Wise Guys Cooking

I have had a lifelong love affair with Columbo, well certainly for as far back as I can remember. The American detective mystery TV fim series spanned from 1968-2003 with Peter Falk playing a friendly, verbose, dishevelled police detective of Italian descent. Columbo was always underestimated by his suspects due to his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absent mindedness. However, he had a formidable eye for detail and shrewdly solved all his cases.

Columbo was often in a diner eating his favourite meal of chilli with dry crackers which fascinated me as a child, having never had chilli. His other favourite was peanut butter and raisin sandwich.

TV and films contribute, albeit subconsciously, to our love of food, and many cookbooks have been written off of the back of films. One of the most iconic films ever was Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, the movie and book were based on gangster and mob member Henry Hill. Throughout the film we see various members of the cast cooking and eating, a famous scene includes Hill and his mob colleagues whipping up a truly delicious meat sauce and famously slicing the garlic wafer thin with a razor.

Scorsese's own mother Catherine played a part in the film, she also cooked the on screen food in true traditional style.

Hill went into witness protection but published a book: The Wise Guy Cookbook, he capitalised on the notoriety of the cooking scenes within the film by producing recipes like: Sunday gravy (the famous meat sauce). The book is full of recipes from the old country interjected with colourful tales of his mobster life. Unfortunately I don't own a copy but I am on the lookout for one!

Naturally I own the complete box set of Columbo and happened to be watching an episode where the lieutenant makes himself a peanut butter and raisin sandwich. To all intents and purposes this should be quite a healthy snack, peanut butter is a relatively unprocessed food which is rich in nutrients and has a decent amount of protein. However, some commercial peanut butters contain partially hydrogenated oils, sugar and other nasties. Many health shops and good supermarkets now stock organic peanut butter and you can buy pure organic peanut butter online by the tub.

Raisins are a healthy member of the dry fruits category due to many nutritional values and health benefits. I always feel as if this sandwich is a naughty indulgence instead of which it is actually quite healthy and very delicious. Obviously try to use decent bread, wholemeal, granary or rustic as opposed to an over processed white sliced loaf, a great snack for children when they are calling for crisps or biscuits.

I alternatively have my peanut butter and raisins on toast.

What films or TV have inspired your choices of food? I'd be interested to hear your comments!

Well, I'm off to Spain tomorrow for 10 days so I will catch up with you all upon my return, take care.

'If your mother cooks Italian food, why would you go out to a restaurant?'
-Martin Scorsese

Love Donna xxxxxx

Pratiba Karan:Biryani

One of my favourite Indian dishes is biryani, essentially a Muslim dish the origins are something of a mystery and are shrouded in dispute. One theory is that it started as a one pot meal cooked up for battle weary soliders in bygone days, highly seasoned rice, meat or vegetables would be layered in a pot and cooked over an open fire.

The biryani we are most accustomed to here in the UK is mostly served in the Sindhi biryani style, spices are toned down from any of the original versions and a far cry from the exotic regional variations served throughout India.

Home cook Pratibha Karan has dedicated a whole book to this delicious comestible, simply called 'Biryani' the book covers culinary, cultural and historical aspects of the dish. Pratibha gives us not just definitive recipes but rare and old dishes such as biryani made with oranges, rose biryani and Qabooli biryani, full of extraordinary recipes and beautiful photography 'Biryani' is on my wish list.

My version of biryani is of the hotchpotch variety, I use up odds and ends of leftover chicken, meat, fish or vegetables combined with spices and par boiled rice, everything goes into a large pan and is fried off. Patak's make a biryani paste and I have even used this rather than grinding my own spices, however, having looked into this highly seasoned rice dish I realise my hotchpotch version just doesn't do the biryani justice.

The concept behind layering rice, meat and spices is that the flavours are absorbed into the rice as it starts to steam. A rather more complex dish than I had given it credit for, biryani is certainly worth making by the traditional method (although my hotchpotch version is very delicious!)

                                                            Persian biryani

Qabooli biryani

Recipe
Grind these spices to a powder
1/2 piece of cinnamon
2-3 cardamoms
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns

250g rice
Pinch turmeric
3 onions, finely sliced
1 teaspoon garlc paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 cup yoghurt
Juice 2 limes
Bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1/2 cup milk
Salt
Oil
Ghee or butter

Par boil rice for 6 minutes, drain
Heat a splash of oil in a pan, fry onions until golden
Remove half of onions and set aside
Add ginger and garlic, fry until golden
Add turmeric followed by yoghurt, stir briskly until the contents come to the boil, remove from heat
In a large lidded pan smear base with oil and spread half of the rice on the base of pan
Spread yoghurt mix onto rice
Sprinkle half of ground spices, half of coriander and lime juice over rice
Add another layer of rice, sprinkle with milk, dot with ghee or butter
Add remaining spices, coriander and fried onions, cover with tightly fitted lid, simmer for 10-15 minutes until the rice starts to steam
Serve piping hot

Persian biryani is cooked in the same way with added raisins and a banana halved length ways and sat on the top layer of rice during cooking, I serve this with a thin omelette and a vegetable curry

Hotchpotch biryani

Really, as the name suggests, there is no set recipe, I tend to use a teaspoon of each: ginger paste, turmeric, cumin seeds, ground coriander and ground cinnamon
Fry 2 onions in oil until golden, add spices and a couple of cloves of garlic
Add cooked rice and the rest is up to you......cooked meat or chicken, vegetables such as cooked potatoes and peas and cubed paneer cheese

                                                             Hotchpotch biryani

'Spicy food and I have a close relationship-an obsessive one, in fact, if it's spicy, I want it. I want to sweat and shake and go half blind from the searing pain.......which, now that I put it that way seems really suggestive. But spicy stuff is addictive, that's a known fact of science.'
-Maureen Johnson

Love Donna xxxxxxx

#Recipe Of The Day

                               One of my bird boxes currently housing baby great tits

I wrote recently about Sophie Thompson, see post: 'Childhood Treats.' Currently taking part in celebrity Masterchef, Sophie is part of a famous extended family which includes actress Emma and her husband Greg Wise.

Emma and Greg have one of the strongest marriages in showbusiness and having read a recent interview given by Greg I can see why. Greg says he doesn't idolise 'material things' which in today's society is quite a profound statement. 'I'm more interested in experience because every new experience stays with you' he says, 'It's like presents. Don't give me a thing, give me a happening.'

Talking about the dynamics of his family he says 'None of us watches TV at home. We got out of the habit and life oozed into that space.' Emma, Sophie and their mother Phyllida Law live in the same street along with Greg's sister Clare and invariably they spend their evenings together. 'Generally there's up to eight of us dining together every night. Then we talk and go through our day, by which time it's washing up and then bed. That's where real life lives-around the hearth and the cooker.'

Given that many families can barely tear themselves away from their smartphones long enough to eat their microwaved meals, I find Greg's values endearing and inspiring. He says 'No one has the Hello! magazine life.' Unfortunately many people do aspire to that life, a life of possessions, the big house, the ostentatious furniture........as Greg says 'We put pressure on ourselves to achieve, we're fixated on leaving a legacy, but possessions gather dust, everything is transient, apart from memories.'

I made a decision one year ago to end my career in education and to spend my time doing the things I love, writing, cooking and spending more time with friends and family, however, I have had to make financial sacrifices. At first I thought this would be impossible, I now realise that I spent most of my income on a revolving door of things, as one lot of shoes, dresses, bags and household items came through the door a charity bag full of the same went out. And don't get me started on the hundreds of pounds I spent on anti-ageing products, miraculously, having de stressed my life has taken years off me, something no amount of creams and potions possibly could have! The more I earned the more I spent, having extricated myself from that vicious circle has been quite liberating.

I have spent many hours enjoying my garden and have already seen one family of great tits fledge from my bird box, such a simple thing but one which has given me great joy. Whilst working, my garden was more of a chore than a place of tranquillity, likewise cooking and even keeping up with friends left me frazzled.

I appreciate not everyone can throw in the towel and leave their jobs, however, I do believe people live beyond their means, in my childhood this was called 'Keeping up with the Joneses' an idiom referring to one's neighbour as a benchmark for social caste. Society still dictates that to fail in the accumulation of material goods is perceived in some circles as a cultural inferiority.

I find myself doing a lot more entertaining now although I have far less money to spend on food. However, I haven't compromised on good ingredients I just manage them differently. This next dish is fundamentally a peasant dish, chicken chasseur, otherwise known as hunter's chicken originated from a recipe using game birds and mushrooms from the woods. For a quick and economical version of this dish I use free range chicken thighs and frozen mixed vegetables which are great value and nutritious.

Easy chicken chasseur

Recipe
Serves 4
6 free range chicken thighs fillets
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Half a bottle red wine
1 teaspoon oil
25g butter
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 cup of stock
Salt and pepper

Heat butter and oil in a large lidded pan
Season chicken and fry for 5 minutes each side

Pour in wine, rapidly boil down until it becomes syrupy

In a jug combine stock with tomato puree, add to pan

Add garlic and vegetables, cover with lid and simmer for 30 minutes

Additionally you can add a sprig of fresh rosemary or some fresh thyme leaves or even a handful of dried herbs de provence to enhance the flavours further
Serve on a bed of creamy mash

This was a simple, economical and thoroughly nutritious meal which I would happily serve at a dinner party or as a easy mid week meal.

                                    'I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day

                                    you should seriously re-examine your life.'

                                    -Bill Watterson

'The only difference between being in a rut or a grave are the dimensions.'

-Ellen Glasgow

Love Donna xxxxxxx

A Passage To India

                 Abu the proprietor of Gandhi Indian takeaway, our favourite restaurant

As you know I dabble with spices in many of my recipes I don't just confine them to Asian dishes. Spices don't just excite our taste buds, they have been used for centuries for their healing and health promoting properties, composed of an impressive list of nutrients, essential oils, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins.

Yet many British people shy away from using spices and our favoured Indian dish, chicken tikka massala, isn't even authentic, it was created to satisfy the British palette.

I'm always at risk of losing a large chunk of my audience when I post a recipe which includes too many spices, this next recipe is by no means 'spicy hot' although you can add chilli, as I do, but this is completely optional.

As a child Indian cuisine wasn't something I experienced, back in the sixties Indian restaurants were few and far between and were somehow too exotic for the average working class family. By the seventies Indian restaurants became more common place and when I was fourteen I went for my first ever Indian meal. My best friend, her parents and I went to a little restaurant on Sydenham high street, it was a whole new experience for me, the flock wallpaper, the little booths, the Indian music and the aromas, I was instantly hooked!

I remember as if it were yesterday the waiter placing the hotplates on the table, and for some bizarre reason I placed my hand on one. I didn't utter a word of pain in spite of my hand throbbing like something out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, I was so embarrassed! We went on to share a selection of different dishes and one of them was butter chicken, a mild, creamy dish which I loved. These days I go for hotter dishes, Dhansak or Gujeratie for example, however, as I was having friends round for supper I made this dish and it was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

Butter chicken

Recipe
Serves 4
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon chilli powder (optional)
Salt to taste

Apply the above mixture to chicken breasts and chill for 30 minutes
Peel and chop 2 onions, heat a knob of butter in a pan, sauté onions for 5 minutes
Add chicken and seal on both sides
Remove from heat and allow to cool

Marinade
1/2 cup of plain yoghurt
2 teaspoons ginger paste or powder
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon tomato puree
Combine in a blender

When chicken and onions have cooled, combine with marinade, cover and chill for at least 1 hour


Gravy
1 piece cinnamon
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon ginger paste or powder
2 cardamoms, crushed, use seeds only
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup double cream

In a large pan heat butter, add cardamom seeds, garlic, ginger, marinated chicken and cinnamon, top up with 1/2 cup of water, reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally and adding more water if necessary
At this stage I added a can of white beans and some dried sultanas, lentils or chickpeas would also work well if you want to bulk the ingredients out

Simmer gently for 30 minutes, add cream and stir, heat for a further 5 minutes
You can serve the breasts whole or as in my case because I was serving 6 people, you can cut the chicken into bite sized pieces
Serve with basmati rice or naan bread (see post: naan bread)

'Incidentally, the long held idea that spices were used to mask rotting food doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. The only people who could afford spices were the ones least likely to have had bad meat, and anyway spices were too valuable to be used as a mask.'
-Bill Bryson

Love Donna xxxxx

The Great British Holiday Camp#HaylingIsland

                        Relaxing by the pool at Sinah Warren holiday camp Hayling Island

                                      Stunning views of the solent from the pool

I spent a glorious day today courtesy of my lovely friend linda at Sinah Warren holiday camp on Hayling Island here on the south coast. Holiday camp is such an old fashioned term and concept, it takes me back to my childhood when families like mine, on lower incomes, escaped the drabness of the city for a holiday at the seaside.

The golden age for holiday camps was in the 50s and 60s, comprising of blocks of chalets within a boundary beside the sea, the camps offered entertainment and food for families on a budget. However, in the 70s holiday camps started to decline as people began to holiday abroad and by the 80s many had shut down.

Warners was the first large chain of holiday camps, founded by Harry Warner who opened his first site on Hayling Island in 1931. Having spent the day there today I felt it still had an air of that era, something charming and reminiscent of past times when people made polite conversation and dressed for dinner. It could be argued that because this particular camp is for adults only and consequently caters for the older generation, old fashioned etiquette prevails, it certainly made for a very relaxing atmosphere!

The outdoor pool is situated overlooking Langstone harbour, surrounded by sea and boats I felt as if I was floating on a cruise ship

I struck up conversation with two lovely ladies, Dolly and Grace, mother and daughter in their 80s and 60s respectively, Grace was sporting a beautiful costume complete with matching head scarf like a character from an Agatha Christie novel. I asked the ladies why they had chosen this location for their holidays, they said it was like being in Saint Tropez! And that's the thing, we tend to take things for granted, I live on this beautiful coastline but don't really appreciate it, I don't take regular walks along the beach or sit and contemplate all the natural beauty which surrounds me.

After a leisurely day of lounging by the pool and taking in the sea air I felt seaside drunk, a feeling of exhilaration mixed with too much sun and total peace, a heady mix. Fortunately I had prepared some steak burgers that morning and made a sweetcorn relish the night before.

Sweetcorn relish

Recipe
1 red pepper, diced
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red chilli, finely sliced (optional)
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
125ml white wine vinegar, plus 3 tablespoons
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 teaspoons English mustard powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
650g sweetcorn kernels (fresh or tinned)

Place pepper, onion, chilli, sugar, salt, 125ml vinegar and 125ml water in a pan, simmer for 5 minutes
Whisk flour, mustard powder, turmeric and remaining vinegar to a paste
Stir paste into veg mix and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes
Pour into warm sterilised jars, seal and cool
Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks

'Don't you wish you could take a single childhood memory and blow it up into a bubble and live inside it forever?'
-Sarah Addison

Hi-De-Hi
Love Donna xxxxxxxx

Lovin' Dublin Debacle

                             

                                        'To blog or not to blog, that is the question.'

Yesterday twitter went into meltdown over an article written by Niall Harbison, blogger and site founder of 'Lovin' Dublin'.

The blog is made up of a team of individuals who review restaurants, post recipes and generally want to make Dublin a better city, it's a great blog!

However, Harbison wrote a derogatory piece whilst dining in Mourne Seafood restaurant regarding local youths who were bridge jumping, thus taking the piece into political waters (no pun intended.)

There is a new term being bandied about regarding us becoming 'oversharers' this refers to increasing numbers of us turning to social media to share our innermost thoughts. The implication being that because we are fed on a diet of X Factor sob stories, Jeremy Kyle style confessionals and celebrities discussing their personal lives, we have succumbed to putting our views and personal problems in the public domain.

Whether we be a blogger, facebooker, twitter or instagram user, we're all putting ourselves out there, some more benignly than others, most of us apply great caution to the image we want to present.

I don't agree with the outrage shown toward Harbison and I find it rather ironic that the people who have taken umbrage are by turn behaving in the very manner they claim to have been affronted by. I have seen comments on social media where people claim to be 'defending' a person or ideal by way of attacking and besmirching another person without seeing the irony, social media is a breeding ground for sanctimonious hypocrites!

But that's the way it works, we see a comment on social media we don't like and we react in a way we wouldn't under normal circumstances. I have had personal experience of this, a throwaway comment about a trivial issue which face to face wouldn't have mattered a jot can be blown out of all proportion, a lifelong friendship destroyed at the touch of a button.

As a food blogger I try to tread with caution regarding my opinions, however, my blog is anecdotal and my personal opinions do weave their way into my posts, I would be bored silly just posting endless recipes! Harbison may make for controversial reading but life is controversial!

Let's face it we watch the X Factor to see fame hungry, vulnerable people exposed, we love Simon Cowell because he is caustic and unkind. We read newspapers not for the articles on how to grow begonias, but to see the dirt dished on celebrities. If we are all such wonderful, righteous human beings why do we glorify the likes of Jeremy Kyle and Simon Cowell, yet lambast Harbison?

So, more a rant than a recipe today! Which ties in nicely with my wine review (I need a glass after that outburst) I'm no more a wine connoisseur than a professional cook, however, I have spent many years drinking red wine so I have developed a bit of a nose (not of the Karl Malden variety.)

Wine expert Matthew Jukes has selected the 100 best value summer red wines for the Daily Mail, now, not that I doubt his expertise, I feel I should test them for myself and for the purposes of my blog.........it's a dirty job but someone has to do it!

First up: 2012 La Umbra Merlot, Dealurile Munteniel, Romania £6.49 Waitrose
Described as a full bodied wine with a delicate aroma of juicy plums, forest fruits and cherries, it has received 5 star reviews, Jukes says: ' This is a scrummy, plummy merlot with easy-going blackberry flavours.'
I loved this wine and it did fulfil its promise, it was smooth and plummy and very glugable.

Next up: 2013 Toro Loco, Tempranillo, Utiel-Requena, Spain £3.79 Aldi
This wine has received lots of press, a panel of experts has named this wine as one of the world's best! Jukes says: 'This new vintage of 'Crazy Bull' is delicious and the best cheeky cheapie of the year!'
To find a wine under a fiver that delivers smooth, velvety, strawberries, redcurrants and black cherries is a winner for me, I'm never without a bottle or two!

Oh well, two down-ninety eight to go!

'Social networking is about building people up in your network, NOT tearing them down.'
-Tasha Turner

You are what you tweet
Love Donna xxxxx

Food From The 60s

                                        On a typical family picnic in the 1960s

Throughout my childhood in the 1960s-70s there were set days for set activities. Weekends were a time of family gatherings, in the summer we would all spend Saturday at the seaside or in the Kent countryside having a picnic. Sunday's were visiting days, most families visited grandparents for Sunday tea, this ritual was observed religiously because it was a time when elderly people were greatly respected.

Most people I have spoken with who grew up in that era recall Sunday tea as being salad, a big bowl of lettuce, radishes and beetroot would be placed on the table accompanied by either tinned ham covered in jelly, pork pie cut into slices, or as a real treat tinned salmon.

Glenn's parents who are now in their eighties still have salmon salad for Sunday tea, Gordon prepares the tinned salmon by mashing it with fresh tomatoes, vinegar and lots of salt and pepper, a clever technique to stretch the salmon further which would have been neccessary years ago, very simple but delicious. Alternatively they will eat tinned peaches with bread and butter, again harkening back to leaner times.

One of the most endearing stories Gordon tells on quite a regular basis is of their first family holiday on the island of Jersey. Car packed Glenn, his sister, mum and grandmother (who never went out in public without her hat) and Gordon, set off early on a Sunday morning to Swanage to board the boat. After an eight hour journey they arrived at Mrs Anderson's boarding house greatly anticipating their evening meal. Sat around the table promptly at 6pm, knives and forks poised, Mrs Anderson set a big bowl of salad on the table and said help yourselves, there was no ham or tinned salmon and horror of horrors no bread and butter, the great filler upper. Feeling really hungry Gordon politely asked if they could have some bread and butter, Mrs Anderson obliged and everyone tucked in.

Gordon encouraged everyone to fill themselves up with the bread and butter and not a slice was left, Mrs Anderson collected the empty plates with an air of surprise, and happily full Gordon sat back in his chair to let his dinner go down. Suddenly the dining room door swung open and Mrs Anderson entered pushing her hostess trolley which was filled to capacity with steaming roast dinners for everyone!

We are connected to the foods we grew up with, they offer reminders of comfort and place, for my generation the extended family was a real live entity and mealtimes were a social event albeit that the food was basic. Glenn's parents maintain a very simple diet they still eat tinned spam, corned beef, fray bentos pies (otherwise known as landmines because of the shape of the tin the pie is encased in) and have never eaten a McDonald's or piece of kentucky fried chicken in their lives.

Tinned wild salmon has many health benefits due to its high concentration of omega-3 fatty acids and because it is canned with the bones it provides a hefty dose of calcium along with many vitamins and nutrients. Although it is not cheap per se it is a great store cupboard ingredient and I always keep my eye out for offers and stock up. Salmon lends itself well to Asian flavours, is delicious mixed with tomatoes, diced spring onions, thinly sliced cucumber or just simply served with lots of vinegar and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Tinned salmon

Recipe
1 tin wild red or pink salmon
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
1 thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 red chilli (optional)
Dash of soy sauce
Half a cucumber
Olive oil
Fresh coriander or cress
Pepper

In a moderate oven place halved tomatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and black pepper leave to dry out for 1 hour

Combine tomatoes, garlic, ginger, chilli and soy in a food processor

Place salmon in a bowl and mix in marinade
Slice cucumber thinly and add

Combine well, snip cress or coriander over the top and serve with new potatoes (and in honour of Gordon.......with slices of bread and butter to mop up the juices)

'Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.'
-Louisa May Alcott

Love Donna xxxxxx

Childhood Treats

Well, we're back in Masterchef territory, celebrity Masterchef to be precise with contestants such as: actress Sophie Thompson, former model Jodie Kidd, astrologer Russell Grant and TV fashionista Susannah Constantine, competing against each other.

Much like amateur Masterchef, celebrity contestants think they have broad enough cookery skills, the first round commenced and actually taken out of their comfort zone, faced with a selection of ingredients not usually in their repertoire and given the command 'let's cook' contestants went to pot. We saw Susannah, red faced and flustered crying out for a valium, Russell burnt his hand but didn't place it under cold running water and went for a lie down, Jodie admitted all she could make was 'a really good salad', leaving the star of the show, Sophie, who on first impressions had an air of Ruby the accident-prone, dishevelled scullery maid, in the drama Upstairs Downstairs, actually proving to be a very hands on cook.

The next test was the knowledge and skills test whereby the contestants had to identify four different biscuits and four different creams and then make two brandy snaps with ginger cream. Neither Russell, Jodie or Susannah had ever made biscuits before, Sophie on the other hand became quite emotional, she spoke about her mother baking brandy snaps at Christmas and how one year they had gone wrong and her mother had cried.

The next test saw the contestants going to a sorting office to cook lunch for 120 posties. Suddenly Russell was sparked into a deeply detailed recall of his mother and grandmother baking, like Sophie he became quite emotional and went on to produce, out of childhood memory, a wonderful steak and kidney pie.

The final test was for the contestants to cook a two course meal of their choice. Russell embraced this as he was mentally back in the soothing and comforting place that was his mother's kitchen. This non-cook rustled up toad in the hole, followed by crumble and custard. Susannah however didn't have a clue, inspite of being a mother she had obviously spent their childhood mwha mwhaing her way around the Christian Lacroix set rather than cooking with her kids, she even confessed at one point 'that's what supermarkets are for dahhhhling.'

Sophie though was the one who embodied what cooking is really all about. The Thompson's, (father Eric narrated The Magic Roundabout, mother Phyllida Law and sister Emma both famous actresses) are a close knit family, so close that mother and daughter's live in the same street. Totally unpretentious the women spend time cooking and eating together, family values exceed social climbing, Sophie's excitement at getting through the first round was because she couldn't wait to tell her boys!

Many of life's most intimate details come flooding back at the sight, smell and taste of particular foods. Chef Nigel Slater wrote his bittersweet autobiography, Toast, about the complexities of his childhood where he was often left alone to cook his own meals and how he sought affection through food. Food is emotive and clearly our childhood relationship with what our mother's made, our dining experiences and whether it gave us a sense of place affects us for the rest of our lives.

Ice cream will always resonate with my childhood memories, an absolute treat when at the seaside or cinema (in a little tub with a wooden spoon.)

                                                  Getting messy with my ice cream!

                            My mum overseeing proceedings as my brother and I tuck in!

Of course ice cream is no longer a luxury and comes in all sorts of variations, however, I found an ice cream from my childhood in a supermarket recently

                                   A blast from the past, thick, yellow block ice cream

                                      I served this with toffee sauce and salted popcorn

Equally delicious, allow ice cream to melt slightly, serve with strawberries and toffee popcorn

Relive your childhood through food and I'm sure it will evoke some wonderful memories!

'In childhood, we press our nose to the pane looking out. In memories of childhood, we press our nose to the pane, looking in.'
-Robert Brault

Love Donna xxxxxxx

Use-By Labels, The Big Con

As you will know I recently took my local Waitrose supermarket to task regarding reduced items, I felt very strongly that they weren't reducing items that had reached their sell by date early enough in the day or significantly enough discount wise to encourage people to buy them.

On a recent trip to Waitrose I was thrilled to find a reduced section and when I spoke with a member of staff she fervently explained how items which had reached their sell buy date were now greatly discounted in the morning.

Interestingly a recent survey suggests that almost a third of people save money by ignoring use-by labels and by relying on their own common sense. Well, they're in good company because Mark Price, the managing director of Waitrose, says he does the same!

Food waste in the UK is a subject of environmental, economic and social concern. Potatoes, bread and fruit are respectively the most wasted foods by quantity. We don't cut away the rotten or stale portion of our potato, banana, loaf or cheese, instead we throw the entire thing in the bin. We expect our food to be beautiful and uniform, the increased emphasis on our foods appearance contributes to tons of fruit and vegetables being cast aside at some point in the food chain.

But the resounding reason we have no shame regarding this issue is that most of us have never gone hungry!  We don't face the problem of whether we will eat today-rather it's a question of what we will eat today, our cupboards and fridges are full of choices, we don't worry about going hungry so why worry about waste or about people in third world countries with their stomachs stuck to their backs with hunger.

A little bit of mindfulness goes a long way, we all need to take responsibility for our contribution to food waste, the average statistic for a domestic household stands at £470 food waste per family, per year!

On that note I yet again found myself with several overripe, (to the point of black skins,) bananas languishing in my fruit bowl, determined as always to salvage what I could, I made these delicious little chunky monkey cookies.

Chunky monkey cookies

Recipe
3 ripe bananas
2 cups oats
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup apple sauce
Vanilla sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven 190c/gas 5
Mash bananas roughly

Add other ingredients, combine and leave to sit for 20 minutes

Line a tray with greaseproof paper and drop the mixture on by spoonful

Bake for 10-12 minutes
Cool on a wire rack, sprinkle with sugar and tuck in!

'More than 820 million people in the world suffer from hunger and 790 million of them live in the third world.'
-Fidel Castro

'Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.'
-Henri de Lubac

Love Donna xxxxx

World Cup England V Italy

                                                           Flying the flag

Well, here we are in the grip of world cup fever, counting down the hours until England's first match tonight.

This football fest is generally recognised as the greatest sporting showpiece on earth! With 35 days of intense competition to win football's most coveted trophy it's hard to ignore.

I have a partner and son who go wild watching Accrington Stanley v Dudley Town let alone the world cup! Infact such is Bert's fervour that he has closed down his business and taken himself off to Brazil on a one way ticket for the duration of the world cup.

My lovely partner Glenn will have to settle for our wide screen TV and me for company, although to be fair, normally nonplussed by the whole football fanaticism within my family, I too am swept along with world cup fever.

As I sit and write this I am filled with anticipation for tonight's game, the beer is chilling, the wine is breathing and the steaks are marinating. I have decided to cook a delicious steak dinner which we will eat prior to the match, I know of old that if England don't do well Glenn's appetite will diminish and tomorrow I might as well be serving gruel. Some years back we went to watch Leeds v Valencia (Glenn has supported Leeds since childhood) we spent several days in the wonderful city of Valencia culminating in the match followed by a pre booked meal in a Michelin star restaurant. Leeds lost and Glenn sat stupefied throughout the meal, not tasting a single morsel, we might just as well have eaten in McDonald's!

I very rarely cook steak, if I'm honest I'm a bit nervous of it, lets face it steak doesn't come cheap so there's no room for error! However, my friend Gill marinades her steak and has assured me this is a sure fire recipe, there is some debate as to who designed this recipe as both Gill and hubby Billy are great cooks, their daughter Sophie is also a gastronome and has a facebook page 'All About The Taste' in which this recipe is included.

Steak a la Clarke

Recipe
1 steak per person, I used dry aged rib eye
2 onions, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon dijon mustard per steak
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
A good glug of olive oil
A splash of malt vinegar
Salt and pepper

Combine marinade ingredients and rub into steak, cover and chill for at least 1 hour

I shall be serving my steaks with grilled tomatoes, chips and mushrooms, which brings me on to talk about mushrooms..........mushrooms contain a lot of moisture so never wash them! Wipe clean with a damp piece of kitchen paper or a mushroom brush. The thing to aim for when cooking mushrooms is to reduce as much moisture as possible as the drier mushroom has heaps more flavour. The notion that you can cook mushrooms in a microwave abhors me, all you will end up with is tasteless, waterlogged, chewy rubber. This method creates flavoursome mushrooms which require little oil or butter (mushrooms absorb liquid like a sponge) the thing to remember is as the moisture evaporates the mushrooms lose half their original volume.

Sautéed mushrooms

Recipe
Sreves 2
225g mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
Salt an pepper
A knob of butter

Heat a pan and when it's hot, throw in the mushrooms, sprinkle with plenty of salt and toss the mushrooms around
Turn the heat down to very low, you will see the mushrooms losing their moisture content and you can spoon out the excess liquid
Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
When the mushrooms look shrivelled add a knob of butter and season with black pepper

Remove steak from fridge 40 minutes prior to cooking
For a rare steak cook for 1 1/2 minutes per side
Medium rare 2 minutes per side
Well done 4-5 minutes per side
Heat pan as hot as you dare
Add 1 teaspoon of oil and heat until shimmering, remove excess marinade from steak with a damp piece of kitchen paper
Drop the steak directly down so the whole surface hits the heat at the same moment
Use a spatula to press gently on the surface, turn steak over at half time
Remove and cover with a foil tent, allow to rest for 5-10 minutes
Meanwhile add onion marinade to hot pan and fry over high heat for 5 minutes
Serve steak with marinade, grilled tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms and chunky chips or onion rings.......or both!

'I don't have much patience for people who are self conscious about the act of eating, it irritates me when someone denies themselves the pleasure of a hunk of steak or a pungent French cheese because of some nonsense about what's appropriate or attractive.'
-Anthony Bourdain

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love Donna xxxxxxxx