Odds And Sods

I have given the weekly shop, or the "big shop" as we say in the North a big heave ho. I have given it the middle finger. God how punk rock am I? The reasons being:

1. I hate spending elongated lengths of time in busy, soul-less supermarkets.
2. I was getting really boring by buying the same things over and over.
3. My dream of country living was thwarted since I wasn't seeking out new foodie haunts in my area.

So I've been picking up fewer items more frequently. Now this way of shopping suits me as I don't really have a routine and I don't have children so being blasé and adopting an "as and when" approach to shopping probably isn't practical for a lot of people and frankly unappealing to some. However I'm sure that with both approaches most will be prone to that time in the week when ones pantry and fridge are neither here nor there in terms of culinary provision; full of odds and sods, bits and pieces of this and that which may pose a conundrum as to how assemble a decent meal.

Change your approach and see it as an exciting experiment. I believe these Ready Steady Cook moments when faced with a handful of key ingredients are when you can really unleash your creativity and for me these are the times I unintentionally make the tastiest meals then try to replicate them on another occasion. They're never as good as the first time around.

This happened tonight. I had a bit of mince, a couple of corn on the cobs, a couple of tortilla wraps that on their own all seemed incomplete but put them together and they got on like a house on fire when combined.

Ready.......

Start with a theme and then build around it. I decided to start with the mince and thought of a dry spiced, sort of Middle Eastern inspired dish. I slowly cooked finely chopped onions and garlic for a few minutes, added the mince, cumin, coriander power and all purpose seasoning and stirred. I grated lemon zest into it and squeezed the juice over it all. At the last minute chucked in some pine nuts. If it stuck to the pan, I just added in a splash of water.

Steady.......

In the meantime I grilled the corn on the cob, charred some courgette in the griddle pan and chopped my current faves meli melo tomatoes with cucumber and spring onion. The result was a medley of colour and myself and Mr V put the veg and mince in the leftover wraps with a drizzle of peri peri sauce and munched on the corn. It was delicious!

Go! And Eat.

What's the best Ready Steady Cook style meal you've ever made?

Vivi.x