Musings - Can't cook but wants to cook...

I can't cook.

I don't know what happens, I have all the right ingredients and the instructions right in front of me but what ever I whip up just ends up being a bit lacking. And it's not that I don't have the right inspiration:

I have been collecting cookbooks for a number of years in the hope that I will come across something that I can make that I don't turn into gruel. I am still looking for that recipe. Sob. Then recently I was talking to my friend about it and she said that cooking is 60% ingredients, 30% skill and 10% confidence.

"Confidence?" I asked,
"Yes." She replied, "If you start thinking that you are going to make something really tasty... you will."

Part of me thinks she was talking gibberish but then I am a sucker for gibberish. So much so that I am going to set myself a challenge. Once a week I am going to find a recipe and make it. It IS going to taste great.

Then I am going to make the husband eat it. :)
So watch this space. I will be swearing like a Gordon Ramsey sailor on leave type in no time.

:) xx

P.s. If you have a recipes that are tasty and EASY feel free to send them my way.

Musings - Mama Kat's Workshop (2nd June 2010)

Comfort food at it’s finest. Share a family favorite recipe you loved as a child.

As a child I was an extremely fussy eater. I drove my Mother crazy. I refused to eat anything resembling a vegetable, I would only ever eat cheese sandwiches for lunch and nothing on my plate could be touching; I would even demand that my spaghetti be separate from my bolognese. I would mess with my food to such an extent that she found it impossible to watch me eat. I am better now, with older age, I even eat Goat's cheese for Peter's sake, but I can imagine I was horrid at the time.

Then one day while making a stew my Mother paused half way through her recipe, deciding to give something new a try, and from hence forth my favourite meal as a child was born. It was named...

Mince and Tatties (pronounced Tay-tees)

And pretty much was mince, potatoes and gravy. But I loved it. It comforted and it tasted amazing. So this is the recipe I am going to share. Hang on to your hats, there are five ingredients, it's going to test you. :)

Ingredients:

250g minced beef
5 medium sized potatoes
A pinch of salt
1 OXO (beef stock cube)
Water




Instructions:

1. Peel and chop the potatoes into bite sized pieces.
2. Brown the mince in a large stock pan until cooked.
3. Add the potatoes, salt, OXO cube and enough water to cover the contents of the pan.
4. Bring to the boil and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
5. Serve in a large bowl with crusty bread.

Delicious!
Extremely basic but then my Mother was fighting to the death with an angsty seven year old. 

Enjoy. :)