Reverse Meal Planning

EssexHebridean

JingsMyBucket said:

@EssexHebridean and @joedenise what are your recipes for the honey mustard glazes, please? I'm going to try glazing some ham hocks for Christmas this year. 

Now we all know how my recipes work by now don’t we. It won’t surprise you at all to know that this time it consists of roughly equal portions honey and grain mustard…how much? Well, enough to cover the ham! 😂 I’m well aware that this is less than helpful!  MrEH favours black treacle and mustard - that comes together in pretty much the same way! 

joedenise

I'm the same as EH, roughly equal quantities of honey and whole grain mustard just mixed together in a dish and then poured over the ham before roasting.  No measurements here either.  Will just say that the honey is a local one as my DD1 keeps bees.

JingsMyBucket

Thanks @EssexHebridean and @joedenise. I'll try winging it. I'm planning to use the ham hocks from Lidl that have the skin on them but I'm now starting to think / wonder if I should get some that are skinless since that may be better for the glaze and because Mr. Jings doesn't usually eat the skin. I do though! I love it. 

Regarding dinner tonight: I've been feeling under the weather for the past 3 weeks and was struck with gastro issues last night. Instead of making a nice puff pastry tart for dinner with all that work, I'm going to crack open the can of pork & sausage cassoulet that I bought in France back in September. I asked Mr. Jings to stop by M & S to get some mashed potatoes to accompany them. The veg puff pastry tart will be shifted to tomorrow. 

Suffolk_lass

Prompted by the honey glaze discussions...

To those of you buying lovely local honey - and then using it for cooking. Of course it is your choice, but you might find your local beekeeper has some "cooking" or Bakers Honey - "cooking" does not have a legal definition, but I always have the mixed bucket of cappings after extracting honey, and because it is mixed apiaries, we keep it. Last year we also had some late season honey that had a slightly higher moisture level - well a couple of months later I was conscious that honey attracts moisture from the atmosphere and this had not been sealed, so I offered it locally for about a quarter of the normal price, specifically for cooking. It was delicious, but not as pure as my normal honey, and it got it out of my kitchen, without me making fudge, or mead, or soap non-stop to get rid of it.

rtandon27

Our beekeeper at work does the same thing - Cheap honey for cooking and I use it in ginger tea to keep away the nasties!

EssexHebridean

I always remove the skin and score the fat before glazing and baking a ham. 

I got myself motivated last night and filled the slow cooker with random veg and pulses to make use of the ham stock that would otherwise have gone to waste. It's ended up as around a third of the total liquid, and I've not added ANY additional salt, so I'm hopeful that the saltiness might be diluted enough.  I'll give it a taste later and see what I think.

Tonight will likely be the usual Tuesday couscous - with halloumi. Technically I should probably use some of that soup,. but the couscous is what I fancy so that will be what I eat! The soup will freeze in any event. 

Suffolk_lass

If it is too salty, I add potatoes in little cubes - that helps enormously @EssexHebridean.

Here we had lamb chops. I had frozen a pack of four, because they were quite small. Just a simple supper with the last carrot, cabbage, broccoli and mash. We needed a break from the rich food of the previous week's multiple meals out and celebrations. I'm going for two soups today for my meal. Trying to shift the extra weight before it takes a hold. I did make two dozen mince pies though... suitably rustic looking!

EssexHebridean

It already had LOTS of potato SL - it is a little salty, but not too bad I don't think. I might yet blitz it and add a little more water to each portion when reheating too, as that should help. Anyway, it was portioned out last night - a double portion for this evening (or maybe tomorrow) and three single portions which are all in the freezer. I've got cooked chicken thighs out to shred and add into the portion to be eaten right away. 

EssexHebridean

Well the salvaged soup turned out to be fine! A splodge more water, some frozen sweetcorn and the shredded chicken, plus a splash of worcester sauce for depth of flavour and we both cheerfully scoffed a bowl last night - it was proclaimed very tasty, so all good!

Past me has looked after current me for this evening in the shape of the second of the batch-cooked potato/veg/cheese bakes. I'll top with a mix of brie and cheddar again before reheating I think, that worked really nicely the other night. 

I need to do a freezer dive to see if there is still any daal left to accompany curry tomorrow. 

Suffolk_lass

2 burgers currently resting while a couple of frozen rolls defrost in the warm oven. A plate of lettuce with yellow pepper and leftover coleslaw (passed the fizz test!). Sliced raw red onion and a pickled shallot to go with the burger relish and that is tonight's supper. We both scoffed a big bowl of hm soup earlier. So we've had plenty of veg already. The sald drawer is ready and awaiting the next shop with very little in it!