The Ceiling Needed Painting

Or at least, for me to finish off the paint job I’d started far too long ago. We have guests coming next week, always a good motivator! So I asked our chef emeritus to step in for me tonight, and she gently pointed out that the “Marcella Monday” recipe was supposed to marinade “for at least 24 hours” and that Wednesday’s dish might be a better choice. Oops.

So yes, tonight we had “Chicken and Cashew Nut Curry”, from Nigella Fresh again. Clara was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it went together. We do a LOT of curry here, always have, but we’ve always done the Jamaican style curries of the Patriarch and only recently have we played around a bit with curries from elsewhere. Tonight’s, I think, was more like Nigella-playing-in-the-kitchen, but it worked nicely. Clara dislikes cilantro (she says it smells like wet diapers!) and didn’t add it to hers, but the rest of us had cilantro along with our cashews, beans, and chicken. It was nice – fresh tasting, a pretty summery dish. Called out for fruit for dessert, which we did, although I also imagine a sorbet would be lovely.



Two dishes into it, I’m calling the style of this cookbook uncomplicated, fresh, summery food with novel enough ideas that they’re worth trying. I’m super glad to have found it at Goodwill the other day, and will be remaking this one when we’re in a rush.

Thank you to Clara for stepping in – the ceiling is finally finished !