Had I not purchased a twin-pack of pizzas towards the end of the previous week, I might’ve been able to say now that I’d enjoyed five straight days home-made evening meals. Three out of five remains a good result and there’s still room to improve over the coming weeks (four usually comes after three).
Here’s my trio of main meals from last week. All recipes were taken from Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food.
For as much as I love pasta, there’s no better way for me to start a week than with a fresh boiled served from sweaty, steaming water. This recipe was very easy to make, all of the ingredients were easy to find (although I omitted chilli out of personal preference) and I got to learn that while basil may look like ‘a grass’, it also carries an incredibly strong scent (just like with parsley, a couple of weeks earlier).
I chose to throw in some frozen peas shortly before the end of the cooking. Having just re-cooked this meal this evening, I decided to add some celery this time, cooking it for a bit longer. Had I not accidentally poured in too much black pepper [I think the clue lies in the word poured], I might have enjoyed with out having to take as many sips from my glass.
Tuesday was my salad night. As the majority of salad recipes contain ‘too many greens’ for my liking, I wouldn’t usually consider them but this potato salad (with added strips of sliced smokey bacon) had my taste buds going before I reached down in to that bottom drawer of my freezer! Three potatoes was probably a lot for an individual and even for myself… I somehow missed the chives on my shop prior to this meal but the addition of chopped parsley seemed reasonable.
With all the starch and carbohydrates, this meal was rather filling. From now on, I’d like to try and add a salad as one of my regular weekday meals. Just once a week. I think this week will contain tomatoes but I also like the idea of making a stew (minus the peppers…) on a different day.
Eggs. I could tell you a lot about eggs but I rarely eat them, even though I like to keep a small stock within my cupboard. This was, as far back as I could remember, the first omelet that I had ever eaten!! It was certainly the first I’d ever made. It had bacon so, I couldn’t not attempt it and taste. It was about as filling as a pancake but it’s an option for me on those tired nights where I don’t want to spend much time at all slaving over a saucepan. I really enjoyed this omelet and I’ll be cooking another this week. One day, I may even find something to go with it but my mind is only currently open to the notion of chips.
Along with the food, I’m enjoying Jamie’s book, if I haven’t said so already. His recipes are very clear and easy to follow. I particular like the step-by-step photographs that accompany each meal, as I haven’t seen that in my other books.
My one surprise so far is that I seem to be spending a lot of time boiling and frying… I haven’t yet had to use my oven for any of the meals I’ve created so far. That’ll surely change soon though, especially if I want to add something to my omelettes and salads, or vice-versa.
Thanks for reading and happy kitchen time!