May 20 2009
Inspired
I really miss the Challenge, so I do. Don’t get me wrong, it was a pain at times, and there were times we (I) really resented it- and more than a few tears in Waitrose, but hey, I have incontinent eyes- but I genuinely miss the variety it gave to our cooking and eating.
Of late we’ve been a little stuck in a rut. There’s not been much blogging because there’s not been a great deal of novel eating going on. We had pasta with a variation on soffritto or roasted veggies -or a combo of both- I think, three, nights in a row last week? Don’t get me wrong, it was gorgeous. But it was throw it together out of the fridge cooking and somehow didn’t merit blogging.
Last night I put together a tea that was 100% Nigella-inspired. A proper legacy for us. It was nowt more than a simple thai (red) curry. Thai curry pastes were something I’d experimented with but not had any luck with pre-Nigella. This dish was mid-way between the Red Prawn and Mango curry that I did for D’s birthday last year (could the rapidly approaching next birthday have anything to do with my having revisited both of the dishes from his birthday meal?) and the Curry in a Hurry from the Storecupboard SOS chapter at the end of the book.
The butternut squash and prawns were straight out of the Red Prawn curry- I had a half packet of prawns in the freezer as were the some ready-prepped butternut squash I’d bought once to make up the third part of a 3for2 deal. On the other hand, the meat (Turkey in this case, again a half packet out of the freezer) soya beans and peas were straight out of Curry in a Hurry.
Cooking with Turkey, soya beans or to some extent, butternut squash or coconut milk, would never have happened pre-Nigella. The thai pastes were Nigella-empowerment and the Wok Oil that was the base of the dish was 100% Lawson. It’s only right that a year of cooking one book might change the way I cook- send me off down a different evolutionary path to my parents, in cooking terms- and given the hot and yummy tea we had both last night and tonight I think that’s no bad thing!
of course, your parents like hot and yummy too…. we just avoided H&Y for years as the palate of yr younger sibling ruled a lot of what we eat… he’s a changed boy now, having been led east by Ewan etc