As promised, here's my next offering for Food Top Trumps. Ladies and gentlemen, and, probably not boys and girls, I present to you my lovely friend Carole's Roquefort Sauce, served here with steak and chips.
Aside from being one of the loveliest people I have been lucky enough to become friends with since becoming a mum, being French, what Carole doesn't know about food and glamour, probably are not worth worrying about. Yes, yes - blatant national stereotyping, I know. But what the heck. On with the food.
If my memory serves me right, when Carole served us this dish at her house, she didn't do so with oven chips. Or steak, for that matter. Her sauce was drizzled over some perfectly cooked duck breasts, with some new potatoes and steamed vegetables on the side.
But, real life in our house is more likely to involve oven chips along side steak, because they involve teeny tiny amounts of effort once the children are in bed, (as opposed to the admittedly small amounts of effort involved in scrubbing some potatoes and boiling them). As for the steak - on this occasion, that is largely down to how easy it is to get hold of it, compared to duck breasts. That and the fact that I LOVE steak. As long as it is nice and pink inside, that is. (Apologies to the vegetarians reading this!)
So, onto the scoring!
1. Popular with my girls and children in general. Er, well, as I have already said this is a meal we have without children around, and so you'd guess the score for this is not going to be high. However, as the middle girl (who loves stinky cheeses) and her little sister both love having the leftover sauce on pasta the following day, I am giving this a 3.
2. Easy and simple recipes I can remember and don't tax my brain or take too much time to make. Definite 10. I am not going to insult your intelligence with a recipe for this. Simply heat up the cream and stir in the broken up cheese until it has melted. There could not be a simpler route to a delicious dinner.
3. Are made up of things that I usually have in the cupboard and that don't cost too much. Okay, so I'll admit, I do not keep any of the ingredients (apart from the broccoli and oven chips) in the house. And steak is not exactly the cheapest meat. However, the recipe is so simple that I can remember the ingredients on a whim whilst already at the supermarket, and, given this falls into the category of being a special dinner that would replace going out to a restaurant, I am giving this an 8. It works out as about £7.50 per head, which is a lot less than you would pay eating out.
4. Vaguely healthy. Hmm. Broccoli - big yes. Another super food (like the oats in last week's flapjack). Steak - yes. A lean meat, containing loads of iron and not cooked in loads of fat (I smear a bit of olive oil over mine before cooking). Double cream and Roquefort? Okay, so I am struggling here. Calcium and protein versus probably a lot of artery clogging potential. However, it's not like anyone is proposing you eat the entire pan of sauce you have made. Given how this compares with other meals which we might also treat ourselves to (such as Chinese takeaway), this one gets an 8.
5. Yummy to eat. Taking into account the fact I have already allowed for children not eating this as a meal, this deserves a 10 on the yummy front.
TOTAL: 39 points.
I find this total surprisingly low, given how much I personally love this meal. But, I guess that is where the different categories of Food Top Trumps introduce a vague element of balance that goes beyond a simple `Does Janet like it lots?' judgement.
Thanks to everyone who commented so enthusiastically about Food Top Trumps when I posted about it on Facebook. I would love to hear from any readers with their own top trump recipe to share - either for you to write your own post with your scoring, or, that you would like me to try and give a score to. Let the food fun begin!
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