Catching up on what’s happening in life with your significant other over an easy-to-make and eat-with-minimum-fuss meal, needs nothing more than soup and a nourishing sandwich. You can get all of the ingredients at the deli counter of your supermarket; sliced ham, tinned beef consommé, sliced bread and a few vegetables. All you need do is gently fry the ham slices in a little oil, warm the bread and butter it, slice a cucumber and tomato, heat up the soup and set it all on a tray - and enjoy!

Or you can chat to each other as you cook the meal together - more or less from scratch.

A clear consommé soup can be made from a few beef or pork ribs or chicken wings boiled briskly for an hour or so along with a diced onion, a bay leaf and 5-6 crushed garlic cloves. It gets even tastier if you add all or some of the following; carrot, leek, turnip and a handful of barley. If you prefer a vegetarian soup just omit the meats and increase the amount of added vegetables. A true consommé should be a liquid only soup with all of the meat and vegetables filtered off. If you prefer a more substantial soup you can mash or blend the veggies along with the broth. My Granddad always added a shot of whisky to his consommé during the cold Scottish winter.

Deli ham comes in a variety of guises, apple or honey roasted etc and in thick or thin slices. To make a substantial sandwich chose the deli ham that suits your taste - with or without honey roasting or any other version - trim off the outer edge if necessary and sauté in a frying pan with 1 Tbsn of olive oil over a medium heat for 2 minutes. Turn over once, cook for a further 2-3 minutes and place on pre-heated or toasted bread, add a little butter, a few slices of cucumber or tomato, a second slice of bread, press down to close and cut into two pieces. Serve along with the soup and a few thin matchstick slices of cucumber. on the side.

If you enjoy deli ham do take the trouble to heat it steaming hot prior to eating - it’s easily done in a skillet with a little olive oil, I think it’s nicer and probably safer to eat this way.

Commenting on deli cold cuts in a recently issued report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service, their spokesman Neil Gaffney advised “Thoroughly reheating food can help kill any bacteria that might be present. If you cannot reheat these foods, do not eat them.”

And if you want to take a deli ham a step further you can cook up a ham and pea soup, it’s a warming and comforting dish for any time of the day, for lunch or dinner or perhaps for a late night snack too.

To make enough for 4 servings (two meals for two people) you will need 1 medium sized onion, 5 cloves garlic, 2 sticks of celery, 3 ozs frozen peas, ½ lb of deli ham, 2 ozs dried split peas, 2 pints of stock or water with chicken cube, salt and black pepper. Dice the veggies and cook in 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter until they become translucent (see through) - on a low heat that should take about 6-8 minutes. Add the stock, the diced deli ham, split peas, frozen peas (still frozen), finely diced celery and a bay leaf and cook for 1 hour. You can put half of the soup into a blender and pulse for a minute at this point before adding back to the rest of the soup in the pan. This will give the soup a thicker consistency. Check the seasoning and serve with buttered toast - or if you have a congee shop close by - with some their ready made fried bread sticks - hey, who said you have to do all the work yourself!