Stir-fried coconut rice with lamb and sweet potatoes
The week started so well.
The leg of lamb the man insisted on purchasing was put to good use when the mothers and others came for dinner. I admit I slightly overcooked it, nothing heinous (unless you’re French I expect) but not as pink as I would have liked. Happily our guests appeared to have less discerning palates and they were most complimentary. Of course they could just have been being kind, but the mothers are often not kind, they are honest in a way that is sometimes amusing, sometimes tactless and usually admirable. Seconds were had however and that surely means it was tasty enough to get through the first round of Masterchef, perhaps with merely a raised eyebrow from Greg Wallace and a seriously spoken ‘not bad’ from the Junior Roux. NB. Getting through the first round of Masterchef does not appear to be that tricky, I am no way claiming I have the skills and finesse of say, a quarter-finalist.
The man made some rather marvellous stock with the leg and that plus the leftover meat was used to make Mary’s Saturday Soup. Absolutely gorgeous. The recipe is in The Return of the Naked Chef and I had never cooked it despite having had the book for years. It is rather strange that although I am far more a fan of Nigel Slater’s homely simplicity I seem to have accumulated an obscene number of Jamie Oliver”s tomes. Well, four. But still!
Anyway the soup is West Indian in origin (as in from the West Indies not from the West of India) and is packed full of sweet potato, butternut squash, coconut, spices, lamb (oviously) and then deliciously topped with soft, steaming dumplings. (Mr Oliver not so generous with the dumplings, his recipe gave us about one each, needless to say I doubled). This soup is so hearty my sister insisted it was a stew. Stew or soup it was glorious, quarter-finals here I come!
(NB. At no point was Jamie actually naked was her? That was just a catchy title wasn’t it? Or is there some farcical story attached to it? Answers on an e-card please)
The leftovers of this concotion were then fried up with some boiled rice (see picure) and sprinkled with some spring onions and chilli to make a warm and filling supper that enabled me to bask in the glow of my own economy. Not necessarily financial, but ingrediential, or something. Sadly the glow was soon to fade, I made the mistake of dipping back into Jamie Oliver, ho ho.
Ravioli with pine nuts, ricotta, parmesan and loadsa herbs (but not necessarily in that order) brought with it frustration and waste and replaced it with lost time, hours never to be regained. Yum! I thought as I read the recipe, ooh I’ve not made fresh pasta in ages I reflected as my excitment grew, the decision was easily made, and bitterly regretted. Okay, enough with the melodrama, on with the (pine)nuts and bolts of the story.
I chose the Pauper’s Cookbook recipe for pasta over Jamie’s, what with his using about twelve eggs and the former using just five. Yes, his he has self-proclaimed as ‘blinding’ and eggs aren’t that expensive but he uses eight yolks! On my waste-not kick I would have eight egg whites to find a use for and I rather think that is beyond my beginners’ level. (I cannot countenance even the concept of an egg white omlette, it is healthy eating gone mad, and tasteless.)
I floured, I rolled, I floured, I machined, I floured, I cut, I floured, I piled, I floured some more. Regardless of the flour overload the piled up pieces of pasta stuck togetehr anyway and so the process started again. Once part one was complete I began part two; I filled and covered and wetted and stuck over and over and over again. Covered in flour, hair askew, I ended up with a lump of leftover pasta dough I couldn’t face. It remains in the fridge. Ravioli came, saw my resolution, and conquered it. Still it was gobbled up within minutes and I’m bloody glad they appreciated it because it will be a long time before they get it again!
All is not lost. I shall begin again. Already I am mentally surveying the contents of my fridge; a leek, a courgette, some rocket and herbs, ham and cheese. In my cupboards; chickpeas, canellini beans, lentils, tinned tomatoes and various spices. It’s gonna be interesting.
