The Mock Turtle

What happened?!

That’s usually what happens with artichokes for us. What happened?

I have definitely done this with artichokes too.

Disco wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:41 pm So I’ve binned the cardoons, poured a gin and we’re having calamari with fries instead.

I googled them and they seemed to be something that needed a lot of activity to "remove bitterness" and "improve texture" and I resolved, in that instant, never to bother.

After washing them, setting a pan of acidulated water on, de-leafing, peeling and de-stringing several stalks I realised that by the end I would end up with approx 3 teaspoons of vegetation which I would then bake with cream and - waste - really nice cheese only to be sorely disappointed and hungry at the end. So I decided to cut out a lot of waiting, electricity usage and rage by simply chucking it straight into the garden waste bin.

Monk and I were laughing at my being excited all week quickly transforming into such a cavalier attitude to food waste. I did fleetingly consider putting some unpeeled stalks into a glass of water to see if it rooted so I could have it as a garden plant but I now hate cardoons so I didn't bother.

I saw someone earlier had just stuck the ones they had bought into a vase

They had the right idea.

A wise plan. They sound like a massive faff and the sort of thing that maybe should only be eaten in a wartime emergency.

I was blinded by cream and cheese and my crusty bread and salad plans. I'm so glad I decided upon binning at the stage I did bin because the devastation after 40 mins of baking would have been too much to bear.

It’s always best not to waste lovely cream and cheese.

Psb with chilli, anchovy spaghetti
Goat's porky udon (bumped from previous week or two)
Korean chicken and sweet potato with rice
Chicken biryani
Creamy dijon mushrooms on brioche toast
Cauliflower-macaroni cheese
Chicken kiev, mash and peas
Braised broad beans on ciabatta, grilled oozing cheese
Roast something

I've got mushrooms, cauliflower, leeks to base meals around so I need to think about these.

This is the list, some may be eaten, some may get carried forward, again. I need room in the freezer (lasagne and gnocchi are from the freezer)

Shwarma, gyros salad (L)
Udon stir fry thing. Asian turkey balls with the udon
Lemon chicken
Feta pasta (L)
Lasagne
Gnocchi
Frittata (L)

White pizza with leek, rosemary and potato ( and salad)
Grilled mackerel with zhoug/ picked chillies, cracked wheat, beetroot and fennel salad
Beef and barley buns, chips, some sort of salad/ slaw with whatever veg is still about
Mystery fish box day

It's a scraping the bottom of the veg drawer week.

I have lost my mojo so bought a big bag of potatoes to have with whatever stew or veggie burgers/sausage I can find in the freezer :foodslump:

Crepes with lentil and mushroom filling
Baked bean and sage pie
Dal makhani and rice
Lebanese lentils, rice and caramelised onions
Fasolada
Beans on toast
Leftovers or freezer pizza

Braised broad beans on ciabatta, grilled oozing cheese
Blue cheese mushroom fried gnocchi
Griddled halloumi, broad beans, tomato & jersey royal salad
Psb with chilli, anchovy spaghetti
Goat's porky udon

Enchiladas
Cauli cheese & potato bake (I have 3 caulis to use up!)
Halloumi, roast veg, couscous
Tofu stirfry
Quorn shep pie, root veg mash
Dahl, rice

Porky udon! I've never actually made it with udon after all this. .

I like a cauliflower but THREE?!

Pearl barley risotto or puy lentils with the last of the never ending bloody beetroot, blue cheese, walnuts, watercress

Cod, wild garlic pesto, Jersey Royals, griddled lemony asparagus

Cheese/ bacon burger with chipotle mayo, those Donald Russell chips, salad

Kung Pao chicken, egg fried rice, black vinegar greens

( meal kit from Pidgin)

Just me so something like carbonara with the bacon I opened for the burgers. Or maybe leftovers from the meal kit.

We've been saying we will look back on these times as The Cauliflower Years; we've had so many of them. (If you need ideas, kiwi, the Celeriac and Curry Leaf Pilaf from Anna Jones is much better with roasted cauliflower than with celeriac.)