Saturday, 2 May 2015

Multi-tasking Morning (MTM)

Long before supermarkets opened 7 days a week and internet food shopping and delivery was thought of, my commuting time to London ran at a minimum of 3 hours a day - British Rail permitting.  I used part of my journey to plan meals a week at a time and made my shopping list from that plan.

Whenever your weekend falls it's busy – my cooking morning was Sunday.  I made the best use of my oven, fridge and freezer – life is too short to faff around.

Here's a thumb-nail sketch.  Use every scrap of space in your oven.

Pre-heat your oven 180 fan/200/Gas 6
Roast a chicken – buy as large as you can afford.  Roast potatoes – cook more than you will need.
Wrap six large baking potatoes in foil and bake. I would bake for an hour and a half and then test – you want your sharp knife to move firmly through. Remove the potatoes and set aside to cool – bear in mind that they will continue cooking because they are insulated by the foil.
Wrap fresh fish in foil and bake – you could mix the fish i.e. salmon and cod.  (How long you bake the fish depends on how much you have - for example 400g of mixed fish serves 4.) Set aside to cool.
Line a baking sheet with foil and cover with bacon of your choice.  Bake for 15 minutes, turn and repeat – it will be crisp!  Let the bacon cool and break into small pieces, box and refrigerate.

I'm not one for bits of kitchen kit that costs a fortune, gathers dust and takes up valuable kitchen space.  However I would never surrender my slow cooker.

Your final task is to seal an average gammon joint (can usually be found in most supermarkets on offer 3 for £10 – freeze the other two!) slow cook in vegetable stock.  Slow cookers vary – I'd leave the gammon for three hours.  Remove from the stock and set aside to cool.

A busy multi-tasking morning but I don't think you'll regret it.

In future posts I'll expand the sketch and show you how your MTM morphs into a stress free week.



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