(no subject)
Since this week is going to be both hot and busy, I'm cooking a big pot of soup for evening meals. I'll buy some bread in the market tomorrow if I need to, but the soup might stand on its own. There's plenty for friends, should they also need an easy meal, but since the soup itself is pretty much an invention, I'll not actually invite people over to partake. If it works really well, I might take some with me to eat after marketing tomorrow, but that's about all.
What happened was that I was given four lamb shanks. I've never made lamb shanks into a traditional shredded lamb soup before (although I know the technique perfectly well) so that was the obvious thing to do. I used all kinds of ingredients that I happened to have or was given alongside the shanks, because it looked fun. So... my soup has onion and garlic and carrot (purple) and celery and home-made tomato stuff (I forget the right name, but it's what you normally use tinned tomatoes for) and duck stock (actually portable soup cooked to a slightly lesser degree than one needs for a three month open voyage, and then frozen) and chick peas and about 3 litres of water and about ten spices. All the usuals for lamb (cumin and paprika and cinnamon) but also laos and white poppy seed and Javanese tailed pepper. No salt. It really shouldn't need salt with all those flavours. As low fat as possibly lamb can be for these were very low fat shanks and, when my soup sits in the fridge overnight, hopefully the remaining fat will rise to the top and be skimmed. Now it's in the slow cooker and will stay there until the lamb falls off the bone, when I will remove it, shred the meat, add the shredded meat back, adjust anything that needs adjusting, maybe add potatoes and maybe not, and then set it to cook again until it's done.
One substantial meal a day is on the way. And I've already done half the stuff for the light meals. So the market tomorrow is just top ups and cheese and cherries and possibly bread. And I will have so very much soup that I hope everyone wants to drop in... and I hope it works out well enough so that they can. The purple carrots are of the Dutch variety and I didn't want to cut them up, for they looked so very pretty, but I have destroyed their good looks and am owed a cuppa and the preparation for a book event. Then my lot is other work and then I get to go to a staff thingie.
Mind you, I begin to see why so many people wanted me to add recipes to my Patreon. Which I did. I seem to have no shortage of recipes in my life, invented and other (my life is as invented as my recipes, I fear).
What happened was that I was given four lamb shanks. I've never made lamb shanks into a traditional shredded lamb soup before (although I know the technique perfectly well) so that was the obvious thing to do. I used all kinds of ingredients that I happened to have or was given alongside the shanks, because it looked fun. So... my soup has onion and garlic and carrot (purple) and celery and home-made tomato stuff (I forget the right name, but it's what you normally use tinned tomatoes for) and duck stock (actually portable soup cooked to a slightly lesser degree than one needs for a three month open voyage, and then frozen) and chick peas and about 3 litres of water and about ten spices. All the usuals for lamb (cumin and paprika and cinnamon) but also laos and white poppy seed and Javanese tailed pepper. No salt. It really shouldn't need salt with all those flavours. As low fat as possibly lamb can be for these were very low fat shanks and, when my soup sits in the fridge overnight, hopefully the remaining fat will rise to the top and be skimmed. Now it's in the slow cooker and will stay there until the lamb falls off the bone, when I will remove it, shred the meat, add the shredded meat back, adjust anything that needs adjusting, maybe add potatoes and maybe not, and then set it to cook again until it's done.
One substantial meal a day is on the way. And I've already done half the stuff for the light meals. So the market tomorrow is just top ups and cheese and cherries and possibly bread. And I will have so very much soup that I hope everyone wants to drop in... and I hope it works out well enough so that they can. The purple carrots are of the Dutch variety and I didn't want to cut them up, for they looked so very pretty, but I have destroyed their good looks and am owed a cuppa and the preparation for a book event. Then my lot is other work and then I get to go to a staff thingie.
Mind you, I begin to see why so many people wanted me to add recipes to my Patreon. Which I did. I seem to have no shortage of recipes in my life, invented and other (my life is as invented as my recipes, I fear).