Although we were able to provision very well for this trip with good fresh fruit and vegetables from the market in Galapagos and prior to that some excellent tinned and dried goods in Panama, Bonaire and Trinidad, we did find feeding ourselves a bit of a struggle. This was largely to do with how long everything takes when you are rolling and having to hold on. Nevertheless we ate very well and were really pleased with how long our fresh rations lasted.
Particular highlights were. Pizza. Prompted by Harry on Malua asking Helen on Sundancer 2 for her frying pan pizza recipe one morning on the radio net, so we gave it a try. No yeast, just baking powder and flour. We had all the other ingredients including some chorizo sausage and fresh basil still growing so we were extremely delighted with the result.
Relying so much more on tinned and dried food is a bit like turning the clock back to the 1960’s which was probably the last time either of us had Angel Delight. As I have mentioned before it makes great boat food and is very delicious so we have to ensure that we both get our fair share. |
Another triumph in the simple-but-delicious-on-a-rough-day section are the Ragu dried pasta meals. Not exactly instant in that milk, butter and a few minutes simmering is required but they are fabulous. Add a bit of something fresh and additional cheese and they are super fabulous. We had found them for 99p a packet in Iceland in Glasgow where we gave them a try and they were so much better than any other version we had tested that we bought about 20. Another blast from the past is McVities cake. Ginger or syrup. Excellent with Birds instant custard (add a bit of milk rather than just using water). Also excellent if briefly toasted in a frying pan. The most indestructible, virtually immortal vegetable is the squash. Butternut for preference but any will do. We had bought several in Galapagos. On one of the calmer days we got a bit creative and tried an Ottolenghi recipe for butternut squash spread or dip and yes we did go so far as to toast the sesame seed sprinkled on top. We don’t have any date syrup on board but had bought a small jar of molasses in Panama and that did the job. It was delicious. |
Thanks to a book recommended by Kit and Moyra written by a professional chef and yacht skipper, Michael Greenwald, we had a lot of new tricks to try keeping vegetables fresh for longer. We have always used Lakeland green bags that absorb the gasses put out by ripening veg and therefore slow the whole process down but this time rather than wash and dry in detergent before storing we used a very dilute bleach solution which kills the surface bacteria that may speed the rotting process. You need to buy relatively unblemished and youthful veg in the first place of course but using this method we had healthy broccoli eaten after 4 ½ weeks and one carrot is still left. |
Another day when we were in the mood to experiment we made scones, whipped some long life cream and opened the strawberry jam.
