2011.06.26 My Day

Well its been a restful weekend apart from me deciding that it was about time the house was re-organised.  Well I have made a start, but its still all in a terrible muddle so it will be a work in progress until I get completely sorted.  Am having to do a bit at a time but we will get there eventually.  I have things to do and its all part of the pre-planning.

Yesterday I watched Rachel Allen's Home Cooking programmed on BBC1 where she cooked a chicken dish with a family wanting to expand their cooking repertoire.  It looked scrummy so I decided to have a go at it for tea today.  See further down for full details.

Its been a scorcher here today - far too hot the animals have been inside (I have had the windows open throughout the house) in an effort to get some fresh air in.  I have to be careful in the sun in any event, but the humidity has been intense.  I was hoping to get my washing out in the fresh air to dry but I seem to have lost my peg box so that has put paid to that for the time being until I can get some more.

One of the storage problems I have relates to my bottles and jars - OH would bin them if he had his way but its not up to him thank goodness.  I also have some beer making, cider making and wine making in mind so this afternoon I have been scrubbing bottles and jars like nobody's business.  I have collected a load of beer bottles over a period of about a year and today was their birthday. They were soked in boiling water as they have this plastic film label on the bottles which are difficult to remove otherwise.  Soaking them in the boiling water helps to get your finger under the edge to peel them off.  I then use a green scourer and washing up liquid to remove all the gunk (sticky stuff) off the bottles.  Its time consuming but a job worth doing well needs time spent on it.  Besides once all these labels are removed thats it the bottles can be used time and time again, and only need to be sterilised.  So have made a start on them I have done 10 today but have another 50 or so to do; so have decided because it is time consuming to do a few each day until I have got them all finished.

I also had some out of date jars of pickled cabbage so have emptied them washed the jars and stored the jars as I will need these in the next few weeks as I have lots planned.  I hold onto my jars where I can.  Even if I give preserves away I always ask for the jars back.

Anyway back to the recipe from Rachel Allen's Home Cooking programme.  I googled this and found the recipe on

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/629539

My camera still is not working so no pictures from me I am afraid but there is a picture on the link.

Well I followed the recipe and we have had it for our tea tonight.  Its more of a cobbler (I havn't had one of these before).  I am not keen on suet dumplings, but these "scones/dumplings" were delicious.  In fact the whole dish was delicious.

I had never dissected a chicken completely before, but I have done now and it was more straightforward than I feared it would be.  In fact I was quite chuffed with myself now I have got over that hurdle.  If you watch the repeat of the programme for yesterday it shows you how to do it.

I also added a leek to the ingredients.  I did not have buttermilk so I used a mixture of milk and plain yogurt mixed together to make the "scones".  These were the only alterations I made to the recipe.

I would definitely make this again, however I would add more liquid so that there is more gravy.  This recipe is going into my repertoire, and in fact after printing the recipe off I have laminated it for further use.  OH was quite taken with it as well

Have a lot to do still I do not know where this weekend has got to.  Have some yogurt to make yet.


Hope you have a lovely evening wherever you may be.  Catch you all later.

Pattypan

xx
Catch you all later.