Garlic Toast, and Peaches and Mozzarella Salad

Last night we went out to a concert in London: Jonathan Coulton, supported by Paul and Storm, at Union Chapel. Everything in that sentence was awesome; great gig with an audience I could only describe as exactly my demographic. Having previously only heard Code Monkey and Still Alive, and not yet having finished Portal 2, I felt a little like an imposter fan, surrounded as I was by people wearing shirts from their previous tour in 2008 and a fair amount from Penny Arcade merch. But the acoustics were pretty good, so I could hear all the words, and it was a pleasure following the wordplay and discovering the artists live. I only regretted I hadn't brought my camera, as it was an early gig at a time of year when light streams through the windows well into the evening. It looked rather like this.

Anyway, we needed to prepare something quick before heading out, so I made my scallops with chorizo. I served it with a little bread brushed with garlic oil: soak a couple of crushed cloves of garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes, toast the bread lightly in a toaster, then brush with the oil, discarding the cloves, and grill for 2-3 minutes until golden. I also sauteed some leeks; splashed with balsamic vinegar they made a side somewhere between a hot vegetable and a salad. Sumptuous and fast!

The evening before, we were relaxing from a long week, and we also had very little food left in the fridge. I'd rescued a couple of peaches from the fruit bowl just before they started to mould, and kept them in the fridge. Torn up with a ball of mozzarella and a few leaves of lettuce, and dressed gently with a light vinaigrette, it made a delicious starter before a simple baked potato topped with that eternal fallback, tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise. I saved some grated paški sir for topping the hollowed-out salty potato shells, grated cheese being my favourite topping for finishing a baked potato.