The musings menu …

… if you want a fast, faff free meal from the lockdown menu, here it is :

Kedgeree – the fastest ever

Serves 4

500g rice

400g smoked haddock

50g unsalted butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp coriander

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half

half a lemon, cut into 4 wedges

small bunch of coriander, chopped for garnish

To serve - part baked French or Sourdough bread

I'm using frozen mixed vegetable rice, microwaved – it took 8 minutes – whenever you've time – set aside cool, cover and fridge ready for use later.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the onion, curry powder and coriander. Fry gently until soft. Add the rice and mix thoroughly.

Cook your smoked haddock – use fresh if you can get it – or frozen - whichever you find most convenient. Bake in the oven straight from the freezer at 170fan/190c/Gas 5 for 30 minutes or poach for 15 minutes in a medium saucepan, covered with equal amounts of milk and water. Set aside to cool and then box and fridge until ready to use. Break the fish into small chunks and fold into the rice.

Place the eggs on top, then add the coriander and lemon wedges.

Serve with bread of your choice.

If you like to prep ahead :

cook the rice, cool and fridge

bake the fish, cool and fridge

chop and bag the onion

hard-boil the eggs – cool, peel, box and fridge

You don't have to prep ahead - except for hard boiling the eggs - it's whatever suits you – either way is quick and produces a mid week supper faster than the speed of light – that may be a slight exaggeration!

If there's one thing that drives me mad it's fantasy timings given in recipes and so to back up my mouth I set my timer, based on all the elements prepped ahead. The bread took 10 minutes to bake - whilst it did its thing, using a large frying pan, I melted the butter, added the onion, curry powder and coriander and cooked for 2 minutes until the onion was softened and the spices “cooked” to release their deliciousness. I added the cooked rice, fish and finished with the eggs.

M&S sell bags of frozen rice with sweetcorn, petit pois and onions – very handy!

With an “optional” drizzle of curry sauce it was delicious. By the way you don't have to make your own Chip Shop Curry Sauce – you can buy it “off the shelf” - if you'd like to have a go check out the Sauce label 15th February 2020 … More treasure for the chest … freezer

Coming next … the Pilates Class!