My Grandmother has recently hurt her back again, luckily enough it’s not another break, but she’s in a lot of pain and finding it very hard to stand for too long, so is definitely not really capable of cooking for herself right now. So today I spent most of the afternoon cooking, making meals for her freezer, so at least I know she’s able to have a decent, tasty meal and doesn’t have to risk hurting herself more by standing for too long to cook for herself.
The day before I raided her freezer for some chicken thighs as she had specifically requested some pies, and knowing she also loves shepherd’s pie I also took a bag of frozen lamb mince. So, the start of the ‘menu’ was chicken and vegetable pies and shepherd’s pie. And I forgot to mention, with all her health troubles, she has recently gone gluten free which makes life slightly more complicated.
First item on the list, Shepherd’s Pie! While the potatoes were boiling for the mash on top, I got started on the meat bit! I always like to have foil ‘takeaway’ containers in the house, for when I feel like doing some freezer cooking for myself or for storing leftovers, so they were perfect for shepherd’s pies. Once the meat was cooked I spooned it into the containers (all 5 of them!) and left them to cool slightly before putting on the mash. I find the mash sits in a better layer if the meat has had a chance to cool and set a little beforehand, otherwise it just kind of sinks into the meat and gets covered in it, instead of having a nice plain white top! So, while they were cooling, time to get started on the chicken pies.
I already had a bag of gluten free flour from the last time I made her some pies, so thankfully that was already on hand. I started by making the pastry and putting it in the fridge to set as I started making the chicken and veg filling. Thankfully the chicken thighs I raided from Mam’s freezer were already skinless and boneless, so that didn’t take much preparation. Some finely chopped onions and carrots, some sweetcorn and baby broad beans and we’re on the road to something tasty! Now, I have found that homemade gluten free pastry is very hard to work with. It absorbs so much more liquid than normal shortcrust pastry and it cracks a lot while being rolled out, so the pie filling had a chance to cool for a while before going into the pastry cases because it took so long to roll out and fill 4 foil pie cases (I say sighing and remembering the struggle all over again).
I had already taken a smoked cod loin out of my freezer and was wondering what to do with it. My grandmother really loves fish fingers, but now being gluten free she can’t have conventional fish fingers so the cod loin presented me with a wonderful idea…fried fish goujons! By the time I had finished with the flour for the pastry, there actually wasn’t much left in the bag…just enough in fact for a quick batter! A whole cod loin, sliced into strips, dunked in batter and fried in very hot oil is going to give Mam at least 4 meals, bearing in mind she’ll probably only have 3 or 4 at a time. And of course, I had to have a sneaky taste when they were first done… and then had to start wondering why I was about to give these away!!
So, three meals down, and I still had hot chicken stock leftover from making the pie gravy, and still had chicken thighs left to use. Poached them in the chicken stock, threw in some vegetables and then a stick blender… “eh voila!” very tasty chicken and vegetable soup.
I now have a very satisfied feeling; I know Mam’s freezer is well stocked with tasty and nourishing meals that are quick and easy for her to eat. She is happy that she doesn’t have to worry about what to eat, for at least 10 days, but more likely a fortnight or more. And she has variety! Ok so it’s only 4 different meals, but she likes all of them, they’re healthy and it also takes a little stress off my poor mum, so she doesn’t have to worry that her mum is eating enough.