Waiting for pay day polenta pie

It's painfully, excrutiatingly close to pay day. The challenge is to cook something a tad more photogenic than yesterday's visual disaster without spending any of your not-yet-hard-earned euros. You have bugger all in the pantry. Obviously you make polenta pie.

You lovingly layer any not-yet-perished mushrooms, cover with some polenta cooked up in broth, add diced tomatoes and frozen salmon triumphantly defrosted and cubed, squeeze over some lemon juice, season with s+p and incredibly old dried herbs, add slices of mozzarella and then locate 7 pathetic basil leaves found on a plant close to death. You know your mother (who will be seeing this far away in Australia!) would approve of the existence of something green that is not mould. You weep with pride.

You bung in the oven and serve up your baby. And Mr Big decides he doesn't like polenta.

You tried. At least pay day is on its way.

B