Disasters in the kitchen

If you look really closely at the photograph above, you may notice some small black flecks. They are burnt bits of onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Unusually for me, I left the pot unattended while I watched some TV and before you know it, the 'aromatics' of my rich tomato sauce were charred. The more common problem I have is no patience, rarely being able to wait for things to brown properly or saute to a soft consistency, so it's strange for me to get to this level of neglect. (I'm not going to admit what I was so engrossed in on TV)!

Before the tomato sauce disaster, there was the cheesecake. Adapted from a recipe I have used many times, I found myself with 750g of Philadelphia cheese rather than the specified 1.1kg. No problem, I thought, I'll simply reduce the recipe by a quarter and all will be fine. Any baking aficionado will tell you that baking is a science and the complicated reduction or increase of ingredients usually ends up in a mess. The mixture was split between two tins. One with a digestive biscuit crust for Neil and one for me without. After 1.5 hours of cooking they were still soft and Neil's collapsed into a sorry looking heap. We still enjoyed them though. Perfection isn't everything, although eating uncooked eggs can be a little worrying.

The British way. Digestive biscuits smashed to pieces in a bag then mixed with melted butter. The satisfying crunch of the biscuits as they smash is therapeutic and I believe the smell of melted butter mixed with digestive biscuit crumbs is comforting and intoxicating, like the smell of cakes baking when you come home from school. 

There's also something enjoyable about using your hands to press the butter and crumb mixture into the tin. Reminiscent of playing with Plasticine, moulding the mixture into all the grooves.

They look good enough, albeit lumpy, but so far I have enjoyed some for lunch and am looking forward to another piece for dinner. I don't think Neil cares what his looks like.

Spaghetti with meatballs. The finished dish had a slight edge of bitterness due to the burning, but it didn't really spoil the flavour. The sweetness and complex taste of tomatoes, coupled with the savoury meatballs were the dominant tastes, so not a complete disaster, just a smidgen of disappointment for me.

Recipe : Spaghetti and meatballs

As you will see, I used some Ikea meatballs for this in an ongoing to attempt to reduce the clutter in my freezer, so no apologies for not making my own, although I have many times and they're usually better.

1 onion, chopped finely

1 stick celery, chopped finely

1 carrot, peeled and chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely

1 tsp oil

1 tsp butter

1 bay leaf

1 tin plum tomatoes

1 sachet or cube beef stock

1/4 cup dry sherry or red wine

1 tbsp dried oregano

3/4 tsp salt

black pepper

6 mushrooms, quartered

Handful spinach (optional green)

12 meatballs (ready made or make your own with some ground beef)

Spaghetti for 2

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil and butter in a heavy saucepan over low - medium heat and saute the onion, celery, carrot, garlic and bay leaf until soft. Cover the pan to help it along and keep an eye on it, don't let it burn!

Add the tomatoes, stock cube, sherry or wine and dried oregano and bring to the boil.

Add the mushrooms and salt and reduce heat to low - medium. Simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken. 

Add the spinach for the last 10 minutes.

Cook your meatballs by either following the instructions on the packet or frying in some olive oil until brown on all sides and add to the sauce. Allow to simmer gently.

Cook the spaghetti in a big pan of boiling salted water for about 8 minutes until soft but with some bite left and drain. Add 1 tsp butter and some freshly ground black pepper to the spaghetti and mix well to coat. Place this on a bowl or plate and top with the sauce, making sure you have a good amount of meatballs.

Sprinkle with the Parmesan and some black pepper.