Journal

2023 - Week 4 Cooking Results

Irish Stew and Soda Bread

I should’ve started a bit earlier, but I was having trouble getting motivated to get up from my nap. Once I got going, I bounced back and forth between the soda bread and the stew, making adjustments to the stew, so I could use the oven for the bread.

Saturday morning I started by taking the meat off the leg of lamb, and prepping it, and then tossing the fat, bones, and etc into the stock pot to make a stock.

Little did I know the recipe accounted for this (putting bones from the lamb steaks in and braising it), but as it stand I’m happy with the way I made the stock.

The bread went in the oven, and the first braise went in on the stove, the bread came out, I added the potatoes and the pot went in the oven for another hour. Basted the bread with melted butter, let it rest.

The soup came out, I may have left some potatoes a bit larger then they should have been, so some of them were a bit under done, but for the most part, things came out really good. Dipping the bread in? Heaven, just heaven.

Pasta

Using some leftover pasta from the previous week, I was able to make a decent pasta mixture.

Hot Dogs

Good things, Pork.

Ham, Peas and Fontina Risotto (adjustments)

I used frozen peas, some not so finely diced ham (from my free ham), and added more of both. I’m almost out of my stash of stock, and so we’re getting to the point where I need to make a bulk run again. Overall, adjusted well, lots of leftovers, and good to eat.

White Chicken Chili

Normally I would remember to buy sour cream, and I thought I had a bit more left, but did not. I swapped out the cayenne with jalapeño powder, but other than that kept pretty close to the recipe. It was pretty good. I had it on the table when Shannon got home because she went in at her normal time but also had to close, cause one of her co-workers went home sick.