Recipe? What’s That?

As I’m often working at home, I often make dinner too. It usually consists of seeing what meat or fish is in the refrigerator, and pairing that with some vegetables, potatoes, or rice etc. I know I can cook a passable meal, and I almost always use fresh food – you not find me with TV dinners, and packets of ready made frozen gunk to throw in the microwave.

I can’t do recipes either. I’m a ‘throw in a dollop of this, and a bit of that, and a dash of the other’ type. Don’t ask me for quantities. I’m a geek. I only read the manual when it goes wrong. I’m the same with a recipe. I made beer batter for some fresh cod too on the same evening. Some beer, some flour, pinch of salt, a little garlic, some crushed black pepper. I know it was a 12 ounce bottle of beer, because I used it all up, but the other quantities? I haven’t a clue. I just added flour and beer together until it seemed to be about the right consistency.

I know that if I make the batter too thick, it will make a horrible stodgy thick mess all around the fish. I’ve done that in the past.

I know that if I make the batter too thin, it won’t stick to the fish, and then the fish will come out dry, instead of moist and succulent within the batter coating. I’ve done that before as well.

I couldn’t write a blog like Heather Solos’ excellent Home-EC101. No.  Why Not? those recipes for a start. Don’t get me wrong here. I can follow a recipe, and sites like Home-EC101 certainly have some excellent ones. I’ts the forward planning. Although I like to plan ahead with many things, cooking isn’t one of them.

So, having said all that, this was a last minute thought a couple of nights ago.

As my wife, Kathy, was on her way home from downtown, I sent her a Reqall (excellent program we use all the time to remind ourselves what we need to do – works on computer. and Blackberry, ties to Google Calender too).

I had this spur of the moment idea after spotting that the basil we’re growing was rapidly turning into a triffid.

I asked her to get some fresh tomatoes, and some mozzarella. When she got home, we simply sliced the tomatoes, and the cheese, and sprinkled over some chopped  fresh basil, and then drizzled some Extra Virgin Olive Oil on top.  Quick, easy, nutritious, and I’ve even told you how to make it without needing a recipe!