Polenta Pasticciata, Apple Puree, Tomato Gnocci

#that awful time at the end of the month when you've run out of money and have to root around your cupboards for something to eat.
oh and also #relying on a coworker to bring in banana bread so you can have breakfast.
Yes I'd sunk quite low last week, low enough to try some recipes that wouldn't normally appeal. Sometimes I wish I was more like the boyfriend, he can have cereal (or sweepings from the floor, as I call it) for dinner 7 days a week and not get bored. He appreciates good food, but in the way you appreciate a Picasso painting - it's nice but you can live without it. I can't.
This week we had Polenta Pasticciata from The Silver Spoon. I got all four of the Phaidon magna opera (that's plural for magnum opus, learn something every day, I would have thought 'great work' would be singular in all cases... Did you know that plural for cul-de-sac is culs-de-sac?), that is before the Indian one came out, and never really bothered to explore them properly. Here's what I discovered recently, most of the recipes call for simple cheap ingredients you probably already have, the reason is probably that they were originally meant for the housewife to use on a daily basis. I'll try and not be put off by the size next time I'm in dire straits.
On Thursday I made the polenta, which is formed out of polenta, dried mushrooms, bechamel sauce and cheese. It was very heavy and bland and I sent myself to be without dinner.

After a pathetic, picky eater amount of leftovers the next night I decided to cheer myself up with a simple dessert of Apple Puree with Creme Fraiche and Caramel from Moro East. For a kilo of a mix or cooking and eating apples you add 250g of sugar, cook down, liquefy and drizzle with caramel. I only had 200g of sugar and even so this was painfully sweet.
Disappointing, but looks really pretty. By the way, I have no shame in photographing everything I make. Very occasionally I'll try and style it out, but until I start getting comments reading "fugly pics LOL JK" I won't be going to town.
Or maybe it's just my perspective that's the problem, when you're down the outlook on everything is grim. When it won't stop raining and you realize that none of your shoes are waterproof. When things are not going well at work. When you finally do your wedding guest list and come to terms with the fact that you have too many friends and won't be able to host the reception at your house. That's when you can start getting really depressed.

The topping on this particular shit cake was Sunday night's meal of Tomato Gnocchi with Mascarpone sauce from a ridiculous book I bought for the pictures, Hot Tomatoes.
Written by a chef who has access to all kinds of different varieties of tomato most of the recipes in this book are out of bounds to mere mortals, but one or two call for relatively easy to find ingredients.

For the tomato gnocchi you combine potato, butter, egg, breadcrumbs, flour and vast quantities of tomato paste, then drench in a sauce of cream, wine, stock and mascarpone. If you've ever thought that tomato paste always has a chalky, toothpasty after taste you shouldn't make this recipe. The taste of whatever thickener is used in your tomato paste will be so pronounced that no amount of cream will disguise it.
The conclusion is, #manage your money better, and it's true what they say that you can taste anger in someone's food, you should only cook if you're in a good mood.