If this blog has any 'theme' it is this: I understand that people have less time for cooking! In fact for many people spending time in the kitchen has become tedious, the kitchen has been shunned in favour of more modern pursuits!
Whether you fall into the category of 'live to eat' or 'eat to live', 'eat' you must! We all have wider choices regarding what we eat, we can eat well or we can subsist on a diet of snacks, ready meals and takeaways.
When I was a child my mums kitchen was a tiny galley kitchen, yet my brother and I would squash around a little formica table doing our homework whilst mum prepared dinner. We would often have to chop vegetables or be involved in the preparation, with hindsight I realise mum was teaching us to love and respect food from an early age. Her tiny kitchen, invariably with condensation running down the tiny windows, pots and pans bubbling on the stove and no room to swing a cat, was the hub of our house!
To enjoy cooking I feel we must firstly love our kitchen space. My kitchen is by no means 'state of the art' however, it's pink because I love the colour, I picked up an old table and chairs from a council tip and painted them pink. I've strung fairy lights around my work surfaces, I've created an ambiance that makes me want to spend time in my kitchen and also makes other gravitate towards it.
Cooking can be enjoyable, for me there is nothing nicer than losing myself on a rainy afternoon chopping, stirring and baking to the strains of my favourite music, fairy lights twinkling all around me, tantalising aromas wafting around my kitchen. All the better if Bert, Glenn or a friend are sat at my kitchen table chewing the cud. And friends visiting with children, that takes it to a whole new level of enjoyment! Phones and computers are put to one side and before they know it they're elbow deep in flour, butter and eggs, baking with children will never lose its appeal!
What I hope to bring to the 'cooking' table is not an endless round of random recipes requiring vast quantities of ingredients. I tend to use the same ingredients where possible and adapt them to each recipe, my cooking is experimental, I feel my way around my cooking rather than following exact amounts of this or that ingredient. That said I can't always avoid the recherché or unfamiliar ingredients, however, you have to shop for the basics, food doesn't just appear on our work surfaces (although online shopping has almost magically made it so.) My point being, if you shop for eggs you can just as easily pick up some cayenne pepper.
I'll end on this poignant note, written by Joanne Harris- 'Many of my earliest memories are about food. So many memories are associated with the tastes and smells of cooking, so many places, so many people can be brought to life using nothing more than an old recipe.'
Roast beef is a British staple but can be expensive, brisket is a cheaper cut of meat which when slow cooked becomes tender, pulled meat. A 2kg piece will easily feed a family of four over two delicious dinners, here is the first recipe.
Slow roast beef brisket
Recipe
2kg piece of grass fed, free range, beef brisket
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
500g carrots, peeled and chopped
1 swede, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons tomato puree
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Half a bottle of red wine
1 pint of stock
1 chilli (optional) chopped finely
Using a sharp knife remove any excess fat
Heat a pan and cook meat fatty side down for 5 minutes, lightly sizzling until nicely browned
Place meat in pre heated slow cooker
Using the same pan gently fry onions and garlic in rendered fat until soft
Add chilli if using, mix tomato puree with a drop of boiling water and add
Pour onions and sauce onto meat, add wine and stock (I added a satsuma for added sweetness) season with black pepper, place lid on and leave to cook on high for 5 hours
After 5 hours add carrots and swede, replace lid and continue cooking for a further 2 hours
If you are serving with dumplings make them according to packet instructions, add after the 2 hours further cooking time and cook for a further hour (total cooking time of beef 8 hours)
Remove meat from slow cooker, allow to cool slightly then gently pull the meat apart
Put meat into serving bowls, ladle vegetables and sauce over meat and top with dumplings
When completely cooled, put the rest of the meat and vegetables into a covered container and refrigerate ready for the next recipe.
'My family lived off the land and summer evening meals featured baked stuffed tomatoes, potato salad, corn on the cob, fresh shelled peas and homemade ice cream with strawberries from our garden. With no air conditioning in those days, the cool porch was the centre of our universe after the scorching days.'
-David Mixner
Love Donna xxxxxx
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