Kitchen comforts

After the stress of last Friday and the days leading up to it, comfort food has been needed this week. I fancied a curry and Mr S-V requested a sponge pudding - so we had both! 

The chickpea, lentil and veg curry really hit the spot and made enough to freeze for another two meals. Bonus! Searching for a pudding recipe was complicated by not having easy access to shops at the moment; it had to be made from whatever was in the pantry. Step forward this recipe from Dan Lepard. 

Marmalade and Carrot Puddings

I don't possess any dariole moulds (who does?) and I only had two eggs until the next Waitrose delivery but, having searched high and low for the recipe, I was determined to make it, so six individual basins were called into action. 

I had to do a bit of fiddling with the ingredients to fit the eggs available, meaning I made slightly less mixture than the original recipe. It still gave six decent sized puds - two of which we had with a large amount of custard (I bloody love custard). They were light and moist and they didn't even stick to the tins! I'll definitely make these again, but not until we've eaten the other four that are stashed in the freezer.

We had the easiest dinner on earth last night, made with penne, semi-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and Boursin. It took about 20 minutes and tasted great. I'm not ashamed to say we had sausages, chips and baked beans on Wednesday. Not exactly a culinary tour de force but it was just what we needed.

I've also made a batch of cheese and onion quiches this week and some spiced apple compote to have with porridge. I've been fiddling about in the kitchen a bit more recently than I have for some while - it's just about the only way to escape from Covid and all the crap surrounding it. A little bit of culinary normality in an increasingly abnormal world is about the best I can do right now. I'm doubting we'll ever feel normal again after all this.

That weasel, Hancock, is on TV again. If he worked anywhere other than in Government, he'd have been kicked out long ago, liar that he is. I'm not a violent woman but, by god, his face is slappable.

The Duke of Edinburgh is thankfully still with us (keep going, Sir) but sadly, his brainless, entitled grandson and his social-climbing, gold-digging wife feel this is just the right time to give a carefully staged interview and have a dig at the Royal Family. Nice way for Harry to show some gratitude for all they've given him... still, I suppose it keeps Covid out of the headlines, even if only briefly.