The Beginning

This is the start of a journey.

I cooked spaghetti Bolognese for me and the kids last night.  It's one of their favourites, and I always cook too much. That's deliberate, but I found myself with more than the usual vat of leftovers this morning.  With kids heading to their mother's house tomorrow, I was left wondering whether to live on Bolognese for the rest of the week, freeze portions or convert some into lasagne.

While pondering this, I noticed the "Silver Spoon" on my kitchen bookshelf, a book that looked appealing in a charity shop, but has sat there unopened quite for some time.  This book claims to be the "bible of authentic Italian cooking", so perhaps there are some good ideas for tackling a Bolognese mountain.

Sure enough I find a recipe for "Eggs en cocotte with Bolognese meat sauce".  Now that's a revelation!  Something that combines last night's leftovers with an egg in a (possibly) quick meal for breakfast-with-a-difference.  I'm hooked, but several things happen:

1. I've got three bored kids chasing me for ideas for what they are going to do for the day, where the hairbrush/charger/slipper has been left (as if I know), who's turn it is to choose on Netflix (as if I care), whether they can have chocolate spread again (they know my answer ...)
2. I quickly read the recipe, create necessary concoction and dump in the oven while juggling coco-pops, drinks spillages and lost hair bobbles
3. After kids finish eating, I retrieve my exciting new concoction from oven to discover an uncooked egg mixture sat on top of cold Bolognese sauce ... and throw the whole lot in the microwave in exasperation!
4. While concoction is microwaving (and now-fed kids are relaxing), I discover that "eggs en cocotte" should have been placed in the pre-warmed oven in a pan of boiling water (not cold), the egg is simply dropped between layers of Bolognese (not whisked) and I've really missed the point of the recipe.

Hmmm. But after the ping of the microwave, I retrieve a pot of warm Bolognese surrounded by a fluffy egg casing, that is now cooked, tastes gorgeous, and is unlike anything I've ever eaten before.  Maybe I've just invented breakfast Bolognese souffle!

This was the start of an accidental journey, based on grabbing a recipe book in frustration, mis-reading the recipe, failing to cook it correctly, being distracted by other "normal life", and then finding a way to rescue the meal ... with a pleasing result.  After enjoying this unique creation, while flicking through the Silver Spoon, it struck me that there were several hundred pages (in this one recipe book), with 3-4 recipes on each page, quite a few with variations ... and a mad idea struck me.

If I started from the beginning, I would probably never manage to cook all these recipes.  So ... if I can't ever manage to cook all of these recipes (from this one book) ... that means that ... I never need to cook the same meal twice.

That's an interesting challenge ... let's see how it goes!