Well, that was complicated

[desperance]

Lunch. Only for me, and just a quick meal in the middle of a busy working day; but at one stage I had four pans on the go at once, using every ring on my cooker.

Crisping bacon in one pan. Blanching Swiss chard (stalks and leaves done separately, of course) in another. Cheese sauce in a third. Two eggs poaching in a fourth.

Bed of chard, eggs on top, sauce all over, a happy sprinkle of cayenne pepper and smoked paprika, and the bacon balanced over all.

It's really nice. Just, four pans...

Comments

[davidbarnett.livejournal.com]

An hour in the pan, ten minutes on the plate, three days on the draining board.

If you're anything like me, that is.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Ah well, you're worth it!

Perhaps you could have a token pot noodle to remind yourself how bad food that doesn't need washing up can be?

Have you ever made duchesse potatoes just for yourself? A friend of my Mum's did.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you could have a token pot noodle to remind yourself how bad food that doesn't need washing up can be?

Aaargh! Don't do that to me. Just, just don't do that. I have few boasts in my life, but among those that I'm most proud of: I have never tasted a McDonald's burger (I tried one of their fries once, and it was the nastiest fry I have eaten), and I have never tasted a pot noodle. I don't normally regard never-eaten-that as a virtue, I'm a great experimenter - but these are my limits, and I do not cross them. Ever.

Have you ever made duchesse potatoes just for yourself?

Oh yes, done that. Hell, I've made confit for myself, which is a three-day process; and amazingly intricate curries; and, and, and. I genuinely don't see the arguments against: why would I treat my own palate worse than I treat my friends'? Given that I like cooking and I like good food, there is really no hardship here.

Besides, see heretofore, under 'displacement activities, various' - cooking's fab, it eats into worky-time like nothing else.

And yet, here I am, dinner's in the oven (sort of shepherd's pie, I suppose, with chicory and celery in with the lamb mince etc to give appropriately grassy flavours, and sliced new potatoes on top with an overpour of cream to give a pseudo-dauphinoise instead of mash - we'll see how that works) and I am back at work. Le sigh. But I'm racing that davidbarnett, and apparently I can still do competitive...

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

If this worries you, perhaps you don't have enough pans? Is it time to buy another?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Don't say that. Even in jest. The last count was thirty-three, and those are just the stovetop pans, disregarding ovenware entirely. Of course I want more, I am unsated; pans are like books, you need more than one for every conceivable occasion, and I don't have space. And I can't afford to move.

And I have slices of saucisson sec on my desk here, to help me through the evening, and Barry is stalking them. 'Scuse...