Note to self: cook properly

[quinara]

One of the many things I spend my life forgetting until I'm reminded of it is that nice food perks up my mood like nothing else. Having treated myself to Real Vegetables today (I'm sure the novelty will wear off when they go weird before I can use them, but currently they're very pretty and green in my fridge) I made a maaaaaaaajor variation on jewelled couscous. Half a stock cube's worth of stock, generous pouring of couscous to sit in a bowl under a teatowel; then all my left over bacon, an onion, chestnut mushrooms and some green beans in a frying pan with some cumin, turmeric and ground coriander (♥) from the nice person on my floor who said I could use her spices (must replace them for her if any run low). Somehow I managed to get the onions to go all sweet and caramelised and the mushrooms were all nutty and the beans were all crunchy and the couscous was nice and chicken-stocky... It was almost like eating at home again, only out of a pyrex bowl.

(In case you cannot tell, dear readers, my attempts at cooking for myself tend to come out as a variation on sludge, usually with bacon and onions in but with little other colour. Sometimes there's pesto and very sloppy pasta. Possibly peas.)

Next up: making a pseudo-madras the way the curry paste jar actually suggests, only with mince instead of diced beef. And possibly some sugar-snap peas as extra...

Comments

[evilawyer]

Bacon makes everything better!

[quinara]

This is definitely true! :D

[bruttimabuoni]

I have a very respectable recipe for lamb mince with peas as a curry, so you're on the right lines. It's excellent, as long as you don't overcook the green bits.

(okay, I'm mainly posting to show off the icon. I love this one.)

[quinara]

Mmm, stolen salad...

And that curry does sound good! I firmly believe in not overcooking green bits. I think my beans today were technically steamed(? - I don't have any oil, so I was relying on the bacon fat for the onions, and by the end there wasn't really any of that left), but I'm always too lazy to do things for too long, so I toss them in and bite an end off every few minutes. When they've stopped tasting bitter, they're done.