Yesterday, when I finally prised myself from the grip of my nice warm bed, I found that Julia had left me porridge and a bacon sandwich. It’s at times like those that you realise how fortunate you are in your choice of wife.
It seemed only fair that I reciprocate this morning, so I took her to McDonalds. It’s slightly less impressive as a gesture but it’s a lot easier and there is no washing up.
Tonight we are having our traditional vegetable stew with dumplings. It’s low in calories, low on additives, cheap and delicious. It’s also a reliable recipe we have now been making for some months.
I have not exactly covered myself in glory this week, with a couple of new recipes that went slightly wrong. I say “slightly” but in one case we’ve been staring at it for five days. I would feel bad if I threw it out, as it’s a terrible thing to waste food. On the other hand, I will probably feel bad if I actually eat it.
What I did was to make a base for a vegetarian cottage pie by using small diced vegetables, onions and beans. It looks good and the texture is good. If only I hadn’t followed the advice of jamie Oliver to use a teaspoon of Marmite all would have been well. If you follow his recipe exactly it may well have worked, but I didn’t. I mixed and matched and ended up with a dish that is abominably salty.
If I boil a potato or two in it I’m likely to reduce it to soup. If I dilute it and pour the salty liquor off I can’t guarantee an improvement. And if I add more ingredients I just risk wasting more.
It looks like it will be heading for compost, and a valuable lesson will have been learned regarding recipes, though it’s not the first time I’ve been let down by a recipe from a celebrity chef.
The second was nothing like as bad. In fact I quite liked it, though Julia was less keen. I made a root vegetable hash and baked it with four eggs on top. I didn’t quite get the balance of vegetables right (too much swede/rutabaga), and the baking dried it out a bit but I think it has potential. The problem is mainly that it didn’t have corned beef in it, which keeps it moist and gives plenty of flavour.
At work, we finished the banknotes. AS you can see from the note below, I reached Zambia. Eddie did Zimbabwe, and we both heaved a sigh of relief.
Banknotes – Zambia
Always thought it NOT a waste if things go into compost…it’s recycling =). For flavour with dry thinks, maybe a little wine-or even water. But I figure you know that-most of your recipes sound delicious.
Thank you. 🙂 They may always sound delicious but that may be a bit of poetic license.
I often add soy sauce to dishes but it’s best not to be too heavy-handed with that as well!
I’m the same with Lea & Perrins/Hendersons but you get used to the things you use. Marmite generally goes on Julia’s toast and I don’t use it for cooking. Now I know why. 🙁
😀
I always feel bad when something doesn’t work. Sometimes you can’t fix it after, either. Just leave it in the fridge until it’s unsafe to eat anyway.
I decided to face up to it and throw it away. That way I can still moan about Julia leaving stuff to moulder at the back of the fridge. 🙂
It always stings to have to throw away an unsuccessful dish. Happens to us all, even if we’ve been cooking for a while.
I could have avoided it by adding half the Marmite and then tasting it – schoolboy error! Very embarrassing.
We all make errors like that from time to time, even though we have been cooking for many, many years.
I remember my mother once boiled a pan of eggs dry while she was busy doing something else. I wasn’t there at the time but the popping and eggy stench were, I’m told, memorable. Cooking is full of opportunities for error.
You got that right!!
Bunging the cottage pie might have helped your alliteration
🙂 Might also have helped my cookery.
🙂
A good quick dish we have here from time to time is a one pot meal of stir fried kale, red onion, sliced sweet potatoes and chickpeas. You can slat and pepper, and add tumeric to taste. No marmite. 🙂
I don’t know what it is about kale and sweet potatoes, but they are so appealing together. I must try this as a curry
I think the same – it’s close to the ingredients for oe of my favourite curries. 🙂
Sounds good, and it’s made from ingredients I usually have to hand. Will add it to the list to try. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
I have had to throw away a few mis-cooks over the years and it always hurts.
I suppose it’s all part of learning…
I’ve definitely learned to be suspicious of Marmite.