Prep now. More time for fun later

I have a friend coming to stay for the next couple of days. This meant a trip to the supermarket yesterday (I'm really out of practice shopping at weekends!) and a morning in the kitchen today. Lots achieved but none of it particularly photogenic.

First up I had some broccoli which was past its best. While I have no intention of feeding this to company (my food standards are much higher when I'm feeding others) I did want to attempt to extend its life. The answer (hopefully) was the broccoli ripassati which Melinda blogged in the early days of Confined Kitchen. Cooled and packed into a kitchener jar it will hopefully come in useful to accompany pasta once I'm on my own again.

While the ripassati was cooking I weighed, peeled and diced some squash. This was in preparation for my previously blogged sticky rice, squash and broccoli I will make at some point in the next couple of days. As mentioned before I love squash but I don't love the effort involved in its preparation. I did get some nice new knives earlier in the year which make it easier but it's still work I'd rather not be doing when I could be enjoying my friend's company. Now safely diced and stored in tupperware the final dish should be easier and less labour intensive to prepare.

Keeping with the slightly more autumnal theme I'm also planning a red wine mushroom casserole. This includes herby, cheesy scones on top. So onto preparing the dough for the scones to save time later. This is a standard flour and butter mix with added parsley, cheese, and milk to bring it together into a dough.

Finally turning my attention to lunches, and following Melinda's sage advice that you can never have too many boiled potatoes I boiled and cooled some baby potatoes to make patatas bravas as part of a mezze at some point.

Not long until company arrives and I can stop doing anxious prep and relax.