On arrival in Stirling, I was delighted to have a kitchen available to me again. I went out to the supermarket and did, what is known as a "slap-up feed". When I was cooking this in the kitchen, I noticed a French family who were emptying cans of tomato soup into bowls and heating them in the microwave, uncovered. I was amazed. Don't they have kitchens in France? For a start, if they'd emptied their cans of soup into a pan and heated them on the cooker, it would have been faster and it all would have been hot at the same time. Secondly, the microwave is pretty rubbish at heating things thoroughly, and as a result they kept returning to the kitchen to heat their soup a bit more. Thirdly, by leaving the bowls uncovered they left spatters of soup all over the interior of the microwave oven. So as a result, I thought I'd present my little recipe which I think was nice, filling and quick to prepare. It also entailed very little washing-up. Surely it's an improvement on the standard traveller's fare of spaghetti bolognaise?
Ingredients for Will's Stirling Stew
| can of chopped tomatoes |
| half-can of kidney beans |
| 1 box of fresh shellfish medley: prawns, mussels, squid rings etc. |
| 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced |
| bag of parsley (flat or curley), washed and chopped, or a tablespoon of capers, rinsed |
| salt, pepper, paprika, stock (if you have any) |
| oil / butter |
| bread |
put the garlic into a saucepan with some oil and fry on a moderate heat. After a few mins, rinse the shellfish and add these. After five minutes, rinse and add the kidney beans. After a couple of minutes add the chopped tomatoes, chopped parsley / capers, and spices (if you have any). Avoid adding chilli to this dish, as chilli does not concilliate with the shellfish. Serve hot with bread and butter.