How can a salad have so many calories and other motorway tales...?

Being avid travellers it is not surprising that we have visited more motorway services, truck-stops, coach parks and bikers’ bars than we have plush restaurants and I have a wealth of tales and recommendations but, as services go, the one at Michaelwood on the M5 (between J14 – 13) is definitely the worst on record. Fair enough, I have been at coach stops in India where the ladies’ is a communal hole in the ground but, with a well-designed Shalwar Kemeez, that’s not as bad as the tip that was Michaelwood.

I know it was bank holiday Monday but then so did the manager and, given the travelling distance from Devon and Cornwall to said services, any manager with an ounce of credibility would have readied him or herself for a very busy day. They would have made sure that there were enough staff on hand to clear-up after the trillions of ignorant families who happily throw their waste on the ground (believe me I watched one lady do this in-front of her grandchildren). They would have ensured that the toilets were kept spotless – even if that meant more regular checks. They would have put extra staff behind the counters so that queuing time was less than fifteen minutes. Anyway, I’m ranting and that’s not my story.

            What I really could not believe was the rather tasty looking shrimp salad that I found in the chiller cabinet. Not wanting a large dinner, given that the most strenuous activity we had planned for the rest of the day was the 179.3 mile journey that we had remaining – and we would be sitting down the whole time, I looked instead to pre-packed and light nutrition. Thankfully nutritional guidelines were included. The salad itself looked tasty albeit that, as it was pre-packed and on a motorway services, there were very few shrimps included and the salad ingredients themselves were rather sparse. It certainly didn’t weigh much, fortunately I checked out the calorific value before purchasing – a whopping 900 calories per pack! What was in the dressing I ask? Lard? Mmmm – now there’s a recipe I could look out for – lard vinaigrette.

            Speaking of recipes, I promised this one – but please don’t tell my pigs. Now I got the inspiration for this from Nigel Slater but I don’t have any of his books, I just happened to be at my sister’s house when he was on television and this is what he cooked – it was so simple I could remember it till I got home. However I have found a link to the recipe which I’ve included below, as ever though I’ve added a few bits of my own.

Recipe: Sausage meatballs with mustard and basil

Source: Nigel Slater

Ingredients:

Pasta (I like shells with this recipe as there’s lots of thick sauce)

Sausage meat (I have my own but if you don’t then you’ll need to squeeze it out of some tasty sausages)

Olive oil

A few spoons of Mustard (I use Dijon and wholegrain together)

Fresh Basil (heaps of it)

Double Cream

White wine

Here’s what I do:

Flour a plate and wet your hands (never flour your hands you just get a sticky mess). Roll the sausage meat into tiny balls; use just a bit more than a teaspoon so that the ball still fits in the centre of the palm of your hands. When rolled you can collect them on the plate but don’t let them stick together. Now’s a good time to put your pasta on. Gently fry your meatballs in a splash of oil (how much depends on how fatty your meat is) – you may need to do this in batches and brown them as much as you can, so they’re almost cooked through. Remove from the pan and add a good splash of wine (a very good splash) and scrape the pan down so you get all the crusty bits into the wine, return the balls to the wine to finish cooking and reduce the wine to just a thick sauce at the bottom of the pan. Add your mustard(s) giving it a good stir – do this to your liking, how much will depend on your tastes and the strength of the mustard(s) you choose. Finally add your cream, loads of torn basil and season (really you do not need salt – your sausage and mustard has more than enough, but you will want black pepper). Check the taste and thickness and serve with your cooked pasta.

            Last time I served this I served it with the Madeira beans I told you about. They really cut through the creaminess of the sauce but you can also serve with salad or if you’re really pressed for time just wilt some spinach into your pasta before serving.

            Enjoy. With wine – of course.