After the Binge and Lid's Rathdaragh Irish Extra Mature Cheddar

Once I start I can't stop. 

There's excuses everywhere and the knee jerk reaction every time is: to eat. The news gets on my nerves so I finish the sweets in one bag. Then I find my Twitter feed full of incomprehensible nonsense and I polish off the chocolate caramel bits. 

The offspring sends a message telling me she's coming home because of an expiring visa. The thought of her having to travel gets me eating in front of the fridge with the door open and obviously it's not the chicken stock I'm after.

For two whole days I graze my way through cupboards and pantry until there's nothing left that I can just pick up or open and eat.

There's still sugar, flour and butter I could make a batch of shortbread and caramel.

The ingredients on the counter are ready to be transformed. I realize the deciding factor in all of this is going to be the dishes. I don't want to do them. 

Phew, that really was a close call. I've been known to sit down and eat caramel out of the pan and not stop until it's all gone, add ice-cream and -

The offspring arrives in a flurry of excitement:

"As we drove up there was this massive fox ambling by. Broad daylight and all. Look, I have him on video...!"

The sinkhole inside of me screaming for more is gone. No more gaping abyss. 

The dishes get done. I soak chickpeas and cook up a batch of red lentils with carrots for soup, the sourdough gets fed. 

We sit out back and I watch her eat the hummus and naan I made especially for her and one of the things she's missed most: cheese. 

I know it's all the rage to be into farmhouse cheeses and man, if I'd have the money we'd have cheeseboards every day for the duration of her stay. However we agree that Lidl's 'Rathdaragh Irish Extra Mature Red Cheddar' is the bomb if you like cheese but you don't have a lot to spend. In fact when we were all still travelling I used to bring blocks of it to my friends in Amsterdam. 

At first they laughed, sure Holland and cheese. They produce one of my all time favourite cheeses: Old Amsterdammer. And then there's all the other hard cheeses from rich to lean, young and creamy to creamy and sharp or old, blow your socks off crumbly varieties with cumin, nettles or walnuts of the cow and the sheep varieties. Some from the islands, some from the North others from the East.

But then as we serve the cheddar thinly sliced on fresh brown bread with unsalted butter you can see their pupils widen and the smirks drop.

"That's really good!"

"Don't I know it."

It's not surprising to me that they won top spot in both 2016 and 2017 at the Irish Quality Food Awards.

And you know what the price is even better: €2.05 for 400 grams. At that very reasonable price you get a crumbly, strong cheese that makes all savoury dishes that are better with cheese even better. 

I do have a word of warning, do not confuse this cheese with any of the other Mature Cheddar Cheeses of the same range. The Extra Mature Cheddar doesn't come in a white version and both the Mature White and Red Cheddar don't come even close to the 'Extra Mature Red Cheddar'.

Although the cheese is said to be available in Europe under the' Milbona' and in the UK under the 'Valley Spire' brand it seems to have a limited distribution for I've never been able to locate any of it outside of the Republic.

It's really nice to have the offspring home and even better to have her asking for dishes and a little more cheese on the naan. 

"Sure beautiful child."

"Can you slice it really thin?"

"Of course," I say. It's all good so. I'm back to cooking again.

The best cheap and cheerful mature cheddar

Groceries Spontaneous Spend, Money Diary

 Type of shop      :            Groceries

Name of shop     :            Lidl

Items                  :            5

I wasn't going to get anything today but at the bottom of the hill once the feet are going I end up in Lidl. There's money off on chocolate I saw and the sun is shining and I don't buy chocolate anymore because it isn't part of looking after myself (or so I keep saying) and it's half price so I'm going to get it. 

The good news: I'm not carrying a bag so I won't buy more than I can carry.

Spontaneous spend

I walk out with: half a pound of butter, a jar of peanut butter, a net of organic lemons, a bar of fruit and nut chocolate and some coated chicken fillets.

All of it comes at a reduced price because I had a € 0.50 off voucher to start with. The items I get an even better price on are the butter for which I had a 20% off voucher, the chocolate had a 50% off voucher, the coated chicken fillets were in clearance for € 0.90 cents and the lemons were in weekly vegetable deals for € 0.49 cents.

I get away without too much damage. Okay the chocolate. That's really outside of the budget which is: as little as possible. And yes, the meat. Buying meat that has already undergone any kind of process is something I'm trying to get away from. So most of the time I don't buy meat and eat pulses instead. Then there are the days that I really would love to eat some meat. That's how this chicken happened. 

So what am I going to do with all of this?

The butter has no destination yet. The offspring will be home at the end of the week and I'm sure there'll be need for some baking. Butter is good for baking.

Peanut butter: I made a spicy hummus yesterday and am planning to make a mild one by the end of the week. Sesame paste is definitely outside of my budget. However since I'm not allergic to peanuts they can do all the same things and are a whole lot cheaper. So I'll be adding peanut butter into the hummus for that nutty taste in the back.

The chocolate: no plan apart from making it last longer than  24 hours. Right now I think the chances of that are zero.

Organic lemons: will be used for the next batch of hummus and any possible salad dressings.

Coated Chicken fillets: Because they're clearance I'll be cooking all of them later. The chances of me scoffing the lot with some of my home made naan is very likely.

Reduced items    :           5

Total Discount    :           € 0.94 

Total Spend         :           € 5.-

Receipt

Home: Kitchen: Recipe Aubergine (Puree) Memories

a lemon is better, garlic crushed
nicer

Broad nails, sturdy hair

steady, solid, grounded.

Earth fragrant he cooks

cause I didn’t learn yet.

Patlıcan poor man’s meat

carrier of garlic and spices

mild, pale, flesh vessel

which when unsure,

sprinkled with salt draws

clear drops of unhindered

bitterness, anger

frustration.

Patlıcan is a love affair

the curve of a wrist

the sure supple

knife flick, slice

the boiling kettle

when coloured and soft

the oven

heating the room.

I: top, tail,

half, drizzle oil

in oven

wait…

chop garlic

mix olive oil

vinegar

salt

pepper, stir.

A lemon is better,

garlic crushed: nicer.

when coloured and soft

separate the skin

mix the flesh into: dressing

mix

crush for chunks

chop garlic

whizz for silk

Annem

I watched her

he smiles a line in his cheek

and it tastes

of Istanbul

not the nomad

not the stories:

of goats, sheep,

nights under stars

it tastes

good and alive

of travel

my kitchen

home.

my kitchen
home.

Food: Tagliatelli Carbonara, Italian comfort

I see: 

no egg

no egg I say...

The egg makes it

when taken

set aside 

I see: no egg, no egg I say

waiting

Just after the Tagliatelli

waded through mushroom

creamy flesh

silken soaked 

in heated cream.

Al dente cooked dough

crunchy salted fat

succulent coated

black pepper pig

and the egg

stirred at last

the end

into it

before consumption 

even serving

after fire

is cooking like heating

is comfort like no other

the egg 

the egg I say

makes it.

Oh No! And so we come to a new beginning.

whatever possessed me but all of it is deleted... ...a moment of madness... ...

All the thoughts on what a Recession Kitchen is, about how my grandmothers did it. Women who looked after families in times when society didn't look after those who had little. And they did it... ...they made their budgets no matter how little and their ingredients no matter how limited work for them... ...they had to...but maybe it needed a different approach.... ...what's done is done so here we go, again... ...

There was a book I borrowed once written by a mother in the '80's recession. With a budget of next to nothing she fed her family amazing meals. She based all that loving and caring around the baking of her loafs of bread. The recipes were simple but required the magical ingredients time and focus.
Her focus was on keeping her family fit and healthy. The book inspired me to look at cooking and shopping for food differently. Budgets are strange things...and seasons give us different ingredients.

And the further I went the more it became about what was available rather than what I felt like eating. The Recession Kitchen is now exactly that. How tasty can I make whatever it is that we have to cook with? A little like in the Ready Steady Cook programs presented by Ainsley Harriott...a limited bag of goodies, not what I was dreaming of but what is available.

As it happens eating what is available (in season) is way better for you then eating processed foods.

So yes, it is sad that the old posts are gone...have been eaten by the big bad memory eradicator but maybe it is time to give a new start to a much loved, seen in a different light many times, topic. And hopefully I'll find other cooks and books, blogs and sites that deal with cooking with what we have rather then with what we want even though the recession is coming to an end.

Recession cooking not from scarcity but from abundance.

Wish me luck.