Comfort Food V Convenience Food

                                  'Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, ate a pasty five feet long,
                                  Bit it once, bit it twice, oh my lord, it's full of mice.'
                                   - west Country playground-rhyme

It often occurs to me that all the foods I loved as a child, homemade: chips, crumpets, Yorkshire puddings, Scotch eggs, shortbread, stew and dumplings, rice pudding with crispy skin, bread pudding, apple pie and cornish pasties, (to name but a few) which have burned beautiful memories in my mind, were all rather labour intensive for my mother. By contrast I can walk into any supermarket and buy all of the above as bottom end, high volume, prepared meals.

And I guess, because we don't have to labour over our food anymore and because everything is so accessible and we demand immediacy, homely and delicious, traditional and comforting, words I associate with my mum's cooking, just don't apply anymore. Naturally a commercially prouduced scotch egg or tin of rice pudding bears no resemblance to the home cooked version and possibly one of the worst pre-packaged things I've ever eaten was a pasty.

Regarded as the national dish of Cornwall, the pasty is one of the most pleasurable and delicious things you can eat, if it's homemade! Traditionally made with beef, swede, potatoes and onions, encased in pastry, the pasty is delicious served with pickles, salad, mustard and a cold beer.

A wealth of historical evidence confirms the importance of the Cornish pasty as part of the country's culinary heritage with some of the first references appearing during the 13th century. In the 18th century it was firmly established as a Cornish food eaten by poorer working families. By the 19th century, migrating cornish miners and their families (colloquially known as cousin Jacks and cousin Jennies) helped to spread pasties into the rest of the world.

An ideal food for miners and farmers, the pasty was portable and provided enough sustenance to see the workers through their long and arduous working days. Side crimped pasties gave rise to the suggestion that the miner would have eaten the pasty holding the crimped edge of the pastry, (which would later be discarded) ensuring his dirty fingers (possibly containing traces of arsenic) did not touch food or his mouth.

Pasties were associated with 'knockers' spirits said to create a knocking sound that was either supposed to indicate the location of rich viens of ore, or to warn of an impending tunnel collapse. To encourage the good will of knockers, miners would leave a small part of their pasty within the mine for them to eat.

For centuries pasties have lovingly been made. The modern pasty is made with shortcrust pastry, however, there is a humorous belief that the pastry on a good pasty should be strong enough to withstand a drop down a mine shaft! I often use puff pastry as I find shortcrust a bit dense, either are delicious.

A trans fat-based, production line, mass produced pasty is a thing of horror. The pastry casing and particularly the crimp, which should be a golden, crispy affair,  has a plasticine/play dough texture and the inside a slurry of dark goo!

I tend to chop and change my ingredients although I always use finely chopped skirt steak. The vegetables can be seasonable, root vegetables in the winter, peas, beans and asparagus in the spring, it's really down to personal preference.

I know everyone wants quick meals these days but you haven't lived until you've tasted a savoury pasty with golden flaky pastry. Foods like these that have been part of our food landscape for centuries deserve a bit of respect.

Cornish pasties

Recipe
1 packet of shortcrust or puff pastry
350g skirt steak
1 onion, peeled
1 carrot, peeled
1 small turnip, peeled
1 stick celery
Sea salt and pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven 200c/gas 6
Cut the vegetables into small pieces and sweat over a medium heat with a splash of olive oil and a good seasoning of salt and pepper for 3 minutes, set aside and allow to cool

Cut the steak into 1cm pieces, drizzle with a little olive oil and season

On a floured surface, roll out pastry to the thickness of a pound coin

Use a circular cutter to cut out six equal pieces, take a mixture of meat and veg, compact it in your hand, and place it on one half of your circle
Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg and fold the pastry over the meat and veg to make a D shape
Press down and seal, brush the pasties all over with egg wash

Bake for 30 minutes

                     Delicious served with my marinated beetroot and a mustard mayonnaise

'It is said that the devil never crossed the Tamar into Cornwall on account of the well-known habit of Cornish women putting everything into a pasty, and that he was not sufficiently courageous to risk such a fate.'
- early legend about the pasty, Cornish women tended to throw in any leftovers they had into it!

Love Donna xxxxxxx

Home Cooking And Home Truths

Celebrity chefs have used every trick in the book (namely their own books) to encourage us to cook. Delia Smith has always been a bit of a trailblazer publishing books such as 'How to cook' which started with the very basics; how to cook eggs. Her 'Delia's how to cheat at cooking' was very well received because it was a new approach to cooking in the 21st century. Delia sympathised with young people who had not been taught to cook, and with busy working mums and dads who had succumbed to the easy option of feeding their families on ungenerous ready meals and takeaways.

Delia anticipated the obesity crisis we now find ourselves in and her book was all about encouraging novice cooks by making simple adjustments to well known recipes. The book was published in 2008, since then the emphasis in the culinary world has been about saving us money. How to cheat feels slightly dated because the ingredients seem rather extravagant now, ready grated cheese, ready made breadcrumbs, ready cooked smoked bacon, tins of fried onions and her greatest revelation, frozen potatoes, be it mash or roast.

The concept was good and I still use some of her recommended ingredients if I really want to save time eg frozen mash potato, tinned Spanish fried onions, jars of roasted peppers, fresh cheese sauce...........

Jamie Oliver went one further and published 'Jamie's 30 minute meals' the concept being you could have an amazing home-cooked spread on the table in half an hour. All done with the best of intentions, this book failed on many levels albeit 'tried and tested' by Jamie's 'food team.' Many of my work colleagues, who like me bought the book, found that 10 minutes into the recipe they'd just about managed to peel and chop a couple of onions, by which time Jamie had the spaghetti sauce bubbling, the salad mixed and was preparing the ganache for dessert!

The truth is both Jamie and Delia share an absolute passion for food, as I do. I really begrudge eating inferior food just to fill a space, don't get me wrong, I love a good burger or pizza, but ready meals with their outer packaging all gorgeous colour photography with mouth watering prose on the front of the packet, insults not only my taste buds but my intelligence. Read the small print and you will find up to ten different types of sugars, sweetening agents and fats, including trans fats in an average ready meal. Manufacturers wanting to create the impression of fruit or vegetables or other expensive ingredients without including the real thing have 4,500 different flavouring compounds at their disposal, flavourings and colourings replace natural ingredients. This debasement of our food is having a profound affect on our bodies, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and increasing evidence that dementia and behavioural problems are linked to our toxic diets, yet still people eat this crap!

I'd rather eat an omelette, beans on toast or simple pasta dishes than chemically enhanced mush and I admire Delia and Jamie for their cookery books which don't ridicule or humiliate people who can't cook but try to aid and encourage them. As they say 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.' Only you can decide whether cooking is worth an hour or so of your time each day!

This next recipe was so delicious I would pay good money in a restaurant to eat something half as good! It's a combination of a recipe in Jamie's 30 minute meals and a couple of Delia's cheat ingredients, with a bit of a Donna twist.

Incidentally, Jamie rustled this up for Jool's when she was pregnant and nothing else was hitting the spot, I can certainly see why she loved it so much!

Scrumdiddlyumptious pasta

Recipe
Serves 4
1 tin Spanish fried onions
1 tin ratatouille

6 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 peppers, sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
6 good quality sausages
500g pasta
A few sprigs fresh basil
Parmesan cheese

Blitz carrots, peppers and garlic in a food processor, you can add some of the tinned onions to loosen the mixture

In a large lidded pan heat a splash of olive oil, add veg mix and the remaining tinned onions

Remove skins from sausages, break sausage meat up

Add sausage meat to pan, breaking it up and stirring as you go
Add ratatouille and stir, season to taste
Cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a drop of water if necessary
Cook pasta according to packet instructions and drain
Add pasta to sauce, stirring and combing well

Add basil and allow to wilt

Add a large handful of Parmesan

Serve in warm bowls

You can tweak this recipe, infact I make it slightly differently each time. Use freshly chopped onions rather than tinned, replace ratatouille with a tin of tomatoes or with a couple of sticks of celery, blitzed with the other vegetables. Add chillies to spice the dish up and vary your sausages, I used chilli, garlic and herb which were delicious.

'Your body is a temple, you are what you eat. Do not eat processed food, junk foods, filth or disease carrying food. Some people say 'well it tastes good'. Most of the foods today that cause sickness, cancer and disease ALL TASTE GOOD; it's well seasoned poison!  This is why so many people are sick, because of being hooked to the taste of poison instead of being hooked on REAL FOODS that heal and provide you with good health and wellness.'
-Supanova Slom

Love Donna xxxxxx

Animal Welfare And Vegetarianism

The subject of meat is rather contentious and divisive. I was a vegetarian for many years but became a carnivore once again when we bought our property in rural Spain. Whether you are a vegetarian or a hardened meat eater I think we should all have a vested interest in the meat industry and animal welfare.

On my recent trip to Spain my friend wanted to visit a butcher or 'carniceria' to buy some meat for a chilli con carne, she was surprised by the display of dozens of different meat cuts from rabbit to pigs trotters and chickens - head and feet still intact. Even more surprising were the photos displayed around the walls, of the butcher's children participating in the slaughter of various animals.

In rural Spain much of the meat you see on display in the carniceria has come from animals that have been raised in natural conditions. Meat is greatly appreciated in rural Spain and it is very rare to encounter any waste. Spaniards are prepared to pay good money for their meat, the principle being 'It should cost money-It's a life'.

Jamon Iberico, also known as pata negra, is a Spanish national treasure, rigorous standards imposed on those who choose to farm the iberico pigs are so strict that the ham is in the same league as caviar, champagne and truffles. Pigs are allowed to roam free in sunlit fields of grass and herbs, with a population density of no more than two pigs per hectare of land. Fed on a diet of acorns, the resulting ham has a rich, creamy, melt in the mouth texture.

My friend no longer eats pork at home as she claims it tastes of fish! In the UK we eat animals who have been subjected to terrible and disturbing conditions and scientific evidence has proven that stress caused to animals has an adverse affect on the meat, there are even names for the consequences of abuse like pale soft exudative. Stress causes a rapid breakdown of muscle glycogen and turns the meat acidic........could this be the fishy taste my friend alludes to? And let us not forget these fear ridden animals are pumped full of antibiotics and a cocktail of additives, hardly conducive to a tasty piece of meat!

Imagine my friends surprise upon eating jamon iberico and indeed all the meat she ate whilst holidaying with me. Far better to have free-range or organic meat a couple of times a week, as the Spanish and Italians do, than unnatural, mass produced meat everyday.

This photo is courtesy of Jamie's Italy where, like Spain, families participate in the rearing and slaughter of their animals.

I found it a pointless exercise as a vegetarian to try and convert meat eaters, however, I feel that if we can accept carnivores will always exist, (as will vegetarians) it would be far better to work together to help people make informed choices about quality over quantity.

This next recipe is a traditional Spanish dish, albondigas-Spanish meatballs, are a typical example of how inferior cuts of meat are ground down rendering them tender and flavourful and mixed with herbs and breadcrumbs, served with a delicious sauce these are often served as a tapas. You can use beef or pork or a combination of both, whatever meat you decide upon do ask your butcher where the animal comes from, what it's been fed on and how it's been treated.

Albondigas

Recipe
500g free-range minced beef or pork
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
3-4 tablespoons bread crumbs

For the sauce
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon oil
175ml stock
400g tin chopped tomatoes

Pulse onion and garlic in a food processor
Place mince in a bowl, add onion and garlic (I add a large pinch of cayenne, optional)

Add breadcrumbs and season, combine well

Roll mixture into balls, refrigerate for 30 minutes

In a large pan heat the oil, add onion and garlic, fry for 5 minutes
Add stock and tomatoes, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes

Add meatballs and simmer for 15-20 minutes

Serve with lots of crusty bread to mop up the juices or with rice or pasta

'Understand, when you eat meat, that something did die. You have an obligation to value it - not just the sirloin but all those wonderful tough little bits.'

-Anthony Bourdain

Love Donna xxxxx

Super Food

                    Some of the locally grown vegetables at the Sussex produce company


As a child one of my greatest dreads was going to my auntie Kit's for sunday tea, this consisted of tinned ham (covered in jelly) or corned beef (covered in white fat), pork pies, celery sticks with salt and without fail, beetroot drowned in vinegar.

Pickled beetroot was an old fashioned addition to a summer salad that many people were averse to, consequently for decades the beetroot has been in decline.

However, beetroot is making a resurgence in popularity, especially amongst modern chefs. Now classed as a 'super food' beetroot is back in the culinary limelight. Not, you understand, the crinkle cut, doused in vinegar version as found in auntie Kit's cupboard.

Good quality fresh beetroots with greens intact should be firm, smooth and a vibrant red-purple colour, most tender during their peak season from June to October they can be used in various recipes.

Not only do beetroots have a delicious sweet flavour, they are full of vitamins and minerals and packed with antioxidants. Long used for medicinal purposes, scientists have claimed beetroot juice is capable of boosting athletic performance (ooh er) and can help treat high blood pressure.

Sales of beetroot are rising sharply and farmers have had to dramatically increase their planning to meet demand. Boiled, steamed or baked, beetroots lend themselves well to strong and salty partners, think goats cheese and smoked fish, I love a roasted beetroot with a large dollop of horseradish sauce.

                                                        My cooked fresh beetroot


Beetroot

Wash beetroots gently, making sure you don't tear the skins
Place in a pan of warm water, bring to the boil
Reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until tender

To oven bake
Place in oven 170c/gas 3 for 2-3 hours, once cooled simply slip off the skins

Marinated beetroot

Recipe
21b raw beetroot
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 red chilli, very finely chopped
500ml olive oil

Once the beetroot is cooked, remove the skins and cut into slices
Place beetroot in the marinade and mix well, leave in the fridge for 24 hours before serving
(Once the beetroot has been consumed use the oil to flavour salads or pasta)

                             Delicious served with pitta bread, houmous and feta cheese

'Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.'
- Alice Walker

Love Donna xxxxx

Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea. Alice In Wonderland.

One of my all time favourite books is Alice's adventures in wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Charles Dodgson, pseudonym Lewis Carroll, first told his surreal story to the daughters of his friend Henry Liddell, as they rowed down the Thames en route to a picnic. Ten year old Alice Liddell, the main characters namesake, badgered Dodgson to write the story down and Alice in wonderland was born.

The story tells of a young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar anthropomorphic creatures. Considered to be one of the best examples of literary nonsense, the tale plays with logic and remains popular with both adults and children alike.

I have always liked the idea of attending a mad hatter's tea party, well on Sunday I did just that!

The Sanderson hotel in the heart of London's west end invites you to an Alice in wonderland inspired afternoon tea. My friend carron and I set off with her son Paris to 'tumble down the rabbit hole' and enjoy the wonderful world of a literary treat in the beautiful courtyard garden.

The whole experience was rather fantastical, from the beautiful bespoke crockery crafted by Luna and Curious, to the wondrous fare.

Menu's are hidden inside vintage books and napkins wrapped with riddles

We were served dainty rainbow sandwiches on homemade bread and classic home baked scones with herb butter and fruit preserves.......delicious.

                                                            Paris totally transfixed.

Our culinary whimsy continued with delights such as marshmallow mushrooms and melting mango cheesecake coated in rainbow patterned white chocolate.

Tea can be sweetened from a magical music box containing a ballerina dancing on a mound of sugar cubes to the tune of 'somewhere over the rainbow.'

Amidst zebras, birdcages, carousels and ticking clocks the fantasy continued with an apothecary bottle marked 'drink me'

'She had never quite forgotten that if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison', it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.'

Sweets came in the form of strawberries and cream, mint choc chip or rhubarb and custard.

Carron and I enjoyed a glass of champagne......or two........

A highly recommendable treat, we all enjoyed a fun and magical afternoon although it doesn't come cheap with prices starting at £35 per person - available between 11 - 5.30pm.......don't be late for a very important date!

'Mad hatter: "why is a raven like a writing desk?" "Have you guessed the riddle yet?"
The hatter said, turning to Alice again.
"No, I give up," Alice replied: "what's the answer?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," said the hatter.'
- Lewis Carroll

Love Donna

Burger Friday

Over the years my friend Carron has bought me some very beautiful cookery books, and boy do I love a cookery book! Yesterday Carron presented me with 'What Katie Ate.....recipes and other bits and bobs' written and photographed by Katie Quinn Davies.

Katie began her career as a graphic designer, she decided to combine her creative background with her love of food to become a food stylist and photographer after her mother's death in 2009.

To launch herself into the public eye Katie started a blog which was to serve as an online portfolio, 'What Katie Ate' was born and became an Internet phenomenon.

Katie's book is full of simple and seasonal recipes but the appeal is in the photography. Having shared a studio with a food photographer during her career as a designer, Katie understood first hand the meticulous preparation required for food photography.

Undertaking the role of food stylist and photographer herself, Katie quickly learnt a few of the vagaries of the food photography game. Firstly that you need to buy ten times the amount of food than you actually need, just to get that one 'perfect' photo.

The seductive photos we see in cookery books are science projects masquerading as culinary delights. The tools of the food photography trade are used to make us believe we can create such delectable dishes. By illusory sleight of hand photographers present us with food we amateur cooks struggle to emulate.

Tricks such as using deodorant to add a desirable frosty veneer, brown food polish smeared on raw meat to give it colour, white glue used as a substitute for milk or cream and sponges, cotton wool balls and tampons, soaked in water and microwaved to create steam, are just a few of the common practices used in the trade.

Beautiful food photos depend largely on lighting, indirect natural light creates the perfect glow, but for the home cook this isn't always possible. Professionals have the advantage of studios full of photography equipment often worth thousands of pounds.

                                                     Katie at work in her studio

Picture the scene at my house, Glenn and Bert are sat at the table, hungry after a days work, knife and fork poised in anticipation. I'm in the kitchen, fuggy from all the heat and steam, desperately trying to tweak the food on our plates before rushing around the house, plate in hand, trying to find the best light, increasingly difficult during dark winter evenings! Since writing this blog I don't think we've eaten a meal that hasn't gone cold due to all the faffing around I have to do to get a half decent photo.

So, for those of you who have critiqued my photography maybe this will give you a better understanding of why my photos are not professional looking. They are however 'real', as Katie says: 'burgers for example are one of the trickiest to get looking good on camera (seventeen cold burgers, anyone?') I of course find it abhorrent that there is so much food waste in the quest for the perfect hero shot.

Katie's book is certainly one I shall treasure, I love the recipes and the stunning photography which has definitely inspired me, one day I would love to create my own tome full of photos, stories and recipes.........here's hoping.

Getting back to Katie's comment about burgers being tricky to photograph I had to give it a go. We have little rituals in our house eg hotchpotch Monday (a pie made out of Sunday dinner leftovers) Christmas dinner Sunday, in the run up to Christmas Glenn will say of every Sunday roast dinner: 'this would be the perfect Christmas dinner.' And burger Friday. Burgers are one of Bert's favourites, possibly because he was virtually denied them as a child, quite often I get a text on a Friday morning from Bert asking 'are we having burger Friday?'

A good burger needs great meat, I always get my burger meat at my butchers and I have found the best combination is skirt steak minced with streaky bacon, the fat from the bacon adds juiciness and holds the burger together. I don't add eggs or breadcrumbs and I add different accompaniments after the burger is cooked eg chilli sauce, fried egg, raw onion slices or fried onion rings, salad leaves, tomato, maybe even cheese depending on how healthily we've eaten during the week and how indulgent I feel.

Classic burger

Recipe
4 generous burgers
600g skirt steak
100g streaky bacon
Olive oil
4 brioche burger buns

Ask your butcher to mince the steak with the bacon
Form the meat into 4 patties and keep them in the fridge until required
Heat a splash of oil in a large frying pan, cook burgers over a medium heat until well browned on both sides
Lower the heat and cook for a further 2-3 minutes each side
Serve on toasted brioche buns with accompaniments of your choice


                               

If you don't combine the bacon with the steak you could add grilled bacon to your finished burger

                                  

'It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.'
- Julia Child

Love Donna xxxxxxxx

Award winning Food In An Anglo Saxon Town

                                                                 

                           

                                                        Carron and I (Two Mad Cows)

Many of you will have started the journey of reading my posts through my former blog 'Two Mad Cows'. I co wrote the blog with my friend Carron, actually it was her brainchild, and between us we created quite a lot of material.

But as the old saying goes, never mix business with pleasure. Having been friends for thirty odd years and never having had a cross word, suddenly within our working relationship tensions started to arise. We abandoned two mad cows and sadly our friendship, I went it alone with Donna's pink kitchen and Carron pursued her own writing career.

My mother used to say: 'The longer you hold a grudge the more your arms are going to ache.' Sage advice. In the calm after the storm both Carron and I realised how deeply we cared for one another. We survived a terrorist attack together when we were young girls, we became orphans and mothers and supported each other throughout each of these experiences, we have always had weekly contact by telephone and regular visits to each others homes, you don't throw all that history away on a whim. Managing emotions is a skill in itself, one that takes decades to master, as we get older our emotions bounce around less and we value old friendships more.

And so on an auspiciously hot and sunny day I set off on the train to Shoreham by Sea to meet up with my little friend. It was a joyous occasion, we had plenty of catching up to do which we did over a delicious lunch in the Sussex produce company.

This fabulous award winning foodie emporium offers an array of local produce and hard to find delicatessen items. By using local food and drink producers and suppliers this food and farm shop makes a real contribution to the social and economic well being of the community. Situated in the historic small rural town of Steyning, the Sussex produce company has received high praise from many foodies.

                     Prue Leith CBE restaurateur, television presenter and cookery writer

The Sussex produce company certainly has lots of curb appeal, boxes stacked with brightly coloured fruits and vegetables which couldn't go unnoticed by even the most remiss of passers by.

Step inside and you are greeted by magnificent displays of homebaked pies, local cheeses and ales, milk from the local farm and delicious homemade cakes to name but a few.

Unlike the over packaged, mass produced fodder we see in huge supermarket chains, these foodstuffs are deliciously tempting and very good value for money if you want quality over quantity (something we should all be embracing.)

Carron and I sat down in the charming café at the back of the shop where we received service with a smile

We both opted for the crab sandwich, fresh local crab being too good a temptation to resist. The crab was delicately flavoured with a mustard mayonnaise and served with fresh salad leaves and vegetable crisps.

We were then faced with the difficult decision as to which cake to have.

Proprietors Nick and Nina Hempleman have created an Aladdin's cave for foodies, with a passion for good quality food and a desire to support the local community it's a win win situation. The café which is always bustling, hosts various cultural events as well as being a mini art gallery showcasing local artists on its walls

                                                      Pigs might fly!

Without doubt one of the nicest eateries I've visited this year, simple honest food, a bohemian atmosphere amongst people who value good food and the social story that is delivered to their plate.


'The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer, restorer and resurrecter, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.'
- Wendell Berry

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx