Day 299: back in my life

It’s rather exciting having semolina back in my life, I must say. As a child, it was one of my favourite desserts and it will always remind me of my being at my Grandparents, or (the occasional good part) of school dinners. I liked a bowl of it with a dollop of raspberry jam (seeded, I couldn’t stand the seedless, syrupy-sweet versions) in the middle. But it’s been a long, long time since I’ve eaten it and I’m not all that sure if I’ve ever even made it myself, to be honest

Anyway, here it’s loaded with parmesan (slightly thicker than how I ate it when I was younger) and served with a divine, citrusy umami goodness: Day 299 is Nigella’s Garlic Mushrooms with Chilli and Lemon spooned over a luscious Mock Mash. I adore semolina and I live for mushrooms so this is essentially dream food.

Nigella’s Garlic and Chilli Mushrooms with Mock Mash

Leftovers: I didn’t really have enough Mock Mash leftover to justify putting the oven on to make a cheese-topped bake as suggested in the recipe headnotes, so I added milk and butter to it and heated it until hot right through, resulting in a bowlful of velvet-smooth, semolina porridge-type goodness. To this bowl, I added the reheated mushrooms, which I fried in a little butter until brown, adding a good spritz of lemon juice to lift the sticky bits and give a little sauce. I devoured this for lunch.

The recipe for Nigella’s Garlic Mushrooms with Chilli and Lemon can be found in Nigellisima; the recipe for the Mock Mash can also be found in Nigellisima and on nigella.com (link below).