I’m really getting into these Roasting Tin recipes. They’re much simpler than many other books but still come with flavour and vitamins, and are low-fat.
I moved on from the fish section to the chicken, and started with this treat. The whole thing took around an hour and a half, double the recommended time. Having memory difficulties means that a multi-step procedure, like following a recipe, can frequently take longer to do. You will have thoughts like, What time did I start cooking? Which draw do I keep my garlic crusher in? Have I made enough space to keep my notebook and pen close by? So, I keep photographing the separate stages and keep making notes on the process. Without the notes, I’ll learn very little.
Keeping track of all this bumps up the time a lot. Following the instructions can be quite straightforward if you’re organised, but the other aspect to cooking with memory difficulties goes a little deeper than organisation: it’s acceptance.
Taking twice the time to complete is okay. I’ve learned to be accepting of this difference. I’m not here to compete against anyone. Cooking isn’t a race. It’s a process elongated by damage to the hippocampus, and that is outside of my control.
I crushed the garlic instead of bashing it, meaning it came out like a puree, instead of the process looking, I guess, this:
My oven doesn’t seem particularly good at getting up to temperature, even though I set it properly and check for the light to go out. After 35 mins It still wasn’t cooked through, so I gave it a full hour.
Verdict: nice, but dry. There’s normally an extra recipe for sauces in these recipes, but not this one, so I mixed up some mayo and a little mustard. (I recommend being conservative with mustard. It’s a fierce taste.)
