Well, that was an interesting week. Skirting over closing a service in less than 5 hours, setting up remote working for the whole team, couriering equipment to colleagues in isolation and learning how to balance a laptop on books to avoid RSI, the announcement on Thursday that the schools were closing was, interestingly, the most mentally challenging.
We're a family that is generally out of the house during the week. The children have school dinners and both adults work in London. Weekday evenings are for adult cooking (vegan food, interesting cheese, non-orange vegetables) and we all eat together at weekends. Choosing menus, reading cookbooks, trying out new recipes - this is a hobby for me, a relaxation. The prospect of an additional 24 meals a week in the house and having to cater for both children and adults, with the chance of limited access to foodstuffs = not relaxing. Permanently working around likes and dislikes seemed like a mountainous challenge - although they are generally good eaters, there are quirks (one child won't eat cheese sauce or green vegetables, the other is a risotto-refuser, nobody apart from me likes mushrooms or any form of marrow).
Anyway, probably because of this, Saturday was comfort-food day. Soup (because what isn't made better by soup?), chilli (old-school, everyone loves it) and cake (see soup).
Soup was leek, veg and potato. Two each of leeks, potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, chop and sweat in rapeseed oil (or whatever) for 10 minutes. Add 1.8 litres of stock, cook for another 10 minutes, season and blend (because, you know, veg).
Chilli is my mother-in-law's recipe, in use since the 1970s and still going strong. It's easy, cheap and requires very little work after the initial stirring.
Fry mince until browned. Add a chopped onion and a crushed clove of garlic and cook for a bit more. Add a 400g tin of tomatoes, a tin of kidney beans (I only had mixed yesterday, but whatever), a heaped tsp of chilli powder, a tablespoon of tomato puree, a chopped green pepper (though any will do), a tsp of caraway seeds (fine without, though) a dash of tabasco and a couple of bay leaves (I always put in far more bay than required, but I love it and I have a bay tree in the garden). Bring it all to the boil then shove into a low oven (150) for two and a half hours. Feel free to add more liquid as it goes along. This fed 4 of us, with seconds, and there was a portion left to freeze. We had it with rice, but I have been known to have it with a baked potato or in a wrap. It is very forgiving.
Cake is also down to my mother-in-law, who is a wonderful baker. I am not. I much prefer the savoury side of food, and am really too slapdash to make good cakes. However, everyone else in the family has a sweet tooth and this is a ginger cake that works as a pudding, with ice cream, or a snack with coffee. It keeps well and doesn't involve creaming sugar and butter, which I hate, as I invariably forget to get the butter out of the fridge and end up with a rock-hard mess. This recipe is from the 60s, hence the measurements in ounces.
Sift 8 oz plain flour, 2 tsps baking powder, half a tsp bicarb, 4 tsps ground ginger and 1 tsp mixed spice. Meanwhile, melt 4 oz marg or butter (both work), 4 oz brown sugar and 4 oz golden syrup in a pan. When melted, pour into the flour mix. Add quarter of an ounce of milk and a beaten egg. Pour into a greased 2lb loaf tin and bake in a low oven (150) for an hour. Turn out and cool - it's actually better the next day, but obviously that didn't happen.
Do you know, the comfort food worked. I spent the day cooking and ended it more more focussed and relaxed. I'm sure we'll have some interesting combinations over the next few weeks, but it now seems more like a challenge than a panic. Remind me of this when we're eating anchovies and noodles.
We're a family that is generally out of the house during the week. The children have school dinners and both adults work in London. Weekday evenings are for adult cooking (vegan food, interesting cheese, non-orange vegetables) and we all eat together at weekends. Choosing menus, reading cookbooks, trying out new recipes - this is a hobby for me, a relaxation. The prospect of an additional 24 meals a week in the house and having to cater for both children and adults, with the chance of limited access to foodstuffs = not relaxing. Permanently working around likes and dislikes seemed like a mountainous challenge - although they are generally good eaters, there are quirks (one child won't eat cheese sauce or green vegetables, the other is a risotto-refuser, nobody apart from me likes mushrooms or any form of marrow).
Anyway, probably because of this, Saturday was comfort-food day. Soup (because what isn't made better by soup?), chilli (old-school, everyone loves it) and cake (see soup).
Soup was leek, veg and potato. Two each of leeks, potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, chop and sweat in rapeseed oil (or whatever) for 10 minutes. Add 1.8 litres of stock, cook for another 10 minutes, season and blend (because, you know, veg).
Chilli is my mother-in-law's recipe, in use since the 1970s and still going strong. It's easy, cheap and requires very little work after the initial stirring.
Fry mince until browned. Add a chopped onion and a crushed clove of garlic and cook for a bit more. Add a 400g tin of tomatoes, a tin of kidney beans (I only had mixed yesterday, but whatever), a heaped tsp of chilli powder, a tablespoon of tomato puree, a chopped green pepper (though any will do), a tsp of caraway seeds (fine without, though) a dash of tabasco and a couple of bay leaves (I always put in far more bay than required, but I love it and I have a bay tree in the garden). Bring it all to the boil then shove into a low oven (150) for two and a half hours. Feel free to add more liquid as it goes along. This fed 4 of us, with seconds, and there was a portion left to freeze. We had it with rice, but I have been known to have it with a baked potato or in a wrap. It is very forgiving.
Cake is also down to my mother-in-law, who is a wonderful baker. I am not. I much prefer the savoury side of food, and am really too slapdash to make good cakes. However, everyone else in the family has a sweet tooth and this is a ginger cake that works as a pudding, with ice cream, or a snack with coffee. It keeps well and doesn't involve creaming sugar and butter, which I hate, as I invariably forget to get the butter out of the fridge and end up with a rock-hard mess. This recipe is from the 60s, hence the measurements in ounces.
Sift 8 oz plain flour, 2 tsps baking powder, half a tsp bicarb, 4 tsps ground ginger and 1 tsp mixed spice. Meanwhile, melt 4 oz marg or butter (both work), 4 oz brown sugar and 4 oz golden syrup in a pan. When melted, pour into the flour mix. Add quarter of an ounce of milk and a beaten egg. Pour into a greased 2lb loaf tin and bake in a low oven (150) for an hour. Turn out and cool - it's actually better the next day, but obviously that didn't happen.
Do you know, the comfort food worked. I spent the day cooking and ended it more more focussed and relaxed. I'm sure we'll have some interesting combinations over the next few weeks, but it now seems more like a challenge than a panic. Remind me of this when we're eating anchovies and noodles.
That cake looks very good!
ReplyDeleteIt's excellent (not as good as when my mother-in-law makes it, but close. Still half left!
DeleteI loved this - and glad the comfort food/familiar recipes helped. I obvs won't argue with you about the joys of soup!
ReplyDeleteThe soup is still going - fed all 4 of us for 2 days lunch so far.
ReplyDelete