A Wild Young Under-Whimsy

Mel's cookery corner. You must understand that I have a terrible diet. If left at home to my own devices, I live on ham and cheese toasties, tinned spaghetti, cereal with tinned fruit and yoghurt, pasta with pesto and canned tuna stirred in, and peanut butter or vegemite on toast. Oh, and cups of tea. Many, many cups of tea. That's when I have food in the house - otherwise I have been known to resort to cuisine de sept-onze. I could go into more detail, but you would respect me even less. At least I no longer eat Mi Goreng noodles after having a revelation that they were not "gore-mett" - they actually tasted kinda disgusting.

So I was exceedingly proud of my rustique chic lunch today - so proud that I will give you the recipe!

Delicious Glamour Salad Prepared from Incidental Ingredients

From Your Own Food Supplies
1 red capsicum
1/2 onion
1 celery stalk and some young celery leaves
crumbly vintage cheddar cheese
marinated artichoke hearts

Steal From Housemates
1 frozen white bread crust
minced garlic
minced ginger
olive oil

Cut the bread crust into four soldiers and then cut each soldier into four bite-sized croutons. Chop the onion into small pieces. Put the onion, oil, garlic and ginger in a frypan and saute until onions are soft, then turn down the heat and add croutons, stirring so they're well coated with onion mixture. Add a little more oil if pan sticks.

Leave this for a bit and cut the capsicum and celery into bite-sized pieces, placing them in a lovely simple white bowl. Cut a few thickish slices of cheese from the block - they'll probably crumble like a Flake bar but chop them roughly into squares. Add these to the bowl. Fish out some artichoke hearts from the jar and cut them in half if they look a bit big. Add these to the bowl. By now the croutons should be nicely browned - add them and the onions to the bowl, too.

Find a small jar with a lid and concoct a salad dressing to taste from whatever condiments are to hand. I used the oil from the marinaded artichokes, balsamic vinegar, whole egg mayonnaise, American mustard and salt and pepper. Shake it together in a jar. Dress and toss the salad. Photograph it for Marie Claire Sharehouse cookbook before eating.