Adapting my European ways

Cooking has proven tough so far - the Aussie dollar is incredibly strong at the moment, and added to the distance from any other civilisation, everyday grocery shopping is expensive! Especially for imported European goods. My favourite examples of ridiculous prices:

• Creme fraiche - 75p in Sainsbury's in London - $9.95 in Sydney (about £5)
• Tin of tomatoes - 50p in Sainsbury's - $3.50 in Sydney (about £1.75)
• Mozzarella - real mozzarella appears non-existent except in posh delis

Tonight I tried to recreate my favourite ever recipe, honed in my 4 years of working late:

Linguine with Blue Cheese and Spinach (serves 1)

• 1/4 pack of linguine
• 50g blue cheese (I like gorgonzola piccante best, but normal gorgonzola, dolcelatte or even stilton would work)
• 1 tbsp creme fraiche
• 1/2 pack of pre-washed spinach

Boil pasta in salted boiling water and whilst waiting for it to cook, put the spinach in a colander. Once pasta is done, pour contents of the pan over the spinach to cook, reserving 3 tbsp or so of the cooking water. Return pan on the heat, and gently melt the cheese with creme fraiche and the cooking water to form a creamy sauce. Add pasta & spinach to sauce. Mix. Eat in front of telly.

Unfortunately, given limitations of ingredients, my version tonight had spaghetti instead of linguine, broccoli instead of spinach, cream instead of creme fraiche, and not enough cheese as it's so expensive. But there is Rick Stein on the telly so I'm happy.