Post Cookalong dinner and drinks

Saturday was a busy day, in a typical expecting myself to do All The Things Right Now but it did all seem to work out an was rather enjoyable overall. As well as making Stollen (see separate blog post on that) and doing the housework I also decided to try a new recipe for dinner. I had sweet potato that needed using and had found a recipe the Green Roasting Tin (yes, the cookbook which has probably inspired 70-80% of my cooking in 2020) for a Groundnut stew with sweet potato, tomato and peanut. The recipe was for 4, usually I'd half the quantities and put half to one side for later in the week which is both simpler than trying to quarter the quantities and has the added benefit of not having to think about cooking on a weeknight. However on this occasion I only had enough sweet potato for one so the quantities were a little disproportionate.

I started with 250g of sweet potato peeled and sliced. I used a small onion (the recipe calls for one onion for 4 people but as the onions were small it seemed easier to use one rather than divide it). This was sliced and added to the roasting tin with the potato. Add ginger and crushed garlic cloves. The recipe called for a scotch bonnet but I'm more cautious with heat so I substituted this with a small green chilli, put in the roasting tin whole. Add oil and put in the over for 45 mins at 200C. Don't forget to start steaming the rice after the stew has been in the over for 20 minutes.

Take the roasting tin out of the oven add stock, peanut butter, and tinned chopped tomatoes. This was where the adjustment of the quantities became a little more complicated. The original recipe called for a 400g tin of tomatoes but it seems too much of a faff to quarter the tin and be left with three quarters of a tin to use up. Instead I halved the tin. I also only slightly reduced the stock as past experience has suggested that reducing the liquid in proportion can result in a dry dinner. This certainly wasn't the case on this occasion! Finally I thought weighing 10g for peanut butter would be messy so I guesstimated with a large teaspoon full. Mix this with the vegetables in the tin and return to the oven for 15 minutes

Remove the chilli and serve the stew with rice, and topped with salted peanuts and coriander. Overall average, but I'd be willing to try it again when I can adjust the quantities more appropriately and hopefully end up with a less sloppy end result.

I rounded off the day's experimentation with mulled wine. No photos of this, which is probably a good thing-the mulling was straightforward but the serving left my kitchen look like a serious accident had occurred! I cheated and used mulled wine sachets in a bottle of Coop Fairtrade Merlot, with a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar and some dried satsuma skins added. This was gently warmed and the first glass was lovely, unfortunately the remainder of the bottle was left to cool and while still flavoured lost its warming appeal. I am debating a rerun next weekend using the slow cooker to keep it warm. 

Tonight I'm planning reheated leftovers of a courgette and tomato quinoa gratin. I need to make space in the fridge and I think I've had enough experimentation for one weekend!