Friday brought bare cupboards, exhaustion, and a reluctance to go to the shops. I fished out some butterhead lettuce, a can of tuna, and a few cherry tomatoes, poured over a simple balsamic dressing, and served with what can only be described as grated carrots with mayonnaise and toasted mixed seeds.
This wasn’t enough for a tired and hungry belly, but luckily the good folk at M&S had sent me on some of their new Italian bread range to sample. The collection includes “Stecca” breadsticks, a focaccia-style bread made with olive oil and topped with tangy green and black olives or sweet cherry tomatoes (€1.75, 125g); the Sfilation, a rustic-style bread finger in green olive or four cheese flavours (€3.29, 180g); and delicious dough balls, made to an authentic Italian ciabatta recipe and available in green olive, tomato and basil with semi-dried Sicilian cherry tomatoes, and basil and four cheese (all €3.29, 180g).
SnackBox and I were particularly enchanted by the topped focaccia, which easily served as the centre-piece of our very makeshift dinner. Ours was topped with pepperonata, red onion, Gruyere cheese, and green olives, and was light, airy, and deliciously authentic (€3.09, 260g), but there’s a range of other flavours. Topped with a little olive oil, we both felt surprisingly full after our mini Friday feast.
The Italian collection is on special offer until the end of April: pick up any two items for only €4.25.