All is semi-evening out here at the labs. On Saturday we hosted a Tourtiere meal, mMmMm Pie. Mama really pulled out the stops and worked through some body pain that caused her grief. I was in charge of grinding the 3 pounds of pork and I completely screwed it up. We’ve got the Kitchen Aid with the grinder attachment, you bet. I nearly froze the pork, first in a large hunk. This didn’t work, so I pieced it up and froze those so they cut like an onion. I also froze the grinder attachment. All it did was turn the meat to a puree, nasty to say the least. So I minced it up using a knife and then the food processor to make it resemble something ground. Tasted fine in the pie for sure.
Sunday was of course, Christmas and we hosted a traditional roasted turkey meal. Other than using water instead of milk in the mashed taters, everything went nearly okay. Yeah yeah, I know. But you see, we eat mashed potatoes a lot here. So, to cut down on the fat I’ll use water instead of milk or cream. And this bad habit carried over to a holiday meal, sigh. That being said, gravy came to the rescue and took care of the wateryness.
Listen up, when you’re planning to host a meal and are expecting most stores to be closed, there are a few things you need to take note of. Sure you make a list for the store of all the ingredients you’ll need for the meal. This is easy and straightforward, all you need is a pencil and paper. But what can make or break you are the staples in your kitchen. Such as flour, garbage bags & broth! Man, try to make your traditional turkey gravy without flour. Luckily Sister was willing to make a quick trip home (she and Meathead live close) for her container of flour. So, Biggles suggests you do an inventory of your kitchen to see what else you’ll be needin’.
Here we find ourselves on the Tuesday, looks as though it’s about to rain too. Today marks #3 in a series of hosted dinner parties for Meathenge Labs. I’ll be picking up a leg of lamb roast that’s had the leg bone cut free and replaced. This way when I get home I can untie the lamb, toast the corriander seeds, mince up the garlic & cilantro. Zest me a few lemons and spread over the salt & pepper. Reinsert the bone, tie up & toss in to a 375 oven and we’re SET. Phew !!!
What’s next? New Years you say? Keeripes, we’ll see how that goes. I’m feeling a need for fried chicken.
Hugs