Old Mother Hubbard's Sunday lunch

The cupboard was very bare so she went to the freezer instead. She found a single piece of cod and two salmon steaks. "Aha" she thought, "these will defrost quickly". The children weren't so keen and started squabbling about who would have the cod (salmon is pesce non grata here) and generally mithering about being made to eat fish. And then Child 1 had the bright idea of dipping the fish in breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan and shallow frying it. We did, and it was an unqualified success.

The magic ingredient

Cod and salmon in crunchy parmesan breadcrumbs

I had lots of home made breadcrumbs in the freezer (the by-product of making my own bread with tough crusts), and used a couple of handfuls mixed with a handful of grated Parmesan. I dipped each piece of fish in beaten egg, then dragged it through the breadcrumbs mixture, before frying in about 3 tablespoons hot olive oil for a few minutes each side.

Make it quick

Faster Pasta Carbonara

Fasta-pasta-carbonara

For 2, I used:

225g pasta, cooked
150g bacon, chopped (or use lardons to save even more time)
1 clove garlic
2 eggs
150ml double cream
80g grated parmesan (or my favourite, Grana Padano)

While the pasta is cooking, fry your bacon in a little olive oil until it is slightly crisp around the edges. Drain off excess fat, add garlic and cook for a couple more minutes. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and cream, adding plenty of ground black pepper and most of the cheese. Drain the pasta and put it in the pan with the bacon and garlic. Add the cream-egg-cheese and stir well over a low-ish heat until heated through. Serve with remaining grated cheese.

To follow, we had tinned peaches with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream - a poor man's Poire Belle Helene. My favourite fruit and ice cream pudding is a good banana split, the success of which hangs on the quality of the chocolate sauce. I made two today in the interests of research. One, made with melted chocolate, turned out like Ice Magic (remember that?). The other was a super quick and easy Nigella recipe: Place equal measures (I used 4 tablespoons) of cocoa powder, sugar and water in a pan over a low heat and stir until the sugar has melted and there is a bit of bubbling going on. I later added a dollop of golden syrup. It is quite intense, so a little goes a long way. She says it will keep 'for a long time' in the fridge.

Pears, ice cream and chocolate sauce