In a pickle...

I like cooking. I like throwing open the cupboard and seeing what we have in, peering into the back of the fridge and looking in the crisper trays to check what is about to go over, and opening all the freezer draws to find that bargain that’s been forgotten all about - but with a little creativity and imagination could be made into a delicious meal.

I like cooking, I like thrift, and I hate waste.

Believe it or not when we last roasted a chicken we made it into four roast chicken dinners, four chicken and mushroom pot pies with flaky pastry lids, and six portions of chicken and vegetable soups. Yes, I even boiled the bones to make stock. Well, these days you have to don’t you? All that for £2.50! (a marked down organic bargain from Sainsbury’s; not that I care about that organic thing).

This morning, as I prepared dinner for this evening (just simple fare, no shopping required) I wondered why we have so many recipe books. At the last count is was a little over 100! After all, cooking is about using what you have in, not buying in to make something; and inevitably you never have half the things you need for the recipe - just who has crème fraiche in the fridge, ready and waiting, just in case? So, I hunted around and found all the ingredients I needed to make beef olive (marked-down sirloin found in the freezer) with red wine jus (pity, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices), stuffed courgettes (just mushrooms, scallions, mozzarella and black pepper), potatoes dauphinois (just saved the salad potatoes from going over, picking off the eyes and slicing with onions, stock and butter), and then I knocked up 2 litres of 9 veg minestrone (carrot, leek, onion, turnip, mushrooom, tomato, green bean, cabbage, all found in the fridge drawer with some peas from the freezer).

For lunch I made chopped cherry tomatoes drizzled with hot garlic butter and a courgette, scallion, mushroom, and mozzarella fritter (left over from the stuffed courgette for dinner) and served on buttered toast (it was delicious).

All that creating and cooking got me thinking about how important food is in our culture, particularly language. Phrases based around cooking are bounced around all the time, often used to describe a problem or difficulty: In a jam - In a pickle - In a stew. I wonder why? Why not: In a marmalade – In a mustard – In a casserole? And then there’s those terms that we use when we are feeling hot: I’m roasting - It’s boiling - I’m as warm as toast - It’s like an oven in here. And those other cooking related phrases: Dropped like a baked potato – Given a grilling – Salad days. I wonder if it was a cook who started them off?

I expect I’ll never know though; after all I’m treated just like a mushroom – kept in the dark and covered in shit, and besides as everyone knows, I’m one sandwich short of a picnic.

Break over - back to the hot stove and the washing up.