Tuesday's inevitable stir fry

Despite finishing work on time today (a rare event but something that I’m hoping will become more common) I didn’t have much time to make tea. This was because by the time I had watched one of my favourite celebrities doing some dancing on the television I was very hungry.

Matt often makes the tea on weekdays but was home late himself this evening after a (thankfully fruitless) trip to the DIY store. I had just come up with the bright idea of asking our neighbour who’s a carpenter if he has an appropriate saw we can borrow and so was pleased that Matt had avoided adding to his own collection.

The stuffed cabbage had only used up eight leaves of savoy cabbage and the rest was still lurking in the fridge. So this really did seem like the right night for a stir fry.

I think that all households have some meals that they eat over and over again and stir fry is one of ours. When Matt makes it it’s usually after he’s done the shopping online and bought some of those bags with all the bits prepared. He hates chopping. When I make it  it’s in a effort to use up an array of veggies. Today as well as the cabbage there was pepper, mushrooms, carotts, courgettes and mange tout peas. This was the first time I have ever cooked mange tout peas.

We had enjoyed some mange tout very much at a friends’ a week or so ago and I didn’t argue too much when Matt put them in the trolley, especially as they were on special offer and I love a special offer. This was the same occasion that I picked up the savoy cabbage. So it seemed in some way right that they were reunited this evening.

Yet again I misjudged the quantity of ingredients required and ended up with a vast mound that would not fit comfortably in the wok. Volume wise this was mostly made up of cabbage. But I was fairly confident that it would reduce down and I just had to be patient. I was and it did (but there’s still enough for tomorrow).

The flavouring of stir fries is something that I’m not particularly adventurous with. Matt will sometimes use the intriguing pre-prepared sauces but I like to add my own flavourings. This most often will be ginger and soy sauce and sometimes pineapple and / or chilli. Today I really fancied pineapple and it’s something I always assume will be in the tinned fruit section of the cupboard. But alas it was not so today. And I didn’t really think that tinned prunes, mandarins, pears or peaches (or any combination of the above) would really work. So I just added a shake of chilli flakes.

My diet earlier on in the day had been fairly dreadful (lunch had been some flavoured rice cakes and a cereal bar: at Matt’s request I now permanently carry such things in my car for occasions, such as today, where I fail to pack lunch) so I felt the need for some protein as well as all the veggies. We don’t eat that much of the “meat substitute” products, usually opting for “actual” vegetarian foods (like beans and lentils). But we do have a stock of the substitutes in the freezer and the bird like bits do go nicely in a stir fry. Sometimes I put some nuts in but I’m in a brazil nut phase at the mo (apparently they’re very good for selenium whatever you need that for) so had probably reached my daily nut quota by 9am.

Matt cooked the noodles. And we settled down in front of our current DVD box set (it’s naughty I know but the dining room is out of action due to current DIY / decorating endeavours and it’s really cold in the kitchen) with a big bowl of vaguely oriental inspired tea.

It tasted good but was tainted by 1) the guilt I had about the number of miles the mange tout had travelled to feed me and 2) the stringy bits of the mange tout getting twisted around my tonsils requiring unladylike removal from my mouth. Maybe that will serve me right for eating vegetables from Guatemala.

Saturday's cabbage

The savoy cabbage is one of those vegetables that I have convinced myself is very healthy and good value. But when it comes to actually eating it seems to be remarkably un-inspiring. So I resigned myself to the fact that we would be eating some sort of soupy / brothy thing or a stir-fry this evening with a cabbage that was looking increasingly sorry for itself.

The day flew by but when looking back it’s not entirely clear that very much actually happened. I almost signed up to a store card but backed out when they said I couldn’t set up a direct debit to pay the full amount each month. They offered me the option of an old fashioned statement which I would have to organise to pay or a direct debit for a set amount and then arrange to pay the rest or accumulate interest. Either seemed liable to be a disaster.

Returned from said store and I made use of some lovely March sunshine creating the “Mediterranean” bit of the garden. By which I mean planting some herbs around the olive tree (actually spotted an olive!) and repotting the bay tree. Hopefully this will all survive next week’s predicted snow and soon I should be cooking with home grown flavourings.

After a quick lunch consisting of a bowl of my favourite crinkle cut salt and vinegar crisps I managed to get a good swim in today. The main hazard facing me was hoards of teenagers windmilling their arms on the poolside. It was some sort of regatta (if that’s the word for a swimming competition) and this apparently amounts to warming up.

I was certainly ready for dinner. But rather than choosing the straightforward option (the stir-fry had been on my mind most of the afternoon) I thought I would see if there was something more exciting to create. Two of my books had recipes for stuffed cabbage leaves so I figured that I could give that a go. Neither of them sounded brilliant but didn’t seem too complicated so I decided to go freestyle….

The obvious thing to stuff the cabbage leaves with would be rice. But I am useless at cooking rice and my husband, Matt, who usually does this task was out on a DIY-based mission. So I opted for pearl barley. This tends to work out best if rinsed before cooking and since I had just used the colander to rinse the cabbage leaves prior to blanching (it defeats me why this is called blanching, but there we are, and blanche I did) I chucked a cup or so into said colander (in an effort to reduce washing up). My misjudgement of the relative size of pearl barley and the holes in the colander resulted in pearl barley spattering all around the sink area so I had to revert to a sieve anyway. I decided that the whole thing could do with a bit of protein so chucked in a cup or so of puy lentils with the pearl barley and set them to simmer.

It struck me that the whole thing would need some sort of sauce. So I cooked up an onion, a couple of sticks of celery and a couple of carrots and then at a loss of what else to do threw in a can of chopped tomatoes. And on a whim I added some red wine vinegar and a teaspoon of brown sugar. And then decided that it would be better blended. By now Matt had come home and as well as cooking rice he tends to do most kitchen tasks that involve the use of a power tool and thus we had a nice tomato sauce and a spattered worktop.

I had evidently made a huge overestimation of how much stuffing each cabbage leaf would take but, determined not to waste my pearl barley and lentils, piled on the filling. And then tried to roll. Resulting in a lot of pearl barley and lentils joining the tomato sauce on the worktop, and a bit on the floor too. The leaves just wouldn’t be rolled. I had images of tying them up with string. But had no suitable string. So the only solution I could come up with was to “pin” them shut with cocktail sticks.

After arranging in an ovenproof dish I poured the tomato sauce (which miraculously was just the right quantity) over the stuffed cabbage leaves. Still not convinced on the outcome of this dish I grated over little bit of cheese (my culinary cure-all) before putting the whole lot to bake in the oven at 180°C for about half an hour.

And after careful removal of the cocktail sticks we tucked in. Matt declared it   a  “triumph”. It was yummy but if I was doing it again I wouldn’t bother with the cabbage leaves. I’d just make the pearl barley / lentil mix and serve with tomato sauce.

Which I guess means we’re back to soup or stir-fry for the savoy cabbage.