Here's What I Had For Dinner - Part III - Don't quote pics!

@LambshankRedemption

It's a very simple, delicate flavour, similar to a veg or potato soup but sounds a bit fancy because of it being asparagus.

I just looked up a couple of recipes online (two, then I got bored)

One recipe had potato and one didn't. I like my soup a little on the thicker side so I went with the potato option.

One had garlic added but I chose to leave that out.

Small batch so (Serves about 4)

Ingredients

4 Shallots, diced (sauteed in about 1-2tbsp olive oil + 1tbsp butter. I eyeballed it so not quite sure)

3 packs Asparagus (Lidl deluxe, can't remember the size/weight but they were medium anyway. Not the big bunches)

Chicken stock (I used 1tbsp Dr.Coys chicken bouillon. So maybe that would be 1stock cube, or one half, idk)

750ml boiled Water

Potato (equivalent of around 1 medium size. I always have homemade frozen mash here so I just broke a chunk of that off & lumped it in towards the end)

Salt, black pepper, pinch of cayenne pepper

Method

• Heat olive oil and butter in a pot. Add diced shallots and sauté for 5-10 minutes until soft.
• Dissolve bouillon/stock cube in boiling water. Pour over shallots.
• Cut the asparagus and potato into small pieces, rinse the asparagus (*save a few spears for garnish, or don't, mine kinda sunk into the soup), then add to the pot.
• Add salt, black pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. Simmer for 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
• Blitz.
• Taste for seasoning.

That's the easy part.

I then strained the soup through a fine sieve because one of the videos said to do so! lol. Pain in the backside because it took nearly as long as the cooking time.

End up being worth it though because the soup was lovely & silky.

Super simple.

(*If you are are using any spears for garnish, give them a quick fry in a pan)

Stuffed peppers, Onion Bhaji, Bombay Aloo topped with grated cheese.

☺️

I freeze lots of things, so there's very little waste here. I love having the makings of a full roast dinner (cooked) in the freezer so I can pull out the night before or if I'm sick, everyone else still eats decent.

My dream would be to have a walk in freezer & have a year supply of everything we eat. I'd happily spend three days straight mashing a ridiculous amount of mash (coffee & cake to keep me going) so that I don't have to think about it again for a whole year😏

(or 6months maybe, I don't know how long you could keep it. I only ever have about three weeks worth at a time)

Of the very few vegetables I don't like, celery (& cucumber) is one of them so I don't know if I'd be brave enough to try celery soup.

In saying that, I'd love to try celeriac soup. Just haven't got round to attempting it yet. Probably best to wait until I try if first in a restaurant..

Salmon, mackeral and salmon fishcake, steamed veg and airfried salmon skin.

I went posh salmonella shopping.

Carroll's veg lasagna and Donnybrook Fair mash (which amazingly costs €3.95 at full price. I could buy a sack of spuds for that 😯).

Choc spread brownies for dessert.

Just cauliflower cheese and spuds tonight.

Chicken wraps here.

Spicy chicken, baby spinach, tomatoes, scallion and mayo.

Just delicious. Haven't had them for a bit and they really hit the spot.

I've had Katsu curry on my meal plan for about 5weeks now and keep moving it forward to the next week without making it (🫣) Mostly because I couldn't decide what side I wanted.

I've never had it before & I've seen it served with a simple side salad but kiddos here won't eat that.

I don't want broccoli, don't want spring rolls, & I don't want stir fried veg because I have them with Chinese curry, so I want something different.

Going through some of my videos yesterday & came across The Happy Pear's Katsu recipe (god only knows how long I have that saved). Their's was made with potato, mushroom & veg.

So I'm FINALLY decided - I'm going with a potato & cauliflower curry side, with rice but it won't be vegan, I'll be doing the breaded chicken thingy.

Don't encourage me to change my plan!! 😆😅😅 This meal will probably be shelved for another lifetime 🤦‍♀️

(That reminds me, I bought a Simply Better ginger & garlic dressing (because it was only €1) ages ago to go with this curry & salad)

Apparently I had a bowl of fake food. I thought it was supposed to be bean and ham soup, but reading the package, idk what "bio-engineered meat" and "bean paste substance" is. Tasted more like uncooked white flour gravy with grainy bland bits in it. Watery porridge tastes better than this.