Nigella Eats Everything

In a week of Valentine’s Day and Pancake Day, here I am offering you peanut butter fudge sauce.

It’s a poor replacement, I know. But I hope it counts, dear reader.

During these ceaseless months of lockdown, I have become very attached to my food. I’m sure we all have. Instead of kissing the person you love on Valentine’s Day at least you can eat a loaf-tin of no-churn, brownie chunk ice cream. Or spread homemade lemon and lime marmalade on your morning toast. Or make peanut butter fudge sauce three times. Or avoid the bathroom scales.

I’m reading cookbooks in bed again, so that’s a lockdown plus. They’ve been badgering me for months, eager to be bookmarked with post-it notes, and I finally caved as we all do with our beloved pets. With all this nightly food education, I’ll now have some fascinating tid-bits to share when we can actually see people again. (Did you know that you should probably be salting your meat a day in advance?)

As you can tell, I’ve been looking for the highlights. You can find some everyday, it builds memories that otherwise will smear and blur in this Groundhog-like daily routine – for instance, I don’t know how old my sourdough starter is. Worryingly, I started it around a week ago. So I’m only working with seven or eight days here.

The said peanut butter fudge sauce, the one I made three times, has been a highlight. It was poured over little date and banana puddings and served with custard. I swirled it into that brownie chunk ice cream. It now sits in a jar in the fridge, ready for brownies, milkshakes, or to pour over sundaes when lockdown is a little too much and you need to find your highlight.

It’s here in a jar.