Forward meal plan and de-brief, Sah! ~salutes~

Photograph c/o the BBC

Aaaaand stand at ease!

I think it was watching the Trooping of the Colour the other week on the t.v.  It's gone to my head.  Anyway - you want to know what's on the meal plan for this week, don't you?  Yes, of course you do.

Well, here it is :

Tues : Macdonalds (the menfolk) Chunky chicken & rice (me)

Wed : Pasta bolognese and garlic bread

Thurs : Emergency freezer rifling

Fri : Turkey & courgette burgers with sumac sauce, sweet potato jackets with lime & chilli cream and salad

Sat : Hoi sin chicken with home made coleslaw, salad and ciabatta rolls

Sun : Stuffed aubergines with basmati rice and beetroot

Mon : Pork steaks in mushroom sauce, carrots, broccoli & Jersey royal new potatoes.

Yes, I do accept there are a couple of entries on this list that could bear explanation.  Just hold your horses (another Trooping the colour reference - geddit?) and we'll get there.

My favourite type!

Tuesday's arrangement was a bit odd upon first inspection, but there was method in our madness, honest.  Son and heir had a singing appointment at school with his choir, but it was just for a half hour - and right over dinner time.  Thus, it made it difficult to shoehorn in dinner beforehand and nigh on impossible to cook something in advance that would be quick enough for when we got home.  So the menfolk went for visiting the local Macdonalds and getting a burger fix and I opted to wait until we got home to open a can of chicken in white sauce (commonly known as "Chunky Chicken") and heat up some Special Fried Rice (from Asda and totally flavourless) in the microwave.  Bit of a blast from the past, that one - but better for me than Macdonalds, any day.

Wednesday's Pasta Bolognese had been carried over from the previous week.  Hubby had made the Bolognese sauce during the day on Tuesday and put it in the fridge to await mealtime on Wednesday.  It worked very well and made Wednesday's evening meal fairly trouble free for him.

Can't argue with a bolognese and garlic bread, now can you?

Thursday - which is today - should have been the turkey & courgette burgers, but thanks to who knows what, my legs decided to disown me and my feet decided to transmogrify into two large sausages during the day.  As a consequence, dinner came down to some creative freezer rifling from hubby, which got us all fed with no extra cost - except to his poor old back.  Poor thing, he's been suffering a bit the last few days and was looking forward to a "no cooking" day, which I quite neatly put paid to.  *sigh*

Now.  Tomorrow I am quite determined I shall make these blooming turkey & courgette burgers (which is an Ottolenghi & Tamimi recipe) because I was really looking forward to them!

Saturday's Hoi Sin chicken should be another goodie.  Simple to do - just marinade the chicken in the Hoi Sin sauce, bake it and pull together some salads with the ciabatta rolls.  Yum.

I'm back paying homage to Yotam Ottolenghi on Sunday, with the stuffed aubergines.  The recipe uses lamb mince and all those lovely warm eastern influence spices such as cumin, coriander and cinnamon.  I've been seeking inspiration from within the pages of "Jerusalem", their latest cook book you see.  Can't wait for this one, either!

I'm quite determined to make the pork steaks in mushroom sauce, too.  They've been appearing on the menu plan for the last few weeks without being made - and not through any fault of their own.  Mind you, there's doubt hanging over their future, as son & heir has a teacher training day that Monday and is threatening to go over to a friend's for a barbecue.  If this comes off, I have grave doubts that the pork steaks will happen - and over to next week they'll go!

So you may be wondering how I got on with last week.  Well, not too badly actually.

The Full English Breakfast was duly made and eaten with much enjoyment by all - most especially from son & heir, who would dearly like to eat that way every day.

 

Well, I have to admit, he's got a point!

I've blogged the recipe for the curry baked chicken with vegetable curry, so you know that one got made!  Mmmmmn, it was a bit special.

Hubby's rigatone con cipolle with the naked burgers was really good.  I coped with it (digestively) with no adverse reaction at all, which was just brilliant.  The sweetness of the onion against the savouriness of the burgers worked very well together.  Hubby wasn't altogether happy with the rigatone dish, he says he can make it a lot nicer than it was - but I though it was perfectly delicious.

I can tell you're eyeing up those burgers - Aberdeen Angus, don'cha know.

My next big blog post should be the recipe for the Lamb flatballs - so I won't steal my own thunder.  Keep your eyes peeled and it should be along next.

Oh my goodness yes, the next one on the list was the family lunch at a pub in the New Forest.  Well, probably least said about that the better - you can read about it on the Rhubarb & Ginger Facebook page, if you are of a curious bent!  I don't like giving bad reviews, so I won't be posting about it here in detail.  'Nuff said.

Lamb Shatkora - presentation requires some work, I think?

Monday's evening meal turned into a takeaway from the local Indian restaurant.  I had a Lamb Shatkora - which is cooked with onion and loads of lemon - along with mushroom rice, sag bhajee (spinach and onion) and a share in a Peshwari naan bread (made with almond paste).  I'd never had a Shatkora before and was very impressed.  I love anything involving lemon and the combination of the curry spices with the lemon was really very good indeed.  I'll definitely do that again!

You'll probably have noticed that this isn't one of those "shorter" posts I was talking about.  Well done.  You spotted that, then.  *wink*