Cooking on the Run

 

Fresh Corn Salad ~ photo from foodnetwork.com

You know how some days you can be completely undone by the frenzied busyness, and other days it's somewhat exhilarating?   Yesterday, for me, was the exhilarating version.  Possibly because it began with a few quiet hours at home.

We had our Junior Primary concert last night, which was absolutely delightful.  They are so gorgeous ~ I just know I'm going to cry buckets when that group graduate Year 12!!!!  In between the end of school and 6.15pm, when Miss Mischief had to be there, we had a doctor's appointment to attend (1/2 hour trip each way) and dinner to prepare and eat with friends whom I picked up on my way back.  I had thought fish and chips might be the go....but even that takes time when you have seconds to spare instead of minutes!

In the end I decided upon making dinner.  Around lunch time I realised that I could make salads ahead and set the oven to cook while I was gone.  It was such a beautiful warm day yesterday that fish and chips seemed like a travesty!  Fresh, delicious salads were definitely required.  Especially when I found fresh ears of corn for 20c each in Woolworths!!!!  20c, can you imagine?!

So here's what we ate:

Rosemary and Lemon Chicken Pieces:  I laid chicken drumsticks in a glass roasting dish and splashed a bit of extra virgin olive oil over it.  Then I snipped in some fresh rosemary leaves and some grated lemon rind.  I set the oven to cook those for an hour.

Potato Salad:  Unpeeled potato chunks were cooked until just tender.  The dressing was whole-egg mayonnaise, dijon mustard and fresh chives snipped in.  I thinned it a little with some milk.  Combine the lot in a pretty bowl and refrigerate for later.

Salad Platter:  Chopped up tomatoes, carrot sticks and cheese sticks, with stuffed green olives for the Mum's.  This I prepared in the five minutes of cooking time (the chicken) that remained when we arrived home.

Fresh Corn Salad:  This salad was introduced to us by my SIL when we were in the US.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  What a salad!  Simple, oh so easy and a balm to the hearts of my corn-loving family.  The recipe is from the Barefoot Countessa and you will find it here.  I prefer it with a small change.  We found the red onions a little overpowering, so this time I made it with spring onions instead.  Perfect.  I suspect that in a pinch you could even used tinned corn.  However, I highly recommend the fresh version ~ it's really not that much more effort than opening a can.  This too was done at lunch time and set in the fridge for later.

The kids have decided I need to use the automatic function on the oven more often.  I decided that as soon as you remove yourself a little from the effort of cooking, that the meal tastes so much better.  Usually the meal someone else cooks tastes so much better, but last night's meal was pretty darn good.  Even if I do say so myself.  And I suspect a little smugness at being so organised added to the flavour.