In more prosperous times I?ve eaten in one or two fine restaurants ? Rick Stein?s in Padstow, the Hotel de Bristol in Paris, to name-drop a couple, but while I?m unlikely to ever have the dosh to dine at The Fat Duck or at Heston Blumenthal?s other restaurants in Bray or Knightsbridge, I might just manage one of his new main courses for one from Waitrose.
Heston?s new Dine In range of meals for one has just been introduced and the nice Waitrose PR people arranged for me to sample a couple of main courses from the range ? all priced at ?4.89.
Fish pie and shepherd?s pie were the two offered and the others in the range are lasagne, chilli con carne and cauliflower truffle macaroni cheese, plus side dishes of ?ultimate mashed potato? (?2.99) and carrots with caraway butter (?2.69).
M?s son Ian was eating with is that night so I added a fish pie for one from Aldi (?1.69) to provide a contrast in price as well as flavours. I should add that we did not make Ian eat the cheapie while we gorged on the gourmet stuff ? we all tried a bit of each, along with our own steamed carrots and cauliflower.
The Aldi dish looked bigger but was shallower and as it turned out each dish weighed exactly the same ? 400g. Shepherd?s Pie sounds somewhat prosaic for a Heston dish but, as you might expect, it was not your average shepherd?s pie.
Under buttery mashed potato with a touch of parmesan which you could taste and a mustard crumb, which you couldn?t, was a rich ragu of minced lamb, shredded lamb shank and vegetables.
The ragu was moist and had a depth of flavour that was pleasing, with what seemed to me a hint of liquorice ? scouring the ingredients I found star anise, which explained it. The sauce had a sweetness I wasn?t too sure about ? the others loved it.
Heston?s fish pie was my favourite ? big, generous prawns, hefty chunks of salmon and smoked haddock, in a creamy sauce all under that excellent mash again. Lovely.
Aldi?s fish pie was bound to struggle a bit in comparison since it cost well under half what the Heston dishes cost. The filling was pollock in a cheddar and parsley sauce that was quite creamy and tasty, though the pollock didn?t have much character and the mash tasted a bit powdery. Even so, it was a decent dinner for one and very good value.
Having said that, left to my own devices I?d grill two (thawed) Waitrose frozen tuna portions in a home-grown herb crust ? cheaper for two than even the Aldi fish pie for one and a brilliant main course with veg and new or jacket potatoes. Ten minutes under the grill makes it speedy too, though herb chopping takes a wee while.
We always enjoy a bit of chocolate with coffee after dinner and tried a new one from Lindt, new to me at any rate, which was Lindt Excellence Milk Chocolate with a hint of sea salt. We bought ours at the seaside, appropriately enough, in a bargain basement shop in Sheringham for just ?1 for 100g, but it?s also on offer now at Waitrose for ?1.37, down from an rrp of ?1.83. Quite delicious and just a bit different.
For an even bigger chocolate bargain, Yum Yum in Middlegate, Newark, has been selling 100g Milka bars of late at two for a quid! Try the Extra Cacao ?dark Alpine milk chocolate? ? with 45 per cent minimum cocoa solids, or the Milka Caramel ? both are, as Harry Hill used to say ?like heroin ? very more-ish,? especially at this price.
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