Dear
Husband literally begged me to make him Chicken Tikka Masala this evening as it
must’ve been 6 or 7 weeks since I made it. He really is hard done by, isn’t
he?! Anyway, I gave in and the traditional Friday fish dish had to give way for my
post-children Chicken tikka massala recipe. You see, pre-children, I used to
spend 2-3 hours making homemade chicken tikka masala with mustard seeds, ground
ginger, a mixture of all the spices, yoghurt, garlic, puree etc. It’s actually
one of Jamie Oliver’s recipes. The post-children recipe involves a jar of tikka
massala courtesy of M&S, a freshly chopped chilli and ready-diced chicken.
Simple. Now, Dear Husband tells me that the modified recipe definitely isn’t as
nice as the original but it’s the closest thing he’ll be getting to the real deal for the
next 3-5 years. One good thing about the tikka massala is that Dear Son actually
likes it as long as I add in some cream to cancel out the hotness a bit. So,
with them fed, it meant that I could make a recipe for myself tonight instead
and I decided on the Artichoke puree
toast for my supper.
One
of my favourite times of the week is a Friday night when the three children are
in bed – and I emphasise the three in
that sentence. It’s the start of the weekend and Monday seems a distant time
away. I’ll have the kitchen and living room cleaned up all ready for Dear Son
to wreck it all within 10 minutes of getting up in the morning and I can
finally sit down with a cup of tea and a wee bite. Of course, a Friday night
wouldn’t be a Friday night without the Late Late but with it being on its
summer break, I watch some of the many, many programmes I’ve recorded but never get the time to watch.
So,
in preparation of my peaceful Friday night, I put artichoke hearts, olive oil, lemon
juice, grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper into my electric mini-chopper
and whizzed for about a minute. This was my first time cooking with artichokes
and, to my knowledge, it was the first time I’d eaten them. I toasted a few
slices of sourdough bread, spread it with butter and the purée before topping
it with shavings of Parmesan cheese. Then, it was a lovely big cup of Barry’s
tea. I am convinced that Barry’s tea is the
nicest tea in the whole world and I’ve converted so many onto it that I honestly
should be getting commission.
The
verdict…
This
recipe isn’t for me. I’d give it 2 marks out of 10. I probably have a very
simple palate which isn’t sophisticated enough for artichokes. Either way, I can’t say
that I’ll be in a hurry to eat them again. When I was putting them in the
chopper, I ate one of them and must say that I wasn’t smitten with them but I thought
maybe once all the flavours came together, they might’ve been nice but sadly no
- not for me anyway. I don’t think Dear Husband would be fussed on this recipe
either. To be honest, the chickpea toast which I made the other night was far
nicer but the artichoke purée has not made The List. Now, I love Parmesan
cheese so I could have eaten the sourdough bread with butter and the cheese
without the purée. The only thing is, is that I hope it’s not true that eating
cheese before bed gives you nightmares! If so, considering the amount of that
lovely Parmesan I ate, I am in for one scary night…
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