I'm not going to list them all but I would say at least 15 spread over 2 fridges. Some are banging on the fridge door to get out but I'm not going to let them wander around the house by themselves at night. Then there is probably another 5 or 6 in various freezer compartments or the small freezer in the cellar.

I made some Taroz tonight. What may you ask is Taroz? (pronounced 'ta-rots') The origin of the dish is Valtellina, further up the river feeding Lake Como towards the Stelvio Pass.

Peel about 8 medium sized potatoes and cut into pieces. Prepare about the same volume of green beans. Boil together in salted water.

Capture any odd bits of cheese that are trying to escape from the fridge. Slice off and mould and skins and chop into small cubes. A couple of cup fulls or so should be enough. Put a good couple of knobs of butter, enough to have 1 third to half a cup when melted and put it in a small saucepan with one or two cloves of garlic, skinned and cut in half.

By this stage the potatoes and beans are probably cooked. Drain most of the water and then roughly mash them together. Not enough to form a purè like mashed potatoes but reasonably well to be amalgamated in small pieces and forkable, if that makes sensel. Light the gas (or whatever) under the butter. You want it to start to brown but not too much so keep an eye on it while you do the next step.

Put a layer of the mash in the bottom of a Pyrex oven dish, or similar. Sprinkle a good hand full of the cheese cubes on the mash and then another layer of potato bean mash, more cheese and so on till you get the final layer of mash.

Pour the browned garlic butter over the top and put it in the oven preheated at about 180°. Leave it in the oven for about 10 or 15 minutes.

Optional: add some chopped bacon, a can of white beans before mashing,aand at the end you can sprinkle some grated parmesan over the top before putting it in the oven. Can be left in the oven till it starts to brown a little.

Without the chopped bacon it is a vegetarian dish. It can be eaten as a meal or as a side dish.

As you can see the quantities are all very approximate. You can sort of work t out as you go along. The above would be good serves for four people.

Peter

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