Meal planning for a new week

We met again on Monday last, across a bed strewn with recipes, notepads, pens and Jack Russell terriers - and planned this week's meals.  Oh, the romance!

Well, actually, making a menu plan is a nice excuse for a cup of coffee and a couple of hours spent talking (almost exclusively) about food, flavours, what goes with what, what might go with what, what cooking methods to use, what turns out to be way too expensive, etc.  Allow for a bit of deviation from the focus of the conflab, to scratch a dog's ears or retrieve a pen from the other dog's mouth - you can imagine, if you've ever owned a dog, I'm sure.

We started from a position of "what do we know for sure we'll be cooking?", moved on to "what have we been yearning for?" and "what have we had in mind to cook?", winding up with "what's a family favourite that's easy to do?".

The final list looks like this :

Tues : Pizza

Weds : Springtime Pasta and meatballs

Thurs : Maneating Chicken, roast sweet potato with sesame broccoli & beans
Fri : Kari Udang with rice

Sat : Tarragon Chicken & Asparagus, Jersey Royals, broccoli & peas

Sun : Slow Roast Cinnamon, Fennel & Cirtus Lamb with Roast Rosemary & Sea Salt Jersey Royals, Green spring vegetable Thoran & gravy.

Mon : Chilli con carne with potato wedges.

Well, Tuesday's Pizza doesn't come into any of the categories above, as it forms a bit of a breathing space in between weeks.  It's good to just chuck a pizza into the oven every so often - and it's always a winner with son & heir.

Eat at lunchtime .. sleep rest of day

Wednesday's Springtime Pasta and Meatballs got bounced from last week owing to our having broken our tummies by eating the remains of the Tuna & Vegetable Lasagne for lunch.  I hasten to add that they weren't broken in a bad way, just broken in a "I couldn't eat another thing for many hours" kind of way.

Everything was keepable - even the Little Gem lettuce, which has kept very well in the vegetable drawer of the fridge - so it was easy to bounce along to this week.

Thursday's "Maneating Chicken" originated as "Man pleasing chicken", but the name got adjusted along the way by hubby.  He discovered the original recipe on the Witty in the City website and loved both the look and the sound of the recipe - plus, its reputation as "man pleasing chicken" is always a good sign.

He's going to be making roast sweet potatoes in a very similar fashion to the roast butternut squash (except with different spicing) that we had this last weekend with the pork.  It will be interesting to see how they turn out, as I have a great deal of problem getting sweet potato to caramelise and look roasted, instead of just mushed!

I think this one qualifies under the "what have we been yearning for?" category, as hubby has always wanted to find a really really good chicken recipe - one which knocks spots off of all the others.

The Kari Udang is a Malaysian recipe recommended to me by The Spice Traders.   Taken from their website, it has required a bit of sourcing of things like curry leaves and fenugreek, but we (pretty much) had the remainder of the spices in the cupboards and fridge already.  I really like prawn curries and we've picked up some King Prawns to use, so I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be great.  I think this one comes under the "what have we had in mind to cook" category, as I'm always in the market for an authentic Malay recipe.

Saturday's Tarragon Chicken with Asparagus is a recipe from this month's BBC Good Food magazine.  The minute I saw the photograph, it was love at first sight and I knew I had to make it - and soon.  It doesn't seem to have hit their website yet, or I'd show it to you - but take it from me that it looked completely gorgeous.

Cooked with lovely steamed Jersey Royal potatoes (which are our favourite type of new potato), broccoli and peas, I think it'll make a superb Saturday dinner.

Hubby's back in the kitchen with his "Sunday Lunch Chef" hat on next. We were originally planning on a salmon dish - right up until I saw an advert for reduced price lamb at Tesco.  I'm afraid I was swayed by this and we drove down to our local Tesco and made off with a leg of lamb just this morning.  We have since reconvened the brainstorming session (complete with accompanying Jack Russells, ever keen to be in the midst of a major conflab) and come up with what sounds like a terrific menu for Sunday's lunch.

Photograph c/o BBC Good Food website

It will now be a slow roasted leg of lamb - marinated in lemon & orange, rubbed with cinnamon, fennel & garlic, then roasted for a minimum of 4 hours.  As side dishes, we've come up with roast Jersey Royals with sea salt & rosemary, after which we go off up a complete side road with an Anjum Anand recipe for Green Spring Vegetable Thoran.  You can find the exact same recipe here, although it isn't credited to Anjum at all, so I don't know who got which from whom - but here it is, anyway.  The Thoran has no sauce as such, so will go very nicely with the lamb & potatoes, leaving us the elbow room in the ingredients list to make a lovely gravy from the lamb pan juices.


Wish hubby luck with this one, he's not going to need it, but he is going to need some support with just thinking about creating it all and having it all go right!

Good old Chilli con Carne makes another showing on the menu list for Bank Holiday Monday.  We all love this one, but to make it a little different this time, we thought we'd serve it with potato wedges.  It all depends on whether we've a lot of potatoes going wrinkly as to whether we make the wedges or just chuck some in the oven from the freezer!

Either way, with grated cheese and some sultanas to sprinkle on the top (you don't have sultanas?  What?  Try it, next time!) I know it'll be empty bowls all round.

I don't suppose the weather will do anything but rain, however, with the chance that we might see some sun on that day I've purposely not scheduled anything that takes a long time to make.  It'd be nice to get out and see something other than these four walls! 

Ruby's first crop of rhubarb - plenty more where that came from!

As for extra cooking, well we're still on the lookout for a good rhubarb chutney recipe and I've still to bake a cake.  I'm guaranteeing nothing where either of them are concerned, it all depends upon finding the right recipe (or dreaming one up!) and the time available!

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It's Tuesday's run-down on the menu plan for this week!

So, "what's the recipe for today, Jim?".  I'll bet not many of you recall that little bit of Radio 2 history.

I can well remember, when I was off school and feeling poorly, the sound of Radio 2 wafting through from the kitchen where my Mum was making a pie, or baking a cake, or just doing the dishes.  The programme was the Jimmy Young Show and he had a regular recipe slot, which was announced by "Raymondo", in a chipmunk style voice.  So, what's the recipe today, Jen?

Well, they go as follows :

Tues : Sausage casserole

Wed : Tandoori Chicken, saffron rice and salad

Thur : Ham & Apple Pie, parsnip mash, carrots & peas

Fri : Drunken Spaghetti

Sat : Trinidad Prawn Curry with rice

Sun : Chicken Normandy, Tenderstem broccoli, carrots & parsnips

Mon : Chilli con carne & rice.

I'm quite looking forward to that lot!

This evening's Sausage Casserole isn't just any old Sausage Casserole, oh no.  It's from the Good Food Channel's website and is from a recipe by Tana Ramsey.

Not a bad sausage casserole ...

Now both hubby and I have been known to produce a fairly good Sausage Casserole, but this one caught my attention because of its use of fennel, redcurrant jelly and balsamic vinegar in the mix.  Also, it has an interesting little savoury finish in that you mix up some whole grain mustard and creme fraiche (or cream) and drizzle it over the top.  Sounds like it could definitely hit the spot!

I'm not sure what to serve with it just yet, although I have almost settled upon some oven baked sweet potatoes.  I've got a couple lurking in the cupboard that need using - and I do want something different to the rest of the week's rice or pasta.

That's what I'm aiming for!

Wednesday's evening meal will be Tandoori Chicken from The Curry Guy.  I do have a lot of trust in The Curry Guy's recipes - and if he says that this is the closest he's come to creating a genuine Tandoori Chicken, then I'm up there for having a go.

I'll be so pleased if the rest of the family like this recipe, as we've been searching for a good reproducible home cooked version of the restaurant standard for a long, long time.

Now, Thursday's Ham & Apple Pie is one that I'm especially looking forward to.  It's an Arthur Potts Dawson recipe, from lovefood.com and I really like the idea of the layers of bechamel, ham, cheese and apple that the pie comprises.  The recipe isn't very far removed from our Kentish Pie, so I know that the flavours are sound - it's just the knack of the cook and the seasoning that counts.  This is another recipe for Bramley Apple Week - it's been a lot of fun, sourcing interesting apple recipes - and there's another one to come, in the shape of the Chicken Normany, before the week is up!

Not "the" recipe - but gives you an idea of how it should look!

I've got my fingers crossed for Friday.  Whether I make the Drunken Spaghetti or not on that day depends entirely on whether the powers that be get the wine to me in time.  I was contacted by a P.R. company for Barefoot Wines, who enquired whether I would like to receive a sample of a few of their wines to cook with.  Now as you know, I've been using wine quite regularly in my recipes so this was too good an opportunity to miss.  Hence the crossed fingers - as I was intending on using the Drunken Spaghetti recipe as a Valentine's Day possibility.  Aaah, cute, eh?  Get him drunk on spaghetti - nothing wrong with that picture, is there?

It seems like ages since we had a decent "proper" curry - and when I found Gary Rhodes' recipe for the Trinidad Prawn Curry, it sounded so light and tasty that it really got my mouth watering.  It's a different type of curry to the Indian style and although it uses curry powder instead of separating out each type of spice, the method of dealing with the curry powder is very different to what I'm used to - so I'm interested to see how that will work.

A random "Chicken Normandy" picture.

Sunday's Chicken Normandy takes me back to childhood again, when I am sure my Mum used to make a version of it.  I'm breaking out the good old Bramley apples again - I don't think I've ever used them so often - and with cider in the sauce, I'm hoping it measures up to my memories of the dish.

The observant amongst you may have noticed the appearance of the Chilli con Carne (or Chilli con Healthy) again.  For some reason, we keep dodging the appearance of this one.  I'm starting to wonder if it's the name that's putting hubby off - anything marked "healthy" is very definitely the cause of much suspicion - so have decided to re-name it plain old Chilli con Carne.  I will make this dish, I will!

So there you are.  A bit of an apple theme going on, but it's forgiveable I hope!

Oh, now speaking of apples - I forgot about the Dorset Apple Cake and the Cherry Shortbread Cookies I've got planned.

I'll be making the Dorset Apple Cake somewhere around Friday (for consumption over the weekend - helps to feed hungry teenagers!).  It's a recipe that the blog's old friend Willie gave to me absolutely ages ago and I have never got around to making.  So I'm going to be remedying that.  It looks incredibly simple to make and is the kind of cake that is capable of being a dessert with the addition of some whipped cream.

The Cherry Shortbread Cookies are really just an excuse to use my new cookie cutters - which are in the shapes of hearts and lips.  Valentines Day on the way?  Really? 

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From Chinese New Year to Chilli - we travel the globe in this week's menu plan!

I certainly didn't put it together with that in mind, but as it turns out, we are very definitely doing some nation-hopping in this week's menu plan.

Hubby is very nearly recovered from his tummy malaise, so the field has opened up again on types of recipe to choose from.  Two meals were already fairly mapped out by the calendar - Chinese New Year and Burns Night.  The rest?  Well, just call us culinary globe trotters.

Apart from Friday's trip to the Golden Arches, every dish has been planned with a very definite eye towards it being low fat.  I think I'm going to have to get better at planning in some low sugar/low GI meals, though.  To be honest, in between my low fat & carbohydrate/anti-inflammatory requirements, hubby's low sugar/low GI and son & heir's high vitamins & minerals/low fat requirements, it's a wonder I can ever think of anything to eat in the first place!  Mind you, chilli-con-water, or coq au H2O, or Ice Pie don't really sound terribly appetising (although the Ice Pie has potential!).


So what did I come up with for this week, then?  Here's how it's looking :

Tues : Broccoli Chicken with rice

Weds : Haggis, clapshot, carrots & green beans

Thurs : Pasta Amatriciana

Fri : Macdonalds

Sat : Chicken in Almond Sauce, rice and green salad

Sun : Slow cooker beef stew

Mon : Chilli con carne with rice.

Yes, I do know that Chinese New Year was on the Monday, not the Tuesday, but our financial situation, shopping days and the menu plan meant that we just had to celebrate it a day late.  Better late than never, that's what I say!

I made Ken Hom's Broccoli Chicken and unfortunately it was more than a little disappointing, which was odd when you consider that we liked it so much the first time.  I have to admit that I stayed fairly close to the original recipe this time, only deviating from it to add some bean sprouts and water chestnuts.

I do think, however, that the biggest problem with it was the Oyster Sauce that I used.  In the past, I'd had a lovely big bottle of some Chinese make of Oyster Sauce, but that had run out so I got the only one available to me when I did the online ordering, which was an own-brand.  Well, I won't be doing that again as it was a pale travesty of the original.

Quite apart from remembering how the dish tasted when I made it the first time, I could tell that this version had got potential - it was just watery-tasting and insubstantial.  Ah well, I'll make sure to get another bottle of the Chinese version of Oyster Sauce when next I'm in that shop!

Burns Night struck last night - and very happy I was about it, too.

A couple of days beforehand, we'd been out and held a great Haggis hunt which had netted us a dinky little Lancashire Haggis, made by Brown Bros Butchers.  Now I recall last year's Haggis - which I liked, but it did have a very strong flavour of clove, which I hate.  It is testament to the flavour of the remainder of the ingredients that I managed to like the Haggis overall.  This Lancashire Haggis, however, was streets apart from that.   With no particularly dominant flavour - other than "Haggis" - it was able to take on that highly seasoned, intensely savoury characteristic that says "Haggis" as soon as you catch a whiff of it.  In texture, the oatmeal component was really quite obvious but I liked that as it gave you something to bite upon.  The most pleasantly surprising part about the Haggis was its creaminess.  Now don't ask me how the Butchers managed to get that creamy flavour in there, but it was completely delicious and I defy anyone (who isn't a teenager, anyway) to dislike it.  Son and heir did eat part of his portion of Haggis, but was far keener on the backup sausages that I'd also prepared.  Hubby agreed with me that the Haggis was very good - the best he'd tried in years - but did say that it "needed whisky".  Ah well, I've got until next year to invest in some.

The Clapshot (mashed potato with swede, chives & butter) was spoiled rather by the swede's resistance to being cooked.  I had put the potatoes and swede together in the same pan and the potatoes were tender long before the swede - which resulted in the potatoes being rather overcooked.  I often find with swede that it either cooks in a trice, or takes for EVER to cook.  I suspect it has something to do with how old the swede is in the first place.  Ours had been hanging around since last week's shopping delivery when Asda left me twice the amount I asked for, so it had had a chance to dry out a little.  I was beginning to consider its use as bulletproofing for official cars, when it finally decided to cook - but not before I'd reduced the size of the pieces considerably.

With lashings of lovely gravy, I thoroughly enjoyed our Burns Night dinner.

Tonight, we're off to Italy for some Pasta Alla Amatriciana.  I was looking for something that didn't involve a side dish of vegetables or the use of rice, when I remembered this one.  Fingers crossed it won't go the same way as the Broccoli Chicken, in that the first go at it was considerably better than the second!

On Friday, son & heir's school has decided to take his year to the Science Museum in London for the day.  Talk about lucky!  Wish I was going!  It's been decades since I went and I can still remember how great it was - so hopefully he'll have a brilliant time.  He loves anything to do with Science or Physics, so I'm sure it'll be right up his street.

Because we are never sure what time the coaches will be getting back from trips like these, we've decided to round of his day with a trip to Macdonalds.  Well, it's on our way home, he'll enjoy it and it saves me cooking.  Can't argue with that.

Hotel Los Berchules - doesn't it look glorious, there?

I'll be able to use Friday as time in which to gird my loins before making Pollo en Salsa de Alemendras - or Chicken in Almond Sauce, to you.  This is a recipe that was recommended to me by the lovely person behind the Twitter name @LosBerchules - which is a Hotel in Spain.

They recommended it following my posting about the Coq au vin and, having had a look at the recipe, it looks just exactly the kind of interesting recipe that always has me curious.

I love almonds and have always got some in the house for healthy snacking purposes, not to mention for baking use.  In this recipe, you fry the almonds with a little bread and then blitz them along with garlic and white wine to form the sauce.  That appeals to me, even though I can't quite envisage how it's going to turn out.

But then, that's part of the magic of cooking - finding out how these flavours can go together and how well they do it!

Not sure about the dumplings, this time.

I've put the Slow Cooker Beef Stew back on the menu for Sunday, so we're back to England where that one's concerned.  I really love a gorgeous, glossy, shin of beef stew with loads of veggies and a gloriously deep flavoured gravy.  It's the ultimate in comfort food and I can think of little nicer than a big bowl of stew, a spoon, a comfy chair and a warm radiator (if not a crackling fire) on a cold night.  It'll also be lovely to not have to be so taken up with that night's dinner all day, as often happens on a Sunday.

Arriba!

We're off to Mexico on Monday, for Chilli con carne - or "Chilli con healthy", as the recipe is billed.

Having read the recipe, it doesn't differ very much at all from our usual chilli recipe's method, it just contains a slightly different spicing than our normal.  So it will be interesting to have a chilli that is flavoured a little differently.

So there we are.

I dare say a few extra bits of cooking will appear throughout the week.  Hubby is still yearning to create a Sourdough starter, although "The Fabulous Baker Boys" on t.v. last night has slightly put him off, as we can't think where the heck we could put the eventual dough to rise for 8-12 hours, that'd be warm all that time!  Unfortunately, we don't have anything useful like an airing cupboard, which would be perfect.

Oh, and a quick word for all of us here in the U.K. - it's the "Big Garden Birdwatch" this weekend, so if you have bird feeders in your garden or just enjoy watching the birds, why not go and download the bird identification checksheet and set aside an hour in which to join in.  I'm crossing my fingers that my little flock of 11 goldfinches turn up on the day!

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Meal Planning around your son's social life

It seems as though, having hit 13yrs, suddenly our son is taking off with a social life that involves the evenings instead of just weekends and school holidays.

For years, we've been trying to get him to go to after-school clubs (and have been a wee bit successful, in parts) and to take part in after-school events.  However, he seems to be taking after me and was happy to remain a homebody.

However, now he's 13, son & heir is finding his wings!

This week, therefore, is a case of meal planning around his appointments and a visit to my parents.

Monday (Turkey Curry night) involved making dinner very much earlier than usual, in order to get son & heir back to school to take part in "Rock School" (as in "Rock and Roll", rather than the close inspection of geological formations).  Fortunately, as the curry included pre-cooked Turkey, it was simple and quick to make.  Son & heir had a great time practicing to be a rock star, whilst hubby and I sat in Macdonald's car park and enjoyed a large cup of their delicious coffee each.  We'll get our reward once he's famous, I'm sure.

By the way - how is it that Macdonalds manages to sell such lovely coffee?  We reckon they have to be putting something addictive in it that makes you come back for more.  There's no "gentle sipping" involved with a Macdonalds coffee - it's a consistent "down the hatch!" until it's gone, swiftly followed by much sorrowful peering into the bottom of the cup, wishing it would fill up again.

Here's how the rest of the week is shaping up :

Tues : Son & heir - Pizza, Adults - Pizza Tart & Zesty Beetroot Salad

Weds : Chicken Casserole & Sweet Potato Wedges

Thurs : Chilli con Carne with rice

Fri : Turkey & Bacon Pie with carrots, parsnips & tenderstem broccoli

Sat : Dinner at lunchtime, so sandwiches for tea

Sun : yet to be decided

Mon : Devilled sausages, sweet potato mash & peas.

We had the Pizza Tart last night and although the concept requires some fine tuning, the flavours were there.  The tart utilises chorizo, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese - so it's easy to tell how nice it was.  The mistake I made was not frying off the mushrooms before using them on the tart and as a consequence, a lot of water escaped from them.  I salvaged the situation and, when I blog about it, will take that into account in the recipe.

Wednesday's Chicken Casserole is one I found on the Good Food Channel's website.  It doesn't appear to be attributed to anyone - but if you recognise it as yours, let me know and I'll give you the proper mention.  In the meantime, consider yourself mentioned by proxy!

It's an interesting recipe, using sherry, cloves, green peppers, raisins and green olives.  I'm really not at all sure how son & heir is going to receive it, but it sounds good to me!

Thursday is son & heir's Jazz Club night when he plays bass guitar with the Jazz Band and which takes place immediately following school.  However, we have to be picking him up at the time I would normally be cooking the dinner - which requires a bit of forethought and planning.  This week, we've opted for a chilli con carne which hubby will cook in the day.  That'll leave us to heat up the chilli and cook some rice, which shouldn't make dinner late.

Friday is the next "Turkey leftover" night, in which I'll be making a Turkey & Bacon pie.  The cooked Turkey meat has been in stashed in the freezer and I've kept back a few rashers of that wonderful Emmett's streaky bacon.  I've also retained half the pack of chestnuts, which I'm going to include (chopped finely) in the pastry for the pie.  If it turns out how my imagination is seeing it, it should be really lovely.

Saturday is a "back to front" day, as (assuming my Mum is okay - she's experiencing arthritis problems with her knees, too, now!) we should be visiting my parents.  They live very locally to us, so we'll be able to leave the three dogs at home - which saves having to worry about muddy paw prints across their carpets!  So we'll, effectively, be having lunch at dinner time, that day.

Sunday is another weird one, as we're going to see Mike Dawes & Amy Turk perform at the Bournemouth Folk Club.  We'll be eating while we're out, so it's going to be a light snack before we go, if anything.  Both Mike (guitar) & Amy (harp) have such amazing touch and ability with their instruments, they are just mesmerising to watch - and extremely agreeable to listen to.  Mike has been such an inspiration to Son & heir regarding his guitar playing, too.

 Following all that excitement, I felt the need for something homely and yummy - so will be trotting out the good old Devilled Sausages, along with sweet potato mash and peas for Monday evening.  I reckon we'll all be flagging a bit by then and they'll warm the cockles of our hearts, without having to slave for hours over a hot stove.  Couldn't be better!

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Making a little go a long way - or trying to! Meal Plan for week beginning 30 August 11

There are a couple of things going on with our income this week that mean it would be good if we could try to just tighten our belts a little.  Hence, I'm afraid you won't be finding expensive cuts of meat, or fancy fish (well, apart from Scampi - but that's our one indulgence for this week!) on the menu list.

However, you will find a great deal of involvement with the wonderful thing that is mince.  Beef mince, turkey mince, pork mince - it's all there, in various incarnations.  That and the wonderful bacon we get from our local butcher.  It's not only cheaper than the supermarkets and so unbelievably good, but you get almost twice the amount in rasher size, too!

So.  Here's how this week of semi-frugality is shaping up :

Tuesday : Son - Lasagne, Adults - Pork Noodle Stir-fry

Wednesday : Tenderstem broccoli & bacon quiche, lemony new potatoes and salad

Thursday : Scampi and salad

Friday : Pasta with bacon, peas and mint

Saturday : Turkey meatball & sweetcorn curry, rice & naan bread

Sunday : Cornish Pasties and salad

Monday : Chilli con carne with rice.

I'm still not quite back firing on all four cylinders as I was prior to contracting Shingles, plus my right knee seems to have a life of its own in that it suddenly decides to not have anything to do with what we're trying to achieve.  It has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion, just lately.  I have resolved to deep breathe and carry on, once it has decided to let me.  Oh the trials of arthritis!  As such, I've kept my recipes to things that are easily achieved and don't require much time spent in the kitchen - or much walking to and fro.

We opted to utilise "Pizza Tuesday" at the beginning of the week and indulged in a Stir Fry.  We had already put aside a Lasagne in the freezer for Son & heir for just such an occasion, which when he came to the kitchen to ask what was for dinner, he was heartily relieved to learn was headed in his direction.  He'd been looking very dubiously at the stir fry out of the corner of his eye, with a distinct air of consternation in the enquiry.

The Pork Noodle Stir Fry wasn't a resounding success, regrettably, as hubby found the sprinkling of fresh mint to be a challenging flavour too many.  Everything else he was relatively happy with - even the dressing of lime juice, soy sauce, wine vinegar and honey.  The recipe used pork mince and I took a short cut and bought a fresh stir fry mix (with bamboo shoots and water chestnuts - yum!) to take the place of the vegetables.  I was enjoying the meal to begin with, but found I quickly got bored with the flavours.  So, we won't be indulging in this one again - not when there are much nicer stir fry recipes out there!

This evening, we've just had a lovely Tenderstem Broccoli & Bacon Quiche (see the original recipe here on the Tenderstem website) accompanied with Lemony new potatoes and salad.

You know, hubby said it and I completely agree with him - Tenderstem Broccoli is almost as nice as Asparagus.  I won't go into raptures here over it, as I'm intending to do a blog post specifically for both the quiche and the potato recipe, as they went together so well.  Plus, if ever the Tenderstem website disappears at least I'll have the recipe on my blog!

I'll be at work on Thursday and we had been wracking our brains to try to think of something easy for hubby to cook that evening.  Suddenly a shaft of inspiration came down from on high (or from somewhere, anyway!) and hubby exclaimed "scampi!".  So, scampi it is - with salad and lovely crusty bloomer bread.  Yummy!

Last Sunday I had been reading other folks' blogs and came across "Senses in the kitchen".  Detailed thereon, was an intriguing and deliciously simple recipe for Pasta with Bacon, Peas and mint.  You can find the recipe here if you're curious.  Now I won't deny that following on from hubby's problem with the mint in the stir fry, I'm not as confident as I was.  However, this is a much simpler mix of flavours which are all compatible, so I've got my fingers firmly crossed!  As for son & heir, well, he's a different matter - there is no saying whether he'll like it or not, so I'll carry on and hope for the best.

Saturday's Turkey Meatball & Sweetcorn Curry has been trying to be made for the last couple of weeks, without success.  Turkey mince is so economical and the meatballs stay together most beautifully when they are cooked, so they are perfect ammunition for a curry.  I suspect I'll add a few curry spices to the meatballs, just to get them headed in the right direction.  As for the inclusion of sweetcorn - well, there's so much of it about and it is so deliciously sweet, it seemed a perfect accompaniment to the gentle flavour of the meatballs.

The Cornish Pasties are a request from hubby.  Again, they are relatively easy to make - I'll have to get hubby to do the rolling out of the pastry this time, as it nearly did for me the last time!  With the addition of the mandolin which makes slicing so easy, it should be a fairly easy job.  Fingers crossed!  (If I've any left, having used the mandolin!).

Last, but far from least, we've booked in a Chilli Con Carne for Monday.  The advantages of having a chilli on a Monday are that we won't be needing to try to keep any vegetables fresh for use in it (other than an onion!) and hubby can make chilli with one hand tied behind his back - and a cracking good chilli, at that.

We'll have it with your standard boiled rice, but Son & heir and myself like to sprinkle our chilli with grated cheddar cheese and, um, weasels.  Yes, you read that right - weasels.  When Son & heir was just a little 'un, he couldn't pronounce sultanas - and for some unknown reason, they wound up being "weasels".  So - chilli with weasels and cheese, anyone?

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Successes and failures - a typical cooking week or so!

What BBC Good Food thought it should look like.

Now, where was I when it all went pear-shaped?

Aaah yes, it was Friday of the week before last (how DOES the time slip past so quickly?) and we were due to have the Sticky Chinese Chicken and Thai Carrot Salad.  Hmmmn, well, that all went very much to worms, I'm afraid.

The chicken went well enough - although it was far from "sticky", but very nicely flavoured all the same.  The Thai Carrot Salad was just such a disaster!  The dressing seemed to be weighted very heavily in the Fish Sauce direction and, having spent over a week trying to purchase rice vermicelli noodles, found that they didn't react in the way that the instructions on the packet intimated that they would.  The carrot mixture, on it's own, was barely edible - but having introduced the noodles to the equation, it became totally inedible.  So that wasn't a successful attempt - which was very disappointing, after the spectacular success of the New Potato, Bacon & Goat's Cheese salad.

The Pork with Lemongrass & Cinnamon didn't happen, which was a shame, but I just didn't feel up to making it.

However, the Pot Roast Chicken just had to be made as the dinner for the following day was relying upon it - not to mention Sunday's dinner!

I really love cooking pot-roast chicken.  There’s something so homely and comforting about having a chicken chuckling in a stock pot on your cooker.  I think it’s also the smell of the herbs and vegetables that go to make up the stock ingredients, combined with the knowledge that the chicken will emerge from its bath both subtly flavoured and succulent. 

I always roast the chicken for a half hour at 200deg prior to dunking it into its bath of gorgeous stock ingredients.  I think it imparts some of the “roasted chicken” flavour without resulting in the sulphurous effect that can be brought about by just roasting alone.

For the stock, I used onions, garlic, celery, thyme, parsley, basil, black peppercorns and included a star anise for that lovely and very distinctive flavour it imparts.  The smell, as the chicken cooked, just improved as the 90 minutes (it was a big chicken!) went on.

I'll be blogging the whole process as my next blog post, hopefully!

The sausagemeat balls were a bit of a disaster, unfortunately, as we didn't manage to get sausages from our local butcher - and the Tesco versions we did get were pretty darned pallid.  I'll have another go when I can get the butcher's sausages I was after to begin with.

It was very worthwhile taking the trouble to cook that chicken, even though I was feeling so rough, as the Coronation Chicken wraps we had on the following day were spectacular.  I included some lovely avocado in the wraps for us grown-ups - Son & heir has yet to obtain a liking for avocado - and with the lovely fresh crunchy lettuce they were just the job.

Which brings us to the start of this week's fare.

Rather cunningly, we decided to deviate from my self-set rule of not cooking separate dinners for everyone, and bought Son & heir a frozen pizza to have while we had a rather delicious Porcini Mushroom risotto.  Made by hubby's own fair hand, it contained the lovely chestnut mushrooms as well as the usual shallots and other ingredients.  For me, I was challenged a little bit by the grittiness of the dried Porcini.  As hard as you try to avoid including any grit from them, it just isn't possible to filter it all out - even with leaving the last of the soaking juice behind in the bowl.   Some people are challenged by fat in their food, I'm challenged by grit.  If an omelette includes even the tiniest bit of eggshell, I'm afraid that's enough to stop me stone cold dead in my tracks - and probably bring what I have eaten, back.  It's really such a shame, as the risotto was just SO mushroomy and gorgeous.  I loved the flavours - but could have done with having a comedy set of teeth, i.e. removeable, in order to eat it.

The next meal on the list was a Chicken & Cauliflower Curry.  For some reason, I decided to go about this curry by blitzing the onion, garlic and chilli before frying them off.  I suspect it's too much food t.v. that planted this particular idea in my mind.  I really don't know why I did it, because in the past whenever hubby has made a curry this way, I haven't really liked it because it leaves the sauce quite textural and almost gritty (again).  In fact, part-way through the cooking of this curry (shortly after the addition of some yoghurt, which promptly split) I was seriously considering consigning it to the bin.  However, I persevered and once the cauliflower began to cook, the whole thing came together quite nicely.  It wasn't bad, but I have to admit that I much prefer the "slice onions, fry, add garlic & chilli, fry, add spices, fry" approach to making a curry!

All was safe and sound by the following day's meal.  I have cooked the Sausage & Mozzarella Pasta Bake dozens of times now.  However, this time was a little different in that hubby was cooking.  I had to write the recipe out, as our printer has given up the ghost, and he even managed to read my writing correctly.  He turned out a lovely rendition of the dish - and for once, not having cooked it, I suppose - I could understand why the whole family like it so much!

We're up to Friday now, and owing to certain things happening rather suddenly (which I won't go into here, as I'm sure you'd be bored by it all), the planned Stromboli (regrettably, I failed to keep a note of the website which fired up my interest in the dish, or you could have seen it) fell by the wayside when I ran out of time in which to prove the dough required.  Pizza managed to fall into the gap again.

Yesterday, Saturday, I had planned on making a Quiche Lorraine.  Following a bit of comparing and contrasting various Quiche Lorraine recipes - from those with an ingredients list a mile long, to those with four or five ingredients - I decided on a fairly plain recipe.  I knew that the ingredients I had - Burford Brown eggs, Butcher's Bacon and a lovely strong piece of mature cheddar, were probably enough.  I will admit to adding a pinch of nutmeg, but that just seemed to make sense at the time!

The end result was a quiche of quite glorious proportions and taste, too - which I'll be blogging second on the to-do-list.  With a fairly simple salad, it made for a lovely meal.

Tonight's dinner is going to be roast bacon - I bought a lovely little roasting joint from Spring Fields Butchers on Friday - together with a Pasta Ratatouille bake.  I was after something a bit nicer than your average fare, but that was easy to prepare.  Hopefully I hit that nail on the head - I'll let you know later!

So far, I've boiled the little chap in some apple juice and water - approx 50/50 dimensions - with some thyme, a cinnamon stick and some pepper.  It smelled lovely when I got it out of it's bath to go into the roasting pan.  I'm currently cooking it long and slow - it will probably have had about two and a half hours in the roasting tin, by the time dinner is ready.  Fingers crossed, it will be falling apart tender by then.

All of which just leaves Monday.  I'm taking the car back to the garage to have the work done for the MOT pass on Monday, so we needed something easy to make and flexible - just in case we got the "come and get the car" call right at an inopportune moment from the dinner's point of view.

There's really only two meals that fall easily into that category - either spaghetti bolognese or chilli con carne.  As we've had a number of pasta dishes just lately, we opted for the chilli.  Hubby will be cooking that one as he's the Chilli-meister, so I'll be able to sit back and lick the wounds that the MOT will have undoubtedly caused.  If I had the money, I'd buy a new car every year, just so that I didn't have to go through this MOT nightmare annually.  It'd be worth it, I'm sure!

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Menu plan : 31 May - 6 June 2011

Here we are again with the meal plan for this coming week and already we're two days into it.  Mind you, we did take one day out to drive around the New Forest and see this year's crop of foals, which was a lovely sunny day which everyone enjoyed.  We took a picnic and stopped at Bolderwood where they've got a well organised picnic area with loos and even an ice cream stand.

This week's menu is following on with the lighter, less calorific, fresher meals - well, as much as is possible!

One deviation from this is Saturday's curry, which is taken from the Gurkha part of the British Army Cookbook - a copy of which (just the Gurkha part, not all of it!) was given to me by the generous Willie who I am sure you will have noticed in the comments sections of my blogs.  Goodness only knows where he got it from - and we won't ask.  ~taps the side of her nose knowingly~  LOL

So, this is how the week's menu has shaped up :

Tuesday : Chicken Jhalfrezi, basmati rice and Peshwari naan

Wednesday : Turkey meatballs in tomato & fennel sauce, with wholemeal pasta & doughballs

Thursday : Chilli Prawn Noodles

Friday : Paprika chicken with Jacket Potatoes

Saturday : Fried Pork Curry with sauce & mushroom rice

Sunday : Pork Shoulder, roast potatoes, carrots, corn on the cob, spring greens & apple sauce

Monday : Chilli con carne & rice.

As I am writing this on the Wednesday evening, we have already sampled the Chicken Jhalfrezi, which was spectacularly successful.  I was a little bit dubious about it, as it was a "healthier" recipe which didn't sound like any curry I'd ever produced.  Not that that's a bad thing - it's always good to learn new techniques.  I was just a little concerned that it would be a bit left-field for the menfolk.

The curry itself was made with chicken marinated in yoghurt, tomato puree, chilli and lemon juice.  You cook the onion and green pepper and add the marinated chicken, cooking the whole thing until fairly dry.  Then - and this was the left field bit - you serve the curry on a bed of salad leaves (I chose watercress, although spinach would be good too) that have been dressed in lemon juice & sea salt.

It was, as they say, blindin'.

This evening's fare was a dish of home-made meatballs in a tomato & fennel sauce.  The meatballs were made with turkey mince which is as economical as it is gentle in flavour.  However, with a clove of garlic, some breadcrumbs and lemon zest - not to mention a good hit of sea salt & freshly ground black pepper - a fairly uninteresting pack of mince turned into some cracking good meatballs.  The sauce was great - the fennel seeds gave it an interesting fragrance and a hint of aniseed on your tongue.  I'll be blogging this one once I've done the Jhalfrezi!

Thursday is hubby's night to cook and he's trotting out his famous Chilli Prawn Noodles.  I can't wait, as I really enjoy this dish - and we've a few interesting ingredients in the cupboard now that we didn't have previously.  Hubby may opt to stay with the approved recipe - but with things like Mirrin and Fish Sauce just sitting there, they'd be hard to resist.

Friday brings the second attempt at the Paprika chicken that got bumped from last week's menu.  Fingers crossed, it makes it this week.

Saturday is Ghurka curry night and, because I couldn't rustle up 10 or 50 friends to come and share, I'll be having an interesting time scaling the British Army's recipes down to suit 3 of us!

I'm really looking forward to Sunday's roast.  I haven't done a roast for a few weeks now and have been yearning for a piece of pork.  I figure a slow-roasted piece of shoulder will fit the bill perfectly.  I've managed to accumulate enough dripping in my fat cup for roast potatoes, and we'll be having Chantenay carrots, corn on the cob and spring greens.  I'll try to avoid doing Yorkshire puddings, in the interests of keeping the whole thing on the lighter side of "thumping great roast dinner".

Which brings us back to Monday, when we'll be trotting out another old favourite - Chilli con Carne.  Well, it is possible to make it without incurring the wrath of the calorie police, plus Son & heir really enjoys a good chilli.  It won't be the mega-chilli of late, which involves beef shin, but a more demure version using minced beef.  I've got a few aces up my sleeve that were used in the mega-chilli, so it'll be interesting to see how they translate in the more demure version!

So there we are.  It would seem as though meat-free Monday has taken a bit of a back seat again, which is very naughty of me.  I'll have to do better for next week!

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