Tag Archives: homecooking

NOT a chicken sandwich

19 Wednesday Aug 2020

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So this was supposed to be a grilled chicken sandwich on crusty bread with grainy dijon and paper-thin raw sweet onion underneath, and piles of chopped romaine and salsa az on top. Never happened. Because when I opened the packet of free-range chicken breasts I’d bought on Monday (expiry date TODAY) there was a… smell. It wasn’t strong, or even particularly unpleasant. It just shouldn’t have been there. And so I got on Twitter and asked what I should do. Meanwhile I started cooking the fuckers, since I had paid for them and, you know, maybe after cooking they’d be fine?

Well can I say? I’ve never had such a response to one simple question on Twitter before. Hours later people are still replying. Who knows? I may start trending!

Bottom line, I cooked them and then tossed them. As my pal Edward pointed out, the chicken might be fine but I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it because I’d be worried about whether it was okay or not, so why go through that. And he was right. So out they went, with me slightly annoyed that I now had extra washing up and that I had wasted perfectly good seasoning and olive oil for nothing.

Had a ham sandwich instead. Actually it was the SAME sandwich, but with sliced ham instead of chicken. And it was actually really good. So the moral of the story is… well nuthin really. It’s Wednesday! What do you want?  😉

bouikos galore!

10 Friday Jul 2020

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boiukos

What kind of idiot BAKES durning the hottest week of the year?? Um… that would be me. I reckoned once it’s 43º the kitchen isn’t about to get any hotter. I’ve been hooked on bouikos since the first time I made them last month, and this was my third attempt. Damn they’re good. Easy to make too. You can find the recipe in my kitchen.  🙂

Azahar’s Kitchen – Bouikos

lemony

11 Monday May 2020

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Got a supermarket delivery on Saturday and discovered that instead of sending me the 3 lemons I’d ordered they sent 3 KILOS of lemons (!!!). Well I mean, what on earth does someone quarantined on their own do with 3 fucking kilos of lemons? So of course I did the wise thing and asked Twitter, specifically requesting that no one mention lemonade.

Gotta say there were some very interesting ideas, mostly for lemony baked goods, preserves and jams, and lots of mentions of gin. Sadly or otherwise I hardly ever eat sweet things and, ever since The Unfortunate Incident with gin when I was a teenager, I can barely be in the same room with a gin and tonic. Then someone suggested freezing the lemon juice in ice cube trays for future use, but I don’t actually own any ice cube trays (something that must be remedied, along with getting a potato masher, a rolling garlic press and a muffin tin for making yorkshire puddings).

Anyhow… that same someone also said I could freeze sliced lemon and just add them to drinks as required. Bingo! Because since the warm weather hit I’ve gone back to my usual 1 litre of lemon water per day, which is why I’d ordered those damn 3 lemons in the first place (good thing I didn’t order 6!). Frozen lemon slices are perfect for my needs, but of course there isn’t space in my freezer for 3 (fucking) kilos of sliced lemons.

As luck would have it, my friend Lucy is having her hair done at a place around the corner from me today, so when I take out the rubbish I will drop off a bag of lemons for her. Apparently her Bakewell Tart is famous and lemon curd is the magic ingredient. Win-win.

Glad that’s sorted! And I’m sure this has all been just as exhausting for you as it was for me. 🙂

pierogi galore!

14 Tuesday Apr 2020

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It started off as a bit of a joke. That Ania @aniainspain and I would pick a day to make pierogi at home and have a little online “competition”. And despite my Winnipeg roots,  Ania definitely had the upper hand by being Polish and – as I found out later – in possession of a little contraption that cuts, folds and seals the dumplings resulting in pierogi perfection. Meh.

But I had heart and determination on my side and, even though I hadn’t made pierogi since I lived in Canada more than 40 years ago, and I had lost my favourite pierogi dough recipe, I was keen to do my best.

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crispy crunchy garbanzos

11 Saturday Jan 2020

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So this would normally appear in Azahar’s Kitchen (and it will!) but I got so excited about this (yeah, I know, sad…) that I wanted to share it here too.

In the past, whenever I would see recipes that called for you to peel your garbanzos I always thought Are You Crazy, No F-ing Way, Life’s Too Short, etc etc. Then I accidently discovered this method. Well, probably everyone knows it, but it was news to me. While I was drying the rinsed garbanzos (to crispy roast them) I rolled them around in a tea towel to get them extra dry and – magic! – the skins just slid right off. Yay!

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