Market Day Dinner (crossed with 'it's too hot to cook!')
Mum went to Paddy's Market this morning, which means dinner tonight is always either 'using up the last of the old stuff' or 'what did we buy that's super ripe and needs eating NOW'.
Plus the weather is hot, humid and gluggy, exactly not the weather to be standing over a stove.
Thus I present: Chicken Parcels!
Brought to you by Australia's desperate situation on the 'in season' fresh fruit and veg front. Most of the summer crops look scabby and waterlogged, and the autumn stuff isn't in yet.
Take 100g of chicken per person, and brown it. Toss in two sliced leeks, since the market was desperately short of anything green at an affordable price. Add a chopped peach per person (they're only cooking level peaches, but the weather's wiped out most anything else). Search the kitchen for white wine. Discover none, so add sherry to the pan to moisten it.
Cook together. Taste, then throw in a chopped rasher of bacon for extra flavour. Decide it's still too runny. Reject Mum's suggestion of cream of chicken soup, and add a couple of tablespoons of ricotta, because there's a new basket in the house. Combine till sticky, then season with salt and pepper.
Mum's been preparing sheets of filo pastry. Line the centre bottom third of the pastry with the last of the spinach from last fortnight, with the most scungy bits removed. Ladle on the chicken mixture. Fold up and brush with extra butter for the top.
In the chicken pan, layer in thinly sliced potato. Cover with milk. Add a finely chopped onion, plus season to taste. Once the potato's nice and cooked, pop in corningware in the oven with the parcels, with lots of cheese.
The peaches make it summery. And we have no cabbage or lettuce, Ye Old Basic Salad Bases.
Plus the weather is hot, humid and gluggy, exactly not the weather to be standing over a stove.
Thus I present: Chicken Parcels!
Brought to you by Australia's desperate situation on the 'in season' fresh fruit and veg front. Most of the summer crops look scabby and waterlogged, and the autumn stuff isn't in yet.
Take 100g of chicken per person, and brown it. Toss in two sliced leeks, since the market was desperately short of anything green at an affordable price. Add a chopped peach per person (they're only cooking level peaches, but the weather's wiped out most anything else). Search the kitchen for white wine. Discover none, so add sherry to the pan to moisten it.
Cook together. Taste, then throw in a chopped rasher of bacon for extra flavour. Decide it's still too runny. Reject Mum's suggestion of cream of chicken soup, and add a couple of tablespoons of ricotta, because there's a new basket in the house. Combine till sticky, then season with salt and pepper.
Mum's been preparing sheets of filo pastry. Line the centre bottom third of the pastry with the last of the spinach from last fortnight, with the most scungy bits removed. Ladle on the chicken mixture. Fold up and brush with extra butter for the top.
In the chicken pan, layer in thinly sliced potato. Cover with milk. Add a finely chopped onion, plus season to taste. Once the potato's nice and cooked, pop in corningware in the oven with the parcels, with lots of cheese.
The peaches make it summery. And we have no cabbage or lettuce, Ye Old Basic Salad Bases.