I will try again then

Trust me to be too ambitious. Unfortunately the weather, fatigue and feeling generally unwell got to me more or less straight away as I started to get myself together to try and conquer this kitchen.  I have not felt too good and my extremities have been going blue as a result of the damp and cold weather, and I have been on the pain killers.  The rain on its own never does me much good in any event even though I try and carry on sometimes it is best just to climb under covers and keep warm.

Wednesday I ended up in the garden and had more chillies to harvest which I brought into the house.  I also picked the last lot of fresh mint I think for this year for drying off my Dresser.  I managed to get them onto the Dresser to dry utilising clothes pegs and modern day Bull Dog style clips.  Sometimes I just use strings off a central string that I have strung from one side of the Dresser to the other. 

 

I need to put a string up on the other Dresser and bring in some Bay Leaves both to be dried in Bunches and also single leaves as I use a lot of Bay leaves in everyday cooking throughout the year.  The single leaves will be placed onto tissue and dried between other layers of tissue.  These days only put the Dehydrators on if I have a lot of stuff to dry.  Being economical with the power.

Wednesday evening I ended up cooking Italian Fennel Sausages with roasted veggies.  Another absolute favourite with leek, onion, peppers, potato, lardons of smoked bacon, broccoli, carrots and marrow in (I did not have any Courgette).  This makes a really lovely and tasty tea.  One of the tricks that I have found is that the veggies caramelise on the bottom of the roasting pan, and rather than waste all that caramelised goodness I add hot water and boil up the pan.  I then strain the "juice" and use it like a stock for cooking.  Adds a lot of flavour.

I did cook on Saturday evening.  I had all the ingredients inhouse for making a big tray pizza for tea.  We had passata sauce, Mozzarella, green chilli, red onion, pepperoni, Parma ham, red pepper, yellow pepper, anchovies, spring onion and more Mozzarella cheese and yet again it went down very nicely.  I think that homemade pizza is very much going to be putting in an appearance from now on in.  Not every week, but it makes a very good Saturday night supper, although I do like to vary things up just a little bit.

The first day that I felt like myself was Sunday when the Sun came out. I decided to err on the side of caution and so did very little on Sunday apart from cook a very simple tea. We still had a pack of the plain Italian sausages left in the fridge, and so I set too and cooked these simply and served with a tin of whole plum Tomatoes, with some Oregano and white pepper added.  Served with some bread and butter and it went down very nicely.  I find that really good tasty food is best often served simply to showcase the flavours and quality of the food.  Sorry no photos, but it was very tasty.

As indicated am therefore going to try again.  Just concentrating on the kitchen and getting stuck in.  Will expand to some cooking once I have the kitchen back under control.  Will also have to intermittently deal with things in the dining room as I start restoring Law and Order.  Fingers crossed and toes plaited that everything goes well this time.

Wish me luck!

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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