Take our national dish, Chicken Tikka Masala for example – apparently devised on the spot after a customer asked where the sauce was for his (dry) Tandoori chicken.
Consider also the enormous impact the Earl of Sandwich has had, just by asking for some meat in between slices of bread when he didn’t have time to eat a full lunch.
And let’s not forget Sugar Puffs, which appeared completely by accident in 1802 when a colony of mad bees swarmed into a field and started trying to impregnate grains of wheat.
Actually one of those isn’t true. But this story is. Read on, Macduff:
Beer Anecdote
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| Spoons Beer Festival |
After leaving the Ship of Fools by West Croydon station, we ran for a train, which turned out to be the wrong one, went off in the wrong direction, and ended up staying at my mum’s that night, via more Wetherspoons in Balham and Tooting – all of which went that we needed to grab something for breakfast the next day.
So, Mrs B-V pops into a little shop late at night to get some bread, only they don’t have any – the only thing they’ve got is a big pack of mini wholemeal pittas.
We ended up not having them for breakfast, what with them being a bit inappropriate and us not getting up until the afternoon anyway, but at dinner time there was an opportunity to create a nice new recipe, which turned out rather well - and all because we got on the wrong train'n'shit.
Moussakettes
Ingredients - makes eight: |
| Simple, delicious, herby lambiness |
Minced Lamb, 1/2 lb
Aubergine, 1 full-size or several mini, chopped
Mature Cheddar, grated
Wholemeal pittas, 8
Onions, a couple large or a few small, chopped
Tomatoes, about 4 average size, quartered
Red/Orange peppers, 2, chopped (ideally one of each)
Mushrooms, a few, chopped
Garlic Salt
Herbes de Provence
Rosemary
Sage
Black Pepper
Worcestershire Sauce
Natural Yoghurt
Juice of a lemon
Olive oil for cooking
Method:
Heat the oil in a big saute pan, and fry the lamb, adding a generous pinch of garlic salt and the onion almost immediately
Continue to fry on a high heat, adding the herbs, aubergine, mushrooms, peppers and Worcestershire sauce as you go. Once the lamb is browned, turn the heat down and add in your tomato quarters.
Cover and leave to cook for at least an hour - so you can go and put your feet up.
When the time to eat is approaching, take a griddle/frying pan, and set on high, with a little olive oil. Fry your pita breads on both sides, until a little crispy, then plate them up.
Returning to your sautee pan, you now need to add the lemon juice and yoghurt and stir in well - the sauce should be lovely and thick and lamby and auberginey by now.
Generously spoon the lamb onto the fried pitas, covering the entire surface, and then top them all with a little grated cheese. Whack the plates in the oven or under a grill for a minute to melt the cheese, then you're good to go!
Flavoursome and satisfying but not too heavy, one Moussakette would work on its own as a starter, two served with a green salad or a little rice would do as a light meal, and three would be a rather big meal.
Enjoy!
Dear Ben.
ReplyDeleteHere is a recipe I wrote called 'Moose Surprise'.
Ingredients
Tinned beans.
Method.
Open tin of beans and put in hot pan.
Stir for 5 minutes until piping hot.
Put on plate and tell Mrs B-V that you have made her a breakfast using the finest sweet meats possible.
When she complains that there are no sweet meats on her plate, only beans, you then yell, 'surprise!'
Moose
Re-reading this after several years it is sad to note that the Ship of Fools in Croydon has long since closed and the Milan Bar is about to be another victim of the Whether-purge.
ReplyDeleteWould be convenient for us these days...