A Musing

This is a blog I started a little after Christmas – it’s a bit late I know but, like the mega-shepherd’s pie I made last week and wasn’t finished up until this Tuesday, I didn’t want it going to waste. These are musings rather than recipes. I’ll get back onto them soon.

So, back to mid-January 2011, when the weather was cold and miserable, the Christmas tree and decorations had been packed away and the turkey trimmings had finally been wrapped and dumped (derdle-le, derdle-le, derdle-le, derdle-le, derrrrr (dream music in case you’re wondering)).

“ I’m watching ‘Chopped’ on Food Network – three chefs are whipping up something sensual using rabbit, tapioca, carrots and fruit leather. The first round included Asian pears, croissants and rattle snake. The looks on the chefs' faces when they opened their baskets was a mixture of disbelief, and sheer disbelief. It’s like that when I open my fridge door. Today I have cheese, carrots, stewed apples and plums and cooked chick peas.

This evening we feasted well: sweet and sour chick peas and carrots with buttery basmati rice, and stewed apple and plum filled pancakes for afters. A couple of crackers with cheese will be on the cards a bit later – we’ll not eat again until morning. It will be thus for a little while as I want to clear out the fridge and freezer. Cabbage and carrots feature extensively in the veg box. And potatoes – we’ll be reelin’ in potatoes; having a few potatoes, yeah.

‘Chopped’ is great isn’t it? It’s at its best when the chefs answer back or get a bit lippy in front of the judges, then they’re suitably slapped down and sent to bed without any cocoa. Ten thousand dollars wouldn’t be enough to get me on there but, like everyone else, I do have a price and would prostitute and humiliate myself for a few dollars more.

I cooked a whole duck for the first time at Christmas. Turned out OK served with an orange and port sauce but not something I’d rush to do again. I liked the stuffed shoulder of lamb better. I got the butcher to bone it and then made my usual breadcrumb stuffing and rolled and tied it up. Obviously I don’t have proper butcher string to hand so had to use the gardening string instead but it did the trick. Now, I’m not a big leg woman – I much prefer shoulder of both pork and lamb. Shoulder has more fat on it which renders into the stuffing making it more flavourful whilst keeping the whole joint moist. Chuck a few potatoes in the roasting tin for the last hour or so and there you have it: cholesterol on a stick. It would make sense to have a couple of statins with custard for afters.

A new Indian restaurant has opened locally opposite Nobby’s work – River Spice. We popped in there on Tuesday on its second day of trading. Not surprisingly, there weren’t many people in there but that meant that we did have time to have a chat with the owner and some of the waiters who were very attentive and friendly – service as it should be. This is the owner’s third restaurant and he seems to know what he wants. Our waiter came from Bethnal Green, and he seemed to know what he wanted an’ all. He was practising the charm: ‘that’s nice perfume, what’s it called?’ he said, and because I couldn’t believe what I’d heard, he had to say it again. I laughed heartily – nice try sunshine but no extra tip for you. Having said that, the service and the food was impressive and we’ll be going back. The cauliflower bhaji was cooked al dente and the tarka dhal clean and garlicky, and they had several duck dishes which I haven’t noticed on many Indian menus before. I ordered tamarind duck – it was duck in tamarind sauce unsurprisingly so nothing special but it was new to me and I did enjoy it. Nobby had a vegetable dish with Nan bread which was nice and light and everything tasted very fresh. They’ll be doing lunch time specials and opening up for outside dining in the summer which will be nice as it’s right on the river. Ducks beware.

Not cooked anything new recently but did make some Christmas flapjacks which were rather nice. I used muesli with added oats, butter and sugar and layered it with a jar of mincemeat. Very rich and filling – Christmas energy bars if you will. I made some biscuits as well which were OK but I need to work on them and think about which spices to use to perk them up a bit. I did samwidge a few together with a mixture of chocolate and rum toffee sauce which made them a bit special. And Bron made an apple pie for Boxing Day which was mega, but that’s no surprise as she is The Pie Queen.”

Back to present day now: made a couple of cheese, onion and potato pies last Friday to celebrate a very special and happy occasion involving a son, a new daughter-in-law and a local registry office. Congratulations Rhys and Sarah and here’s to a long a happy life together. I’ve not made cheese, onion and potato (COP) for ages and had quite forgotten how intoxicatingly moreish it is – layers of very thinly sliced floury potatoes, thinly sliced onions and strong cheddar cheese moistened with a little milk, covered and put in a low oven for about three hours. It’s an old Lancashire dish that wives used to take along to the local baker’s oven to cook after the bread had been taken out and the oven was cooling down. It is so moreish though, I made another one on Sunday just for me and Nobby and another one when I was over Mum and Dad’s yesterday. I’m pretty certain I’ll be doing a few more in the near future too. Sod the diet.