Had some leftover haggis mapo tofu left from the other night. Heated it through with a few ladlefuls of stock from a nearby, gently rippling stock pot and ladled over a waiting bowl of plain jasmine rice. Spring onions & chilli oil + sediment to boot. Slurped happily for lunch.

Soothing lunch of little tofu cubes and hot stock. Stock made from roast chicken carcass, stash of frozen veg peelings, shiitake, ginger, shoaxing wine, spring onions.

Found a Polish baker stall at the market today. Bought treats.

Sunday dinner. Chicken roasted with fennel & onions; new pots (lightly squished after parboiling) roasted in lard with rosemary, thyme & garlic; cimi di rapa with anchovies, garlic & a fleck of chilli; and cauliflower, parboiled, roasted with a few slices of raclette cheese.

Tranquility. Delicious, slow stock made from roast chicken carcasses, ginger, shiitake, spring onions, shoaxing wine, dried red dates. Slurpy pork dumplings (not homemade), a few noodles, pak choi, coriander, spring onion greens. Poon’s chilli vinegar for dipping, of course.

Just got the blackboard down to start better meal planning again - half term admin - and realised it’s been untouched since sometime in early 2023 (maybe even summer 2022), presenting me with some wonderful memories. #365daysofnigella

Leftover magic for lunch. Cool slices of Sunday’s slow-cooked pork belly (Nigella’s 🇳🇴 Pork Ribs) drenched in a hot & numbing Sichuan-style sauce. Scandi Cucumber Salad (N), jasmine rice with a dab of fragrant pork fat & mushroom soy (delicious tip from Fuchsia Dunlop). Bliss!

Bad photo of a delicious thing. Kitchen raid Sichuanese-inspired salad: shredded chicken thighs from a traybake last night, cucumber, wood ear fungus, and a spicy sauce/dressing with chilli oil (+sediment), chinkiang vinegar, soy, garlic, Sichuan pepper, and roasting juices.

Today’s adventure: Fuchsia Dunlop’s Beggar’s Chicken. Exquisite scents already, and a shaved knuckle from a lack of surgical skills. The kids are fascinated by the lotus leaves and eagerly await the breaking of the sarcophagus. A broth also on the go, for sipping alongside.

The best roast chicken EVER 🪷! Marinated in soy & Shaoxing wine, infused with ginger & spring onion, then shrouded in the enchanting scent of lotus leaves—its aroma sealed deep in juicy flesh, locked in a sarcophagus of salt dough. Fuchsia Dunlop’s Beggar’s Chicken.

Proud repost!

Soothing, fiery comfort 🍜. A few slices of roast beef, finely chopped, stir-fried with Sichuan Pixian chili bean paste, ginger, and garlic, then piled onto tender noodles—lovingly enveloped in a steaming tonic of broth, ladled over with grace and care.

Perfect pre-flight family treat. Mapo tofu (meatless), spicy aubergine salad, jasmine rice. Was a bit detached from reality when making the salad and chopped the aubergine into cubes before realising what I was doing. Recipes from Fuchsia Dunlop’s 📕 Food of Sichuan.

Bacon and onion steamed suet pudding. Spring greens, mash and gravy. Brown sauce. Gently sautéed bacon and onion, layered with sage-flecked suet pastry.

Been dreaming about tender short ribs with a vibrant Sichuan-inspired sauce of Pixian chilli bean paste, ginger, garlic and salted black beans. So making it happen. See you in four hours.

Spaghetti, olives, anchovies, lemon, parsley, almonds & pumpkin seeds—adaptation by necessity of Nigella’s Spelt Spaghetti with Olives and Anchovies from Nigellissima.

Delightfully soothing work-from-home Easter hol lunch using Sunday’s Sichuan-inspired slow-cooked short rib leftovers. Shredded meat, heated with remaining sauce + a dab of chilli bean sauce, and spooned onto waiting bowls of congee, fragrant with the scent of 🪷 leaf and 🍄.

Wesołego Alleluja / Happy Easter to you and yours from me and mine. This is v2 of the koszyczek / Easter basket (pic 2) coz one of the dogs got on the table whilst we were getting ready and had herself a little picnic.