There are plenty of challenges to Apocalypse Life - I just hadn't expected lunch to be one of them.
But like other CKers, having to think of an extra meal Every. Single. Day. is getting a bit old. Normally if I'm WFH I'm alone, so a quick jacket potato or <blush> ping veggie meal is easy enough. But the kids protest if they're offered the same thing every day, and ready meals for four would be (a) wasteful and (b) a tick in the Bad Mother column I could really do without, considering.
So. Quite often these days I'm defaulting to soup. Today's is another Jack Monroe recipe and another Lockdown Discovery which will definitely be coming into the Time After with us.
Pappa al pomodoro (I believe it translates to 'mush with tomato', which is accurate but doesn't sound nearly so nice) starts with hoarding bread crusts/any bread that's past its best. I now have a breadcrust bag in the freezer so I can save them up till we've got enough for soup, which feels pleasingly frugal.
Once you have enough, sweat some garlic and oil in a pan, then put in a couple of tins of tomatoes/passata (I'm doubling the recipe, which makes generous helpings for four and leftovers), salt and pepper, 250ml water and herbs - in my case, rosemary from the hedge out front. I also add a cup of lentils at this point, because I seem to put lentils in most things, these days, and it makes for a more substantial meal. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
Add another 250ml water and your bread. Bring back to the boil, then turn off the heat and let it sit for half an hour or so. Warm through, and eat.
It's so simple, but really inexplicably lovely; comfort food with a taste of sunshine.
But like other CKers, having to think of an extra meal Every. Single. Day. is getting a bit old. Normally if I'm WFH I'm alone, so a quick jacket potato or <blush> ping veggie meal is easy enough. But the kids protest if they're offered the same thing every day, and ready meals for four would be (a) wasteful and (b) a tick in the Bad Mother column I could really do without, considering.
So. Quite often these days I'm defaulting to soup. Today's is another Jack Monroe recipe and another Lockdown Discovery which will definitely be coming into the Time After with us.
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| Pappa al pomodoro |
Once you have enough, sweat some garlic and oil in a pan, then put in a couple of tins of tomatoes/passata (I'm doubling the recipe, which makes generous helpings for four and leftovers), salt and pepper, 250ml water and herbs - in my case, rosemary from the hedge out front. I also add a cup of lentils at this point, because I seem to put lentils in most things, these days, and it makes for a more substantial meal. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
Add another 250ml water and your bread. Bring back to the boil, then turn off the heat and let it sit for half an hour or so. Warm through, and eat.
It's so simple, but really inexplicably lovely; comfort food with a taste of sunshine.
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| Tarka daal/more brown gloop |
Rest of week round-up: mainly bread
Looking back over my recent posts, they look v much as if I have two settings: brown gloop, or wholemeal fusilli with broccoli and AN Other random ingredient. Ooops.
And the streak continues with the nice tarka daal I made on Tuesday, complete with fried onion toppings (thanks to whichever CKer I got the idea from) and chappatis now I've worked out how to do them. I didn't even mess up the first one, this time.
We're also getting through rather a lot of bread, which means I'm making rather a lot of bread. Three from this week: soda bread with spiced blackberry and apple jam (the last jar from the autumn, sob); sourdough, and Marmite bread.
Breadmaking was a semi-regular thing in the Time Before, but now I'm home every day there's something incredibly calming and restorative about keeping the household in flour-based carbs; plus, no day can be really lousy when it starts with fresh warm bread and butter.
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| Marmite bread |
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| Sourdough |
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| Soda bread |
My god woman, you're a breadmaking machine! That daal looks excellent, too. There's brown gloop that looks sad, and brown gloop that looks enticing, and that's definitely in the latter category.
ReplyDeleteEnticing Brown Gloop. I like it.
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