Are we at war?

In an age of the finest this, the freshest that, the most sustainable/seasonal, it's easy to forget that food wasn't always this way. In the olden days, when food was simply fuel chefs were in the kitchen not on the telly, we ate out of tins.

Now, I love tinned food. With the exception of peas, which are rank. I have many happy memories of eating entire tinned meals on holiday with my dad and sister in Wales - tinned tuna, tinned potatoes and tinned carrots. To this day I love love love tinned carrots and tinned green beans. If you're feeling low on a Friday night, a tin of rice pudding (eaten cold, straight out the can) is just the ticket. Beans (eaten cold, straight out the can) and spaghetti hoops (eaten cold, straight out the can) are still some of my favourite things. A friend of mine, whose family is so genteel she used to be told off for pronoucing garage as garridge, has fond memories of her mother offering tinned peaches and evap for pudding. Which I also love. And my father in law has a thing for those tinned puddings you boil for hours. Also which I love.

Which brings me to my subject, in a rather roundabout way. Sometimes we just forget that old fashioned, simple things can be nice. I think I mentioned Jelly Whip a while ago - a pudding served by a friend of my mum's. I thought I'd have a go at this on Saturday night while Glutton Boy was out, and very delicious, in a kind of muted, manage your expectations kind of way:

take one small can of evaporated milk and leave in the fridge for a couple of days.
in the morning, whip it up in mixer until thick and creamy
Make up a packet of jelly, any flavour and add to the evap.
Whip until thoroughly mixed and creamy again.
pour into a serving dish and leave for about 3/4 hours.

The top of it becomes all moussy and the bottom half like creamy jelly. It won't win any prizes or anything but, at a push, when the shops are all out of hand made profiteroles, it isn't half bad.

Lots of love

GG