hot cross bacon savouries

When the corner shop didn't have any hot cross buns on Easter day, my Mother wasn't put out. 

"Let's have some hot cross bacon savouries instead!" she said, somewhat eccentrically. 

Unsurprisingly, they weren't available to purchase, so we made 'em.  Back home I made a pot of coffee while Ma did the following. If you have an oven, and a spare 7 minutes, I suggest you do the same.

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees, or gas equivalent. 
• Unwrap and unroll some puff pastry (bought fresh, pre-rolled); cut into 6 squares.  
• Over these squares grate some strong cheddar and lay over a rasher of bacon. I favour smoked streaky. We didn't have much bacon to hand, so cut up 4 rashers and shared this out equally.
• Bring diagonal corners of the pastry together (as in the photo), brush pastry with milk and bake for 20 minutes or so.

Enjoy with coffee, sitting in the Spring sunshine, with your parents, if you are so very lucky as to have some.

ups and downs

'Lady's Choice bacon spread (with REAL bacon)' read the alluring foil sachet, gleaming in the tinned meat aisle of a Phillipine supermarket, like a diamond in a diamond mine full of diamonds.

I lay my culinary trust in a nation that has four aisles of tinned meat products. In a Manillan shop, the corned beef tins segued into corned tuna and corned chicken; and all this before we had even hit the Spam. Corned beef was a saving grace in my childhood. Summer meant occasional good weather, which meant rare salads. And as everyone knows, cucumber and lettuce do not a meal make. When my 8 year old self couldn't go near Pilchards or prawns, or the jelly around pork pie, corned beef came to the rescue. And as with all tinned goods, you are only a ring pull away from delicious: Pinoy cuisine makes ready for the apocalypse and is just waiting in your store cupboard.

So it was something of a personal tragedy to find Lady's Choice bacon spread is pretty grim! I am sure I'll have better luck with the corned beef I have lined up next.

That evening I had a hankering for cauliflower. 

My current challenge is cooking hob only, on 3 rings max., definitely no oven or grill. Or microwave or toaster. I have a kitchen handicap that only organising building works can cure...But cauli is easy.

I boiled sweet baby new potatoes, steamed florettes on top for the last 4 minutes, and made a hasty cheese sauce with stingy mature Cheddar and a dab of English mustard.  Why does it taste even better in my favourite dish?