It has just come to my attention, courtesy of Google, that today is the autumn equinox. I'm thrown into quite the panic about how to celebrate... given the beauty of the battered orange pumpkin I bought at the South Bank food festival on the weekend, and the dearth of other tasties in the house, I can only conclude that the pumpkin is for the chop!
Anyway, more on that later, I'm sure. Today I am reviewing .... my lunch! Now working a four-day week, I find my finances even more pickly than usual, so I tore my pleading eyes away from the Thai on Upper Street (lunch menu for £6.50 - perfect for credit crunched-out Islingtonites) and headed to the bakery. Initially charmed by the tall squares of coffee and walnut cake; then the apple crumble; then the cream split, I realised I had no proper food in the house, so instead bought a big sunflower seed, brown tin loaf. For some reason I felt like a grown up waving aside the small round one: let's not play about here, I mean business! And, I mused, re-housing coins in my 'Bertie Blue Shoes' purse, at £1.55 it is cheaper than my old favourite the Tesco oat loaf. Far tastier too ...
I intended to have tuna mayo, my slightly-disgusting favourite which I don't like admitting to, but then I espied anothe
r two tiny tomatoes on the plant in our garden. Together with the two already picked, this made four miniscule, baby tomatoes. Plenty. On the way back up the steps I became completely decadent and plucked three rocket leaves: the salad plants died long ago, however two weedy stragglers self-seeded, and from these I took my lunch greens.
Look at these beautiful ingredients, and the delight it compiled into. Perhaps, a triumph of compromise for the indecisive lunch-maker -? Doesn't it look good? I sat outside and the September air - with its teasing dash of sunshine - was like an added ingredient or extra seasoning to complete the dish!
The tomato slice had a spread of unsalted butter, halved or thirded cherry tomatoes squished into the bread; delightfully heavy-handed with the salt, a grind of pepper, and fiery, youthful rocket pepping through at the fore. Each mouthful clean and redolent of late summer. Well, if you close your eyes and wear a jumper, it works!
Entirely gorgeous bread, by the way. Dense so it didn't tear as I pulled butter across, and that slightly flaky crust that tastes a little nutty. Seeds all through the bread but, as the crowning glory, sunflower seeds encrusting one side and the top, burnished by the
oven. Just opening the bag reminded me of hot Saturdays working in a bakery, as a teenager.
But then, the most difficult decision of all: which 'mouthful to end on'? as my sister Rose puts it. The last mouthful should be the best, as it lingers longest...
Anyway, more on that later, I'm sure. Today I am reviewing .... my lunch! Now working a four-day week, I find my finances even more pickly than usual, so I tore my pleading eyes away from the Thai on Upper Street (lunch menu for £6.50 - perfect for credit crunched-out Islingtonites) and headed to the bakery. Initially charmed by the tall squares of coffee and walnut cake; then the apple crumble; then the cream split, I realised I had no proper food in the house, so instead bought a big sunflower seed, brown tin loaf. For some reason I felt like a grown up waving aside the small round one: let's not play about here, I mean business! And, I mused, re-housing coins in my 'Bertie Blue Shoes' purse, at £1.55 it is cheaper than my old favourite the Tesco oat loaf. Far tastier too ...
I intended to have tuna mayo, my slightly-disgusting favourite which I don't like admitting to, but then I espied anothe
r two tiny tomatoes on the plant in our garden. Together with the two already picked, this made four miniscule, baby tomatoes. Plenty. On the way back up the steps I became completely decadent and plucked three rocket leaves: the salad plants died long ago, however two weedy stragglers self-seeded, and from these I took my lunch greens.Look at these beautiful ingredients, and the delight it compiled into. Perhaps, a triumph of compromise for the indecisive lunch-maker -? Doesn't it look good? I sat outside and the September air - with its teasing dash of sunshine - was like an added ingredient or extra seasoning to complete the dish!
This is how it tasted: the tuna one first. Tuna mayo exactly as I always make it: a squeeze of lemon, half a tin of tuna (it was left over from the cats' lunch yesterday!), an afterbite of black pepper, sloshy with mayo. And the classic move of being too lazy to buy scallions or cut onions into it, which would have made it even more tasty. No butter on the bread, as I like the mayo to seep into the bread a bit. This bread was strong enough to take the challenge and didn't sag or split. 
The tomato slice had a spread of unsalted butter, halved or thirded cherry tomatoes squished into the bread; delightfully heavy-handed with the salt, a grind of pepper, and fiery, youthful rocket pepping through at the fore. Each mouthful clean and redolent of late summer. Well, if you close your eyes and wear a jumper, it works!
Entirely gorgeous bread, by the way. Dense so it didn't tear as I pulled butter across, and that slightly flaky crust that tastes a little nutty. Seeds all through the bread but, as the crowning glory, sunflower seeds encrusting one side and the top, burnished by the
oven. Just opening the bag reminded me of hot Saturdays working in a bakery, as a teenager. But then, the most difficult decision of all: which 'mouthful to end on'? as my sister Rose puts it. The last mouthful should be the best, as it lingers longest...
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