Friday Food (Delayed Again) – 7

Apologies to anyone who expected something food related last Friday: part of my time was consumed by putting straight one of the blogosphere’s practitioners of freestyle expletive spattering, with rather more resource devoted to getting set up for Saturday’s visit to London, devoted unashamedly to the sad rail enthusiast stuff which may not appeal to all, but here on Zelo Street trumps so-called Libertarians effing and blinding at one another.

But, as Clive James has said many times, I digress.

The big supermarkets have promotional pushes of all manner of products from time to time, and recently there have been some almost desperate offers on what I call the “sauce in jar” range. I don’t usually bother with the curry ones – my preferred weapon when in curry mode is the smaller jars of paste – but the pasta sauces are worth a dart.

But, the inevitable answer comes back, what if you don’t fancy yet more beef mince? Well, that’s a top question, and I never fancy the stuff in the first place. You don’t have to bow to what many see as the default choice. Fish and chicken will do just as well.

I dice the chicken beforehand: alternatively you can get it minced, or mince it yourself. Fish should have firm flesh, or of course you can use prawns. And to give the whole thing an extra tang, some garlic goes well with chicken. If you’re not able to go through the fresh variety at the kind of speed that avoids having to throw some of it out, there are alternatives: minced garlic (often sold as “slow” or “lazy” garlic) is convenient but not cheap, or there is the preserved kind, which has even made its way into Asda. It keeps well when refrigerated.

Also, don’t feel that you have to replace a given amount of mince with the same quantity of chicken or fish. Try less of either and making up the difference with one or two peppers (the ultimate versatile veg).