With a demanding baby in the house (Little Miss C is teething at just eleven weeks old!) the variety of our evening meals has been somewhat lacking of late. I'm hoping that over the next week I can change this a bit and whilst ordering my groceries online I have also been seeking out some new recipes to try. Earlier in the year I also tried to take part in the 52 in 2010 challenge but as expected my participation eased off somewhat once LMC arrived. May be I can get a bit back on track this next week.
Firstly I was drawn in by the Waitrose TV advert featuring Delia's Thai Chicken with lime and coconut and the ease of ordering the ingredients in one go with Ocado means that I really have no excuse for not giving this a go. When we stayed with CompostWoman a couple of weeks ago, CompostMan served up some fantastic home made pizza and it really made us determined to try similar at home with some of our home grown vegetables. I have found this Jamie Oliver pizza dough recipe and I'm hoping that I can make something as tasty as what we had in Herefordshire. Finally I have recently been remembering a very tasty sausage casserole recipe that I used to make when I was a student. I'm sure that I have the recipe somewhere in the house, but seem completely unable to find it at the moment. A search online has found this alternative though and reading the ingredients list suggests that it should be tasty.
Looking at what we have in the garden I'm also hoping that I will be able to do something with the small damson crop that we should have and also the abundance of cooking apples that our tree seems to be producing. Any recipe ideas gratefully received.
I too tried the meal challenge and think I did 26 which is better than nothing so don’t feel too bad! Yes I too need to get the meal plannning sorted and get my online shopping organised – we have little choice in our shops!
Hmm, blog equivalent of the Invention Test, happy times, though I’m struggling to avoid puddings.
Damsons are fun, though more than slightly tedious to stone. I made chutney each year when I had the luxury of a mature damson tree, it’s aged well but is perhaps a bit strongly flavoured for normal tastebuds 🙂 They can be hard to catch when ripe and yet still firm enough to use for raw desserts, like serving with meringue and a splodge of cream. Maybe with the apples and some cinnamon and baked into an open plait of pastry.
If you’re feeling more savoury, duck or venison would stand up to a damson sauce.
Apples are versatile toys, blackberry and apple crumble with a few oats in the topping served with home made ice cream is seasonal. Use them with the damsons, a bit of cheesecloth and some jam sugar to make a sweet jelly to keep for the next year or two. Or if you’re feeling ambitious, Raymond Blanc is promoting Tarte Tatin at the moment, though I suspect a cooking apple would be too floury for that. A basic apple sauce is freezable in meal sized batches so you’ve got a year’s worth of accessorising for roast pork, though it might come out a bit watery. Baked apples with dried fruit and way too much brown sugar can be comforting when the nights are drawing in.
It might be a bit warming for LMC, but my hazy student memories think cayenne pepper is excellent in a sausage and bean casserole