Rubber Chicken - Part 5

Chicken Jambalaya

 

And here, friends, you can see the last 100g of chicken meat from our Sunday roast.  The end of rubber chicken, then ?  Nope.  Remember half the sauce we stashed away yesterday - and all that lovely stock ?

 

But back to tonight's meal....

 

 

 

 

A splash of oil; a chopped onion;  a small piece of chorizo, cubed.

 

Add two crushed cloves of garlic (my garlic crusher fell apart during tonight's crushing;  in the future, you'll be seeing a lot of "finely chopped garlic" instead, for as long as my hands co-operate without a crusher) and some crushed chillies - chilli powder is fine if you don't have any.

 

Add a handful of sweetcorn and the same of peas;  sweetcorn was the kernels off a cob saved from yesterday; peas came from a bag in the freezer.

 

 

Add a tin of chopped onions, or a carton of passata; or, as I did, a tub of homemade tomato sauce outta the freezer.

 

Add long-grained rice; 50-75g per person, depending on appetites (we are big eaters, we go to the higher end); and water - twice the volume of rice.  A bit of sea salt; a few dried or fresh herbs, if you have them.  Add the chicken, stir, bring to the boil.  Turn down to simmer, simmer for 5-10 minutes, then stick the lid firmly on and leave for 10-15 minutes more.

 

Serve. 

 

 

You can, of course, make this meal with raw chicken instead, in which case you'd add the cubes of meat to the hot oil just before or just after the onion, depending on how brown you like your onion to be. 

 

Shopping tomorrow - we normally go on Friday afternoons and keep the weekend free, but when Lidl's half-price offers are worth making the trip for, we'll swap to Saturday.  Tomorrow it's pork chops, potatoes.... And crisps, I'm afraid.  At 5p a bag though, it could be a lot worse.....

Rubber Chicken - Part 4

Are you getting bored of this yet ?  Well, tough.  OH asked tonight at the dinner table if this was the end of my rubber chicken, to which I replied - not by a long shot, mwahahahaha.... Or words to that effect.

Then I asked him the serious question - has he had enough of it yet ?  He very bravely denied it - apparently, served up in all the different forms, it's OK.  As long as it was not starting to go off or anything.

Which reminded me to mention a very important food safety bit - if you are stretching your rubber bird as far as I am doing, then freeze that baby - it's fine in the fridge for up to four days, but any longer than that, and it should really go in the freezer.

So, tonight it was the night for pasta.

A splash of sunflower oil, two onions - one red and one brown, just for fun.

 

The last three cobs of corn out of the freezer, boiled briefly, then kernels cut off - these were the late cobs, and not pretty enough to serve "on the cob"  - that's the last of my homegrown sweetcorn left the freezer now. 

 

Kernels from two cobs added to the onion, the third one (pictured below) saved in a container in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner.

 

Chicken and some "instant cheese sauce" from AF added to the onion and the sweetcorn.  If I didn't still have half a tub of super-cheep Approved Foods cheese sauce mix to use up, I'd have just made a basic white sauce instead.

 

Half a packet of spaghetti (I know, piggy portions, but there were leftovers) boiled up, and then half of the sauce stirred through the spaghetti.  Yep, only a half.  We'll revisit the other half another time (remember the safe storage instructions though - and if you are worried about the chicken being reheated more than once, do the sauce without the chicken, set half of it aside, put half of your chicken bits in the half still remaining in the saucepan and heat through, and leave the other half aside until cold, then mix the remaining half of cold chicken in and store.  I'm afraid I don't bother - not suffered any ill effects from it yet.)

 

 

 

And here it is - the finished product. 

 

 

 

BTW, remember that stock I made ?  After using some in the risotto yesterday, I stored the rest in empty margarine tubs (each one holds 500ml of liquid) and stuck them in the freezer.  And yes, we'll be revisiting these, too. 

 

Rubber Chicken - Part 3

Today's rubber chicken is twofold - first, all the bones, gristle, skin, and generally stuff you are unlikely to eat went into a biiig pot with a slug of cider vinegar, a couple of bayleaves, some parsley and a few chunks of carrot.  Brought to boil, then left to bubble long and slow until every bit of nutrition (calcium galore) has leeched out of the bones and into the broth.

 

The reason for using the vinegar is nothing to do with the flavour - it will all cook out and be unnoticeable in the finished product;  but what the vinegar is supposed to do is help leach all the locked-up calcium from the bones, and into the stock, thus packing extra nutritional punch !

 

 

 

Second part consisted of splash of oil + a finely chopped onion + a few sliced mushrooms + a cup of Arborio rice.   A couple of cups of  stock, boil, then simmer, stirring frequently.  When the liquid is all but absorbed, a dash of sea salt crystals, a handful or grated cheese, and a handful of chicken meat scraps.  Heated through, and served with more cheese on top.

 

Sheer comfort onna plate.

 

No more from me tonight - after three hours of lugging kickstools up and down the stairs;  a 3/4 hour walk back home;  a couple of hours of keeping DD's simmer from becoming a full-blown blood boil; and then another hour's walk to town and Specsavers to acquire a new pair of glasses for that self-same DD (whilst she can still get them for free !).... I am wiped.

 

Incidentally, DD's old glasses broke (one of the arms fell off) a few weeks back - I taped'em up with a bit of cloth tape (when the superglue failed to fix them in the first instance), and they've been in use since, and remain in use still, as the new pair won't be collected before Monday.

 

Superglue - and strong sticky tape - keeps my world together, I tell ya.

 

Nighty night and - hopefully - sees ya all tomorrow. 

Pancakes

Has anyone else  ever noticed that when you are under the weather, suddenly people around you become a lot more needy than usual, or life throws a few spanners into the works, just for good measure ?  I know that some of it is down to the fact that when you are feeling fragile things are harder to cope with.... But there is definitely an objective, not just a subjective, element of added difficulty to every occasion when I should really just be curled up under a duvet and taking it easy.

 

In translation:  a very painful day today;  took my horse tranquiliser painkillers and struggled through work nevertheless;  and then got home to DD, who has not had a seriously stress/depressy day for yonks, was having just that.  I wonder if me being unwell has caused it to some degree - as in, seeing me being less than usual superhuman with all the answers gets her unsettled as her world and certainties are suddenly wavering around her.

 

The joys of autism, eh ?

 

Anyways - got her calmed, the pills and a very hot bath with mucho Epsom salt took care of the worst of the pain, so we're all OK for now.  Another day done and dusted.

 

And as you might have already noticed, we have had a break from rubber chicken today and had pancakes instead.  Had I wanted to, I could have stuffed the pancakes with a chicken mixture, or used the pancakes in a chicken lasagne.... But what we wanted was just pancakey pancakes, slathered in blackberry jam, and golden syrup, and honey, and sugar and lemon (and spice) - and all things nice.  So that's what we did.  Back to the chicken tomorrow.

 

 

 

Rubber Chicken - Part 2

Also known as -"the curry".  We eat curry at least twice a week, often more, and never the same dish twice - it depends on what we have in, what we feel like, how far we're trying to stretch things.... And as Indian (or Thai) spices can turn even the most bland selection of leftovers into a meal fit for royalty,  having actual meat in the actual curry is something of a special treat ;o)  

 

So, tonight, a cup of rice in two cups of cold water, bring to the boil in a pan with a very tight lid, turn the heat off and leave well alone. 

 

Splash of oil into the frying pan, onion, dices, turn the heat on.

 

 

 

Sliced red pepper and a handful of mushrooms.

 

The last bit of "naga masala" that was part of my Christmas present from OH, a tsp of paprika, tsp of cumin, tsp of coriander, half a tsp of fenugreek, stir around until the spices start giving off their wonderful aroma, then chuck in a bit of leftover chicken.  Just a bit is fine - this might be a chicken curry in name, but the veggies have as much of a starring role as the bird.  This is an ensemble piece, in fact.

 

A splash of water to get it to the right consistency, and then a couple of tablespoons of dessicated coconut, just for the sheer fun of it.

 

Simmer on low for 10 minutes or so, and serve over your, by now perfectly cooked and fluffy rice.

 

 

Rubber Chicken - Part 1

I am sure that most, if not all of you (at least the carnivores among you) are familiar with the concept of "rubber chicken".  In short, buy a chicken, and see how many meals you can get out of it.  Oh picked up a couple of half-price birds from Morrisons on his way back from work on Friday, and the first one was roasted today, and served with roast spuds, and carrots and runner beans from the freezer. 

 

This took care on one breast - the rest of the meat will be stripped off the carcass, and used in meals over the next week.  The bones will go into a pot with some herbs and a slug of vinegar, and turned into stock, which will in turn make a basis for more meals - soups, yeah, but a slug of home-made chicken stock will transform many a meal from mundane into sublime.  Risotto for one is in a completely different league when good stock is used in its preparation.

 

 

 

 

Apart from the dinner and lunch, today I also prepared my and OH's lunches for the week - 500g of Approved Foods pasta (17p);  a pack of Lidl's half price mince (£1), and additional veg and tomato sauce to the tune of about 50p altogether. So for £1.67p, I have 10 lunches - 16.7p per lunch, not too shabby, is it ?

 

In addition, a box of AF flapjack mix, a box of cheesecake mix, and a sachet of ice-cream mix all got made up - plastic fantastic, I know, but this is flukey really, we don't normally eat like that - and it's probably better for DD than a Mars bar a day, which is a habit she has recently slipped into, and a great deal cheaper !

 

Oh, and DD just came back from her walkies (she needs to walk herself most days, sometimes more than once, like today the way you'd have to walk a dog), sodden - as she waited until the rain was good and set in before going off, and it was too windy for the umbrella to stay up - oh goodie, more wet clothes to dry - and stressed out because she saw a frog in the road and was worried it would get run over.  It would be one unfortunate frog if that was to happen though - our road is so quiet.  My suggestion for her to go and watch it until it gets to safety was declined. Too wet, apparently.  That's alright, then....

Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork

Saturday evening..... Feel like a takeaway ?  How's about Chinese ?  Okay.  Here goes:

Take your pork - 100g (a small chop or escalope) per person should suffice).  Chop it up, season with salt and pepper, then pour a tablespoon of vinegar over it.  Leave to marinate for a couple of hours.

When you're ready to start cooking, take the pork, dip into cornflour, then into beaten egg, then flour again.  Fry until crisp then drain on a kitchen towel.  If you are after a lighter meal - as I was tonight - skip all of the above and just grill the pork, then chop it up and set aside.  It will taste nice no matter what.

Then get together the following:

1 tbsp. veg oil
1 garlic clove (crushed)
1 onion (sliced thinly)
1 pepper (ditto)
1 carrot (sliced into matchsticks)
1 red chilli (chopped finely)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
a small tin of chopped pineapple
2-3 tbsp.  vinegar
1 tbsp. tomato puree


Heat the oil and add your vegetables, followed by the garlic and chilli. Stir fry then add soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, tomato and the contents of the pineapple tin - liquid and all. Add a little water if necessary. If you have no pineapple, use 1 tbsp. of sugar and 2-3 fl oz of water or tomato sauce.  Bring to the boil, add pork, heat thoroughly and serve with rice or noodles.

 

 

Other than that.... Rather a lazy Saturday here.  I woke up to the mist, but it cleared pretty swiftly and the rest of the day was mostly given over to glorious sunshine.  We went to Lidl and stocked up on £1 mince - I see a lot of chilli con carne, spaghetti Bolognese, meatloaf, burgers and meatballs in our future - laundry was done, meals made, home made wine drunk, and Stephen King's Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla read.

 

Oh, and the best bit - our credit card had been suspended due to suspected fraudulent activity on the account (OH sorted it all out though).  Apparently, money had been spent on it since the 25th (when I got paid).  Nothing you might think particularly odd - some Amazon, a bit of New Look (my only pair of jeans had finally fallen apart), and - the clincher, this - £12 to the National Union of Students (for the NUS Extra discount card - I am not a student, but staff at the University, and considering my projected spending for the year, it felt worthwhile to finally invest into it, after 6 years of working there). 

 

Wasn't fraud - it was all me.  Made me laugh though - I spend some money on the card, and the alarms go off - suspicious activity, this never happens on this account....

 

Oh well.  I won't do it again :P