It couldn't be more simple...

Italian Salad for lunch. English pub food for supper. What more could you want?

I'd spent most of the morning in the garden in warm sunshine, albeit with ridiculously cold ambient air for the time of year. I came in to watch the news and the unfolding drama of our new Government, and to eat. I opened the fridge door. Slim pickings, but enough: dolce rosso tomatoes (small, outrageously sweet, still my favourite), mozzarella, a bag of mixed salad leaves (rocket, watercress and spinach). Perfect. All I needed to add was a few slices of toasted ciabatta (which I also happened to have about my person). I toasted them on the Aga so they had a touch of the 'char-grill' about them. I then arranged them artfully on the plate with my chopped up mozzarella, tomatoes and salad - and then all I had to do was drizzle over posh olive oil and balsamic vinegar and it was pretty as a picture. And good enough to eat...



Supper was no less easy. After a hard day's labouring, I searched my mind and remembered a bag of scampi in the freezer. I threw the contents of the bag onto a tray and grilled them for 10 minutes or so, together with the remains of a bag of thick-cut freezer chips. I had half a tub of tartare sauce in the fridge (a remnant from a meal long past, but still fresh as a daisy) and the remains of the bag of salad I'd used at lunch. I also had some already squeezed fresh lemon juice to throw over the salad with the olive oil. Et voila! All done in a trice and just as scrummy as lunch. Oh, and healthy too. Job done.