I'm a very recipe-driven cook. I own lots of cookbooks, I love menu planning (for dinners, lunches tend to be "something on bread" or conceivably "soup with bread"). Last week that was a bit of a mixed blessing. I was going to the shops with a clear idea of what I wanted, and not finding it. This was supposed to be "crispy lamb chops with Cypriot salsa", from the lovely cookbook Taverna.
One thing that hasn't been in specially short supply is herbs, so the salsa verde wasn't much of a problem. But lamb chops? I saw some microscopic ones for £20 in our posh deli. Nope. The occasional shank, which I find really boring although it's fashionable as a cut. And... one pack of lamb neck. I vaguely remembered I've cooked it before, it was a smallish pack which I could freeze till this week, so the short date was fine. Sold.
When I got home, I realised you're supposed to stew lamb neck. Slowly. Definitely not a chop subsitute. Hey ho. I bunged it in the freezer and kept it in mind, while the last few days unravelled. By last night, I had a plan.
Today's been weird (haven't they all, lately?). I did my first shop for my parents. Supermarket better than recently - no Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as modom had requested, but did have dad's probiotic and bananas (not merely faddish, he's just out of radiotherapy and they are good for his various side-effects). Phew. Even his mini shredded wheat was available - I'd been dreading reporting that only full size could be found in these Unsettled Times. It was a beautiful day, and the four-and-a-half mile triangular trip to supermarket, to theirs and home was mostly a pleasure. But it's so quiet. Every time I saw someone else, I wondered whether they would Adequately Distance - most of us do, but it's tough, especially on our high street, which crosses the railway in a bottleneck just where everyone needs to pass.
I talked to my folks from the garden path. No hugs. We were very good, and it's fine, but it's also absolutely awful. I got a bonus for visiting, though, since they were doing the bins and had the back door open: a good big sprig of rosemary from their garden. Left on the doorstep for me to collect once they went inside, with mum waving from the front window instead of the door as she usually insists on.
But the rosemary was nice, because I needed to make stew of some sort. I had an onion, a very small and elderly carrot, and some garlic. Let's do this. Meat lightly browned (I never have the patience for this bit), and scattered with ground cumin. Onions fried till floppy. Added two chopped potatoes, that carrot, a chopped garlic clove, some stock (chicken seem to be the only stock cubes I have), zest from a lemon and juice of half of it, a big rosemary twig, a bay leaf. Bring to boil, lid on, simmer for a while.
How long did I cook it? About 90 minutes I think. I was frying off the onions when my doctor called to replace my tedious repeat prescription face to face appointment booking with 1 minute of phone consultation, after which she prescribed me a year's worth of pills (uh, okay, doctors expect this to go on a long time), noted my blood pressure reading (I have a home monitor for that) and made me promise to email the practice my weight next time I am near some scales to keep their records straight. The joy/the shame. That call was definitely before five. I definitely did a lot of work emails while it was stewing, and by the time I sat down to eat I'd missed House of Games. So, say 90 mins stewing, according to the new Covid19 method of noting time passing amid dislocated days. More importantly, everything was properly cooked and the potatoes falling apart nicely.
Salsa verde: chopped mint, coriander, parsley (a handful of each), anchovies (2), garlic (1), capers (half a handful), oil (till it looks right tbh), lemon juice from the other half and in theory red wine vinegar but actually white balsamic as I never have the right vinegar for anything. (I have a lot of white balsamic for some reason, but luckily I like it a lot.) The recipe says just chop it and mix. I might have blended it to go with chops, but for this, I really wanted lots of leaves. I used a whole lemon on this recipe. Lavish.
It worked really well, I'm glad to say. Big scoop of stew, big spoonful of sharp, salty greenery to give crunch. I've plenty for tomorrow, and there might be a smidge to stretch into soup on Wednesday. The stew needs something like this to make it pop, but as a basic lamb stew it's not bad at all.
One thing that hasn't been in specially short supply is herbs, so the salsa verde wasn't much of a problem. But lamb chops? I saw some microscopic ones for £20 in our posh deli. Nope. The occasional shank, which I find really boring although it's fashionable as a cut. And... one pack of lamb neck. I vaguely remembered I've cooked it before, it was a smallish pack which I could freeze till this week, so the short date was fine. Sold.
When I got home, I realised you're supposed to stew lamb neck. Slowly. Definitely not a chop subsitute. Hey ho. I bunged it in the freezer and kept it in mind, while the last few days unravelled. By last night, I had a plan.
Today's been weird (haven't they all, lately?). I did my first shop for my parents. Supermarket better than recently - no Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as modom had requested, but did have dad's probiotic and bananas (not merely faddish, he's just out of radiotherapy and they are good for his various side-effects). Phew. Even his mini shredded wheat was available - I'd been dreading reporting that only full size could be found in these Unsettled Times. It was a beautiful day, and the four-and-a-half mile triangular trip to supermarket, to theirs and home was mostly a pleasure. But it's so quiet. Every time I saw someone else, I wondered whether they would Adequately Distance - most of us do, but it's tough, especially on our high street, which crosses the railway in a bottleneck just where everyone needs to pass.
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| Loudest thing on my walk trying to take side streets: a cherry tree in the sun, absolutely FULL of bees |
But the rosemary was nice, because I needed to make stew of some sort. I had an onion, a very small and elderly carrot, and some garlic. Let's do this. Meat lightly browned (I never have the patience for this bit), and scattered with ground cumin. Onions fried till floppy. Added two chopped potatoes, that carrot, a chopped garlic clove, some stock (chicken seem to be the only stock cubes I have), zest from a lemon and juice of half of it, a big rosemary twig, a bay leaf. Bring to boil, lid on, simmer for a while.
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| Stew, stewing; carrot, impressionistic |
How long did I cook it? About 90 minutes I think. I was frying off the onions when my doctor called to replace my tedious repeat prescription face to face appointment booking with 1 minute of phone consultation, after which she prescribed me a year's worth of pills (uh, okay, doctors expect this to go on a long time), noted my blood pressure reading (I have a home monitor for that) and made me promise to email the practice my weight next time I am near some scales to keep their records straight. The joy/the shame. That call was definitely before five. I definitely did a lot of work emails while it was stewing, and by the time I sat down to eat I'd missed House of Games. So, say 90 mins stewing, according to the new Covid19 method of noting time passing amid dislocated days. More importantly, everything was properly cooked and the potatoes falling apart nicely.
Salsa verde: chopped mint, coriander, parsley (a handful of each), anchovies (2), garlic (1), capers (half a handful), oil (till it looks right tbh), lemon juice from the other half and in theory red wine vinegar but actually white balsamic as I never have the right vinegar for anything. (I have a lot of white balsamic for some reason, but luckily I like it a lot.) The recipe says just chop it and mix. I might have blended it to go with chops, but for this, I really wanted lots of leaves. I used a whole lemon on this recipe. Lavish.
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| Balanced on Taverna, from which the recipe comes. |
It worked really well, I'm glad to say. Big scoop of stew, big spoonful of sharp, salty greenery to give crunch. I've plenty for tomorrow, and there might be a smidge to stretch into soup on Wednesday. The stew needs something like this to make it pop, but as a basic lamb stew it's not bad at all.
Know what you mean about the time. I usually work from home very happily 2 days a week, but between the worry, and the weirdness, I couldn't believe it was still only 4pm when I felt as if I'd been working for decades. And I'm fortunate in having a job which is totally, full-time transferable to home other than weekly meetings; which at the moment are happening online anyway.
ReplyDeleteLove lamb neck stew. In more luxurious times, it's fabulous stewed long and slow in the oven with white wine and green peppers. About as much green pepper as lamb.
I've found some bits of time vanishing amazingly fast. The weekend zoomed by when I'd thought it would drag. But I'm quite dislocated at times, and this morning really dragged.
DeleteThe time thing's really funny: I've set up a Real Routine, and I feel more grounded in when and where I'm at than ever before. So far, anyway. Maybe it's because I'm no longer at the beck and call of the train company, so if I say I'm going to do a Thing at a Time, it actually happens.
ReplyDeleteI think it's that I'm not remotely 'present' as yoga folk call it. My mind's always on another thing, another worry. So although the timings of the routine are fairly fixed, my brain doesn't note them. We'll see. If I can just find *somewhere* to deliver veg to my parents, things will get a lot simpler in my head.
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