Crimson is the colour that my heart pours out to you

[venta]

Last night I was rummaging about in the cupboards wondering what else I could put into my vegetable bake to make it look more like a meal and less like something constructed out of things I'd found in the back of the fridge.

I unearthed a tin of spinach (in brine). Yes, I know that sounds vile, but I like spinach. And since the blood donor people sent me packing today with mutterings about low iron I figured it couldn't hurt.

Actually, I don't know quite what possessed me to buy it, because the picture on the tin is possibly the least appealing label I've ever seen.

Now would you, in your right mind, think "ooh, that looks yummy!" and buy anything with this label?



No, thought not. I particularly like the "look what you could have won" touch of including a basket of fresh spinach. Ironically, it did say "serving suggestion" on the label. I suppose they never claim that it's a good suggestion.

Really, the problem is that I'd never serve spinach by itself in a tureen. I'd put it in something else. But I suppose there is a limit to what you can put on labels - showing a vegetable bake with a dark green layer in it is probably held to be pushing the limits, since the poor ignorant public might think the tin contains the entire bake.

Do packets of lasagne habitually show entire lasagnes ? The one in my cupboard has no picture at all. Presumably the thinking is that if you're buying things which cannot be eaten in isolation, you know what you're doing and don't need pictorial guidance. Has anyone got any idea how much leeway there is in the "serving suggestion" guidelines ?

More importantly, can anyone find me a tin of spinach with a nicer label ? Not that I'll stop buying Tesco's - it tasted perfectly fine - I'm just curious.

Note for the mother: have you ever tried putting other things into Canadian Casserole ? Today's had one layer each of spinach and grated cheddar, sliced carrot and chopped portobello mushroom in addition to the usual. Oh, and some wholegrain mustard dobbed about the place. It worked quite well as a main dish.

Note for everyone else: Canadian Casserole is a vegetable side dish of some repute. Fill a casserole in the following manner: layer of thinly sliced potato, layer of thinly sliced onion, small blobs of butter/marg, sprinkling of seasoned flour, repeat until you nearly run out of dish. Finish with a layer of potato, pour some milk over it, put in the oven a couple of hours at Gas 3. Great with bacon chops.

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

And also right, this is where I'm confused.

When I do something like that with potatoes, the potatoes don't come out cooked. I pour not milk but runny white sauce over the top, and leave it in for about 30 minutes. Am I:
-Using too thick a sauce
-Not cooking it for long enough
-Other?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'd expect "not cooking for long enough" (or possibly not hot enough, but it doesn't need to be very hot, so I'd rule that out unless you're cooking on Gas 1/2 or something).

Mine came out after about 70 minutes yesterday owing to us being in a hurry, and though it was edible the potatoes would have liked longer.

Am an ad hoc cook rather than an expert, though, so could be talking out of my proverbial.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Yes. At school I think we parboiled them first and did it for 30 to fit into an hour's lesson, so I have always done it that way, and if they are left even a little bit raw in the middle they are still not cooked when they come out after that long.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell, you had much more useful cookery lessons in school than I did. A double lesson spent learning how to make a tossed salad :(

A school report once criticised me for having "a flippant attitude" towards cookery, sorry Domestic Science, lessons. Too bloody right, they were a complete waste of time and effort.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

o_O
We did bread, and cheese and potato pie, and pasta bolognese (unfortunately the teacher missed out the vital part of that lesson, which was to tell us about water in goo-like-foods, and that if you have not enough of it your food catches fire, whereupon my food caught fire and she shouted at me for not telepathically reading her mind and knowing what I ought to have done about it), and cake, and soup. Then I had to take all these things home on Reading Buses with psychopathic drivers who turn corners at 40mph while you're still trying to climb up the stairs.

My brother did, as well as these things, fresh fruit salad. Mm, creative.