So glad you've come...

Welcome to Tigressland, my own personal little corner of the Internet where I hang out expressing my views about the smaller things in life. No controversy here (I'm saving that for the book lol) just the everyday minutiae that add up to my rather unpredictable, but always fun, life! So pull up a cushion and come chill.....and follow! We bloggers love it when you follow ;-) ~Tigress

Tuesday 6 March 2012

The Gravy Master!

Now you may recall me mentioning that I am not the most culinarily gifted person in the whole wide world.

To be fair though, if there's a recipe involved, the product has usually been relatively edible (unless it's jam - that hasn't been so good)...it's when I start to get cute and try winging it that things get a bit hairy.

But surely to God I should be able to concoct a fairly decent stew without too much drama? Shouldn't I? After all, as my fiendishly Tigeresque male friend frequently intones: "It's not rocket science!"

Well I'm not so sure about that.

You see my attempts as stew making 'sans-recipe' have not been a howling success. They've either lacked flavour, didn't thicken right, or were generally plagued by some other gourmet shortcoming that was serious cause for a facepalm

So last night I caved.... I Googled it, and came across a recipe that even my five-year-old could probably have managed.

I diligently followed the instructions....right up to the add 'Gravy Master' bit.

What?

I live on what I swear to God is the arse end of the planet....we don't HAVE "Gravy Master"...hell we don't even have "Gravy Apprentice"...you want gravy round here you make it in the pan using the meat drippings! Though I must confess, I did find lurking in the back of my pantry a box of Gravy Somethingorother that was gluten, dairy and everything else free that I must have bought a while back thinking I was going to get all illustrious and roast something.

Yeah, that'll do.

But this is where I had a question....does this 'Gravy Master' stuff thicken things...coz if not then I was in a spot of bother...coz I knew my Somethingorother would!....Best we wait till the end. I was trying not to get distressed at this point as the whole point of me finding a recipe was to avoid the whole 'winging it' scenario and the possibility of placing the entirety of the project in jeopardy.

I was nervous...I had 1kg of mincemeat, four carrots and an onion riding on this; I did not want to go down.

So I took the careful approach, I thickened it a little at a time till it reached the desired consistency. The concentration was intense, I didn't want to overdo it. Thoughts of my sliceable jam shot through my head. But I pushed them aside...I knew I could do this!

It was time for the taste test....good God it was edible! How did that happen?

The potatoes were mashed, the plates were waiting...

I was beginning to get excited...

Just a little.

Once served onto dinnerware it was presented to the waiting offspring.... The teenager cocked a suspicious eyebrow and sampled tentatively. After some deliberation she grunted her approval...one down. Lil Blondie (cute but brutal) also took a mouthful...this was the true moment of reckoning...

"You know Mum....that's actually not bad."

I smiled...a lot...like someone just awarded an Olympic medal :D...Kid approved food produced by moi...there is hope for me yet!

"Well it's a lot better than that horrible jam you made anyway!"

:S


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