Beefed-up Just-home-Supper, Cooking up a regular supper storm - Tuesday, 16th Sept. 2014

The finished dish and ready to eat

Out all day in today's glorious sunny weather and wondering what we're eating tonight.  I know there's veggies in the 'fridge but not sure about any meat.  OK so there's a few pieces of diced bacon and some spicy sausage and, probably, something in the freezer but, I need something to cook instantly!

So, after watering my vegetable garden, inspecting the runner beans and harvesting today's lovely red tomato crop - hmm. - think some of these must go into the pot for tonight!

On to collect a girlfriend's copy of The Mayor of Casterbridge, a must-read book club read, before popping into Aldi for 500g of beef mince, and then its home PDQ!

Into the kitchen, wok out and onto medium heat gas ring, and in goes the beef to cook by itself as I finely dice two onions and add them to my pan with a small splash of olive oil.  Leaving these to soften, I now chop up some vegs. - yellow pepper, courgette, aubergine, and a handful of  still-warm tomatoes, all of which go into my wok with the tomato pasta sauce, Tamari sauce, black pepper and salt, garlic purée, dried tarragon, a dash of sugar and a splash of boiling water, I photo-shoot the wok and its contents, before crashing onto the sofa.

Then, what shall we eat with the contents of my wok?  Mmm!  pasta at the weekend, potatoes last night, so it simply has to be rice!  And white rice too, as there's only a small amount of brown rice left in the cupboard.  Think - must add rice to my next shopping list....!

Pan of water onto the hob, add salt and leave to boil and think of the spinach sitting at the bottom of the 'fridge.  It's a bit past its best but still OK if stripped and washed, chopped and added to the wok's bubbling contents.  The spinach will melt very nicely into the  meat and vegetable mixture.

Back to the sofa.  Soon the water for the rice is boiling, in goes my rice and on goes the timer for ten minutes.  Stir the beef and veggies, spoon a taster into a ramekin dish,  and munch on this while waiting for the rice to cook.

Ping goes the timer, strain my rice and rinse with boiling water, then add a small amount of rice onto my medium-sized plate, for I'm conducting an experiment into eating less, by using a  plate smaller than the usual dinner-sized one!  Adding two ladles of wok-hot mix, I carry my plate of steaming food into the sitting-room and sit down to enjoy my supper!!!

So, it wasn't the  fastest cooked supper, or perhaps the next dinner-party dish, but it was definitely tasty, delicious and very more-ish for the end of a busy day.

So, here a new list for you - my  recipe for tonight's supper:

500g Beef mince from Aldi
2 onions finely chopped
1 courgette topped and tailed and diced
1 yellow pepper cut into thin slices
1 aubergine, skinned and finely sliced
Small quantity of my garden-warm tomatoes, halved
Some button mushrooms
Handful of spinach washed and squeezed out,  then cut into thin strips
Small quantity of tomato pasta sauce + splash of boiling water
Tamari sauce to taste (the gluten-free soy sauce)
Salt and black pepper
Garlic purée
Dried Tarragon
Dash of sugar

Cooked white rice

cooking up a regular storm of beef and vegetables for supper

Daisy