The Cottage Smallholder


stumbling self sufficiency in a small space

souflette omeletteIt’s strange but I always choose what we will eat in the evening. Even when Danny does the big shop. Even when he does the cooking.

I wake up and the second thought after”I must have a large mug of tea. Now.” Is immediately, “What will we eat tonight?

D is a carnivore with a capital K. If I am feeling tired and droopy, I want light meals with very little meat. He is understanding and agrees to the wildest whims as long as
1) I take his turn to cook
and
2) He can have chips

Chips would be an integral, pivotal element of D’s diet if he went vegetarian. Forget the Quinoa.

We don’t have a deep fat fryer or even a microwave. So we used to make our own chips and oven bake them. We briefly worried about the fat and switched to the wannabe slimmer’s choice: McCain’s (5% fat).

One dreadful day, the supermarket had sold out of low fat chips. It was steak night and steak with chips and all the trimmings (tomatoes and there must be fresh mushrooms) is D’s favourite meal. In the next section of the giant freezer display were large beefy bags bursting with chips. I thought that these were probably crinkle cut and examined them with a sniff. These were Mc Cain’s Home Fries, I read the tag line “Our best tasting oven chip” and popped a sack into my trolley.

Since then I have moved up a dress size but am happy to eat the occasional chip with anything.

Tonight we enjoyed one of our favourite comfort meals. The soufleé omelette. We call this dish The Souflette. I wrote about this in October last year and you can find our recipe here. It is always a big hit with children and the perfect light meal. Danny perked up when I mentioned the menu but when I got home the oven was already on. The souflette like any omelette is fried. Instanly suspicious, I queried what was going on.

He explained,
“I love Souflette, but if it’s going to be our supper, we really need chips for the carbs. If that’s OK?”


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6 Comments

  1. My Papad

    Hi,
    Didn’t know that chips were so popular in Holland.
    Well,what am I saying?Aren’t they a favourite all over the globe?I grew up eating a lot of potatoes in all forms….and chips,they are mouth-watering for kids!!I,personally love snacks of all kinds.
    They are so handy.I eat a lot of Indian snacks too.
    But today,I guess it will be chips on the menu 🙂

  2. Fiona Nevile

    Hi Ash,
    There was a little Dutch chip stand just outside the cinema in Hull, when I was at university there. They served great chips with mayonnaise – delicious.

    Yes Celia, a souflette is true comfort food. Hope that our recipe worked for you.

    Your recipe sounds fantastic, Pat. Great idea about using a spray for the oil. Must put it on the list as it’s a great way of cutting down on fat.

    Well Kate, Danny is curious about Poutine. Might have to find some fresh cheese curds and give this a whirl. I love Devon cream, particularly the clotted cream.

  3. Danny and my 14-yr.-old son would get along famously. They could eat chips to their heart’s content – with everything!! Just don’t ever let him taste Poutine (chips, gravy and fresh cheese curds). This is a chip lover’s dream.

    I laughed about going up a dress size … that must have happened to me this week when I tucked into the Devon double cream. I didn’t share any.

    The souflette looks good!

  4. Oh we do our own oven chips. Get one of those spray bottles for oil and use a good oil, like rape seed or olive oil and spray some potatoes that you cut into halves and then quarter each half. I leave the skins on as it is better for you and roast in the oven at 200 for about 30 to 40 minutes. You can even add more flavour to them by roasting garlic and/or rosemary with them and the last 10 minutes sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan. YUM!!!

  5. It was going to be frittata for supper but you’ve change my mind – I’m going to make a souflette. My flatmate used to make these when we were students – great for a midnight feast or a wet and stormy Saturday or when you’ve had a humiliating crit’ (= criticism : art-school slang for public torture).

    Thank you Fiona.

    Celia

  6. We hardly ever have chips! Which is odd really as Holland is the chip capital of the world, after Belgium of course…

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