Apparently one of the signs of Alzheimer’s disease is missing meals because the sufferer forgets to eat. That is certainly never happening to me, dementia or not. Wandering off, paranoia, forgetting what those long floury dried sticks that you put tomato sauce on are called – likely. Forgetting to have dinner – NOT. As people sometimes – a little uncharitably – say, when I do think, it’s usually about food.
Food indeed is on my mind a lot of the time and I often get the best ideas last thing before I fall asleep. The problem, of course, is remembering what they were when I wake up. It might be the reason why I’ve not authored quite SO many ground-breaking new dishes.
But I do remember what I thought last night and even though it wasn’t a revolutionary recipe, it’s worth mentioning: I thought I can sense duck dishes coming this week. If you get a whole one, roast it with a spice rub. It’s so good I cooked it for Christmas last year.
If you’d rather married your duck with oriental flavours, make the duck stir fry one night this week. If you can’t be bothered with my duck scratchings in the recipe (that was a night-time idea), fine, but you’ll be missing out. And as game is starting to appear, make sure you have a roast wild mallard at least once this autumn. And duck goes very well with cabbage on the side – red cabbage, which will be an early Christmas flavour, or simple green cabbage, stir fried.
A season for hearty pasta bakes is with us; no more flimsy, barely-sauced linguine con nothing-much-at-all. Tomato and aubergine pasta bake is unbelievably simple once you’ve cooked the tomato sauce. That’s why I always cook the sauce in a great batch and freeze one meal portions. And if not pasta, how about a leek and potato bake? Both suggestions vegetarian, both easy and both totally delishhh.
Finally, bread. I’ve been completely blown by a sourdough whirlwind recently, but for those who know their Tartine to be an open sandwich of sorts, here’s a modest but interesting courgette loaf. It will make the best sandwiches with leftover bits of that duck roast!