Be more of a tit

Lunch: Chorizo & pepper ciabatta with tangy BBQ mayonnaise

While I sat in my garden last Friday lunchtime eating a tortilla de patatas, my chair pulled around to face the sun, I watched the blue tits at the bottom of the garden.

They’re back in the birdhouse again and mummy & daddy dive in and out, taking it in turns to feed the chirpy chicks, for hours on end. One in, one out. They don’t stop.

I’m pretty sure they can’t look at this seemingly endless task as something they need to do. It can’t be a job on their list of whatever a tit needs to do each day, they just get on with it, instinctively. They are being a tit, what else would they be doing?

Why are some things that we do tasks and not just part of our daily being?

Of course, I already know the answer to that. It’s about what we get out of it, whether we choose to do it or it’s imposed on us, how hard it is, and how we feel at the time.

If we want a good lunch, we need to make it. Or get someone else to.

If I ever find myself thinking, I can’t be bothered to make it, if I see it as more of a chore than a choice, I’m going to try being more of a tit!

Just a sandwich

Chorizo & pepper ciabatta with tangy BBQ mayonnaise

It’s never just a sandwich.

Bringing the smoky BBQ flavours to a lunchtime butty.

Ingredients:

• Ciabatta rolls

• Yellow pepper, cut into strips

• Chorizo, cut from a ring and sliced lengthways

• Rocket

• Mayonnaise

• BBQ sauce

• Flatleaf parsley, finely chopped

• Chives, finely chopped

• Red onion, finely diced and softened in boiling water

• Jalapenos

To make:

First, get the chorizo and peppers into a frying pan to cook slowly so they don’t burn. I’ve dry-fried them, as the chorizo releases plenty of oil while cooking.

While that’s cooking, prepare the sauce. Combine the mayonnaise with some BBQ sauce, the fresh herbs, onion and jalapenos. Add a little of the Jalapeno brine to loosen the sauce.

When the chorizo is cooked and the peppers are slightly blistered and soft, assemble the sandwich. Layer up the mayonnaise, rocket, chorizo and peppers into a split ciabatta roll.

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Need some ideas for the rest of the chorizo? How about chorizo & kale hash, chorizo & piqulli pepper roll, or chorizo & manchego toastie?