667/1038 - Caldo verde

We have a leg of ham in the fridge and I have been enjoying finding different ways of turning it into a meal. This soup required bacon bones but instead I used a ham bone, some hunks of the meat and also some fried bacon for good measure.

Curly kale was the main ingredient in the soup and the stems were to be discarded. Of course I decided to rescue them and decided to turn them into a crunchy and salty topping for our soup. After blanching and roasting them with sea salt, the boys discovered how nice they were. Once they began to pilfer small handfuls I realised it was a wonder we had any left to sprinkle in the bowls. Admittedly they do look a bit like little twigs but they were really quite lovely and moreish.

A really lovely soup and packed full of kale-y goodness. That's what I call a win-win scenario.

666/1038 - Devilled kidneys

Recipe 666 was always going to be a devil of a dish.

Our local butcher is just lovely (and ethical!) and stocks a vast array of meat and offal. Apparently lamb kidneys are a staple in their shop and who wouldn't want to buy them at sixty five cents each! An absolute bargain. I will be honest and admit that as I cleaned them I had absolutely no intention of eating any myself. The smell of raw kidneys is far from pleasant and I was finding it difficult to imagine the taste being any better. 

I made the baguettes especially for this recipe, frying slices of them in a pan which is hands down my favourite manner in which to eat good bread. The unbelievably peppery watercress was straight from our burgeoning garden which is going gangbusters with all of the heat and rain we have had lately. 

When the dish was done and the boys began to eat I couldn't believe the groans of pleasure I was hearing. Needless to say, I quickly made a kidney bruschetta for myself and was blown away by how absolutely fabulous it tasted.

You might even say it was devilishly good. 

665/1038 - Roasted duck legs with eggplant

Oh, how we love our duck! 

We always buy Luv-a-Duck because we know they use every single piece of their birds, including the feathers! Such a very impressive business model and their ducks are always lovely, too. Even better, if you require only the breast or legs you can purchase guilt free knowing the rest of the bird has not been wasted. We generally buy entire birds and so rather than just cooking the legs I decided to roast the whole thing and take it apart after it was done. 

This was a really lovely twist on how we would usually eat duck and I was even able to convince the boys to eat some of the eggplant. I did halve the eggplant element of the recipe because my boys are not big fans and I just knew we would not get through two of them. 

A rich meal that definitely needed to be followed by a lovely fresh salad. 

664/1038 - Cheesy bread-and-butter pudding

This fattening little dish was filled with cheese and eggs and made even richer by the extra yolks that needed using up. So very rich, this is the perfect meal to have in a very small portion with plenty of salad or vegetables alongside.

I made my own bread on this day so that I could cut it into nice chunky pieces. From memory I think I made baguettes which meant plenty of lovely chewy crust. I am sure any bread would work just as well, though. I did make the mistake of using American cheese (leftover from a round of Philly Cheesesteaks) which made the dish even heavier, if that is possible. Definitely not a meal to be eaten very often!

This little recipe was actually completed quite some time ago but life has simply been far too complicated and busy for this post to be written. With some new physical challenges to deal with I have decided to take a break from just about everything I was doing, including my study. The great news is that this means my blog will actually get some love.

With another old blog post still waiting in the wings and a rabbit thawing in the fridge, expect more action in this space very soon.