When times are tough, when the weather is rubbish, when you’re feeling a bit under par or when left home alone the answer is always nursery food. Whether it’s a Farley’s rusk mushed up in milk, a hot ribena, soft boiled egg and soldiers, Heinz spaghetti on toast or jelly and cream, there is nothing more comforting than those nursery memories.
And so it was Dear Reader, that I found myself home (sort of) alone this week. TG was off in France and although The Child pops in sporadically I was let off the ‘having to cook proper dinner’ hook. And so last night with the wind blowing a hooley outside and the rain lashing down all day, I decided that the only way forward was the humble fish finger. Nigel Slater in his Kitchen Diaries admits to, on occasion, foregoing proper cooking in favour of a packet of fish fingers, some white bread and a six pack of lager and I can absolutely identify with this regression to basics. As with all good recipes I tweaked just a little and so enjoyed my fishy loveliness with smiley faces (left over from the small people), peas and ketchup. Oh – and a glass of wine of course. The fish fingers were slightly charred around the edges (more by my going off to do something else and forgetting about them rather than by judgement) but delightfully mushy in the middle and the smiley faces suitably perfect for ketchup dunking.
When in doubt, less is always more and I can highly recommend keeping a packet of emergency fish fingers in your freezer for those times when fancy smancy just won’t do.
Whatever the weather Dear Reader, enjoy your weekend.
