Day seven

It's been quite a few days since I updated - last week was a busy week, but when do I have a quiet week?! So far I'm not missing meat or eggs at all, maybe fish a little. But I don't really feel like the full effects of the fast have kicked in since I visited my MIL's twice and both times was given cake. Of course it would have been rude not to eat it...

The biggest challenge was for sure the tiredness factor. A day in the office followed by a day of back to back meetings in Edinburgh and then a very busy Saturday all contributed to an overwhelming reluctance to cook, or even frankly to think in a more than 'ug, food' way about supper. The result was a pizza and less than fantastic salad on Thursday, a collection of rather better salads with cheese, bread and olives on Friday, and an Indian takeaway last night.

The plain fact is that cooking without a central piece of meat or fish, or even eggs, is simply more complicated. You have to think more about the balance between vitimins, carbs, proteins. You need more ingredients in a meal to make it a stimulating and satisfying dish. Without that dominant dish you need to cook more in general so as to have several equally weighted plates of food, all of which should hopefully complement and spark off against each other. When I'm feeling well rested and in the pink I find such a challenge stimulating to my culinary juices. But once the pressures of two jobs, travelling and so on kick in I can easily lapse into the kind of foodie somnulence I did last week. The best way I can think to deal with this right now is to make ahead some 'ready meals' to keep in the freezer - more on this later...

For the moment here are a couple of good things I cooked in the last few days:

Chargrilled Aubergines - slice an aubergine lengthwise into half centimetre thick slices; lay them in layers in a colander, sprinkling with salt as you go, and leave for 20 minutes. Heat a ridged griddle to high and drizzle on some garlic oil. As you cook, rinse the slices VERY briefly, pat dry and cook on the griddle on both slides until striped and soft. Once you have cooked them all dress the hot aubergine slices with extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest, finely sliced fresh oregano leaves and Saba or sweet balsamic. Leave to marinate for a while and serve at room temperature as part of a mezze or on good chewy bread with crumbled goats cheese.

Apple and port salut salad - core and thinly slice a small tangy apple, and sprinkle with lemon juice. Slice some red chicory leaves lengthwise, and a stalk of celery into thin half moons. Add to the apple slices with two handfuls of baby leaves. Toast a few walnut or pecan halves and cube some port salut or similar cheese. Dress the salad with virgin rapeseed oil and saba, add the cheese and nuts and toss again. Serve with slices of toasted focaccia.