Meal Planning Monday: the cold snap edition

It's a week at home *does a little dance* I tell you, in my mind there could be little worse than being away from home when the weather's like this and all you want to do is cwtch up in cosy clothes, with cups of tea and chunks of parkin. So, today finds me baking said parkin (recipe up tomorrow) and roasting a joint of pork. 

It's half term this week, a week later than usual which threw us all Brownies and Guides wise, but, nonetheless planning meetings have been put in the diary - this time we're combining the Guides one with a curry and the Brownies one with pots of tea. No flaws in either of those plans! 

Breakfasts: By rights I should be on porridge, but a BOGOF meant that I still have yoghurts to eat, so I'll be on the yoghurt, fruit and a sprinkle of granola bandwagon. 

Lunches: I've got the definitive One Chicken many ways post coming up later this week (Wednesday I think) and when I made the soup from the stock and last couple of portions of shredded chicken I froze half, so I'll be having that to keep me warm. As it's got barley in it there's no need for bread. 

Dinners:

Monday: well we'll have leftover roast pork, so that with baked potatoes, runner beans and possibly corn on the cob as there is a couple of sorry cobs in the salad tray of the fridge.

Tuesday: I'm at the Guide meeting and will be having curry, but I thought I'd do a variation on this recipe, that I caught the end of on the telly this morning with the leftover shredded pork - I'll be changing it up significantly so will pop it up here. 

Wednesday: Well hopefully leftover pork and bean 'thing'

Thursday: I froze some of our favourite chorizo, butternut squash and cannelini bean chilli last time I made it, so I think we'll have that.

Friday: I think we'll see what Friday brings, both weather wise, time wise, work wise and energy wise. 

So that's my Meal Plan for this week, quite a lot of comfort food on there, and a fair amount of leftovers. Don't forget to hop on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is making. 

Salad Days: Beetroot, green bean and feta salad

The eagle (owl) eyed amongst you will notice that there is, no photo of this meal. That is because this is quite possible the least photogenic thing I have ever made. Literally. I always thought that casseroles with their brown colours and squishy ingredients were unattractive, but that was before I made this salad. To read the ingredients you would think (as did I) that it had the potential to be stunning, that the verdant greens of the leaves and beans would contrast stunningly with the white goat's cheese and ruby beetroot, all annointed by the faint pink blush of the dressing.

However what I ended up was a tasty mush of goats cheese squished over the beans and leaves, with the beetroot that bloody red that's almost black. The Chanel Rouge Noir of vegetables. I would absolutely recommend you make and try this salad as it is gorgeously tasty, but photograph the ingredients beforehand - do some tasteful arranging on a wooden chopping board, or worktop.

This recipe is a Riverford veg one. I came to it following the second delivery this season of beetroot. I cooked the first batch and left it in the oven to cool, wrapped in foil. At which point I promptly forgot about it for the best part of the rest of the week. Yes, my name is Penelope and I have scatty, slatternish tendencies. What a waste! I was so cross with myself as I love beetroot - there's something about the earthiness of the flavour that seems such a contrast to it's sweetness - which is why I've often used it in cakes, in a similar way to the courgette brownies I made here - which, oddly was also a Riverford recipe.

On a side note, what's quite nice about going back to that post is that my photography skills are actually beginning to improve - at least slightly!

So today Penelope's Pantry brings you... the world's least attractive salad:

Summer salad with beetroot, goat’s cheese + Frenchbeans

Roast or boil the beetroot - to do that, wash and trim them (keep the leaves for the salad) then place in a dish in a preheated oven (200 degreesish) for about 45 minutes. Riverford suggest adding water to the dish and covering with foil - but in the Pantry we fly by the seat of our pants and just wallop them in and take them out when they're softened. This will take about 45-60 mins, depending on size Oh and if you don't want to go out looking like you've committed murder, then wear clean marigolds, or latex gloves. Scrubbing with salt and lemon juice works if you ignore this advice. Said as one who knows!

Ingredients

300g mixed summer salad leaves

150g French beans, trimmed

200g cooked beetroot, cut into 2cm cubes

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp good-quality red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

Salt + pepper

100g soft goat’s cheese, crumbled

Salad leaves - I used the beetroot tops and some bagged salad that had come in my Riverford box last week.

Method

1. Wash the salad leaves and dry well. Cook the beans in boiling salted water for 3–4 mins, until just tender, then drain, refresh in cold water and drain again.

2. Put them in a large bowl with the salad leaves and beetroot.

3. Whisk the olive oil, vinegar and some seasoning together to make a dressing.

4. Toss with the salad then sprinkle with goat’s cheese.

Step 4 is where I came unstuck. My goat's cheese didn't exactly sprinkle per se. More squished. Maybe you have a more gentle touch than me. Here's hoping yours doesn't turn out mushy as it's lovely, really fantastic contrasting tastes and textuertures.

I used the beetroot while still warm, partly due to time pressures, partly because that was what I fancied. As the other ingredients were fridge cold or room temperature this again made for a nice contrast.

The Riverford recipe suggests that this serves 4 as an accompaniment to lamb - but I had it as a standalone dish, but this meant it did 2 portions instead of the 4.

Other suggestions are to swap out the beetroot when it's not in season for butternut squash and I'll definitely be trying that, although I'll have to ask a beauty blogger for some help with nail polish names to match that!

Next up - some jams and excitingly my first jellies; plum, and crabapple and mint.  

Those you've known, and lost still walk behind you

A post brought to you by sadness I'm afraid. But I guess it's better than no post at all which is all I've managed of late. Sorry about that. Shocking I know. But life, well just gets in the way sometimes.

So, last weekend I lost my Grandpa, which was a bit of a shock to the system, not least as it went hand-in-hand with a rejection for a job that I'm more than qualified to do (and that internal politics seemed to have more than a slight hand in the outcome of) Despite being knocked sideways by the joint devastation, over the week I've tried (and just about managed) to pull myself together, or at least together enough so that no one notices the cracks.

Anyway, some cathartic batch cooking was in order, as for some reason, bread products and chicken stock seem to make up most of my freezer at the moment, and I seem to be largely surviving on hot cross buns (Morrison's own brand, not so hot - to0 little spicing, and no sweetness despite a lot of fruit, and believe me if I want hot cross buns without sugar, I can make my own!)

The first dish to be tackled is Waitrose's Chorizo, Bean, Pepper and Butternut squash chilli. Catchy title Waitrose. It's easy enough to make, a one pot meal, and freezes up beautifully.

Serves: 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
225g Spanish chorizo (from the deli counter), peeled and diced
1 large red chilli, chopped
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 butternut squash or pumpkin, about 500g peeled weight, deseeded and cut into 3-4cm dice
410g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
20g pack fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method
1.Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the chorizo and red chilli, and cook for a further minute until the chorizo releases its red juices.
2.Add the tomatoes, sugar, pepper and 150ml cold water. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3.Stir in the squash, cover and simmer for a further 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender. Finally, add the cannellini beans, simmer for 5 minutes and stir in the parsley. Serve immediately

My notes:

I omit the sugar, and have no parsley today. The dish is plenty sweet enough from the squash, tomatoes and pepper and won't suffer from the lack of parsley.

I find the chorizo and chilli give it a good heat, so serve with yoghurt, soured cream or cheese to mellow that out.

Don't forget to peel the chorizo.

Also, I find that these easily stretches to 6 servings without stinting.

It freezes up beautifully aswell, I just take it out either the night before or the morning I want it for dinner, leave it on the side and it's easy enough to heat it through on the hob.

Next to be tackled is an Atul Kochher Malay lamb curry from Saturday Kitchen (yes, I still nurse a prolific crush on James Martin. Still being since University when he lived down the road from me.)

The title of this post is brought to you courtesy of Spring Awakening. Well I'm feeling sad, what else am I going to be listening to? And which was also what I quoted when I wrote to my Grandpa after my Nanny died. I guess I know that they have found each other now.

Chorizo, Bean, Butternut Squash and Pepper chilli

Now I know that this isn’t particularly festive and for that I apologise. I know that I owe you pictures of iced Christmas cakes, and truly meant to photograph my Christmas dinner for you, but couldn’t let you see the extent of my gluttony on that day. The shame just overtook me. I couldn’t even manage pudding! I know, I nearly died of shock myself. I have just made Nigella’s Christmas Morning Muffins, albeit a few days late as I had some cranberries and orange knocking around having failed to make her Cornbread stuffing from Feast before going home for Christmas. I got as far as making the cornbread, but just ended up eating it out of the baking tray. I know, I’m never going to stay in these jeans if I’m not careful. I think the cold means I’m burning off more calories though – if that’s not the case, just let me delude myself, at least until my favourite denim won’t do up.

Anyhow, I noticed that this has been on my ‘To cook’ list for ages now, which is a bit of a fib as I’ve been cooking and eating it regularly for the last couple of months.

It’s a Waitrose.com recipe and without wishing to be sycophantic, I have to say that the recipes on their website seem to be largely infallible. Their chicken, butternut squash and barley casserole is a favourite of mine, as are their banana and chocolate muffins and each time I try something new I seem to like it. Clearly I am a Waitrose girl at heart (albeit on an Asda salary!)

Much like the Lentil ragu of recent months this is one of those recipes that another foodie tried and recommended and as such it’s going great guns around the net. I have to say it’s shockingly easy, a complete one-pot dish and a great midweek dinner. Despite being a chilli, made as described it’s not at all hot. In fact each time I make it I actually think I should add more chilli, but haven’t remembered to as yet. I also haven’t served it with rice as I tend to find it has enough carby-ness (it’s a word) without any addition, although I did serve it with cornbread that I made up with every intention of making into a Nigella stuffing, but just necver got around to! I’m going to try a different version of cornbread tonight, one with a bit more kick as the plain Nigella version is at once salty and sweet and as such doesn’t quite sit right with me. I also omit the sugar as I find butternut squash plenty sweet by itself. Yes I know I routinely add maple syrup to soup, but it’s my blog, I’m allowed to be difficult. Anyway, that’s enough rambling, here’s the link to the recipe on the Waitrose site, and my annotated version below.

Chorizo, Bean, Pepper and Butternut Squash Chilli (with my annotations in italics)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
225g Spanish chorizo (from the deli counter), peeled and diced
1 large red chilli, chopped – I use one hotter chilli, de-seeded, but will up this to 2 next time.
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 butternut squash or pumpkin, about 500g peeled weight, deseeded and cut into 3-4cm dice – this works out at about half an average butternut squash, so I peeled and chopped the whole thing and froze one half for the next month.
410g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed – now for some unknown reason Asda only sell tinned beans in 300g tins so after much deliberating I just added 600g. Contrary to what I expected it didn’t taste unnecessarily ‘bulked out’ with beans, in the way I remember eating casseroles as a child so don’t worry about that.
20g pack fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped – Have I mentioned that I just buy those huge bunches of parsley, coriander and mint from the ‘ethnic veg’ section of the supermarket and freeze them so that I can just add fresh herbs when I need them. In the winter there’s nothing in the garden and to buy those little plastic packs of them is ridiculously expensive. Frozen taste just fine.

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the chorizo and red chilli, and cook for a further minute until the chorizo releases its red juices.

2. Add the tomatoes, sugar, pepper and 150ml cold water. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

3. Stir in the squash, cover and simmer for a further 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender. Finally, add the cannellini beans, simmer for 5 minutes and stir in the parsley. Serve immediately

I mentioned that I served it with cornbread, I also imagine it would be nice with tortillas, soured cream and lots of grated cheese. The recipe I used for the cornbread is below, next time I’m going to google for one that’s a bit more sure of itself in the savoury department

Cornbread (known as polenta in posh supermarkets)

175g cornmeal (polenta)
125g plain flour
45g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
250ml full fat milk
1 egg
45g butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C.

2. Grease your tin - I used a shallow pyrex dish, but think it would be nicer in one of my loaf tins.
3. Melt the butter and then add the milk and eggs, beat together.

4. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until combined(ish) - this is a bit like making muffins, it's never going to be perfect and that's fine.

5. Pour and scrape into your tin and bake, for 20 minutes.

As I said, I found this too boderline between salty and sweet (not that it stopped me eating it) and having googled a bit, it seems lots of recipes add chilli, creamed sweetcorn and cheese to make it more savoury, so consider this a work in progress.

Normal service will be resumed...

In about three weeks, I finally have a new flat sorted, and will be moving in presently. having managed to resist turning this blog into a daily whine about living at Mum's, and the trials and tribulations that finding a normal flat to share in town entails, I shan't hijack it too much now, but promise promise promise to post back my first meal when I move in, even if it's beans on toast!*

The countdown to a blogging return currently stands at: *insert own drumming here* 18 days!

*Author's note, I don't actually like beans on toast at all, so it's more likely to be Marmite tbh...