Savoury Supper

Quite often, by the time I am walking home from work, other people are cooking their suppers. I love to walk along and smell all the savoury scents wafting from steamed up kitchen windows. One of the best compliments Carl has paid my cooking was when he came through the door and exclaimed 'I really hoped that was our dinner I could smell, and it is!'.

The supper that I have bubbling on the stove right now is not the most fragrant of dishes, but it is one that I love to cook, and I like to think that I would like to come home to. I could have sworn that I had shared this recipe with you before, but I have trawled my archives and cannot find a trace of it. So, do forgive me if I am repeating this, but here is how to make

Rice, Bacon and Cheese Savoury Supper Dish

Cook this when the afternoon melts into the twilight of evening earlier than you can believe is possible. Better for a day with brisk breeze or a hint of a chill in the air. Listen to Radio 4 while you are making it, and wear a flowery pinny.

Put 3 eggs on to boil (you can get away with 2 if that is all that you have in your pantry)

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan gently fry an onion until it is soft.

Throw in some snipped up bacon. My original scribbled recipe calls for 7oz, but usually I use 2 rashers, sometimes 3.

When the bacon smell is wafting around your kitchen, stir in 8oz of brown rice, then follow this with 1 1/2 pints chicken stock. Give it a good stir about, then put the lid on, turn the heat down low so it is just simmering, and put the timer on for 40 minutes.

By now, your eggs should be boiled, so run them under the cool tap, and save for later.

Make yourself a cup of tea, and go and curl up on the sofa with a good book, going through to stir the supper from time to time so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

When the 40 minutes are up, turn the rice mixture into an ovenproof dish, and set the oven to a medium heat.

Peel the boiled eggs and slice them, then arrange on top of the rice.

Melt 1/2 oz butter in a small pan, and stir in 1tbsp of flour. Then slowly, slowly, add 1/4 pint of milk. Stirring, stirring, bring it to the boil, bubble for a few moments then turn out the heat. Season with pepper and nutmeg, and pour this over the rice and eggs.

Scatter 3tbsp breadcrumbs and 5oz grated cheese over the top of the sauce.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or you could grill it until the cheese bubbles.

This makes enough to serve two for supper tonight, and then will serve two again a few days later, this time perhaps with a sausage or two by the side. When you are washing up, don't forget to dry up using a tea towel that makes you smile! I think my most favourite tea towel is one that I was given when I got married, that has all the different wedding anniversaries on it. One of you who is kind enough to come and read my little blog asked about my idea of embroidering your intitials into the corner of your tea towels. The way I do it is with rather simple and rustic cross stitch, although having done a short course in crewel work, I did do one in satin stitch. You back stitch the outline of what you want to embroider, and then make stitches between each edge like the rungs of a ladder, only much closer together. That takes a lot of time though! For more tea towel loveliness, see here

http://brocantehome.typepad.com/brocante_home/2005/01/save_our_teatow.html

and here

http://aliciapaulson.com/Pleasant_Kitchen_Dishtowels.pdf