rose petal jam

For Sunila

I call this dish Sarah’s Sunny Squash because of the vibrant, sunny look it has and the fact that it always cheers me up. Something else which is sunny and always cheers me up is Sunila. But alas, Suni is in Sri Lanka for the foreseeable, which is quite a long way to go for dinner as you will appreciate. Which is a shame as the meals we have cooked for each other and shared are memorable. I remember a particularly lovely lunch she made me for my birthday whilst she was recovering from Chicken Pox – a velvety, rich soup made with this very squash and a wonderful salad with beetroot and pine nuts. And a tray full of candles to make like a birthday cake, along with a bar of green and blacks chocolate. 

One of the nice things about my friendship with Sunila is that we didn’t meet until well into adulthood – I was 30 and newly married and somehow you feel you get to a stage where you have collected all your friends and everyone else after that is an aquaintance or a nice person to work with. Looking around at those that I know, finding true, kindred spirit type friends in adulthood is fairly unusual. So when she turned up to work at Live Theatre in 2004 she was like a little surprise! When we worked together she often used to enter the building through the window of my office and pause to chat on the window seat before she went off to her office for the morning. I have a very fixed memory of her sat there, sun shining from behind, with a big grin on her pretty face and some sort of naughtiness or mischief in her eyes. Anyone reading this who know her will know that look well :-)

Sunila and I have spent many afternoons, evenings, morning and everything in between happily discussing, agreeing and disagreeing about all matters food. (NB we do talk about other things too, boys, port, art). We are both greedy, adventurous and realise that food really is the stuff of life and no matter what is happening to either of us, we always have food to think about and eat. So nothing is really that bad :-)

I miss you Sunila, this is for you.

Serves 4

2 small red onions, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

a teaspoon of chilli flakes (or less if you are a bit fragile)

a tablespoon or so of olive oil

a large butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped into mouth sized chunks

some vegetable or chicken stock

a few dollops of crème fraiche

2 handfuls of coriander leaves, roughly chopped

naan breads or brown rice to serve

 

gently fry the onion in the oil until its soft and translucent. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and stir in for a min or so. Then add the squash, slightly increase the heat and cook the squash until there are some slightly brownish bits and the outer squash has softened a bit. Then, add just enough stock to almost cover the squash and onion. Cook on a low heat until the stock has reduced and the squash is tender. Add the crème fraiche and stir in along with the coriander. Serve with the bread or rice. So simple but so nice.

wasaaaaaaaaaaaaaabi peas

Do you remember those awful ads for Bud where frogs said "whasaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap". Horrible. Stupid men everywhere said it, over, and over, again.

Anyway, no recipe, just an excuse to show you wasabi peas - have you had them? If not, get some, they are really, really delicious. Just be careful - too many in too short a space of time can give you what is now know in our house as 'wasabi nose' which is a bit like ice cream nose, except possibly more painful. Just one of the side effects of being greedy!

ready meals

Don't worry, I haven't gone mad and started buying actually ready meals. Even though I have been really busy recently and the last week in particular has been a total whirl, I haven't been that bad!

This is one of the beauties of batch cooking and leftovers. Here we have Peposo, a Jamie Oliver recipe (love him, did I say already? Yes? Oh good) from this book which I batch cooked a while ago along with red cabbage and some root vegetable mash, both of which were salvaged from cooking too much.

I thought this meal, grabbed from the freezer one morning last week and gratefully heated and eaten that evening, fitted in well with my current crusade to cook economically and not to waste food. The Peposo uses shin, a very cheap and tasty cut of meat and the rest, well, cheap as chips (as Jamie would say) and all vegetables bought from my local green grocer.

And when you are sat slaving away at your desk, mobile in one hand, mouse in the other, the thought that this is waiting for you at home is just enough to get you through.

ching ching ching!

I love Christmas. Scrap that. I ADORE Christmas. What's not to love? I am totally bound up in the rituals of it all and am currently tracking down the perfect advent calendar for me. (For some lovely advent ideas have a look here). I don't like the chocolate filled ones, they are just not right, neither are the ones with branded characters, cartoons etc. I like a cardboard one with a beautiful festive scene and lovely little illustrations underneath every window, preferably of candy canes, puddings and angels. My all time favourite one was a Woodmansterne one with beautiful angels flying in a night sky. My personal all time low was one Dominic bought me in sheer desperation from a religious book shop, one with a nativity scene. The illustrations were really rubbish (the donkey looked demented) and behind each window was a pointer to a bit of the bible to read. I know Christmas is about Christ, the clue is in the title, but I am not especially religious and like to see it more as a yuletide celebration, a sort of shining beacon in the darkness and chill of deep winter. I realise the fact that my favourite one featured angels is a massive contradiction to what I have just said, but there you go. I am quite a contrary girl. And anges are pretty in a way that demented donkeys and sinister looking magi are not.

Anyway! The best bit of Christmas is of course the food. Food to me sums it all up, its about bounty, sharing, pleasure, decadence and comfort. A Christmas without Christmassy food is not worth considering. I am not one of those people who wants to go abroad somewhere hot for Christmas and eat Thai curry instead of a plump bird with all the trimmings. That would not do at all. I might consider Christmas in a colder-than-ours European country, perhaps somewhere like Sweden or Switzerland, where I am betting they do Christmas really, really well on the culinary front.

There is a little part of my brain permanently dedicated to Christmas food planning, but the planning really starts in earnest about now with the Christmas editions of all the food magazines that I buy.

The picture which opens this post is of my December food magazine file. In a way that is very uncharacteristically organised of me, I do keep my food magazines in files according to the month of the year so they can easily be referenced in future years. The Christmas one is full to the brim and I think I need to either get rid of some of the older ones (like the ones from the 90s maybe!) and make room for the new ones, or start another folder!

One Christmas magazine that I will never get rid of though is this one.

I bought this about 4 years ago, and now I drag it down from the box every year and spend a good hour re reading the wisom of Saint Delia. It is a classic and has some fab recipes in, including one that I have adapted into my own Christmas chutney 9recipe coming soon). I love the way that she says it goes well with 'assertive cheeses'. Everytime I read it I imagine chunks of stilton marching across the table and demanding to be accompanied!

I know people think Delia is perhaps a little dull, and certainly some of her programmes would suggest that a charisma bypass has infact been performed, but for simple, no nonsense and traditional recipes that don't fail, she cannot be beaten. Anyway, she has her wild side as can be seen here when after too many sherrys she gloriously abandoned her bland image and came over all firey - come on Delia!

So, here you have it

this years magazines, a glass of rioja and candlelight. Looks like I am in for a festive evening...

strange fruit

When it's cold and wet outside, there is something very cheering about unusual and tropical fruit. I think it was Nigel Slater who said that he can't have Christmas without a pineapple. Anyway, the weather has been really cold here oop north (and elsewhere I imagine!) and yesterday I felt miserable as at no point did my feet ever feel warm which always makes me a bit cross and whingey. But look what we found in Tescos! Instant cheer!

Custard apples! (otherwise known as Cherimoya).

I hope that you have had one of these, they are gorgeous. The inside flesh is all custardy and sweet and sticky and as you can see they are very beautiful to look at too. If not, grab yourself one and find out for yourself. We generally find them in asian foodmarkets and the like but supermarkets do get them in sometimes. Like all of the fruit sold in supermarkets, they aren't ripe yet and if you also find one in Tesco, chances are it will be rock hard (or total mush - nothing in between is allowed it seems!). Wait until it yields slightly to a gentle squeeze, rather like you do with an avocado. Actually, the flesh texture is not disimilar to avocado, it has a similar butteriness going on, but is stickier and more silky textured. They have a very slight cheesiness to them too which sounds weird but trust me, is not.

I have no recipe for them for the simple fact that I cannot see any better way to serve than with a knife for opening, a spoon for scooping and a bowl for spitting all of the glossy black pips into.

Enjoy!

'like the sea'

The subject of this post is what I say to anyone who asks me what an oyster tastes like. Isn't that true? I have tried really hard but I can't come up with a better description. They taste like the sea! I introduced Mum and Maggie to them recently when I ordered them for lunch when we were all in Edinburgh and they agreed. They do. (BTW we ate in The Ship in Leith which doesn't appear to have a website but is very very good and if you are ever in the area do pop in as the food was really memorable).

Anyway, this isn't a recipe, just some nice pictures of oysters and my favourite place to get them! We are going to the cottage this weekend and I will be nipping into Whitby to visit this wee stall.

What's that? You can't see the seafood? Oh Ok then...

Not that much better but they were busy and whilst happy to be photographed by their greediest customers (we go a lot) we didn't want to interupt their busy trade.

However we did buy these...

Aren't they GORGEOUS?

Now it is of course lovely to eat Oysters in slingbacks with a glass of champagne at the ready. But there is something unbeatable about eating them, with a squeeze of lemon, sat on Whitby Pier with the wind in your hair and the sound of seagulls in your ears, watching the boats go by.

Sit. Slurp. Sigh.

So if you are ever in Whitby, walk down the harbour on the side opposite the Church and Abbey, past Woolworths, towards the pier. Next to a Gyspy fortune telling caravan with a mysterious scarved lady you will find Nobles and three freshly shucked osyters for £2.

small beauties

Note: the title of this entry is stolen from the very lovely and sadly departed Julia Darling Read her poem of the same title via this link.

Just look at them!! I should have put this post up weeks ago as that is when the berries were picked, but it just never happened. I wondered whether it was now past bramble season and I shouldn't blog this, but the bushes on the country walk path at the weekend said no, so here we go.

Blackberries, or brambles are a childhood thing for me. We used to go along the banks of the Leeds - Liverpool canal, carrying empty margarine tubs and collecting as many of these as possible. God the scratches we used to get! By the end of the afternoon we all looked like we had had a cat fight with a vicious moggy! Also, our lips and hands were stained purple as I think Helen and I ate as many as made it into the tubs.

Afterwards they were transformed into jam, puddings and even wine (strictly for the grown ups though!).

And in honour of all of this I created a new and unbelievably easy pud, which would even cut the mustard at a casual dinner party I reckon.

Bramble and Ginger Mess

ok, so it's not even a recipe!!

Put together brambles, creme fraiche and smashed up ginger biscuits and serve in pretty/ attractive glasses. I used Tescos organic ginger biccies which are very oaty so it gives a nice wholesome edge to the dessert. If your berries are very tart, as they can be, then sprinkle them with sugar about 5 mins before combining with the rest. Ooh! and a slug of ginger wine at this point also adds a lovely booziness to the proceedings. It's just lovely and takes 2 mins to assemble and serve and as you can see looks very sweet.

flavours of autumn

I love autumn and everything about it. The colours, smells, that snappiness in the air, the strong sunshine followed by the weaker, watery kind of late afternoon, the mist in the mornings, the return of porridge (more later) ah…was there ever a better season than autumn? It’s rich and abundant and there is so much that is yummy in the produce of the season. It’s a time for cosy food, eaten by candlelight as the rain lashed down or the fog rolls in.

There’s no need to let healthy eating go completely out of the window, but it is the season to indulge in hearty food, soul food that takes the chill from your bones and gives you the strength and fortitude to face dark early mornings, commuting in the wind and rain and the start of Christmas shopping (first present bought yesterday – Helen, you are a lucky girl!)

So, what did I make for dinner last night? Well, I am having a love affair with sage right now, it’s the very essence of cold weather cooking for me and I think would be my dessert island herb. I love the robust, aromatic flavour and the way that it stands up to fierce temperatures and even crisps up for a deeper, more mellow flavour. So here we have it.

Pork and squash tray roast with pancetta and sage.

Serves two

Two pork chops or loin steaks
6 slices of pancetta
16 sage leaves
half a medium butternut squash, chopped into inch cubes
a red onion, cut lengthways into 8 chunks
8 garlic cloves, still in their papery skin
some olive oil
salt and pepper
splash of dry sherry
100ml chicken stock

pre heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Take your pork and put 4 leaves of sage on one side of each. Lay the pancetta over, holding the sage to the meat and then flip over in your hands, add 4 more leaves of sage and wrap the pancetta round. The pancetta gives a rich saltiness to the dish and really perks up the soft pork flavour. Place in a strong roasting tin, crossed pancetta side down. Add the squash, garlic and red onion to the tray, placing around the meat. Drizzle the veg with olive oil and season the whole thing with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for about 40 mins or until the veg is soft and the pork is cooked. It’s nice if you manage to get some crisp edges to your veg but depending on how much juice comes out of the pork and the squash this isn’t always possible and isn’t necessary.

Take the vegetables and pork out of the tin, put on a plate and keep warm back in the oven. You should have the juices, the garlic and oil still in the roasting tin. Squash the garlic so the roasted cloves pop out of their skins. Pick the skins out with fingers. Lick fingers. Put the tray over the heat on your stove top. Add the stock and the sherry (about 50mls will do) and simmer. The sauce will become syrupy very quickly. Remove from heat.

Arrange the meat and veg on warmed plates and pour over the gravy. Serve with mulled red cabbage. Eat at the table, by candlelight, with no TV. Have a conversation about autumn flavours and get planning your next meal!

What is your favourite autumn meal?

oh cherry oh cherry oh baby

dedication: this post is for Carli, who I reckon would have loved this as much as me!

Look what was drink of the day in Becketts in Whitby when we were staying at the cottage the other week! A cherryade float! As soon as I read the blackboards there was only one drink for me. It was a lovely sunny day with blue skies and breezes and therefore the perfect occasion to indulge in such a seasidey (is that a word?) and nostalgic drink.

I first had an ice cream float courtesy of Emma Sawula when I was about 9 and so she was about 13. It was a Pepsi float and she couldn’t believe that I had never had one before! I had never heard of such a thing but it was amazing and I have never forgotten it. Years later I ordered one for Emma’s daughter Zoe, when she was about seven and she must have said the word ‘delicious’ about 12 times whilst drinking it.

The brilliantest (another made up word) thing about floats is the way the fizzy pop reacts with the ice cream to produce a larva-like foam which overspills the glass. Magic!

The best ice cream float is, in my opinion, one made with American cream soda. The combination of the sweet, creamy fizz and the sweet vanilla ice cream is gorgeous. But this cherryade version was absolutely sublime. And so pink! It has to taste good when it looks as good as that.

Becketts is a great café in Whitby. As well as amazing homemade cakes and very nice panini it sells second hand books. I found an immaculate, one previous lady owner copy of Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book there, which is a fantastic summer read. And it was just £2.50 to me – bargain! The books are mainly from the lady who owns and runs the café (and more importantly makes the cakes, like rhubarb and custard cake, white chocolate and vanilla, Greek honey, almond and orange…). She’s a big reader and once she’s done with a book she pops it on sale. Great idea!

So, if you’ve never had an ice cream float, now’s the time, just before autumn arrives! Grasp one of the last days of summer with both hands, pop a summer dress on and mix yourself a little glass of seaside heaven.

Fill a nice tall glass 3/4 full with the fizz of your choice. Now is not the time for sophistication or adult tastes. Think good old coke, dandelion and burdock, Tizer even!

Add a scoop of plain vanilla ice cream. No need for a posh kind, good old Cornish vanilla or a similar supermarket soft scoop will do. You MUST have straws otherwise you won’t be able to drink the damn thing. And a spoon. Watch the foam rise and fall over the side of the glass. Sip, slurp, scoop, lick and enjoy.

It's all about the passion

I know it's unfashionable to say so these days but...I love Jamie Oliver. I cannot understand why people feel the need to knock him all the time. (oh ok, the endless Sainsbury's ads probably had a LOT to do with it!)

He is talented. He's a nice bloke. He is PASSIONATE. To me, life is about passion. You have to have some for something (and hopefully someone!) or otherwise, what's the point? Watching Jamie the other night on his new tv series was like biting into one of his home grown tomatoes, full of juice, flavour and sunshine. His enthusiasm for his tomatoes, his energy in showing us all some wonderful recipes and his passion for his little bit of England and his love of pottering about just made me want to ruffle his little head - bless him! I looked at his website today and there is an excellent video podcast of him barbequing a leg of lamb...mmmm. Go on, admit you love him too and have a look...