Hi there,

Its been a busy old month and now I’m the other end of it I have found myself with a bit of time on this fine Saturday. The sun is shining but my stomach is grumbling and something special is needed to repel the impulse to take a trip to the local fast food establishments. After all, Christmas is pending and the indulgence to follow is enough of a reason to deter oneself from eating fast food.

So, the regimented search through the cupboards and fridge commence knowing that despite a love for food it surpasses my cooking skills by light years. Luckily I spy a nice sized potato and this means one thing; Jacket Potato. My mind then carries out the following calculation, Potato+Time = Oven baked jacket potato with Tuna and Cheese and its on. I do love a jacket potato but doing them in the microwave is not the same, they deserve to baked and I mean baked proper!

However, hunger is making timing of the essence so in the microwave it goes. The clever beast tells me it needs 7.5 minutes for this 400g potato so on it goes. Just when it thinks its done, its out and in the preheated oven for an hour to give it the oven baked touch it deserves.

Now the waiting game begins so the radio goes on and its time to prepare the Tuna and Cheese for its hot, melty end. I’ve always loved tuna and also dolphins so its pole and line caught and tinned in spring water and tipped in a bowl. It needs a fork run through it to break it up for maximum exposure to its best pal, mayonnaise (sorry to say ‘it has to be Heinz’) add a liberal dash of vinegar and black pepper and it gets mashed.  Next up the Mature Cheddar is grated to within an inch of its life making sure its going to be enough for under and above the tuna (obviously!) to take it to the next level.

Time’s up, open the door and watch as it appears in a billow of steam looking like your mate after returning from a year in Dubai without packing sun cream. Grab a knife, cut through the crisp shell and the lack of resistance from the fluffy joy inside meaning that its perfect. Apply the first coat of cheese, scoop the tuna on top and finish off with the remaining cheese to make the dream come true, but wait….resist the urge to eat it and put it back in the oven on its plate.

Give it  5 minutes and pull it out of the oven reborn as a thing of beauty as tuna and cheese have become one. Pure and simple satisfaction on a plate and you deserve it! and you take your time to savour it as you know the plate is scorching from the oven and won’t let you down.

There you have it, simple Saturday lunch. Roll on dinner time!

Cheers, Paul.