Whatever happened to quiet weekends?

Kids.   

Yes, you!

That's what happened.   Kids I tell ya!   Remember going out on a Friday night straight from work?  You'd hit Fouquets and dine on their shared platter, eating a mozarella stick or onion ring for every martini drunk, heading home to change at 9pm to go to a club and falling into a coma like sleep about 3am.   Rising at noon, you'd head out to the local cafe for brunch and watch the world go by in large, dark glasses long before such a thing was trendy....no little dogs in large bags in Glasgow.....then stroll home through the park, napping on the sofa until dinner time and then spending an hour getting ready with the radio blaring and doing it all over again, with the addition of the Sunday papers this time and a huge fry up rather than Saturday's croissant.

I don't actually miss those days but isn't it funny that in my head, that was my definition of a quiet weekend?

This weekend was spent, amongst other things, entertaining, birthday celebrating Happy Birthday, Heather, my lovely little niece, swimming and bear shopping.   On Friday, we had friends come over...10 adults and 11 kids; there are times when I realise my optimism doesn't always overcome the space I have although gin does.....but we settled in to our limited space and enjoyed the night.

I opted for comfort food, food that kids and adults alike would eat....beef stew, chicken and chorizo casserole with dumplings, vegetarian lasagne, homemade pizza, bread, sausage and mash with lashings of gravy yes, that was a water jug I used and a big, fat, ungainly, cartoon like chocolate cake.

The kids helped; the messier looking, the better they said....

It was all fine and served fairly hot although I've discovered that the temperature to heat up beef stew and chicken and chorizo casserole should definitely be different.   Next time, one in a pot, one in the oven.

My lovely Irish bloggy friend,  Mise had a giveaway.   Having never won anything or having been told not to enter as Scotland is too far too post we do have airmail ya know...it might be in the form of pigeons but it still gets here....I was incredibly surprised and delighted to win a lovely tea cosy from the amazing peeps at Mabel and Violet.   This stuff is seriously lovely and the website, moreish!   Thank you, Mise, Mabel and Violet; I love it, the kids love it, husband thinks it's a bit mental and my friend tried to steal it  no-one's seen her for days......   All of which are good.  Now, if you could make a Helen cosy, I'd sure appreciate it.....

Kelly pouring me some funky tea!

 

Kelly wanted mash cakes and peas so we gave her The McGinn Family to scoff.

 

The kids made oat and choccy chip cookies! Well done, kids....sorry there are none left.....

Farmhouse Chicken and Chorizo Casserole

When I made this dish, I added the chorizo at the end because I couldn't get one at the time; I recommend cooking it with the stew to intensify the flavour and so that the chorizo is as tender as the chicken.   Adding it at the end was nice but it was still chewy and the oil didn't have the same chance to ooze out, coating everything in sight...always a good thing with chorizo.   Any spicy or not spicy sausage could be used.   I also make it without the chorizo as a cheap and tasty family dish.

I also recommend doubling up on the quantities; this freezes beautifully.

Oven 200oC, 400oF, Gas 6.

1.5kg/3lb chicken pieces (I use thighs, skin removed but use whatever you prefer)

1 whole chorizo sausage, sliced half an inch thick.

Seasoned flour, approx. 4 tablespoons

60g/2oz butter

1-2 crushed cloves of garlic

600ml/1 pt chicken stock

2 tablespoons tomato puree (mixed into stock)

1 tablespoon veg oil

Selection of root veg; turnip, parsnip, carrot, diced

4 small onions, roughly chopped or 8 shallots whole.

3 slices of bacon, chopped

8 new baby potatoes, quartered or 4 Maris Piper, cut into eight.

Salt, freshly ground black pepper, chopped parsley (fresh)

Toss chicken in flour to cook, brown in pan with melted butter over a medium heat and transfer to a casserole dish.   Throw in sliced chorizo, toss around the pan for a moment and add to chicken.   Remove with a slotted spoon so that the remaining butter and chorizo oil remain.  Add garlic to pan and leftover flour, cook over low heat for a minute, stirring all the time and then remove from heat and slowly add stock and puree mix.   Put back in heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils and thickens.   Pour over chicken and chorizo.   Cover and bake for 30 minutes.

 Browned and covered with sauce

Heat the oil in a pan and cook root veg over a medium heat for a few minutes; remove onto a plate and add onions and bacon to the pan.   Cook until the bacon is crisp.   Take chicken dish from oven and add in the root veg, the onions and bacon alongside the uncooked potatoes, black pepper and parsley.  

 Veg and parsley added

Cover and bake for a further 40 minutes.  If making dumplings, add them in 15 minutes before the end.  This is great to serve immediately or leave in the fridge to be reheated the next day.   Excellent dish if people coming over and time is limited.  

Back to Food and the Pantosphere

When I went shopping last week, I had my list in hand and a good idea of what it would cost. Lamb, at this time of year, can be very expensive but there are usually bargains to be found. On this shopping trip however, sadly, not. I therefore did what any frugal, thrifty maw would do and changed my entire menu, quickly summing up that most of the ingredients already in my trolley could be used with beef or chicken instead.

The bill came to £54 and will feed us all for 9 days, possibly more, with leftovers.

My niece was staying with us on Friday through to Saturday and Kelly had a friend come over; with a few unexpected visitors thrown in for good measure, I decided to make the beef stew I had planned with added sausages and dumplings. I threw potatoes in for good measure, making it a one pot job. The kids can't get enough of stewed sausages, much preferring them to the tender chunks of beef; don't get me wrong, they totally chewed them down too but it was extra sausages requested, more than anything else.

The entire meal came to approx. £4 and fed 8 people with a little leftover for a solitary meal.

On Sunday, we had our annual trip the pantomime; 44 of us traipsed onto the train, excited kiddies in hand, to go to the Tron theatre in Glasgow's Trongate district to see the alternative panto 'Ya Beauty and the Beast'. For my American and Canadian friends, I believe this is more of a British tradition and it may be hard to imagine the appeal of grown men dressed up as panto dames, resplendent in the most wonderful, weird and wacky outfits you ever could see, but appeal it does and is a tradition I for one recommend wholeheartedly.

This is the third year we've went as a big crowd and it was hilarious, as usual. I'd arranged sweeties and juice for everyone, trying to hand them out to 43 hungry weans and their parents before the performance began; I failed but surreptitiously tossed them along the aisles until everyone had a bag of chocolate buttons, wine gums or other sweetific treat. The staff had arranged for our pre-booked ice cream to be delivered to our seats at the interval, meaning I could rest rather than run around.

The Tron does the best pantomime in Glasgow and we've been to them all; the wonderful postmodern panto performance, the excellent actors, the truly Glaswegian humour, the little bit of social statement and always a wee dig at the other pantos in nearby theatres and pantos in general make it laugh out loud funny from beginning to end. Since we inhabited the first four rows, we were picked on a few times; to Eric, one of the dads "is that a tie you're wearing, son, or is your tongue just hinging oot?"; to his wife "you all look lovely tonight...except you....don't worry hen, I hear that looks coming back intae fashion" made us feel we were part of the show. The actual theatre is small and cosy, the seats staggered, giving great views from wherever you happen to be and the staff are amazing, considering the amount of excited and wired to the moon kids they see on a daily basis and some of the parents too!

Bunty Beautox

To my Scottish friends, I couldn't recommend this more; go see it, before it's too late!
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Beef Stew
A few pounds of beef chunks
Seasoned flour
A tablespoon of oil and butter
Beef stock to cover
Chopped onion
Chopped carrot
A dash of red wine
Potatoes, peeled and quartered-amount to taste

Cover the beef in the seasoned flour. Shake of excess. Heat oil and butter in a pan and as soon as the butter starts to foam, add in some of the beef; do not crowd the pan. Once browned all over, remove to a warm plate and put in some more beef. Repeat until all the beef is browned. Throw in the onions, give a quick stir and remove to plate with the beef. Throw in the remaining flour and stir. Pour in a dash of red wine-stand back as it will let off a cloud of steam-and stir into the flour mix. Don't worry if it is a bit lumpy. Let it reduce a little and then add the beef stock a little at a time. You can add tinned tomatoes if you want but I tend not to if making dumplings and adding potatoes.

Add beef and onions to pan, making sure any liquid is poured in too. If more beef stock is required, add it...enough to cover the meat and a wee bit more for luck...or to stop it drying out! Add carrots, stir and bring to the boil. Put on a lid and simmer on a very low heat for 1 hour. Check that it IS simmering. After an hour, add potatoes and simmer for at least another 30 minutes, I prefer an hour. Make sure that you check that the beef is tender...it will be...and the potatoes are too; sometimes, they're not, depending on size of chunks because it is cooking in a simmer only.

Add seasoning if required.

If adding dumplings, put these in 15 minutes beforehand.

Helen's Chicken Stew with Dumplings

Today's lunch:

Lahmacun bread brushed with a mix of butter and olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and topped with ingredients of choice:

• cherry tomatoes, fresh thyme, a sprinkling of Parmesan once out of oven
  
• roasted garlic, thyme and Parmesan
• goats cheese and thyme
• goats cheese, rosemary, cherry tomatoes and chutney
• salami and chorizo
• grated cheese
• roasted garlic and extra sea salt
  

Add any ingredients that take your fancy, making sure they can take 10 minutes in reasonably hot oven. These are also delicious for breakfast; you can add a tablespoon of sugar to the batter or not and/or topped with (after baking the buttered bread on it's own):

• Nutella and banana
• jam
• fruit coulis
• brown sugar mixed with cinnamon (bake this one in the oven)
• cream cheese and smoked salmon

The goats cheese and chutney was amazing!

Last night, we had chicken stew with dumplings, the quickest, easiest dinner which looks like you've been slaving over a hot stove for hours. We were so happy at dinner last night, sat round the table chatting away, eating up every last bit, pressing the baby potatoes and dumplings into the last of the gravy, finished off with steaming mugs of tea. After the Scotch broth for lunch, the comfort food had certainly done it's job.

Helen's Quick and Easy Chicken Stew with Dumplings

Place into a pan the following:
A half bag of baby potatoes (around 3-5 per person)
One onion, chopped large
A few shallots, whole or halved
A carrot, chopped large
2 garlic cloves
Some sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary
Half a tin plum tomatoes or a few fresh tomatoes
Any other root veg you have in the house, chopped large

Add to this a pint or enough to cover of light chicken gravy, home made or granules mixed with chicken stock. If using fresh tomatoes, add a good squeeze of tomato puree to the gravy. Add a little dash of white wine if you happen to have some open. The teabag-looking item was a bouquet garni packet I had left so I popped it in for that little bit of extra aromatic flavouring.

Bring to the boil and drop in chunks of chicken breast or thigh meat; chicken breasts into four, thighs into two. Stir, put on the lid, boil once more and then simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Prepare dumplings by placing into a bowl the following:
100g/4oz self raising flour
2oz mature cheddar cheese
1oz Parmesan (if you don't want to use this, add another ounce of cheddar instead).
Quarter teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp mustard powder
Handful of either thyme or chopped parsley
Sprinkle salt and pepper

Mix and add a beaten egg and enough water to make a sticky dough. Don't mix too much, you want it lumpy. Form into little dumplings and pour over a little oil, rubbing gently to coat each ball. Place in fridge until five minutes before needed.

Put oven on to 200 degrees Celsius/gas mark 5.

Pour stew into an oven proof dish and top with dumplings. Bake in hot oven for around 15 minutes or until dumplings golden brown or a little darker on top, depending on taste.

The dumplings will expand and stick together which is just perfect; half are soaking up the gravy, the half sticking above the top are golden and crispy. Apply three greedy, hungry wee weans, one hungry big man and try to get to the table before they polish it off, leaving you a loan potato and a carrot.
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I've had several phone calls, emails and texts asking me how I am; it's lovely that my friends take the time to do that but I find myself saying "I'm fine" even though I still feel poorly. Is it a mum thing, a Scottish thing or a woman thing that after 7 days of illness, I feel frustrated with my inability to get better quickly and I feel like such a fraud. Come on, flu, go already!

I want to walk up a hill, go shopping and take the kids swimming desperately. It's their holiday week; not that they've complained, I don't think they can quite believe their luck what with the jammies on for as long as they want, mum on tap, vid games, computer and dvds galore. It's been a nice week, considering.

Tomorrow, we plan to hit the cinema to see 'Up'; I'm hoping my coughing has subsided by then as I really want to see it and can't if all I'll end up doing is disturbing everyone around me. Tomorrow is another day, I could leap out of bed, restored and well! Karmic thoughts, people, karmic thoughts.