Popped into our local Lidl the other night – I always find the food tastier, it seems to be made for the ‘continental palate’? – to pick up some basics, tuna, juice, cold meat, milk, mayonnaise and so on. The shop was pretty quiet so we were the only people at the till as we paid.
Just as we turned to walk away the girl at the checkout said that there were some items behind us that were going to go out, so why not help ourselves. Now, I guess that one reason that Lidl food tastes better is because it has a shorter shelf life (less preservatives?), so we turned to see a couple of boxes of food items. Most of one box was chilled items, coleslaw, fresh sandwich spreads, and some fruit. The other box contained nothing but bacon.
We wandered over, inspected a few items when Louise noticed that the date on the bacon was the 24th February, 2006. We glanced at each other and I jokingly suggested that we just take it all.
Next thing I know she’s grabbed the box and I’m legging it out of the store after her!
So, we now have 24 packs of bacon in our freezer, um, make that 23 as we had a celebratory dinner with one pack. It’s medallions so not as much fat (good for the heart, bad for the flavour) but hey, it was free! We presume that someone made a mistake, and it’s only now that I’m wondering if we’ve nabbed something that someone else paid for… oh well, their fault for leaving it next to the ‘help yourself’ items.
What we need now is some good inventive recipes for bacon, other than slapping some between some bread, smothered in HP or ketchup of course, or adding some to a stirfry I’m a bit lost. The Danish bacon company has a few yummy suggestions – bacon with apple and pickle, and potato carbonara catch the eye – but we could do with some more.
So it’s over to you, we can manage the basic “scrambled egg and bacon” type dishes but I’d love to try something fairly inventive. We have pretty good stock cupboard and I don’t mind buying in special ingredients if a recipe warrants it, so the more original the better. Any other ‘bacon inspired’ tips are welcome.