A busy day in the kitchen

Phew, Sunday was a busy day in the kitchen. It started with breakfast where I whipped up a batch of banana waffles. After that I turned 4 lb of thawed out blackcurrants into my famous blackcurrant & liquorice jam. Then it was time to make some banana bread so that it could be cooking whilst I sorted out lunch. At this point I got to sit down for a few minutes whilst I joined the girls in cheese toasties & soup.

After lunch I spent maybe as much as half an hour sat down whilst I looked up some recipes on the internet then it was straight on with making some garlic and ale mustard with some of the garlic we still have in store from last year's harvest. There is quite a lot of if left and it's starting to shoot so I need to use it or lose it (as they say).

Garlic & Ale Mustard

100 g whole yellow mustard seeds

2 teaspoons sea salt

4 garlic cloves

15 g plain flour

175 ml ale

Grind the mustard seeds with the salt to a smooth powder using an electric spice grinder. Put the mustard in a bowl and add the flour. Whiz the garlic in a food processor until finely chopped or crush in a garlic press, then add to the bowl. Gradually add the ale, mixing until it forms a smooth paste. Leave to stand for about 10 minutes then check the consistency again and add more ale if necessary. Spoon the mustard into sterilised jars and seal. Leave to mature for at least 2 weeks in a cool place before tasting.

By the time that was in jars it was just after 3 o'clock so time to get my piece of brisket into the oven. For this I browned the brisket all over in a frying pan then placed it in a casserole dish. Then I quickly fried some snippets of bacon (2 rashers in total) and some slices of leek. This joined the beef in the casserole, along with 10 shallots, some chunks of carrot & a few sprigs of fresh rosemary from the garden. The whole lot was surrounded by a pint of beef stock then put in the oven at 160°C for 3 hours.

I do remember a brief sit down after getting that in the oven but as my kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off it was soon time to get the washing up down and the clear everything away. By the time that was done I had to get the potatoes in the oven to roast. That left me just long enough to get the washing in from the garden, have a bath (and bathe the girls) before it was time to get the brisket out to rest. With the brisket resting, the oven temperature was increased to crisp up the roasties whilst I tidied Sunday's activities off the kitchen table. Then a couple of spoonfuls of flour mixed with cold water was needed to thicken the gravy from the casserole. All that was needed then was to thinly slice the meat whilst the frozen Yorkshire puddings cooked (give me a break, I'm not going to make my own Yorkshires after a kitchen marathon like that!).

Ahh... lovely to sit down for a family roast dinner whilst watching Countryfile on the telly...

Then, up again, tidy away, sandwiches made for tomorrow's packed lunches, stories read to the children, kids in bed and time to do the ironing... don't you just love Sundays?