Back in January when the New Year was still fresh off the shelf, the plan was to find balance and harmony in my life. Since being back at work post-surgery the balance and harmony have been shot to hell.
Right. That’s enough. It’s time to go back to the starting line and try this again, shall we?
As I’ve mentioned before, the world’s most comprehensive collection of cookbooks reside on my kitchen shelf so today it’s time to dust one of them off and cook some comfort food.
My Nana used to make a sublime minestrone soup. That woman could burn water 87 ways and according to my Dad, he didn’t know cabbage was green until he met my mother. Nana either deep fried EVERYTHING or boiled it to death, and then just a little bit longer to be sure. Hers was British cooking the way it’s historically been known to the rest of world. Bland with no adventure.
Despite this, her sausage rolls, Cornish pasties, scones and minestrone soup were incredible. Sadly I never paid attention when she tried to teach me how to make these things and those recipes are now cremated with her and scattered around Ennerdale Water in Cumbria. *As a side note here, learn from your parents and grandparents. There will come a day when you’ll be racking your brain trying to remember something that was meaningless to you years ago. It’s gone.*
With it still being winter and more than just a wee bit chilly outside, it tastes like a beef stew and Colcannon kind of day. Colcannon is a traditional Scottish dish made of mashed potato and cabbage and beef stew is well, beef stew!
Beef stew is traditionally made with dumplings but I’m going to go renegade today and serve it on Colcannon instead. We’ll hold the dumplings for another day.
After a trip around my favourite ethnic market for fresh veg, with the world’s squeakiest trolley (shopping cart for Americans) I definitely contemplated the cliche of ‘the squeaking wheel gets the grease,’ but that’s a problem for another day.
After a cup of coffee and a long chat to my crazy mate in London, which ended in hysterical laughter, it was time to try something new.
This is the recipe I used courtesy of Food.com. *So once again, did not use a single recipe book on my shelf… dammit woman!*
http://www.food.com/recipe/creamy-colcannon-191442?mode=us&st=true&scaleto=2
A word to the wise. Read the recipe properly. I made the mistake of chopping up the potato in their skins and then boiling it, rather than boiling whole. Getting the skins off little bits of potato was a pain in the arse but that was my dumb mistake. Don’t make the same one!
There were a few recipes in my cookbooks for beef stew, none of which really appealed. *Yes, I’m fussy.*
So again, to Food.com and found this one which looked simple enough. I opted to serve with Colcannon so the dumplings didn’t happen.
There’s something therapeutic about cooking something from scratch; chopping, peeling, stirring.
When browning the meat for the beef stew, I used a lot more butter than the recipe called for. The smell of melted butter… yum! Calorie counting isn’t on the agenda today. It wasn’t done back in the day and it’s not happening today. *Feel free to lose your mind about it if you want. Makes no diffs to me.* I also substituted the canned tomatoes for fresh ones.
Keeping it old school today left me with a pile of dishes and in the spirit of keeping it traditional they were washed by hand. I unpacked all the stuff in the dishwasher and washed those too. Don’t ask…
The odd thing is when I start cleaning, there’s really no off button. It goes on until there’s nothing left to clean. The kitchen fell victim today; everything from my pantry to the fridge/freezer. It turns out I have a mystery collection of fancy strawberry jams I knew nothing about. *I should make scones… maybe tomorrow.* Condiments so far out of date I’m not convinced I was in the country at the time they were bought.
Frozen foods I can no longer identify and preserves. A bottle of pickled beets that looks really questionable. Really?! Tossed the lot.
Roll up your sleeves and tackle your kitchen. You’ll be glad you did. My spice collection is much larger than I thought it was and order has been restored on the shelves. There’s finally a clear view of what’s there and what isn’t.
The stew is in the oven making yummy food smells, so while that’s doing its thing and I’m in the mood it’s time to tackle the endless piles of paperwork and filing. My filing box is fit to burst and I’m willing to go out on limb and say every receipt I’ve touched since 2010 is in that box.
Order will be restored before my head hits the pillow tonight if it means staying up until the wee hours getting it done *aided by Scotch, of course.*
