Breakfast?

In a startling reversal of the space-time continuum I'm now working my way through 10 more days without a car or any access to things beyond the garden and the pantry stores. Not such a big deal as we discovered before but it does lead to some issues with everyday foods that are easier to buy in for one consumer. Like bread.

Yesterday I got over this problem by making chapatti which were bloody good if I say so myself, they cooked perfectly and by chance or design I got exactly the softness and puffiness I desire. Unfortunately, giving the recipe out for them is like giving out the recipe for wallpaper paste. It's just flour and water, it's what you do with them that matters and that is so difficult to explain.

Today I crumbled, (ha, get that!) and took the last loaf out of the freezer but it still wasn't thawed in time for breakfast. Enter the instant polenta.

Instant polenta has a bad press, probably mostly from people whose formative years were spent breaking their elbows stirring the 'real' stuff for an hour while dodging the explosive bombs of hot paste spluttering from the pan.

The instant stuff probably isn't as good, but it sure is convenient. Easiest to measure by volume, an espresso cupful (about 60ml although you don't usually get a full cup of espresso) is enough for two not terribly hungry people. Add four more cupfuls of cold water and heat, stirring continuously over a gentle heat for about FIVE minutes. You'll know it's done when it gets thick and starts leaving a trail behind the spoon in the pan. Add a good dollop of oil or vegan marge and you're ready to serve.

I split mine into two portions, one to eat hot and the other to chill and be fried in slices later. With the hot I served homemade beans in sauce. The garden is providing a lot of shelling beans at the moment and with some shallots, garlic and tomato sauce I made this not terribly delicious hotpot type thing which went quite well with the starchy polenta.

I will give you my tips for flavouring though because that worked quite well. A little bit of white pepper adds something that black pepper misses, probably because ready ground white pepper is slightly fermented. You can become quite a white pepper aficionado because various brands and batches may have quite different flavours and I'm well on my way to becoming one. With the white pepper, a pinch of ground allspice works nicely with the tomato although a single clove would also do the job as long as it was removed before eating.

More tomorrow I hope but I've been having a run of failures in my recipes recently, probably because food isn't top of my priorities at the moment, and there hasn't been a lot to share about it.