Cooking for one (Mark Two)

caronc

Hollyharvey wrote: »

Thanks Caronc
I'll make some next weekend as a treat, it really is so good , and I need cheering up at the moment.

Make now Holly - it will definitely cheer you up;):D

Hollyharvey

Farway wrote: »

The lamb shank dinner was superb, better than any I've eaten out, mind you never been to the Savoy etc, but it was better than pub stuff I've had

Glad you enjoyed it.

May I ask where the lamb shanks were from? I usually make my own but would like a couple in the freezer to nuke for CBA days because I love lamb and lamb shanks in particular.

Hollyharvey

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

speaking as someone who rarely allows herself anything like shortbread - yep....it does have to be butter. It makes all the difference to have shortbread/other biscuits/cakes with butter as the fat imo.

Totally agree. I can always taste the difference .

caronc

Farway wrote: »

Thanks, bung it all in is my style
Just used up my butter so on the list next shopping trip, like the blitz ordinary sugar tip, I can handle that

Fatty Farway by end of the week, I'll tell the heart nurse it was all your fault

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:It's fine I've been blamed for a lot worse over the years and lived to tell the tale.....;)
Just don't get carried away with blitzing the sugar or you'll end with icing sugar which being MSE you'll just need to use to make buttercream to wodge between the biscuits with some jam or to make a wee "Empire Biscuits" (do you get these out of Scotland? 2 pieces of shortbread, sandwiched together with jam, then topped icing and a glace cherry or jelly tot.).....:p;);)

caronc

I should add that from a CFO point of view uncooked shortbread dough freezes really well if a batch is too much or you can scale down the recipe for smaller amounts

elona

I had a dd over on Thursday and made a huge cottage pie so we could eat together and she could take some portions home. Her DH loves sausages so I halved some raw ones and added to the base.

Youngest came back last night with two sisters a DH and a boyfriend to sleep over so made a massive lasagne for the evening, bacon butties this morning and marinated chicken and roast potatoes with sugar snap peas for lunch.

Forgot how much dishes, pots and pans cooking for six generates so a couple of dish washer loads later kitchen is looking clearer and am looking forward to a few days of cooking for one and being a bit selfish even though I loved having everyone here.

caronc

elona wrote: »

I had a dd over on Thursday and made a huge cottage pie so we could eat together and she could take some portions home. Her DH loves sausages so I halved some raw ones and added to the base.

Youngest came back last night with two sisters a DH and a boyfriend to sleep over so made a massive lasagne for the evening, bacon butties this morning and marinated chicken and roast potatoes with sugar snap peas for lunch.

Forgot how much dishes, pots and pans cooking for six generates so a couple of dish washer loads later kitchen is looking clearer and am looking forward to a few days of cooking for one and being a bit selfish even though I loved having everyone here.

It's scary how much chaos cooking for numbers can create - thank goodness for a dishwasher. I wouldn't do half the cooking I do (even as a CFO) without one

moneyistooshorttomention

caronc wrote: »

It's scary how much chaos cooking for numbers can create - thank goodness for a dishwasher. I wouldn't do half the cooking I do (even as a CFO) without one

Tell me about it caron. :cool:

I don't have a dishwasher. My kitchen isnt too bad a size (compared to some) but it's just not the right layout to have one if I wanted - so it's just as well I don't want one anyway I guess.

Thankfully, now that I've got my new kitchen, there is space to pile up the dishes from one lot of cooking and still have some worksurface space to work on....

PasturesNew

I've never been big on shortbread.... but I did make ONE in the nuker the other month. That was pleasant/quick - one was enough; one is all I'd have eaten if there'd been a plate coming round and all I had to do was reach for biscuits and eat them.

But it's a faff to weigh anything out when you're dealing with tiny quantities. I mixed it in a mug with a fork, then used a teaspoon to shape it/squash it down. 3 minutes in the box.

https://s26.postimg.org/81o4pam7t/Shortbread.jpg

That one's got 12 grams of flour in it.

h9gd5zta2

PasturesNew

What mucks up my kitchen layout is the oven - if it didn't exist it'd be a lot better!

I've a hob in the middle of the worktop with the oven underneath. Either side is a single base unit and bit of worktop. A single bit of worktop isn't big enough to do much with as there's no room to spread out.

I am forever crossing the kitchen to get from one single worktop bit to another.

There is a double width piece of worktop, but that's got the nuker on it, reducing that to a single again - which is where the slow cooker sits when it's out of the cupboard. Trying to serve out of the SC using just the tiny spot in front of the SC takes concentration!

If I'm making beans on toast I have the toaster in one corner - and the nuker nuking beans in a diagonally opposite corner - so go back/forth continually just making beans on toast! And, as the toaster's on a single spot, beside the kettle, there's no room beside the toaster to even spread marg on the toasted bread most of the time!

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As an example, this is a neighbour's kitchen - in a 3-bed family home. My kitchen uses the same units, but they are placed on opposite sides of the room, so take these two pieces, place them on opposite sides of a 12' wide room.... and have no worktop space and no good cupboards and walk a lot.

https://s26.postimg.org/4xdyzeyux/Kitchen.jpg

My kitchen is a separate room - for the 3-beds, that's the kitchen in the corner of the single downstairs room (15'x18')