You'd be mad not to adore convenience food. Just make sure it's top-notch, writes Hugo Arnold
Convenience food has taken a thrashing. We, along with the UK, have apparently become hooked on industrially prepared food, vacuum-packed with a pretty picture to show us how to serve the contents, lest that skill, too, has evaded us. I have to put my hand up: I adore convenience. It seems mad not to. Nutty chickpeas, earthy lentils, sweet and fiery roasted peppers, some of the world's best tuna: my convenience food comes in tins, not plastic trays, and tends to come not from huge factories but from small, family-run companies that insist on the best.
A scratch lunch the other day was tinned Ortiz tuna (now quite widely available) spooned on to grilled sourdough toast with some roughly chopped capers and parsley and a serious glug of olive oil. A similar tin provided a first course for the non-meat-eater who tagged on to a supper party the other night. While we struggle through to summer, the peppers in my salads come from a tin, not the vegetable rack. Two pieces of cod the other night topped a mound of tinned lentils that I had warmed slightly and infused with just-wilted shallots and toasted cumin and fennel, with a pinch of sweet paprika.
In truth this route relies not just on tins but also on bottles. Chargrilled artichokes liven up a plate of Parma ham or stuffed peppers; the peppers will also add colour to a rocket salad sprinkled with toasted pine nuts and chunks of avocado. When the quality is this good, who's fussed whether it's from a tin or a jar?
As a schoolboy I would feast on cold baked beans and crackers with hunks of cheese. I still adore the beans, although they are now more likely to come infused with goose fat, spices and vegetables. I bought 10 jars of them last summer in France for what seemed like nothing. They have provided endless suppers through the winter, either by themselves or alongside steak or fish.
Sardines were a schoolboy passion too. Then they came from supermarket shelves; what I eat now come from a delicatessen. Slightly more expensive, but they're the sort of food that sets my heart racing when I open the tin. The serving suggestion on the outside is limited to a picture of what is inside. Maybe I've just grown up, but this is all the guidance I'm looking for.
RECIPES
All recipes serve four
SALAD OF TUNA WITH RED ONION, AVOCADO, GREEN BEANS AND CAPER RELISH
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1½ lemons
½ red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp well-rinsed capers
1 avocado, diced
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander
1 red chilli, trimmed and finely chopped
olive oil
4 handfuls green beans
400g good tinned tuna
Soak the mustard seeds in the juice from half a lemon. Combine the red onion with the black mustard seeds, lemon juice, capers, avocado, coriander and red chilli. Add enough olive oil to form a loose sauce.
Cook the beans in well-salted boiling water until just tender. Drain, allow to cool slightly and toss in the sauce.
Add the tuna, toss lightly and serve with the relish and a lemon quarter on each plate.
LAMB COUSCOUS
800g neck of lamb
2 onions
generous pinch saffron stamens
1 stick cinnamon
1 bunch coriander, picked
2 tbsp butter
8 baby carrots
2 courgettes, trimmed, in 3cm pieces
1 400g tin chickpeas, well rinsed and drained
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes, strained
500g couscous
Cut the lamb into six-centimetre pieces and rinse well. Combine in a saucepan with the halved onions, half the saffron, the cinnamon, the coriander stalks (tied together) and a seasoning of salt and pepper.
Cover with water, bring slowly to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for an hour, skimming as necessary. Remove and discard the onion and coriander stalks.
Melt half the butter in a saucepan and add the carrots along with three tablespoons of water. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the carrots just start to soften.
Add the courgettes, chickpeas and the remaining saffron, cover and simmer for five minutes; then combine with the lamb and tomatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to sit.
Combine the couscous with an equal quantity of boiling water in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave for five minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork, stir in the remaining butter and season with salt.
Pile the couscous on to a deep serving plate or bowl, spoon the lamb and broth over, and scatter on the coriander leaves.
ROAST SEA BASS, TAPENADE AND BRAISED FENNEL
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and sliced thinly lengthways
olive oil
2 lemons
1 tsp fennel seeds
4 fillets sea bass (about 180g each)
4 garlic cloves
small jar roasted red peppers
small jar tapenade
bunch chives, finely chopped
Combine the fennel with four tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of one of the lemons and the fennel seeds in a saucepan.
Toss so the oil is well distributed, then braise slowly over a low heat for 20-30 minutes or until the fennel is cooked.
Turn your oven up as high as it will go. Lightly coat the sea bass in olive oil and season well on both sides. Heat a dry ovenproof pan or heavy roasting tin; when hot, lay the sea-bass fillets in it, skin side down. Transfer to the oven and roast for 10 minutes or until cooked.
Spoon the fennel on to four plates, scatter with a few roasted peppers, lay the sea bass, skin side up, on top and put a teaspoon of tapenade on each one.
Scatter with the chives, then serve, putting a lemon quarter and a little of the oil used to braise the fennel on each plate.