Economy Gastronomy - update 2

So I have the book, I have the will, and I have a hungry husband. So far this week I have tried two of the recipes.

First up was the slow cooked Moroccan lamb with herb cous cous (page 97 if you have the book.) The principal of the approach is to have made your bedrock recipe and then get a few more meals out of your big cut of meat. So, I kind of dived straight in here with one of the sweep up recipes, having not roasted my huge shoulder of lamb at the weekend (why would I - I was drinking sangria in Barcelona?) I used about 6 lamb chops and the bone that I had got from the butchers.

Summary - easy to cook and prepare - I whacked it all together and put it in the oven for the second half and went to a pilates class. Came back to house smelling amazing and hubby summed it up as "delicious" The slow cooking makes the lamb really tender and if you can't be bothered with the cous cous you could just serve this as a one pot dish as it has veg and potatoes in it. We had left overs which Jonny had reheated the next day. We like it so far.

The second recipe I have tried is the Spicy Pumpkin Chowder (page 107) I made this when I had my sister over for lunch on Friday. I made some changes. Substituted the kilo of pumpkin for butternut squash. In my book these two are interchangeable. I also hate cutting squash up so always by ready chopped frozen from Waitrose. So I changed the recipe slightly and roasted this first. A fellow cooking buddy has told me roasted veg tastes so much better in soup and I think she is right. Other than that, a great mix of flavours, all of which I had in the cupboard and took about 20 minutes in the hob and a quick whizz and it was good to go. Sarah's first words on tasting: "It's amazing!" Made half the recipe and had the rest heated up when I got back from Oxford last night in front of Strictly Come Dancing. Allegra would be proud of me. I thought this was great for those who try and not have too much dairy like myself but still get that creamy hearty soup.

So, so far, I like the recipes, but I have just dipped in and not tried the approach of bedrock recipe that sees you good for days. Today is the day, and this is the week. I bought a large (2.5kg) free range chicken on the way back from the station yesterday evening. I am about to attempt the Twice-stuffed Chicken with creamed corn and parsley potatoes. I've looked through the recipe and it looks like I have all that is needed. I am expecting complaints that the potatoes are boiled rather than roasted, and looks a lot more fiddly than my usual approach to Sunday roast chicken which is to stuff a pierced lemon and a few cloves of garlic and rosemary into it's cavity. Season well and stuff in the oven for an hour and a half. I think I am going to have to add Yorkshire's to soften the blow of lack of roasties but other than that I am going to commit to the recipe.

Apparently this way we will get a good roast and two tumbledown recipes. The Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice) and Incidental Chicken Liver Pate will follow. Watch this space.