A bit
higgledy-piggledy this week as shifts swapped at work so worked Wednesday and
Thursday instead of Tuesday and Thursday and ended up feeling rough towards the end of the week.
Was rather nice to have a couple of days off at the beginning of the
week and the plan was to spend some time in the kitchen getting ahead, but that didn’t happen as I’ve gone into hibernation mode and am struggling with
sleep and then not waking up and then was ill from Thursday with stupid viral
thingy which made me freezing cold and headachy. Hopefully within the next few weeks this will
all rectify itself and I’ll be full of the joys of Spring, haha.
Forgot to
mention last week that we had snow! Well,
a few centimetres of snow anyway, but it did make everything sparkly and pretty
for an evening and half a day. Brought
everything to a standstill as usual although have no idea why as it was hardly
anything and other places manage to keep going through masses of it on a daily
basis. Come to the conclusion that we
South Englanders are pretty naff when it comes to snow.
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This week I
had two boxes delivered as they had an offer on ‘pick me up’ foods (quite funny
considering I had no ‘up’ to be ‘picked’ by Thursday) so took a nosey in the
cupboard and what was available and did a little order which included my blood
oranges (yay), watercress (mmmm, soup!), venison mince and pigeon breasts (both
now in freezer) and yogurt (I get through rather a lot as have it with my gluten
free oats for breakfast instead of milk/water).
The veg box was quite standard as it would be at this time of year but I
was able to double up on the broccoli meaning we had a decent amount.
Menu plan
for the week is as follows:
Monday –
broccoli and butterbean bake. Was a lot
better than I was expecting as I’d chucked it all together and laid slices of
emmental on top; got eaten though and there was enough left over for me to have
at the weekend instead of chips.
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Before the slices of Emmental were added |
Tuesday –
Game pie with mash potato, the remaining broccoli, Brussel sprouts and carrots.
Luckily pie was already made and in the freezer, so just an easy job of removal
and allow to defrost before ensuring heated through in the oven.
Wednesday –
Teriyaki quorn chunks in the slow cooker.
Hmmm, must use less Tamari next time.
Used the same amount as the note said for soy sauce, but the tamari was
quite strong, so probably will halve it next time. They all ate it though, so can’t have been
that bad.
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Luxury Game Pie |
Thursday –
After shoving flour, oil, water, yeast, sugar and salt in the bread maker
before going off to son’s trampolining class, I made pizza. Dough was good and I covered it in tomato
sauce (ketchup), chopped onions, sliced mushroom, pepperoni, ham and
cheese. Made two of the paninis in the
fridge into garlic breads for them and a bowl of salad to go with it. Unfortunately I was starting to feel pretty
crap by the time I got back from work, so the couple of slices of pizza they
had left me were enough.
Spent
Thursday night, all day Friday and Saturday wrapped up in layers of clothing
and a blanket whilst drinking plenty of tea, water and vitamin C drinks and
reading a book. Partner cooked for them
and I ate sarnies and the broccoli bake as really wasn’t that hungry. Luckily Sunday morning I woke up feeling
rather a lot better.
RECIPE:
Mixed Game Pie with Sausage meat-stuffing balls
Serves 4 or 3 if you're piglets, which we are.
Sunflower oil
knob of butter
approx 600g mixed game (mine was venison, pheasant and partridge)
about 4 rashers of smoked bacon cut into chunky strips
1 medium onion, chopped
thyme springs (I used 4, but this is to preference)
400ml of stock (I used veg)
A good glass of port
1 tbsp of redcurrant jelly (although I used my Hips and Haws jelly so you could use cranberry or any other jelly to be honest)
3 bay leaves
couple of carrots, diced
couple of celery stalks, sliced
heaped tbsp of flour for thickening
Brown the meat in batches in the oil and butter and set aside, then brown off the bacon and set that aside.
Cook the onions, added a glug more oil if needed, with the thyme until soft and lightly browned. Stir in the flour and gradually add the stock, port, jelly and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and return the meat and the bacon and allow to simmer, covered, for about an hour.
Gently sweat off the carrots and the celery in another glug of oil and butter and when browned add to the meat dish and simmer, again covered, for another 15 mins until veg is soft.
Meanwhile make the sausage meat balls:
150g sausage meat (mine was, of course, gluten free)
2 rashers of bacon, finely chopped
Approx 50g of nuts (could be walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts; I used hazelnuts), chopped
grated zest of a lemon
20g of breadcrumbs (mine obviously gluten free)
chopped thyme to taste
salt and pepper.
Squidge all of the ingredients together and form into walnut sized balls.
Fry them off until brown all over and set aside.
You will also need 250g of shortcrust pastry (either bought of homemade. You could use puff if you can make it or find it gluten free or use normal if you aren't gluten free)
Transfer the meat and veg from the game mix into a pie dish and reduce the cooking liquid to approx 350ml or slightly under. Pour this back over the meat and arrange the sausage meat balls on top and leave the whole thing to cool.
Roll out your pastry and cover your pie and if you have a pie funnel use it, but I don't and just made a couple of holes in the pastry top. Cook this 30-35mins in an oven of 220C/Gas 7 until pastry brown and filling it bubbling.
NB: It's a long winded recipe and I've tweaked the original a fair bit. This isn't something I would do on a weekly basis, but would use for special occasions.
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Pizza before cooking |
RECIPE:
Mixed Game Pie with Sausage meat-stuffing balls
Serves 4 or 3 if you're piglets, which we are.
Sunflower oil
knob of butter
approx 600g mixed game (mine was venison, pheasant and partridge)
about 4 rashers of smoked bacon cut into chunky strips
1 medium onion, chopped
thyme springs (I used 4, but this is to preference)
400ml of stock (I used veg)
A good glass of port
1 tbsp of redcurrant jelly (although I used my Hips and Haws jelly so you could use cranberry or any other jelly to be honest)
3 bay leaves
couple of carrots, diced
couple of celery stalks, sliced
heaped tbsp of flour for thickening
Brown the meat in batches in the oil and butter and set aside, then brown off the bacon and set that aside.
Cook the onions, added a glug more oil if needed, with the thyme until soft and lightly browned. Stir in the flour and gradually add the stock, port, jelly and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and return the meat and the bacon and allow to simmer, covered, for about an hour.
Gently sweat off the carrots and the celery in another glug of oil and butter and when browned add to the meat dish and simmer, again covered, for another 15 mins until veg is soft.
Meanwhile make the sausage meat balls:
150g sausage meat (mine was, of course, gluten free)
2 rashers of bacon, finely chopped
Approx 50g of nuts (could be walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts; I used hazelnuts), chopped
grated zest of a lemon
20g of breadcrumbs (mine obviously gluten free)
chopped thyme to taste
salt and pepper.
Squidge all of the ingredients together and form into walnut sized balls.
Fry them off until brown all over and set aside.
You will also need 250g of shortcrust pastry (either bought of homemade. You could use puff if you can make it or find it gluten free or use normal if you aren't gluten free)
Transfer the meat and veg from the game mix into a pie dish and reduce the cooking liquid to approx 350ml or slightly under. Pour this back over the meat and arrange the sausage meat balls on top and leave the whole thing to cool.
Roll out your pastry and cover your pie and if you have a pie funnel use it, but I don't and just made a couple of holes in the pastry top. Cook this 30-35mins in an oven of 220C/Gas 7 until pastry brown and filling it bubbling.
NB: It's a long winded recipe and I've tweaked the original a fair bit. This isn't something I would do on a weekly basis, but would use for special occasions.
