What's for dinner?

This is my first blog and it’s up to you to make it a wild success... thus convincing me to keep writing it.

You know how you’re lying on the couch and you get hungry? My first thought was, God, I’ve got to go out and buy some food. My second thought was, no, I’m going to look in the fridge and the cupboard and make a meal from what I already have.

Eventually I really did have to go out and buy more food, but it was interesting just how easy it was to make smashing meals out of what I thought was a more or less an uninspiring fridge.

Prosciutto with eggs, asparagus and feta dressing

First up I opened the fridge and found cured ham, a box of eggs, a few cheeses and asparagus. I boiled some eggs till just barely cooked - you know that heavenly state between bleeding and clotted? My method is cover eggs with cold water, bring to the boil and boil for exactly 8 mins from start till finish. Leave to cool down in their shells.

I steamed the asparagus till al dente and whipped some feta cheese till creamy by adding milk. In the cupboard I found pine nuts and dry fried them to release the essential oils. All these things I arranged artfully (because we eat firstly with our eyes) on a beautiful plate and drizzled with whipped feta. 

Roast poussin

Time went by and I got hungry again. I found a poussin (baby chicken) in the freezer and defrosted it. Went outside and picked anything I could see – rosemary, mint, lavender, thyme etc and stuffed it in the cavity. Found lemons in the living room and garlic lying around the dining room.

I put the poussin in a small frypan, threw the whole unskinned garlic cloves in, threw quartered lemons in, sprinkled with pepper and salt and rained on a suggestion on olive oil. Forty-five minutes later at 200 degrees centigrade, dinner was ready. Volia!!

Broccolini with pecorino and tahini dressing

The next day I was hungry again so looked in the crisper of the fridge and found a half empty packet of broccolini, a jar of tahini (sesame paste), a jar of yoghurt and some pecorino cheese. In the spice tins I found black mustard seeds.

Ten minutes later I had a gorgeous plate of steamed al dente broccolini drizzled with tahini paste made runny with the addition of yoghurt, dampened with lemon juice, crowned with shaved pecorino and decorated with black mustard seeds. 

I mean hello??!!

Peta