I worked up a hefty appetite this strenuous afternoon, filled with sitting on the couch in my jama pants and woolly jumper, reading newspapers and blogs and watching the ABC’s 24 hour news channel. So with the lack of pre-packaged foods in my cupboard, and my jama pant situation preventing me leaving the house, I had to ‘cook’ something. I call this ‘Carly’s Mystery Cooking Foray’. It could have ended in tears, but it ended up surprisingly tasty. You too can foray into the mystery. For I am sharing the recipe!

My mystery ingredients were pasta (not a mystery), butter, duck rillettes and dijonnaise. The last three ingredients were the first I pulled from the fridge.

It’s so easy I’ve abbrev. the recipe (ie – cut and pasted it from Facebook).

1. Cook pasta in m/wave for 5 mins. I cooked 1/2 cup elbow macaroni. 

2. While pasta cooks, reach into fridge, blindfolded if you like, and grab three items. I chose butter, duck rillettes (potted duck) and dijonnaise. Cut a teeny bit of butter off, about 1/2 cm cubed, and spoon one heap each of dijonnaise and duck rillette (no fat) onto a tiny plate made in a small country town given to you by your parents. Mix around with spoon or knife.

3. Drain pasta and stir in the ‘sauce’ – the hot bowl will cook it. 

It tasted creamy and mustardy. Accidentally gourmet. Yum!

I didn’t take a photo of the end product, as I didn’t predict its success, but it looked a bit like mac and cheese, but with mustard seeds through it. This is a pilfered picture of mac and cheese.

Try it with other mystery ingredients. May not work well with anchovies, chocolate sauce and chutney though 😉

Ladies of the 4 Ingredients fame, look out.