Healthy Fast Food?

We rarely eat fast food in this house. Put that down to meanness, not liking the smell of the places that serve it, and preferring healthier options. That's not to say that I despise the foods that fall under the fast food umbrella (a brolly made of burgers then?). 

When the Dear Leader was in the Great Wen recently I took the opportunity of making myself some relatively healthy hot dogs with all the fixin's, as we say in deepest Fulwood. Of late I've been baking a lot of bread, so in that day's run I included two torpedo rolls that were still warm from the oven when the meal hit the table. They were adorned by a pile of fried red onions, made with a minimum of oil; a massive bowl of fresh-made coleslaw; and some very spicy chili beans. All told at least four of my 387 a day. Even the hot dogs were relatively healthy, some proper German frankfurters with 70% pork, bought from Waitrose (I am a great label reader - the best ones I could find in Sainsbury's last time there were less than half that meat content). 

It should have been a nicer meal than it was. That sort of food - for filling up and pigging out - needs to be eaten with friends or family, partly to slow down the gorging process with conversation. Cooking for yourself can be pleasure, but not that sort of cooking, if that makes sense. It ended up feeling rather sad, and I ended up feeling very bloated. Contrast that to a meal served up some time back (that I may have mentioned previously), made for the Dear Leader (may her foes writhe in torment) and Sternest Critic. 

The focal point of that meal was chicken not a million miles away from the KFC style, though mine was baked or roasted, depending on how you look at it. The breadcrumb coating mimicked the Colonel's formula (you can't go far wrong with lots of ground fennel seed, clearly the dominant flavour in the big-o-bucket). If memory serves it was also accompanied by lots of coleslaw, not one of those micro-containers you get with KFC. I will recall that meal with great pleasure; maybe it is the approval thing; maybe just sociability. The hot dogs, however accomplished in their way, were missing the ingredient of company; perhaps I felt guilty getting outside such a hefty feast. The next time the DL is absent I'll keep it a bit more sophisticated.