Sometimes the best meals are the snacks you make for yourself while cooking for others. Some even say the best meals are born our of necessity or in my case, a laziness to go out and shop, so I use what I have. Some days I start making tea & discover I don't have half of the ingredients & then I put that in the bin & order take out instead.
But every now and then the planets align; Pluto is in Capricorn, the moon is waxing lyrical and a miracle happens; just like those magic elves who make Christmas happen or the toilet roll fairy appear. Just like that, a delicious snack is made, without any planning or opening a recipe book or even giving it that much thought. Its almost like the fridge fairies are on my side for once.
One thing that I always have in the fridge is parmesan, a far cry from the cheese of my childhood which stretched to a bright orange Red Leicester and a kraft cheese triangle. Parmesan lasts an incredibly long length of time due to its low water content, Parmesan would quite happily sit on your counter for a couple of days without anything sinister happening to it, unless you have four legged fur demons which stalk the counter tops when your back is turned (this, sadly, I know from experience). Parmesan will last an incredibly long time, this is why it sits so happily in my fridge of despair, the foster home for forgotten food.
One thing I very rarely have in my fridge is parsley and on the rare occasion it is in my fridge, its turning to a green sludge in the bottom of the salad drawer, also known as the vegetable grave yard.
I have two big chestnut mushrooms left over from a sausage casserole that I'm cooking for tonight's tea. I love anything that can sit in a Dutch oven on top of the stove that simmers away taking care of its self and can be reheated later.
I suddenly find myself quite peckish as I'm cleaning down the counter top, my one new years resolution to not leave chaos after my presence in the kitchen, so far its working, but it is only the 2nd January.
Two fat chunky mushrooms sit looking at me, it seems a shame to put them into the vegetable grave yard only to be removed a week later, all shrivelled & wrinkly.
I hoy some olive oil into the frying pan, my childhood fat would have been Crisp & Dry, which to this day still remains hanging around my middle.
I start chopping my mushrooms, crush a big fat garlic clove into the pan, the crusher reminds me of playdoh barber shop. The mushrooms join the garlic in the pan, I rummage around the vegetable grave yard for the forgotten parsley, I'm worried that the potato's bought for boxing day have grown tendrils and will try to pull me in. I pick off the leaves from the parsley, roughly chop and in the pan they go with a generous knob of butter. I cut a thick slice of sourdough, which is on its fourth day (it could be used as a weapon of mass destruction), but in the toaster it goes or tries to, as it annoyingly doesn't fit; I have to turn it round at half time and give it a pep talk. The toast, toasted to a fashion, then buttered, as there isn't enough juices in the pan and no one apart from an invalid likes dry toast.
The mushrooms all oiled from their spa break, are plopped on top of the toast, dusted with parmesan, not so much gentle snow fall but more a blizzard from the end of days. A decent season of pepper, a handful of rocket, a last ditch attempt of some healthy greenery before it goes to its eternal resting place of the salad drawer. Anything that has rocket on the top, sourdough on the bottom, Pete refers to as his 'grown up' breakfast. Its not often I would stipulate sourdough being a must but you need the buttery, garlic juices to seep through the holes and onto your fingers, eat with a knife & fork if you must but this is best eaten propped up against the kitchen bench and eaten off the bread board.
The quickest, least effortful food is often the most delicious, I try to convince myself that its healthy too, all those gut loving probiotics form the parmesan, mushrooms the ultimate super food and a vegan hero. Butter... erm... makes everything taste better... that and bacon. Hmm... now I come to think of it, I'm almost sure there's some bacon in the fridge somewhere? Best leave that for 2 days time when the bread buns have gone mouldy and the sourdough can be used as a saddle stone to hold up a grain shed. Hey ho. We can always go out for breakfast.
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