Despite being retired, the weekend is still, well, the weekend. I continue to do the things on Friday, Saturday and Sunday that I always have, from meeting up with friends to avoiding doing the ironing. This weekend was much the same, with the exception that I changed my mind about some of my plans. I had intended on to go to the SEC in Glasgow on Friday for the Christmas craft show, taking a packed lunch with me and using my free bus pass to get me there. However Thursday night was a restless, sleepless one and I felt disinclined on Friday morning to get myself off to the bus station at any time that would make the SEC visit worthwhile.
So was this sleeplessness the result of a bad conscience (I can hear you ask)? No. I was thinking about food, cooking and the remaining tenner in the budget. Now I know that at any time I could throw in the hat on this challenge and buy anything I need, nonetheless this one sleepless night of mine surely reflects the reality of so many people who are challenged to live on the breadline, without much chance of an end to it. I determined this weekend to prepare enough meals to last me for the rest of the month, so that the remaining £10 can cope with emergencies. Which is probably a good plan. This weekend a light bulb blew in the kitchen, I ran out of greaseproof paper, kitchen roll, bleach and washing up liquid. Now as it happens I had a spare bulb and a bottle of washing up liquid in the cupboard and I can live without greaseproof, bleach and kitchen roll, (we never had kitchen roll in the house as kids, why do I need it now?) but if I had had to go out and buy this stuff, it would have cost me exactly £10 in Sainsbury's. If £30 had to be used for all the month's household expenditure, I think the budget would be bust by now.
One of the slightly odd side effects of this challenge is that I am using all sorts of kitchen equipment that haven't seen the light of day in a very long time. Like many women of my generation I have a large collection of Tupperware, most of which had names and purposes once but are now long forgotten. For the record, this week on the equipment front I have used a zester, a cannelling knife, a potato ricer, American measuring cups, a ginger grater and a lemon juicer plus nearly all of my portion-sized Tupperware, the ice cube trays and cake-keepers. The other odd thing is how much time I'm spending in the kitchen with an apron on.
Friday was curry night, so I defrosted a portion of sabzi, cauliflower curry, a naan bread and some dahl and while it was the second curry this week, it was none the less enjoyable for that. Saturday I was out until after 1930, and on returning home I definitely wanted to eat not cook, so out of the freezer came one of the pizza bases and while the oven was heating I loaded it with grated cheese and Italian herbs and a drizzle of olive oil and despite the cheese being mousetrap and the herbs dried, it was as good a Margherita as I've had anywhere. Sunday was a day at home, and in order to save me more sleepless nights, also a day in the kitchen.
Being Sunday, I decided to start with preparing a proper lunch. This time I wanted nut roast, mash and vegetables with lashings of gravy. I started by sweating chopped onion and garlic in a pan and adding vegetable stock, marmite, tomato puree and seasoning. I added this mixture to a bowl in which I mixed the chopped nuts and breadcrumbs and two beaten eggs. Once completely combined, it was turned into a loaf tin and baked for about hour and 15 minutes on 190C (with a foil cap for the first hour to protect the top from browning too fast. In addition to the cashew nuts I found half full packets of almonds and hazelnuts in the cupboard, and while rather old were still sound so used these in order to save some of the cashews. The breadcrumbs were made from the heel of the five seed loaf I made last week. While the nut roast was cooking I peeled and steamed several big potatoes (still using the 'international kidney' from the garden) and when cooked put the lot through the ricer, mixing in some olive oil (no butter in the house), salt and pepper and some milk. I put a portion aside for my lunch, the remainder to be used on the second dish (prepared while the nut roast was cooking).
I do love a Shepherds' pie! 250 grams of green lentils soaked for an hour were added to two chopped onions, garlic, all of the finely chopped mushrooms left over from the family pack I bought ten days ago (this dish needs them to be a bit old - not fresh new button mushrooms which have no flavour) plus about two handfuls of pre-cooked cannellini beans crushed to a paste (I'd soaked them overnight and then boiled them up this morning), a tin of tomatoes, the last of the tomato puree, mixed herbs, marmite, the last of the dried mushrooms soaked and then chopped and the soaking liquid from the mushrooms made up to about a pint with a veggie stock cube, and four chopped prunes. All of this brought to a boil and then simmered until the lentils were tender. Why the prunes? Veggie stock cubes aren't the most flavourful, so a couple of prunes finally chopped adds a good dark colour and a rich flavour - I usually add a bit of extra salt to off set the sweetness. This made four individual shepherds' pies (can it be called a shepherds' pie if it doesn't have lamb in it?), and two extra portions which can be used as
ragu with pasta. There was also two portions of mash left-over, which might be useful for fish cakes or for gnocchi. All into the freezer.
The final savoury dish was Boston baked beans. Great for lunch or breakfast, these are so much tastier (and cheaper) than bought baked beans. There are six good portions here. I soaked and boiled until tender the 500 gram packet of beans I bought this week. All but two handfuls (which were used in the shepherds' pies) were then added to chopped and lightly fried onions, tinned chopped tomatoes, a couple of spoonfuls of molasses, a teaspoon or so of sweet smoked paprika and some salt-free stock and cooked in the oven for about an hour (or until the beans are soft and the sauce thick). At this point the seasoning is adjusted (don't add salt when cooking beans as it makes the skins tough). This lot will be portioned up and added to the freezer stash of ready-prepared meals.
As it is Sunday I also made some dessert.
I still have lots of apples left, so I made my version of apple crumble. Standard crumble is not a favourite - I so rarely manage to get the crumble cooked properly - it always seems overcooked on top and doughy near the fruit. So I use muesli. I use enough muesli to cover the fruit to the depth of about an inch and add it to a frying pan in which I've melted fat (butter is best, coconut oil a reasonable second but today it was sunflower oil as it was all I had), and added honey (or syrup or sugar, or agave nectar or whatever you like) plus spices - for me it is allspice, ground green cardamon and cinnamon - but add what you like. Turn the heat up once the muesli is added and lightly fry -- you want the flakes toasted and the dried fruit plumb. Stir it continually and don't leave it, it will only take a few minutes to brown and it burns very easily. Take it off the heat and keep stirring until the residual heat in the pan is gone. Use this to cover peeled and slice apples placed in an ovenproof dish. I like my apples chunky not mushy, so I bake the lot in the oven until the apples are just tender. You can speed the process up by microwaving the apples until they are the texture you like, adding the topping and then grilling for a minute or two just to finish it off. It's great served with custard or cream or coconut yogurt - like here. And yes, I know that this a big portion, but I've been slaving over a hot stove......
So in all there are now six (greedy) portions of beans, three portions of nut roast, two of lentil ragu, two portions of mash and three portions of shepherds' pie to be added the freezer. The apple 'crumble' won't make it to the freezer - unsurprisingly it is really nice for breakfast, with a cup of coffee mid morning or cold for dessert. Already in the freezer are two curry meals, four portions of stew and dumplings, sardine fish cakes and a pizza base so to my calculations there is a main meal for every night remaining of my challenge, and I still have a pumpkin, red kidney beans, eggs and potatoes to use up. That should put paid to the sleepless nights.
If you'd like to sponsor me for this challenge and support 'Start-Up Stirling' you can do so here!
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