Muddling and guddling through

Last week was not a good week. There was no reason why it shouldn’t have been good in the grand scheme of things. We’re fortunate not to have too many Corvid cases on the island, the weather has been beautiful (27 in the shade) and we’ve got outside space, but despite that it was one of those weeks that just disappeared down a black hole where I spent too much time watching random clips on You Tube instead of you know, actually doing something constructive!

This ennui spilled over into the kitchen too, hence the not posting as I guessed no one really wants to know how I made a chicken curry by opening a jar of curry sauce and pouring it over left over chicken pieces – talk about creative!

So the last week’s kitchen has been about muddling through, and creating a bit of a guddle in the kitchen with anything that I had to hand, so I thought I’d share my muddle and guddle. Last weekend we had roast chicken (hence the left over chicken pieces for the curry), so having the time, I actually used the carcass for making chicken stock (it was very brown stock), and from there made some garlic and chicken soup, using up the very sorry looking stick of celery and half a carrot I had left. But I added a whole bulb of thinly sliced garlic, which I’d briefly sautéd (thank you Samin Nosrat!) and added to the soup, and then I added some broken up fettucine to bulk it up.  It may not have looked pretty, but it tasted pretty good and lasted us three lunches.

 This Sunday was Lasagne(ish) day. I say ‘ish’ because I didn’t have so many of the ingredients – chicken livers, carrot or celery – so it was more or less making some savoury mince and introducing it to some pasta sheets and a bit of bechamel. It wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever made, but it worked for what it was.

I’m also suggesting this is my ‘Elsewhere Challenge’. Not because it’s in any way authentic and takes me to Italy, but because it reminds me of my mum, back in the late ‘70s. She had Elizabeth David’s Italian Food and once in a blue moon she’d make lasagne faithfully copying that recipe as far as she could. I still have her copy of Italian Food dated 1954, and there’s still an ancient post-it-note on the page for ragu. So even making something which had only the vaguest resemblance to that recipe takes me back to my childhood, sitting watching my mum cook in a southern Scottish kitchen.

And last night was Fish Pie night.  I had a huge piece of cod in the freezer, one of those that is too big for one meal but chopped in half isn’t really enough for two meals. Being thrifty at the moment I chopped it in half anyway and then realised it wasn’t big enough for Fish Pie – but I’d promised my husband fish pie and fish pie we were going to have. (I will make fish curry with the other half)

To get around it, instead of making one big fish pie, I decided to make two small ones – one with most of the cod for him, and one with mostly prawns for me (he doesn’t like prawns). Topped with some parmesany cream sauce and mashed potato, I told him I was going for the individual pub fish pie look. It also used up the last of a bit of grated mozzarella that I had, so I really must get to the shops as I’m out of all veg and most of my cheese. They didn't really get brown enough on top, but the veg was ready, so I had to take them out, properly browned or not.

I know this is a kitchen blog, but one of the things that did cheer me up this week was going to see the giant rhodo that’s in a garden a few blocks over from us. It’s called ‘Lady Cynthia’ and is quite the local landmark. (I apologise to Melinda for bringing non-edible plants into a kitchen blog!)

Hopefully this week will be a better week. I hope everyone is doing as well as they can be.