Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Late-evening snack

I have mixed feelings about seeing friends for drinks after work. The drinks bit is a pleasure; but I do not enjoy arriving home at 9 p.m., muzzy-headed and hungry, unwilling to cook but reluctant to order a pizza. Yesterday, I lucked upon an almost effortless meal that turned out to be exactly what I wanted to eat. I do not offer it as a recipe: I would not cook it for two, and you'll probably think that it is disgusting. But it was a way of using food that might otherwise have been wasted.

In the fridge were a few chipolatas, some leftover hummus, and, in a jar, about a tsp of harissa. On the kitchen table were some leftover pancetta lardons, sitting in their lovely fat. In the bread bin was some day-old flatbread. I fried the chipolatas (in a small saucepan, with a little groundnut oil, over the minimum flame). Meanwhile, I toasted the flatbread, and spread on it first the harissa, then the hummus. When the sausages were cooked I tipped the pancetta, with its fat, into the pan; and once everything had warmed through I tipped it all on to the flatbread, which I folded, and stuffed inelegantly into my mouth. Gorgeous.

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