Fridge rummaging

Got around to some actual cooking for a change last night. Lately I’ve been snacking or else defrosting previous concoctions in an effort to work my way through the backlog of frozen meals I’ve built up.

I had a rummage in the fridge and noticed the dried cranberries I omitted to get creative with at xmas. Feeling inspired I consulted online sources for ideas and as I didn’t have the exact ingredients for anything I saw there, I did my usual chuck-it-all-in-and-hope-for-the-best.

FIVE SUGARS LOAF

Brown sugar
Dried cranberries
Black treacle
Honey
Hedgerow fruits cordial (Sainsbury’s Taste the Diff)
Butter
Plain flour
Flaked almonds
2 eggs

Can’t give measurements as mostly these were dependent on how much of any one ingredient I had to hand. But the five sugars happened because there was not enough of any one thing, so I experimented. I knew it was going to turn out ok because I actually licked the spoon. Something I rarely do.

I can’t give temperature either as my oven is a mostly ex-fan oven with a door that does not close as tightly as it should. This means that I have to lower the temperature because it sometimes works as a fan oven, but extend the cooking time when it doesn’t. I simply guess when things are ready and am prepared to finish dishes off in the microwave if I guess wrong. Or scrape off burnt bits (thankfully, this is rare).

It is possible that my way of cooking could drive precise types over the edge.

Since the oven was on, I made more use of it. This is part of my electric economising in the face of dire energy bills and a vague sense of greenness. So I sautéed yellow pepper and courgette in very good olive oil, added curly parsley and fennel seeds and a teaspoon of veg bouillon powder. I mixed this with cooked short cut macaroni, pumpkin seeds and a fair amount of smoked cheese before bunging it in the oven till I remembered to take it back out and eat it.