Sexy Salads.

                         On a family picnic. A rather large cheese salad for my baby brother!

I think it's quite clear from the expression on my face that I'm not overly enjoying my salad. When I was a child salad consisted of: lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and spring onions invariably served with salad cream, a boiled egg, a piece of cheese or a slice of ham.

Salads have come a long way since since then thankfully and since we're experiencing some good weather this week here in England I thought I'd share a few ideas.

I wrote a post recently which revealed that ready-made sauces are coming with a warning (from the companies who make them) that they should only be eaten once a week due to the high content of fat, sugar and salt. The same applies to salad dressings, even low fat (higher in sugar) ones. There are so many ready-made salad dressings on the supermarket shelves but they are unhealthy and expensive. All you need is a good bottle of olive oil, a bottle of white wine or cider vinegar and you can experiment with your own fresh ingredients from there.

One of the tastiest ways to serve lettuce is to crumble some strong blue cheese into the shredded leaves, drizzle with honey, add juicy sultanas and pieces of walnut (I break the walnuts into smallish pieces) add some mayonnaise (I make my own but if you find this too time consuming most supermarkets now stock organic mayonnaise). The natural saltiness of the cheese compliments the sweetness of the honey and sultanas and counteracts the blandness of the lettuce (you could also grate a crisp apple into the mix for extra sweetness). This is so easy to assemble and incredibly delicious to eat.

Place a selection of cut tomatoes in a colander and sprinkle with salt, this will draw out excess moisture. Leave for 15 minutes then discard any juice that has come out of them. Make a dressing using 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil and drizzle over tomatoes.

I never understand people who say they don't like olives? If you find them slightly bitter make a marinade with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 dessert spoon honey (I add garlic and chillies too) leave to marinate for a couple of hours before serving.

I love different salamis, so much tastier than boring ham. Look out for smoked salami with comte cheese in a black pepper coating or Salame Fiorentino flavoured with fennel seeds (you can place a few slices in a hot oven for 2-3 minutes and they will crisp up like bacon.....delicious)

                      Salami is a great accompaniment to olives, tomato salad and cornichons

I pinched this next idea from Nigella, buy mini nann breads drizzle olive oil over the surface, add sliced tomatoes (from your tomato salad) and goats cheese or mozzarella, season and bake in a very hot oven for 5 minutes.

                 All a bit more flavoursome and interesting than the salads of my youth

'Every salad you serve should be a picture you have painted, a sculpture you have modeled, a drama you have created.'
- Carol Truax

And what I might have said as a child.......

'It's been a pretty bad day, he said. No point making it worse with a salad.'
- Susan Juby

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

The Invictus Choir.

From a very early age through to my early thirties I attended the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph each year with my father. As the veterans marched, or were wheeled past, the crowd would cheer, cry and clap, we weren't glorifying war, we were ensuring that these veterans weren't forgotten, we were honouring those that had suffered or died for our liberty. What I learnt from the experience was humility, respect and a deep understanding of how privileged I was to have freedom from tyranny.

Yet in an inexcusable betrayal of Britain's brave servicemen and women who risked their lives for our country, an estimated 5,000 veterans are currently forced to live, abandoned and forgotten on the streets, while many of us across the country sit warm and dry in our cosy homes.

Last night I watched the first episode of The Invictus choir. Choirmaster Gareth Malone has turned his musical hand to wounded or sick ex-servicemen and women to create the choir, these former British soldiers will perform at this years Invictus games, an international Paralympic-style multi-sport event created by Prince Harry.

The heroes chosen for the choir have a common bond, they have served their country and carry their scars both visible and invisible. No longer fit for army purpose they have mostly suffered in silence whilst trying to redefine their lives. Rifleman Paul Jacobs was left blinded after being blown up aged just 21. lieutenant Colonel Stewart suffered a traumatic brain injury, he said: 'I went from commanding 160 men to struggling to command myself.' Two ex service women in the choir suffered from severe post traumatic stress, one was angry because she felt so abandoned, as she pointed out, veterans with mental health problems are often an untold story.

Being in the Invictus Choir has inspired these injured and traumatised service veterans and given them back their pride. I was long ago taught the phrase "Lest we forget" a plea not to forget the sacrifices our war heroes made for us in the past. I hope The Invictus Choir will be a reminder of the gross miscarriage of justice for all our heroes if we don't continue to remember and support them.

                                                     The inspirational Invictus Choir

After attending the Service of Rememberance, particularly as a young child when November was invariably very cold and frosty, we would hasten home to one of my mother's warming Sunday roast dinners. The Sunday roast was very traditional in our house, however, occasionally my mother would make a large lasagne instead. Most of us love lasagne but the preparation is quite time consuming, therefore I often make a simplified version, it's certainly not lasagne but it is a very scrumptious alternative.

Easy pasta bake

Brown 500g of good quality beef mince in a large frying pan
Combine 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp light muscovado sugar and a glass of red wine in a bowl,
Add 2-3 crushed garlic cloves to the browned mince, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and stir, add the tomato sauce, bring to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes. I always add a piece of Parmesan cheese (a tip I learnt from my mother) it adds delicious flavour as it melts into the sauce
Cook a packet of pasta (I like shells as the meat sauce fills them making each one a juicy bite) until al dente and drain
Preheat oven 180c/gas mark 4
Spoon pasta into a large ovenproof dish, add meat sauce

Cover with grated or shaved mature Cheddar, cook in the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes

Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, serve with a big green salad

'I know, I was there. I saw the great void in your soul and you saw mine.'
- Sebastian Faulks.

Lest I keep my complacent way I must remember, somewhere out there, a person died for me today. As long as there must be war, I ask and I must answer, was I worth dying for?
- Eleanor Roosevelt.

Love Donna xxxxxxx

One Foot In The Grave.

                                                 My grandmother in her 20s and 80s

 'That's the trouble with you young people, you think because you ain't been here long, you know everything. In my life I already forgot more than you'll ever know.' Neil Gaiman.

It's easy to forget that old people were once young. Since writing this blog I've done a lot of reminiscing, particularly about my grandmother Adelina Barbuti. The photo of Adelina in her 20s portrays a woman I never knew. For a start her hair was loose and a bit wild which was quite unconventional for that era and although women increasingly wore trousers in the 1920s and 30s they were still a fashion statement reserved for the daring. Adelina was apparently always ahead of her time, she had a head for business and worked tirelessly in her and my grandfather's café, along with rearing her five children (one of whom died).

My earliest memories of Adelina are of a little old lady, although of course she would have only been in her fifties. Already a widow, she lived alone and worked part time as a dinner lady. She was a strict Catholic and during my childhood was still part of an existing Italian community, each day she would walk down 'The Cut' a market situated 5 minutes from Waterloo station and invariably have lunch in an Italian café with friends.

In later years her circle of friends dwindled and her desire to be needed became discernible. In fact, as time wore on her loneliness made her something of an anomaly in the family's midst. Amongst our busy, 'interesting' lives we saw Adelina as an inconvenience and a slight embarrassment, she became a nonentity. We forgot that she had once been a lover, a business woman, a wild-haired fashoniata, she became just an old person who watched too much TV.

Too many of us assume that ageing is a naturally depressing time, in fact it is often that the elderly are shunned and condemned to loneliness with days spent with no stimulation or interaction other than the TV. Countless studies have shown that when elderly people are given responsibilities and stimulation the change in their behaviour is astonishing. They suddenly come alive again, because we are all social animals and we need a reason to get up each morning.

Luckily, in my twenties I came to know Adelina anew. Working in central London I spent many nights staying at her flat. My visits would fill her with joy, she would shop for delicious ingredients for our meal, bake a cake, put fresh flowers in my bedroom and make sure the immersion heater was on so that I could have a hot bath. These little rituals certainly brought her 'alive again' and reminded her of the person she once was.

I had many delicious meals at my grandmother's but one of the most comforting was her fish pie. She would buy a medley of fish from her local fishmonger and lovingly put this dish together. This has remained one of my favourite dishes of all time.

Nonna's fish pie

Recipe
Preheat oven to 200c/gas mark 6
In a frying pan heat a knob of butter and fry 2 large onions until softened
Add a small packet of frozen petit pois to the pan and cook for 2 minutes

Grease a ovenproof dish with butter, add 500g of mixed raw fish and the cooled onion and peas

Boil 6 large, peeled potatoes, drain and mash with milk and butter, set aside
Melt 25g butter in a small pan, stir in 25g flour and over a low heat, gradually stir in 600ml milk, contiue stirring
Stir in 80g cheese and allow to melt, pour sauce over fish

Spread mash over the top of fish and sauce
Bake for 30 minutes

'I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.'
- Simone De Beauvoir.

Love Donna xxxxxxx

The Dinner Party.

My friend Gill never makes a big deal over her munificence and talent as a cook. Last weekend Glenn and I had the pleasure of yet another of Gill's culinary soirées which included several courses of her delicious, well thought out menu.

Whilst some dinner party givers relish the prospect of having their friends round and cooking several courses of food, there are others who are lacerated by the worry that a good time will be neither provided or had. Personally I have found that the best formula for me when hosting a dinner party is to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible once my guests have arrived.

In fact, Nigella Lawson says, if it's the cooking that makes you not enjoy giving a party, don't cook! By which she means, do as chic Italians and Spaniards do and serve antipasti boards/tapas, low-effort food which can be prepared in advance then placed on the table as your guests arrive.

Since spending time in Spain I can appreciate why tapas is a popular dinner party choice. There is a certain intimacy and casualness about sitting around a table sharing platters of food whilst the drink and conversation flow. Personally I can never fully relax when serving several courses until every last dish has been served, by which time the party has almost come to an end. A friend and neighbour of mine in Spain is a magnificent cook and regularly invites a crowd of us to her lavish dinner parties, the food is excellent, however, I spend the whole evening feeling her anxiety and rather wish she could just sit down, relax and enjoy the company, as Nigella says, people are out to enjoy themselves: they're not coming to carp at your canapés.

With predictions of good weather here in England, many of us will be dusting off the garden furniture and thinking about inviting friends round for food and drinks. Whilst we were at Gill's she served crab crostini with aperitifs, a simple yet creative and delicious idea that went down a storm.

Finely chop 1 spring onion, fresh coriander and 1 fresh chilli (optional) combine with 300g white crab meat, cover with clingfilm and store in the fridge until ready to serve. Just before assembling, stir in 60ml sour cream and 15ml lime juice. Spoon mixture onto gourmet crisps (such as Kettle Chips or Salty dog, cheap thin crisps won't bear the weight of the topping) or tortilla chips and serve.

In fact, tortilla chips and gourmet crisps are the perfect bite size vessel for all types of toppings and look wonderful served on large platters. A veggie option could be some cream cheese flavoured with Worcestershire sauce and paprika, alternatively crumble blue cheese into some sour cream and top with freshly chopped chives. Tapenade (olives blitzed with garlic and freshly squeezed lemon juice) and pate are also delicious options and are all so easy to prepare in advance.

My friend Clarrie sent me some photos of a piece of pork which she cooked in a slow cooker for 10 hours (literally no work involved.) This would be perfect for a dinner party, just place the pulled pork on a large platter alongside some artisan bread rolls and homemade apple sauce and let everyone dig in!

And of course, who can resist a delicious cheese board accompanied with a variety of chutneys or sticky cocktail sausages (marinade sausages in soy sauce, orange juice and cranberry sauce, I sometimes even use jam) cook in a throwaway foil baking tray and et voila! Effortless but utterly moreish. Make it simple (and delicious) be creative, prepare in advance then put on your gladrags and have fun!

'Planning a dinner party in a way that you're actually capable of getting it done without panicking is important. It's bad hospitality for the host to be freaked out.'
- Ted Allen

Love Donna xxxxxxx

Eat, Drink And Be Merry, For Tomorrow We Die.

'Even if it's being a Beatle for the rest of my life, it's still only a temporary thing.'
- George Harrison.

This year has already seen a spate of departed musicians, actors and entertainers and we've all been touched one way or another. I grew up with Victoria Wood on a Saturday night when my family gathered around the TV to watch her and Prince was my future husband when I was in my twenties. Alas, life is only precious because it ends.

Poet Sylvia Plath wrote about how we are all limited in life, regardless of fame or fortune. We will probably never gain all the skills we want, read all the books we want, visit all the places we want or feel the shades, tones and variations of experiences possible in life. The most we can do is to live rather than exist.

Terry Pratchett once said: 'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called life.'

One of my favourite quotes is: a precondition for eating good food is not eating bad food: for life is too short. Food is one of the simple pleasures which can enhance our lives, there is enough misery around without having to eat a plateful of microwaved processed mush or factory farmed, mechanically recovered meat, full of connective tissue, chemicals and fillers.

This next dish is a prime example of something that is simple to make, inexpensive and thoroughly delicious and comforting, and we all deserve a bit of comfort. As my mother used to say: good food is a cuddle in a bowl.

I haven't specified spices/herbs, just given you an idea of what I used, use what suits your tastes, the whole point of flavouring your food is to experiment.


Aubergine and sweet potato rice

Recipe

In a large pan heat a tablespoon of vegetable or coconut oil, add 2 sliced onions and 1 sliced aubergine, season with sea salt and black pepper and fry over a medium heat until softened

Add 2 par-boiled sweet potatoes, cut into chunks and combine well

Now's the time to add your favourite flavours, I chose turmeric to add colour and flavour, dried chilli flakes, grated root ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce and fresh garlic

Add rice (cooked to packet instructions) and keep stirring over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until piping hot

Transfer to warm bowls (I put a large bowl on the table for everyone to help themselves) scatter fresh coriander on top just before serving

'None of us are getting out of here alive.'
- R. Alan Woods

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

Extraordinary Food Warnings We Should Heed.

Since writing a food blog I have come to realise how little attention we really pay to what we are putting into our bodies. It's interesting that as I scroll through Facebook I can often tell at a glance which of my friends have posted, be it about politics, animals, quotes, fashion etc. We all have our interests and hobbies and Facebook is a great platform to share them with our friends.

Naturally, I share my blog and it's fair to say that I do post lots of food related photos on Facebook which aren't of interest to everyone, however, when I started this blog I knew that whilst not everyone was interested in knitting (for example) our common bond is food, whether we eat to live or live to eat, the basic fact is, we have to eat to survive. Therefore it seemed like a good subject and whilst it all started with simple home cooking, I've gained substantial knowledge about what's going on in the food chain which I'm always keen to share.

I often talk about how cooking has changed drastically from my mother's generation to now, but I guess for many young people they've never known a diet other than processed, ready-made, pre-packed.......

Take for example the modern day version of bolognese sauce which no longer consists of fresh vegetables and herbs and far from being homemade invariably comes from a jar, eg Dolmio or Uncle Ben's. Great time saver, just dollop it in a pan with your meat and hey presto an Italian-themed meal in an instant.

The harsh reality is that our most popular sauces are so high in fat and sugar that they should only be eaten once a week - and that's according to the companies that make them!

Mars Food has announced that it will put a 'once a week' health warning on products used by millions of families. This is in light of the fact that food giants are now under pressure to help head off a global obesity crisis (even though they caused it in the first place.)

Food corporations have always had an overwhelming amount of power over our food supply, sod the cost to our health, they look to maximise wealth for their shareholders. The food giants who have foisted these health problems on us with their salt, sugar, preservative and fat laden ready made food products are now saying we should only be eating them occasionally as a treat.

So where does that leave a generation of people who can't cook? The ones who rely on ready-made sauces because they thought they were authentic and not full of crap. I know of several young mums who have never made a sauce from scratch in their children's lives, yet they're regularly tucking into lasagne, carbonara, bolognese, chilli con carne and oriental dishes such as sweet and sour - all from a jar.

I posted recently about how important I think it is to get to know your spices so that you can make sauces from scratch. It would seem that convenience food is finally under the spotlight and we are going to have no choice other than to knowingly feed our families classified unhealthy foods or learn to cook.

Regular readers will be familiar with my practice of using up leftovers in my hotchpotch pies. Using up leftover meat in Shepherd's/cottage pie was once an ideal way to stretch a small quantity into a large family dish. I don't just use beef or lamb, any leftover meat from Sunday lunch will do, as will a variation of vegetables and spices. I've loosely taken this next recipe from the incredible Spice Men's Shepherd's pie with Oomph and Aah. My point in sharing this recipe is to encourage you to experiment with flavours, we have forgotten how to use natural ingredients and we need to re-think our eating habits. Britain has some of the best produce in the world and now's the time to start cooking with it.

Hotchpotch pie with Oomph and Aah

Recipe
4-5 baking potatoes, peel and cut into chunks, boil for 20 minutes. Drain and mash with butter and salt and pepper
Heat a large frying pan, add a splash of vegetable oil, when it's hot add a teaspoon of cinnamon, 2-3 onions, finely chopped, some grated root ginger, 2 heaped tbsp tomato puree, 1 tsp turmeric, 5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed and 500g of your chosen cooked meat or mince, fry over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes
Transfer to casserole dish and stir, add 100ml water to loosen the mixture (more if needed) cover with the mash topping, place in a preheated oven 200c/gas mark 6 for 40 minutes

At the end of cooking I grate some cheese on top and pop back in the oven for 5 minutes

                        The Incredible Spice Men's Shepherd's pie with minced lamb

'The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.'
- Ann Wigmore.

Love Donna xxxxxxxx

The Naked Chef.

My beautiful mother with her parents and younger brother on a rare trip to the seaside.

Seventeen years ago the BBC aired the first episode of the Naked Chef and thus our relationship with Jamie Oliver began. Jamie's mentor was the wonderful Gennaro Contaldo who happened to be my mother's favourite chef, she bought me his cookbook, Passione, The Italian Cookbook, thirteen years ago and I still refer to it regularly.

              Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef. Working with Gennaro Contaldo, bottom left

Jamie was hugely inspired by Gennaro and went on to write his own cookbook, Jamie's Italy. Whilst travelling around compiling recipes for his cookbook, Jamie really got a feel for why the country has retained its amazing food culture, traditions and family values. He wrote: 'I think Italy has managed to retain a lot of its brilliant things because there hasn't been a lot of choice available. For me this creates quite a profound emotion because sometimes when you have too much choice you can lose sight of the things that really matter - your family, your kids, your health.'

These sentiments echo my own entirely, I remember fondly all the family gatherings of my childhood where my mother and nonna prepared humble food made with love.

Jamie has been a trailblazer for many culinary ideas and he has initiated many campaigns, not least his 'feed me better' campaign which resulted in the public voting him as the most inspiring political figure of 2005. Jamie recently wrote, 'The biggest luxury in life is the knowledge to cook - and it's free!'

Unfortunately, many forgo or are denied the luxury of learning to cook. This important life skill is way down on our agendas and the national curriculum. Consequently, many young people are being brought up on a toxic diet of junk food which we are beginning to realise is impacting on our health, both physically and mentally.

My mother's signature dish was what we would commonly call spaghetti bolognese, Italians would call it ragu. It wasn't the sloppy stuff so often cooked by us Brits, it was dense and flavoursome and once she'd mixed the spaghetti into the sauce in a big pot, she'd set it aside to be eaten the next day as the flavours would be enhanced.

Whenever my brother or I had been unwell, my mother would make steamed meatballs as they were easy on the stomach. I quite often use this method as a lighter version of the usual rich and heavy ragu/bolognese.

Steamed meatballs

 Mix together 500g outdoor bred, lean minced beef with 2 cloves of crushed garlic (I add a few dried chilli flakes but that's optional) season with salt and pepper to taste. Shape into small balls

 Half fill a pan with water and put it on the hob to boil. Cover with a plate roughly the same size as the pan, add a tablespoon of water to the plate, place the meatballs on the plate and cover. Reduce the heat and steam the meatballs for 30 minutes, turning the meatballs halfway through

 Make your tomato sauce by adding a splash of olive oil to a pan, add a chopped onion and a couple of cloves of chopped garlic and fry until lightly coloured. Add 2 400g tins of good-quality tomatoes, stir then simmer for 30 minutes. Add the steamed meatballs and cook for a further 15 minutes

Combine cooked spaghetti with meatballs and sauce, add a splash of olive oil, season again if necessary.  Serve with lots of grated Parmesan.

'There is such diversity in lifestyles, cooking, traditions and dialects. This is why as a chef I find this country (Italy) so damn exciting. You know what?  I should have been Italian. The truth is, when I'm in Italy I feel Italian.'
- Jamie Oliver.

Love Donna xxxxxx