Discworld Emporium

The rest of my family doesn't cook much, which leaves them in a bit of condundrum when I go on long trips. This weekend, we sat down and did some meal planning around things they are able to make - frozen lasagna, spaghetti, ham steak, leftovers, scrambled eggs, salad, eating at the grandparents', etc.

This year they really got into it because they play this game called "Don't Starve' which is a survival game. We called it "Don't Starve' week and related all the food to food items in the game. They actually had fun with it and did a much better job meal planning than they ever have.

I think this time I won't get texts from my daughter complaining about take-out every night

Lentils! (channeling my inner Neil from The Young Ones). I had a bag of red lentils in the cabinet that's been there for years. One of the advantages of Mate's regular removal to the other house is that I can cook "interesting" things. Coconut curry red lentils with tomatoes and spinach, with bits of lamb on top. Mmmmmmm. Leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Also you surely have enough material about to make risotto?

I was asked to lunch by the Younge Guarde at work. Grilled duck over greens with goat cheese, bacon bits, dried fruits and figgy balsamic vinaigrette. Yum-buckets!

Oh yum! I LOVE duck. I made it on my birthday. I have learned how to pan-roast a duck breast so most of the fat runs off. It's really not hard if you just understand what to do with fatty skin. Also goat cheese curls my toes.

First ever Chicken Katsu Curry last night, based entirely upon what flavours I recognised when I was in Japan

Crikey it was good!

Edit: And afterwards Julia pointed out I could have just looked up an online recipe

First real tomatoes of the season = tomato sandwich for lunch. Yum-buckets!

That's not for repeating...

I've not been feeling good for a while so Adrian has tried unsupervised cooking... Today was going to be meatballs in a (packet) Italian sauce, spaghetti and dough balls.

But Adrian is nearly blind... He grabbed a sauce packet and didn't check it (involves a lit magnifying glass or finding me) ...

So Onions, chopped tomatoes, beef meatballs and sticky BBQ sauce.

When we worked out why it smelt odd (before it hit the oven) we had an emergency plan ready (chippy) but we were willing to try not wasting food.

Verdict: edible but not repeatable.

Further tomato adventures - red tomatoes sliced and dredged in seasoned flour, fried in chicken fat (left over from fried chicken), slathered in cream gravy made from the remaining seasoned flour and more chicken fat. Just like my mother made. Comfort food. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Last night a friend and I checked out a new-to-me restaurant in St. Michaels. Mexican vibe, focused on fresh ingredients with lots of vegetarian and gluten-free options. There was an appetizer called the "chumbucket*". Well you have to, don't you! It was yummy. Refried beans, black beans, spinach, jalepenos, tomatoes, cheese, artichokes, some kind of aioli. Probably other stuff I couldn't identify in the dark (we were eating outdoors).

*chum is bait consisting of chopped or crushed fish or clams and their juice, which attract other, more desirable fish. It's also a euphemism for what you do when you are seasick, since the resulting chunks resemble . . . . well . . . . chum.

I've recently discovered a sheet pan chicken dinner - pieces of chicken wrapped in bacon, then fingerling potatoes and brussels sprouts seasoned and laid out on a pan to cook all at once. My daughter actually likes the sprouts, which roast nicely in the bacon fat. And I love shoving it in and being done with dinner.

Nonny Mouse wrote:I've recently discovered a sheet pan chicken dinner - pieces of chicken wrapped in bacon, then fingerling potatoes and brussels sprouts seasoned and laid out on a pan to cook all at once. My daughter actually likes the sprouts, which roast nicely in the bacon fat. And I love shoving it in and being done with dinner.

I have always said the only way to cook sprouts is in bacon or chicken fat.

Oh hell yes. My other favorite recipe is to saute some bacon, then throw the sprouts in til browned, and then braise in chicken broth. Once they are soft and liquid reduced, some grated Parmesan. NOM

Thus demonstrating the only way to make sprouts palatable is to cook them in a fashion which removes every trace of sproutiness

I did discover a type of sprout that was OK when eaten steamed - red sprouts (they were even in a supermarket!). Something about the red pigments reduces the taste of the 'sprout' - otherwise try the sprout/kale hybrid called kalette or flower sprouts. Another way of not having to deal with the taste of sprouts!

Roast duck tonight! With purple potatoes and yes, sprouts. Apple tarts for dessert. It's what I usually make for the fall equinox, only it takes a long time so I had to wait for an evening free enough to do it.