Baked Ham, Roast Beetroot, & Mash

So I haven't been cooking in a whiles, I'm still waiting to buy a freezer for my new flat, so it kinda makes everything difficult for me.

Making 3 things; mash, boiled n baked ham, & roasted beetroots.

Mash:
1kg regular potatoes + .75kg sweet potatoes, skin on and boiled well.
Sauteed 4 shallots + 4 cloves in a knob of butter and extra virgin olive oil in small pan.
Drained potatoes well, and added contents of small pan to the potatoes. Added plenty of pepper, milk (1/3 pint), and a nice sploosh of soy sauce for saltiness.
Mashed the shit out of all that tilll creamy.

Roasted beetroots:
chopped some whole cooked beetroots into 4/6 pieces each.
Tossed well in -
4 tsp thyme
4 tsp balsamic
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp honey
put into roasting dish for 25mins


Ham:
boiled a .75kg ham fillet for 40mins, changing the water after 25mins. drained and cut off plastic.
Scored and generally rolled around in some baste in a casserole bowl.
baste -
2tsp thyme
2tsp balsamic
2tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
+ground up some cloves & cinnamon
baked for 25mins with lid on.

made em. all feckin delicious. hopefully they keep in my fridge.

Lemony Lemongrass Chicken

This is very much a chunky soup / stew really.

4 very large chicken breasts diced and marinated in the juice of 2 lemons.
About 4 large lemongrass sticks, removed bulbs and outer leaves, finely chopped the light coloured bit, bruised and made cuts in the stalks but left whole.
The lemon was probably a mistake, but I also kinda knew I was doing the wrong thing and wanted to see what happened.
Added the lemongrass to a pot of 1 litre chicken stock (half a Knorr homestyle chicken stock pot), and added sliced chicken also. Brought to the boil then simmered while I got the veg ready (12 mins maybe)

Chopped 1 small tray of those wee young corn on the cobs, 3 large peppers (green, red, yellow), and 4 hadfuls of spinach. Brought back to the boil threw in a can of coconut milk and left simmer for a few minutes while I cooked a big pot of medium noodles.

I then added 4 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp thai fish sauce, and 1/2 tbsp hot sauce. At this point it smelt fucking amazing and I thought I'd gotten away with the lemons, a quick taste revealed the ridiculously overpowering acidity, 1 tbsp of honey fixed this right up though. After a quick tasting session with the noodles I added 1 more tbsp of soy sauce. Viola, perfection! A very fresh tasting soupy noodle broth =)

This made me about 8 small meals.

This is probaby the first meal I've made in a long time that didn't have a ridiculous amount and chilli and garlic i just realised.