I don’t know what has happened to the week. But, is seems it went by very fast. Philip sits at the kitchen table from morning until early evening and my days are filled with hand watering our tussocks. It’s never ending, once I get to the gate its time to start again. They all have green shoots and i won’t be doing this job forever. I am also trying to do a yoga class each day online and like everyone daily life goes on with the washing, vacuuming, cleaning etc. I can recommend a Netflix series we enjoyed called : Salt,Fat, Acid and Heat by Samin Nosrat
We are enjoying our seafood fix after getting our delivery from Harbour Fish during the week and tonight we loved simple, tasty poached mussels in white wine. New Zealand’s green lipped are somewhat larger than the European Moules and they were a substantial starter – although we didn’t have chunky bread to soak up the mussel juice. I will keep the stock and use is again.
Pot of Mussels
1 kg green lipped mussels. 1 onion – diced , sprig of thyme, 1 cup of white wine. In In Normandy, France they would use apple cider and also cream .
Sauté onion in a little olive oil. Add cleaned mussels to the saucepan followed by the white wine. Place the lid on top and simmer 4-5 minutes until all the mussels have opened. Rule: Discard opened mussels before cooking (tap mussel on the bench, if it closes it’s OK) and those that don’t open after cooking. discard Serve immediately with crusty toasty bread to soak up the juices.
Friday night turned out to be a pretty simple affair and good old sausages were a star. I served them with barley and tomatoes – something I often do with puy lentils but thought barley would work just as well, although it does take slightly longer to cook.
Sausages with Barley and Tomatoes
1 onion- finely diced, 3 cloves garlic – crushed, 1/2 bulb fennel – sliced thinly, 6 large soft tomatoes – chopped into 6-8, 1 cup barley, 500 mls chicken stock, 1 teaspoon salt, handful of parsley, 2 lamb sausages per person (or your favourites)
In a deep saucepan sauté the onion and garlic in a little olive oil, add sliced fennel and cook until vegetables are starting to soften, add chopped tomatoes, barley, chicken stock and salt. Place the lid on, bring to the boil and simmer for about 45-50 minutes or until the barley is soft. Meanwhile cook your sausages gently in a frying pan until browned on all sides. Spoon Barley into a warm bowl, place sausages on top and scatter with chopped parsley.
This makes a delicious vegetarian meal and could be served with any meat or fish of your choice.
Its been a big week for all those working from home. But we do have a 3 day weekend coming up.
Take Care XXX Jude