Thursday 9 April 2009

Much as I love to cook when I have plenty of time and energy - and much as I find cooking relaxing and a great stress-buster - sometimes I just can't get inspired or am too ravenous and tired to think about anything remotely creative.  When I was commuting all those hours to the other side of London, weekday cooking sometimes became virtually impossible or we'd still be eating at 10pm which was past our bedtime!   The shock of going back to work on a Monday after a weekend off the grind often meant a "blue plate meal" that evening, ie whatever we had was going to be fairly basic and therefore worthy of the willow patterned plates bought 20 years ago for a £1 (the kind that bounce if you drop them, none of them are yet chipped).    So this blog is dedicated to the humble blue plate meal and long may it live!  

Number one has to be beans on toast, one of our all-time favourite fast food meals - and it has to be Heinz and with  a knob of butter stirred in till the sauce goes orange and served on thick, uncut white bread, toasted with plenty of Lurpak melting in and maybe a sprinkling of mature cheddar on top.  Or some of that bendy smoked German sausage, sliced and crisped in a frying pan, hidden in the lovely beany depths (we call this version Bean Surprise).  Yum.  The next worthy contributor is the divine fish finger sandwich.  I love mine on white bread, the fingers grilled till crispy and starting to char round the edges, cod fillet steaming within, with mayo and crisp iceberg lettuce.  Husband just has his with generous dollops of ketchup - 8 fingers and four slices of buttered white bread.  Either way it's one of the best meals ever.

On a Tuesday we might be a little more inventive and have the strength to crack open a bag of penne or fusilli.  Pasta and pesto is one of those dishes I absolutely crave if I haven't eaten it in a few weeks.  Fresh pesto from the chiller cabinet rather than the long-life jars is preferable, but it's even better home-made and takes a few seconds to make so there's no excuse really. Take lots of fresh basil leaves (a large growing tub has a good amount) a handful of grated pecorino or parmesan cheese, another of pine nuts, a juicy clove or two of garlic, the grated zest of a lemon (optional but cuts through the richness beautifully) and some extra virgin olive oil added slowly as you whizz everything in the processor till it's a lovely, thick, vibrant green paste.  This stirred into hot pasta is the best fresh sauce in the world in my opinion.  Jazz it up with a few crisp pancetta cubes or some roasted peppers and courgettes, with a little creme fraiche stirred in and it goes into the realms of gourmet comfort food (and therefore automatically graduates to a black (Habitat scraffito) bowl meal).  More parmesan and lots of cracked black pepper on top, mmmmm.  With your leftover pesto, the possibilities are endless - add more oil and you have an instant salad dressing or spread it thickly onto salmon fillets and roast in the oven at 200C for 12-15 minutes.  Served with boiled or crushed new potatoes and salad this would make a delicious supper for perhaps a Thursday.

Then there's cheese on toast - the smell of grilled cheese is so homely and mouth-watering. There's nothing wrong with ordinary sliced bread and Red Leicester or Double Gloucester, but if it's Wednesday and your taste buds have gone beyond the relative blandness of beans and fish fingers, you can knock up something very quick but slightly more decadent in a few minutes. Some decent bread helps here, perhaps a small ciabatta split horizontally or something else rustic and open-textured.  Thick slices, drizzled with olive oil, toasted on a hot griddle pan for a few minutes then topped with sunblush tomatoes, basil leaves, parma ham and some oozy cheese of your choice - perhaps taleggio, provolone or gorgonzola piccante - under a hot grill for about 3 minutes ... absolute bliss with chilled pinot grigio or a glass of cool, light red.

And last, but certainly not least, a bowl of homemade soup.  Hot and steaming with a chunk of crusty bread on the side, it's filling, nutritious and quick for lunch or dinner.   Thank goodness for the frozen pea - often so much better than a fresh one, which unless you grow your own are past being good once they reach the supermarkets, too starchy.  Frozen ones are picked and thrown in the ice within minutes and haven't a chance to ruin.  So use them without fear of reprisal!  Pea soup - bright green and velvety is lovely at any time of year but I particularly love it in the Spring.  Again, it takes minutes to make.  Sweat half a chopped onion in a little butter till soft, then then throw in 500g frozen peas and 500ml hot vegetable or chicken stock.  You can add parsley or mint leaves if you like.  Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and puree with a hand blender, adding more hot water or stock gradually till you have a thick, smoothish soup.  Stir in a dollop of creme fraiche and season.  Optional extras - finely chopped ham or crisp bacon sprinkled on top, or some chopped chives.   Scrumptious.  For a more substantial meal serve with a sandwich, perhaps cheese and salad on brown bread (and on a blue plate of course ...)

So there you are, there is no need ever to resort to the flabby, salty, microwave meal again. Most of the above take no more time to put together than it would for you to wait for the dreaded ping and you'll certainly feel mores satisfied and no doubt save a few quid too...

Happy cooking and Happy Easter! 

AMT