I don't know about you, but my evening meals are riddled with mononity and last minute-ness, sometimes prepared in advance when a heavy afternoon of kids activities is looming but mostly cobbled together quickly and slopped on a plate (we even have a meal affectionately known as "Slops"). Last weeks highlight for The Husband was a hot store-bought chicken and a bag of rolls, and a "that's dinner" grunt from me. Not my finest hour in the kitchen.
Recently in an effort to lift my game, I launched "Neil Perry Week" without actually telling anyone. Smith, my Neil Perry recipe book "Good Food" and I went to the supermarket. Smith sat in the trolley holding my book open at all the page markers as I carefully bought all my ingredients for the Neil Perry delights I had planned. Strangely I had a vast assortment of fresh herbs, especially coriander, and piles of veges and expensive cuts of meat. And so we started my marathon of cooking and eating. Monday: Tagliatelle with Rocket, Lemon and Chilli, Tuesday; Roasted Herb Crusted Lamb with Roasted Capsicum sauce, Wednesday; Lamb, Mint and Pea Pie, Thursday; Herb Crusted Snapper and Crunchy Salsa. My now, the husband was over herb crusted anything and was pleading with me for a break. As he picked at his fish, with me giving him the evil eye, he asked if we could take a break. I accused him of not liking the meal, and he owned up to the fact he'd had lunch out. And I'm guessing it wasn't a toasted panini at a food court. "But I still have a butterflied leg of lamb to marinade and serve with spicing chargrilled vegetables and garlic yoghurt", I insisted. "Lets have it next week" he suggested. And a good thing it was too, because the leg of lamb I took from the freezer and prepared lovingly actually turned out to be a large piece of rump steak (they all look the same in the freezer right?) and it was hideous and tough. I still made him eat it though. Thankfully we're back on the slops. Neil Perry Week is officially a once-a-year event.
I love Neil too (Al can't stand him ) but he seems to go through periods when he gets a bit stuck on a theme ie " herb crusted " must be his current fad. We watched his TV series a few years back when he was " caramelising" everything ie "cooking until almost burnt to a crisp ". Al howled with laughter when Neil inadvertantly " caramelised " the wooden handle of his frypan !!!!
ReplyDeleteThinking of and making dinner is my absolute most hated chore! I hate it even more than washing up! My aversion to cooking is famous and so Mr.P does all the cooking in our house, but that still doesn't take away the problem of what to eat every night! I desperatley wish that I had the domestic goddess cooking genes, but I just don't. And so we struggle on. One day I'll get my game together, one day...
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