Tasting......

My week of meals eaten alone whilst M was away working in Dublin turned into a little tasting adventure, a feast of treats eaten greedily into front of the television with only a set of whiskers quivering expectantly as witness. Due to work commitments at London Bridge mid week, I was able to make a slight detour around Borough Market after the usual lunch time rush. Although I think the market has lost a lot of what made it special and is somewhere I normally avoid there are still pockets of excellence and Brindisa, the Spanish food shop is one. Who can resist their acorn fed jamon, expertly sliced from the whole leg? 

A plate of jamon Iberico, Ortiz anchovies, olives, fresh figs, homegrown tomatoes, fresh goat's cheese and some crusty rye bread. The only thing missing was the chirp of the cicadas and a Mediterranean sky filled with stars.

Continuing on the market theme I stumbled across a small mushroom market on my walk to the station the following day. The baskets of blewits, girolles, cauliflower fungus and porcini looked so tempting that a bought enough for a small dinner for one (they were rather pricey). 

Brushed clean of the woodland dirt and lightly fried in a little olive oil and butter with some garlic and chopped parsley they made a wonderfully simple meal, celebrating the start of Autumn.

I enjoyed this with one of the artisan beers I had bought the day before. I was actually looking for one of the pumpkin spiced beers I have seen recently on the internet but fell for this label instead. It was delicious so I may get some more!

Of course, I am trying to be thrifty so for the rest of the week I made do with what I had in the fridge. It is very surprising what you can knock-up with a few ingredients and a little thought. Not wanting to spend time at the stove and also because it has still been reasonably warm for the time of the year, I made a kind of Caesar Salad with a few odds and ends which was rather successful.

Caesar's Leftovers

2 slices of stale bread 

leftover cold roast chicken

Kalamata olives (or whatever you have hanging around)

some crunchy lettuce (Little Gem, Cos, that kind of thing)

cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)

pinch of dried herbs

tbsp of mayonnaise

tbsp of natural yoghurt

2tsp red wine vinegar

olive oil

Toss the lettuce, tomatoes, cold chicken and olives together in a bowl. Meanwhile cut the two slices of bread into cubes and fry in a little olive with a pinch of dried herbs until crunchy and golden and add to the salad. Mix together the mayonnaise, yoghurt and red wine vinegar (I just added some yoghurt and the vinegar to an almost empty jar of mayonnaise and gave it a good shake). Serve up the salad with the dressing poured over. Pretty much no effort and rather good!