I know I’ve blogged on chefs before (if you pardon the expression) but I must do a ‘ickle blog on Rick Stein. I watched a double episode on his series last week and he is so good to watch! His passion for seafood is almost aggressive, although he does cook meat, too. In Octobers issue of BBC Good Food, the best foodie-mag on the shelf, he cooks ‘Braised Pheasant with Laphroaig & woodland mushrooms’. He serves this with parsnip mash and steamed savoy cabbage (my favourite veggies) I’d cook this by leaving out the booze and serving buttered peas. I always do a Sunday roast even if HWSBO is working, because he doesn’t usually get home until around 7pm at the weekends, by which time dinner is over, dishes are in the dishwasher and the children are in the bath.
..this isnt a ‘ickle blog, is it?
But yesterday was different, I planned dinner later, he said he’d be home by 6pm and we would all sit down together for Sunday Dinner. HOORAY!!!
I went off to the supermarket and bought a leg of lamb, came home, seasoned the joint and realised my new oven wasn’t connected to the mains! So, I scurried around to my good neighbour who banged it into hers for one and a half hours. She can’t stand the smell of garlic and brought it back a little earlier…..It was cooked to perfection and fell off the bone. I cooked a carrot and swede mash and creamy mashed potatoes. I would have preferred roasted roosters with the skin on, but couldn’t ask my neighbour to do that, could I? I sometimes add pesto to the mashed potatoes, but it would only mean the girls wouldn’t touch them. As always, I made the gravy from the juices of the meat and HEY PESTO! Dinner ready at ten to six………
we waited….. and we waited…. and we waited……
I rang him at 6.40pm and he had been called to another job at Carton House, Maynooth and wouldn’t be home till 9pm. Why do men do this? He has a phone….
I’ve stopped to cool down and read a supplement from the said magazine. ‘The Cotswold Company’. Some lovely things in there. I’d love a Salon Stand. My hairdrier lives on the floor under my bedside table!
So, back to the Galloping Gourmet….he only had to bung his dinner into the microwave when he came home (9.10pm) but what did he do? He flaked out on the sofa and spent the rest of the evening being waited on by lil’ ole’ me.
Tips of the Day (a new idea)
1. To keep a loaf crusty, store in a paper rather than plastic bag.
2. If your other half says he’ll be home at a certain time, add another three hours on.
A Place For Everything 