew:
1 yellow onion, chopped
Game stock (or beef stock)
Fresh chopped parsley
Salt
Black pepper
Splash of single cream
2 heaped tbsp cream cheese (or sour cream)

Cut the meet in one inch pieces, mix all the marinade ingredients together and add the meat and the marinade to a plastic bag making sure the meat is covered all over with the marinade. Refrigerate overnight turning the bag a few times.

Take the meat out of the marinade and pat dry letting it come to room temperature. Keep the marinade.

Preheat oven to 190C.
Heat a lug of oil in a large ovenproof pan or dutch oven. Add the reindeer pieces in batches and fry on medium to high heat until nicely browned. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.

Add the onion and fry on low heat for few minutes. Add the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Add the meat back into the pan and add the stock.

In a separate pan bring the marinade to boil, skim the foam from the top until you are left with a clear liquid. Sieve the liquid and add to the meat.

Cover and cook in the pre-heated oven for about 2 hours stirring every once in a while and adding water if necessary until the meat is soft. Add the cream and cream cheese, mix well. Cook for another few minutes and serve with your choice of healthy carbs and a fresh side salad.

It is time to let go of the barbecue. I will still do the occasional ribeye steak on the outside coal barbie, but the time has come to dig out the dutch oven, root vegetables and hardy meats.



Game is really healthy, low in saturated fats and full of iron and vitamin B12 (venison at least) and all kinds of good things albeit with the occasional shot, which I always try to find lest husband get upset at the violent end of our dinner ingredients. Which I think is a lot more merciful than the modern abattoir waiting for the farm animals. Just whetting your appetites here with these entertaining death stories. So if your target audience is of sentimental constitution when it comes to gunned down wildlife feel free to include an additional step of palpating the meat for any shot into the instructions below.

Other than that this is a very easy, tasty and comforting autumn food. You can make it into a  stew if you prefer, just use less liquid. You can also make this into a darker soup or stew using red wine and beef stock, but I think lately I have given husband too much weird dark food like squid ink pasta and black paella, so he casually enquired at some point whether there would be red food on the menu any time soon.

This soup really hit the spot when husband was suffering from his first manflu of the season and came home one night exhausted and bunged up. He collapsed on the sofa resuming the fetal position and exclaimed "What life is this? Life of work and illness!" He can be quite dramatic at times, but also very responsive to care. So I told him to go have a long hot shower, put his PJ's and warm socks on, tuned the TV from Food Network to football and brought him a steaming bowl of this tasty, nourishing and vibrantly red soup with toasted seeded bread and a hot toddy. Not sure if his physical symptoms got any better, but his outlook on life brightened instantly.

Warming game soup with tomato and root vegetables

Oil
500g game (I had ready-made game mix of venison, pheasant, partridge and mallard)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red pointed capsicum, chopped
1-2 tbsp of chopped fresh thyme
Pinch of smoked paprika
1 small turnip, chopped
2-3 potatoes, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Small can (227g) of chopped tomatoes
2 cups low salt chicken stock
Water if necessary
Salt
Black pepper

Add a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil in a lidded non-stick pan. Add the meat that has been cut into 2cm cubes. Brown the meat and remove from the pan.

Add the onions to the pan and saute for a few minutes. Add the minced garlic and capsicum and continue to saute. Add the wine and let it evaporate a little before adding the chicken stock. Add the meat back into the pan with the thyme and paprika. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and leave to cook on low heat for about 45 minutes.

Add the rest of the vegetables and continue cooking for 20-30 minutes until the meat is soft and the vegetables are done. If you want to make it a stew, use a bit less liquid or cook without a lid for some of the cooking time.  Or if you want to make it very soupy, add a bit of water.

Garnish with a sprinkling of fresh thyme leaves and serve with warm, fresh bread.