So I’m currently self-isolating with my mum and grandma in a small Shropshire town. I’m pretty lucky in most senses in that I have my job, we have a garden and a dog and cat to keep us company.
However my mum isn’t that big of a cook and my nana will often only eat if nagged, otherwise subsisting on marmalade toast for days at a time. Coupled with the fact we’ve had to self-isolate after me and mum developed a cough, this means in order to sustain us all I have become the de facto head chef despite my lack of culinary nous.
So instead of talking about all that stuff going on at the moment (if I could gesture wildly and vaguely to the world I would) , inspired by Jack Monroe’s brilliant lockdown larder hashtag (check it out!) I thought I would document my ongoing recipe attempts as they happen.
Disclaimer: I am not an excellent or innovative chef by any means, just one normal woman trying to cook.
“Sun-Dried Tomatoes”
Now living in a flatshare with strangers can have many downsides. Maybe they’re too messy. Maybe they’re too anal. Maybe they have a piercing laugh that haunts you through the walls throughout the day as a reminder of their sadistic tendencies. (I’m fine, I swear!!)
What I find the most annoying though is that it makes me super-conscious about using the kitchen so it’s been a real pleasure to have full control over a kitchen without worrying what fork I’ve left where. The biggest treat I’ve discovered so far is making your own “sun dried” tomatoes. Luckily this recipe isn’t actually sun dependent but you will require the oven for a few hours so best to have everyone behind you on this endeavour, but it was incredibly simple.
Get cherry tomatoes (or plum, or cut up on the bigger varieties). I like cherry tomatoes as they tend to be pretty cheap and as I often buy them in the vain hope of using them for salad, this is a nifty way of using them up just before they turn.
Preheat the oven to around 130 -150 degrees. You’re essentially slow roasting them in their own juices.
Cut them in half, put on a baking tray (with foil as it will make cleaning easier) and season with salt. You can add oil and any other seasoning you fancy but the salt worked for me).
Put in oven for 2 - 3 hours. Check up on them fairly regularly but basically needs to be until the liquid on the inside is dried out. Don’t worry too much if they’re a little back around the edges, they still seem to taste fairly good.
Eat them.
I joke, but they are a versatile ingredient that you can put in a lot - sandwiches (great way to jazz up a cheese sandwich), pasta sauces (if you can ever find pasta), even salads! (Also a heck of a lot cheaper than the jars!)
“Honey Roast Hash”
This admittedly is more of a work in progress but there’s something in here. In our last trip to Tescos I picked up a bag of courgettes with the idea that they are a versatile ingredient. It currently appears I am wrong (although please send me your suggestions if you have them) so this is what I managed to come up with following a substantial lack of carbs in the cupboard.
Cut up your vegetables into fairly small cubes. For this I used courgette, sweet potato and mushrooms but you can honeslyt throw in most things as long as you think it goes with honey (parsnips would probably be decent too). Preheat the oven to around 180.
Place your sweet potato and courgette onto the tray. Drizzle with oil and honey, before seasoning liberally with salt and pepper. Use your (washed) hands or a spoon to make sure all the pieces are well coated. Place in the oven.
I like to fry the mushrooms in balsamic vinegar to add a bit of a zing, and you can add garlic for bonus immunity points. (I am of the strong opinion that garlic works in almost any savoury dish.) If you are not a fan of mushrooms like I know a lot of people are, you can replace with one of the other recipe vegetables. (Courgette also works with it. You can roast with the balsamic vinegar if you want less washing up.)
The smaller the cubes, the quicker the veg cooks, so check up on them regularly (honey on the tray tends to burn quicker so don’t be too alarmed by smoke emerging initially). Once you can get a fork through them, they are done, although as you will be baking the eggs they don’t need to be fully done (I just like to be on the safe side).
Combine the balsamic and honey veg into one dish (I used a small pie dish but depends on the amount), and crack eggs on top (one egg per person works well but go ham if you want.) Put back into oven and keep there until the egg whites are solidly, well white.
Once done, season as desired (salt, pepper, hot sauce etc) and add cheese. We added feta which adds a nice saltiness to counteract the sweeter parts but cheddar works fine too.
If you don’t have honey or fancy a more savoury twist, you can make it spicy with chilli flakes/paprika/fajita seasoning etc during the roasting stage, completely up to you. if you go the spicy route without the egg it can be vegan!
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this and if you make any of these, do let me know, especially any adjustments you make, I haven’t put in amounts, partly as I haven’t had the capacity to test these recipes multiple times but partly as I’ll leave it to you to judge.. If you want to have three sweet potatoes and one courgette, do it! Go hog wild! We’re stuck in here for months so all I would say is make sure it fits in whatever dish you have and adjust cooking time accordingly.
I’ll be trying to do this once or twice a week, with the next edition covering the joys of double cream!
Ciao for now,
Ruby