Yummers.
In an unusually organised coup de cuisine, I have already cooked the bolognese. Yes. I know. It is the Lord's work and it is marvellous in our eyes. (not really, I got this quote from Elizabeth 1 on hearing her sister Mary had popped her clogs and she was now Queen of England. I am sure she quotes me often times too).
Not that I need a recipe for spag bol, you understand, I just see a tremendous appeal in things which are oven-cooked. Marvellous in my eyes, that's for sure. And this recipe is a little different to the stove-top variety I have done for ever. I like the balsamic vinegar, celery and nutmeg flavours. You have to stir in milk just before it's served (I usually forget this step) to counteract the vinegar I suppose. The milk makes a big difference.
Pre-oven:
...and cooked to death, just how I like it:
The Boston Cream Cupcakes are an unknown entity, but I am basing my new found confidence on my recent ability to not balls up every cupcake recipe I lay my hands on. I have found that following the recipe helps a lot, rather than the skim reading it and bunging all the ingredients in together at the same time. I have my Mum to thank for that particular theory being tattooed on my soul.
Also I have realised that recipes which demand the use of unsalted butter say so for a reason. I have always used salted, as I cannot bear the extravagance of purchasing two types of butter, but I pushed the boat out, and boy - the banana cupcakes I made last week were the best ever.
I have been waiting for this Thursday to come around, as it is payday, and includes for the first time my better-paid shifts. So it's tres exciting. From this payday, I want to keep a note of everything foodie that I buy, as last month I spent literally hundreds on food. I am not exaggerating. In a house with two (admittedly greedy) adults and one child with a small appetite, that is disgusting. I am not even counting things like cat food, kitchen foil and boring non-food stuff like that.
I need to do an audit of everything I have edible in the house, and I suspect I am not going to like what I see.
The recipe books, by the way, are Fay Ripley's Family Food, and The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days. The FR book is great - really cookable stuff in there, but it is a library book, and on it's last renewal. I am feeling too tight to cough for my own copy at the moment (despite haemorrhaging cash from everywhere else) so I might make Oliver take it out on his ticket ha ha. The librarian might need some convincing however that a 10 year old boy has need of Fay Ripley's assistance in the kitchen. Do you know, I just spell-checked 'haemorrhaging', and it came up as wrong. I felt sure it looked right, so I got up and looked it up manually - in the dictionary, no less, and I am right. Bloody American spell-checker crap. Really, are we the only country in the world who uses English properly? (and get off my case, you equality and diversity people - it's a joke, OK?)
Laters.
You do make me laugh, Janice! Not just once either - I had to burst out laughing several times reading this - just SO acutely true! I have to confess I once contrived what my best friend rudely called "a complete scam" which involved using my ingenuity to cut the weekly food bill, which had grown horrendous but which my husband paid for, and splitting the difference of the saving between us! I have to say I thought it was fair enough and actually my husband did too but once the word "scam" had come up I began to feel guilty so it got dropped! Could always be revived in time of need of more yarn supplies though! Bolognese sauce cannot be cooked on the top of the hob in my view - needs the blast of the oven furnace for at least an hour and a half to caramelise all the meat juices and reduce the sauce without redecorating the entire kitchen wall. E x
ReplyDeletewell done on using your ingenuity to a) cut the food bill and b) make a profit on the side! Get it while you can I say heh heh....
DeleteI think my cupcake days are numbered, as, at the time of writing, they weren't up to scratch. In fact I think the highlight was the shop-bought custard in the middle. Quelle surprise.
ReplyDelete