I am feeling completely uninspired about cooking at the moment. We are coming to the end of the school term, so I am hoping that a short break will give me time to recharge and renew my enthusiasm. In the meantime I am resorting to some old favourites I haven't cooked for a while, and simple meals that require little planning or effort. I haven't let my indifference get in the way of our enjoyment of the (relatively) short asparagus season though.
This week we ate:
Sunday
Simple Omelettes, stuffed with asparagus, finely chopped ham, and grated cheddar cheese.
Monday
Four Cheese Chicken Bake, served with Crushed Boiled Potatoes and Oven Roasted Asparagus and Broccoli.
I used my Simple Bechamel Sauce to make the Four Cheese Sauce, substituting some of the Cheddar for Gruyere cheese, and crumbling some Gorgonzola into the sauce as well. To make the bake, cut chicken breasts into 4 - 5 cm pieces, and brown them in a fry pan. Also fry off some chopped bacon and mushrooms, then mix everything with the four cheese sauce. Pile the cheesy chicken into a casserole dish, and sprinkle over some fresh breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan. Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes, or until everything is bubbling and golden brown.
To make the potatoes, peel and boil (or steam) plain potatoes. When cooked, drizzle with good olive oil, season with salt & pepper, and roughly crush with a fork.
Tuesday
Kinda Spaghetti Bolognaise from Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef.
Wednesday
Thai Style Pumpkin Soup.
This recipe was given to me by my friend Gina, so I cannot share it here. However it is quite similar to this recipe if you wanted to give it a go.
Thursday
Crunchy Oven Baked Fish Nuggets, served with Easy Baked Sweet Potato Chips and Fried Cabbage with Pancetta.
I am still working on the recipe for the fish nuggets, so hopefully I can share this soon.
Freezer Cooking
I finally managed to put something into the freezer this week. I doubled the Spaghetti Bolognaise recipe on Tuesday night, which meant I was able to freeze half of it for another meal.
There is now a large batch of Homemade Frozen Pizzas in the freezer. I love these. All I have to do is turn on the oven and unwrap the pizza. Bliss.
When making the Indian Spiced Roasted Chickpeas last week, I managed to cook many more chickpeas than I required. The leftovers were made into some spiced Chickpea Burger Patties that went straight into the freezer for a quick weekend lunch. Keep an eye out for this recipe. Even The Princess liked it.
Bon Appetit!
