Back To Basics

My previous post begged the question, do cookbooks still have a place in today's kitchen?

The problem now is not so much about cookbooks, which have never been more abundant, but more about the slow death of the home cooked meal. We can arm ourselves with all sorts of culinary information, but the truth is we're all looking for someone else to cook for us.

Women who traditionally did the mainstay of cooking are working more thus cooking less. Added to which corporate companies have made a killing with ready meals and convenience food, preying on our susceptibility to idleness where cooking is concerned.

By sheer coincidence, as I was writing my previous post, two enthusiastic young sales reps, (both young men which is somewhat telling) knocked on my door. They were representing Hello Fresh a company which provides complete meals by way of fresh, good quality ingredients measured out precisely leaving no room for error or waste. Along with the specific ingredients required for the dish, ie every spice and herb, comes a recipe card with a photo for every step. If you read my post: Shepherdess pie you'll find more information, this was a post I wrote about a very similar company and concept.

Anyway, the young men in question just couldn't conceive that I didn't need their, (albeit fabulous) food boxes. When I said I had an abundance of spices, grew herbs, bought seasonal vegetables at my local country market, meat from my butcher etc etc they were dumbfounded. It's a sad indictment of our times when a couple of young lads think they can educate a fifty something year old woman about cooking, but let's face it from the 1960's onwards we've been leaving our ovens, counter tops and cutting boards behind.

I think part of the problem, ironically, is that we have too much, too many ingredients on the supermarket shelves, many of which we don't understand, cookbooks that are either too complicated or full of ingredients we don't keep in our cupboards or fridges and recipes that are increasingly useless to us given that we aren't cooking basic recipes from scratch. For example, I barely gave a recipe for Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) a second glance in Jamie Oliver's cookbook until I saw it being cooked on a documentary programme.

I've had the most fabulous idea for a cookbook, well a series of cookbooks actually,  which initially, when I started writing this post, I was eager to blurt out, however, I came to the conclusion that as a barely known food writer, someone else could immediately plagiarize my idea, so I'm keeping shtum for the moment.

The problem with cookery books is that the format has become very predictable, soups, starters, salads....... a lot of chefs' cookbooks are about food as it's done in restaurants. Given that we are no longer cooking the very basics at home, these books are out of touch.

Before I get carried away and reveal my ideas, I shall love and leave you and see you in the next post.

'The problem is that there are many great chefs and many great cookbooks, but none of them work at home.'
- Daniel Boulud.

Love Donna xxxxxxxxxxx

Prue Leith On Contemporary Cookbooks.

                             Some of my well worn custard and gravy splattered cookbooks

Writer, chef and judge on the Great British Menu Prue Leith has caused a commotion by saying recently that contemporary cookbooks are now destined almost exclusively for the coffee table. 'We drool over them, then order a takeaway pizza or Google our way to the kitchen. In my day as a young cook, cookery books 'lived in the kitchen' and had virtually no imagery.'

I wrote a post some while back running along the same theme, I wondered if cookbooks still had a place in today's kitchen?

Harping back to what inspired me to write a blog was the fact that where I used to work we received a book box on a regular basis, contemporary cookbooks were indeed drooled over, yet many of my colleagues admitted they couldn't cook and that these glossy tomes were not instructional enough for novices.

I also wrote a post (see Classic Burger, it's actually really interesting.) regarding the photography used in many contemporary cookbooks and how deceptive this can be. Quite literally, the practice of 'smoke and mirrors' is used by 'food stylists' the seductive photos are science projects masquerading as culinary delights!

Leith maintains we're more interested in style than substance, for me it's interesting to compare my mother's Good Housekeeping's Cookery Compendium with a contemporary cookbook. There is no doubt that stories and beautiful photographs of an olive tree or some vintage crockery are taking over from the old fashioned cookery books which were all about educating us to cook. I have several friends who strategically place contemporary cookbooks on their coffee tables and their sparkly granite worktops because it's become a snobbish and fashionable form of etiquette, never mind that most of them rarely cook, it gives the right impression!

I agree with Leith that the imagery has become ridiculous, however, I have always posted photos along with my recipes because I struggle with a recipe if I have little idea of how it should look. That said, my photos are very real and of the moment and quite often probably more off putting than enticing!

Cookery books will always have a place in my kitchen and in my heart. Many of my books have sentimental value, especially ones bought for me by my mother and dear friends, splattered and with well worn pages, I return to old favourites regularly, and what I wouldn't give to publish my own book.........

My next recipe is an old favourite from Gennaro Contaldo's Passione, the recipe is delicious but unfortunately the photos, taken as I'm furiously fighting against steam, bad lighting and the calls of two hungry men wanting their dinner and for me to stop faffing about, do the recipe no justice. Please don't be put off, these really taste better than they look!

Cheesy mash peppers

Recipe
4 mixed peppers
2 large potatoes, boiled and mashed
75g provolone or mozzarella cheese, cut into very small cubes
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
Olive oil for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 200c/gas mark 6
Halve the peppers and remove the white membrane and seeds
Mix together the mashed potatoes, provolone or mozzarella and Parmesan, season to taste
Using a spoon, fill the pepper halves
Drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 30 minutes, until tender
Serve immediately

'Old cookbooks connect you to your past and explain the history of the world.'
- Jose Andres Puerta.

Love Donna xxxxxx

Angela Hartnett, Bardi And I.

                      My great aunt Lucilla and friend on her balcony above the farmacia

My grandfather was from a small village called Bardi, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy (see photo above.) Like much of the town's population, who between the wars emigrated abroad, my grandfather left the region to start a new life in London. 

My grandfather wanted to escape due to the poor conditions of farmland and the lack of work, many people were destitute and had no option but to move abroad. My grandfather's brother Guido was lucky in that he was a pharmacist and along with his wife Lucilla owned the town's farmacia. 

Whilst my grandfather did become a successful restauranteur, life in London was totally different to that of a small inland town where community and social gatherings were all. When my parents and I went to stay with uncle Guido and auntie Lucilla, even as a small child, I sensed a lot of happiness in their home. Of course, they were prosperous and lived in a beautiful apartment which played host to many vibrant family gatherings and they remained amongst family and friends and a life they both knew and loved.

                        Auntie Lucilla, friend and cousin Stefan at home in Lucilla's apartment

My grandfather died prematurely and before I was born, I often wonder would his fate have been different had he remained in his homeland?

It was in Bardi, as a small child, that I fell in love with food. Suddenly all my senses were awakened, the smells emanating from food shops, market stalls and particularly auntie Lucilla's kitchen which was run by her excellent cook Mary, were stimulating. The act of sitting down to several courses of food, particularly foods which were new to me, excited me, I wanted to try everything! 

My favourite dish was Mary's potato cake, however, upon returning home neither my nonna (who wasn't from Bardi) or my mother, knew how to make it. I spent many years in a potato cake wilderness until I found Angela Hartnett. Angela's maternal grandparents also hailed from Bardi and whilst I was naturally drawn to her warm and natural approach to cooking, unlike some celebrity chef's Angela has no airs and graces, I didn't realise that we had a common bond by way of Bardi. Angela's recipe for torta di patate is the very potato cake I ate all those years ago and it transpires, is very local to Bardi.

                                                              Chef Angela Hartnett

Shockingly, but not surprisingly, I have many friends who have problems with their children's diets. I hear all too regularly that their children are difficult to feed and don't seem to like food and that meal times are a battle ground. With much of our food being packaged, processed and tasteless, it's no small wonder. Food should be a sensory experience. I can vividly recall eating a pizza in Italy which consisted of a delicious dough covered in tomatoes and lots of fresh basil and Parmesan cheese, the basil had a slight perfume to it and was a new sensory experience for me. I can't get my head around a pizza that has a hard base and is covered in all manner of non-pizza ingredients such as reformed ham or chicken tikka, it's wrong on so many levels. 

As Angela says: 'It's difficult to starve if you have pasta in the cupboard and water in which to cook it.' Yet so many of us claim we can't cook and use this as an excuse to use convenience food. 

Some simple pasta mixed with a little olive oil, peas and Parma ham sprinkled with Parmesan cheese is a delicious and easy meal. Likewise, pasta combined with some sautéed garlic, spring onions and chilli combined with tuna and lemon juice, or with some broad beans, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella......combinations are endless, it's just a case of using your imagination and your senses. 

Lasagne is a favourite amongst many Brits along with spaghetti Bolognese, however, we tend to forget that the pasta is an equal star to the sauce, with our love of gravy and ketchup, we tend to drown these dishes in (quite often shop bought) tomato and bechamel sauces. A good lasagne should be sliced, not poured all over the plate in a sloppy mess, the layers of pasta still firm when bitten. 

Lasagne

Recipe

2 tbsp olive oil

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

500g minced beef

2 tbsp tomato puree

150ml red wine

300ml chicken stock

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add vegetables and garlic and cook gently, do not allow to colour

Add the meat and stir for a minute or two

Add the tomato puree and cook for 4-5 minutes

Add the wine, turn up the heat and allow to bubble and reduce

Cover with stock, stir well, reduce heat, cover and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours

White sauce

50g butter

50g plain flour

600ml milk

75g Parmesan or Cheddar cheese, freshly grated

Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour

Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly

Bring to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes, cover and set aside

Preheat oven to 180c/gas mark 4

Cover the bottom of a large ovenproof dish with a couple of tablespoons of each sauce

Cover with a layer of pasta sheets

Repeat process finishing with a layer of white sauce

Sprinkle Parmesan on top and bake for 35 minutes until golden and bubbling

'Pasta can be one of the easiest dishes in the world to prepare. It is also one of the easiest to ruin.'

- Marcella Hazan

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

     

SAD.

                               The not unfamiliar sight of summer viewed from my back door.

Friends of mine despair when I bemoan the British summer, which let's face it, has been rather short of sun! They say 'we've had some glorious weather'....... sorry, I must have blinked and missed it. Worst still my waxing lyrical about Spain has become rather an irritant I fear!

But beyond the tongue in cheek banter, there is a more serious side to this business of weather. Seasonal Affective Disorder is now widely recognised as a common disorder which affects those of us who live in a country where there is a significant lack of sunlight.

Many years ago I used to experience an unaccountable mood change which would begin in February and last through to spring. I suffered from a total lack of energy and an inability to cope with everyday stresses. So severe were my feelings of disorientation I sought advice from my doctor who diagnosed general malaise.

Nowadays the diagnosis would be Seasonal Affective Disorder, the symptoms of which are: lack of energy for everyday tasks, sleeping disorders, increased anxiety and in many cases a feeling of pensive sadness.

Mood variations are believed to be related to light and we all know that a bright sunny day is a mood enhancer. Where our activity is diminished during winter months and we go into a state of hibernation, the summer months see us spending more time out of doors. We become more spontaneous, we socialise more, we relax and as our vitamin D levels rise, we become less prone to illness.

For most sufferers of SAD, the symptoms tend to go away depending on the amount of sunlight during spring and summer. We physically and emotionally need sunshine, consequently it has been no surprise to me that many of the friends I have met up with recently are feeling frazzled.

In answer to many peoples question regarding what I love about Spain, I guess it boils down to the fact that I like the temperament of the Spanish people and the hours they keep. Everything happens later and more slowly, instead of being hurried, stressed or angry at being in a queue, the locals will turn it into a social activity, chatting with their fellow customers. Meals are drawn out affairs and nightlife is legendary with people emerging from their homes after 10pm to enjoy the sultry night.

 The languor of a hot summer brings about a dreamy, lazy and sensual quality in us, we feel effervescent and free and as sleep prepares us for wakefulness, so summer prepares us for winter. Even animals which don't hibernate exhibit changes in behaviour during winter, our mood variations change dependant on light and warmth and lack of it can cause summertime sadness.

Unfortunately, there is little we can do about the weather other than grab as much time out of doors when the sun does appear from behind the clouds and if we're lucky enough to get any sultry evenings, grab a bottle of wine, make a dish of these delicious nuts and sit in the garden and enjoy.

Spiced nuts

Recipe
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
150g nuts
1 tbsp clear honey

Preheat oven to 180c/gas 4
Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper
Whisk to combine the sunflower oil, lime juice and caster sugar until the mixture looks pale

Add the spices, keep whisking, season to taste with salt and pepper
Place the nuts in an even layer onto the lined tray and roast for 5 minutes

Turn the nuts over and roast for a further 8-10 minutes until they have a shiny, golden coating

Leave on a tray to cool, serve warm or cold with a glass of something cold

'It's a smile, it's a kiss, it's a sip of wine........
It's summertime.'
- Kenny Chesney.

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

Uk Is The Worst In Europe For Wasting Food

 A Dig For Victory poster - encouraging Britons to cultivate gardens and allotments during WW2.

There is such a disparity between our current relationship with food here in the UK and that of my mother's generation. I often wonder how many of us even begin to take on board that the UK is the worst in Europe for wasting food?

I have no idea if the younger generation have any concept of food rationing, and if not, why not? Such is our abundance of food, particularly that of the ready made variety, we no longer teach our children the basics of cooking or home economics, food is seen as easy come - easy go.

 After world war two began in 1939, rationing began taking place and by 1940, bacon, butter and sugar were rationed, closely followed by meat, tea, cheese, eggs and milk.

Although fresh fruit and vegetables were not rationed, supplies were low, lemons and bananas became unattainable, apples limited to one per person, per week and oranges generally reserved for children or pregnant women. My own mother never saw a real egg when she was young, eggs were limited to 1 per week, therefore many families used powdered egg, rationed at 1 packet per month.

Here was a generation who scraped by on 540g of meat and 57g of cheese a week compared with todays society who waste approximately £480 of food per year, per household.

We are now a throwaway consumer culture, we under value food because we are a rich western nation deluged with food choices. We no longer cook from scratch and the combination of cheap ready meals and fast food takeaways means many Britons have forgotten the basics of cooking, how to organise their fridges or freeze food and don't know how to use up leftovers.

Worst still, people are confused (yes, confused!) by best before dates, no longer dictated by austerity, hunger or common sense, the average Brit throws away almost a quarter of meat, half of vegetables and 41 per cent of fruit they buy per year.

To put things in perspective, rationing didn't formally end until 1954 - sixty one years ago, we're not talking about the dark ages! Children like my parents were overjoyed upon receiving an orange in their Christmas stocking, nowadays children are plied with sweets and snacks on a daily basis and in spite of foodstuffs being crammed full of preservatives, we are now, as never before, guilty of colossal food waste which is totally avoidable.

                              A shopkeeper measuring out a families weekly rations

We think nothing of loading our shopping trolleys with two for one offers without even a basic understanding of how to preserve the food we buy, and unlike our European counterparts, our bulk of waste is generated within our own homes.

I have never known what it is like to go hungry, my parents however, grew up in post war Britain where rationing continued and in some aspects became stricter for some years after the war. Both knew what it was like to go without, therefore they always showed great reverence towards the food they were lucky enough to have in later years.

Unlike todays children, my generation grew up with an understanding that not everyone was lucky enough to have three square meals a day. If we left food on our plate we were reminded of the starving children in Africa, we were taught to value food and that has stayed with me throughout my life.

Hotchpotch dinners are my speciality, these can be any variation of leftovers to make dishes such as bubble and squeak or my version of Shepherds pie. Of course given the surplus of cheap food found in most supermarkets, I could quite easily throw more than twice my own body weight of food away a year, as the average Brit does, and just buy more food, but my conscience won't let me.

This next dish is simply vegetables leftover from Sunday lunch and is really very tasty.

Vegetable hash

Recipe
Leftover roast or boiled potatoes
Leftover Brussel sprouts
Salt and pepper

Pulse potatoes in a blender

Mash Brussels with a fork and add to potatoes

Line a dish with greaseproof paper and mash ingredients into the dish, seasoning to taste

Cook in a preheated oven for 30 minutes

Slice and serve with fried eggs and tomatoes

'I was born during the war and grew up in a time of rationing. We didn't have anything. It's influenced the way I look at the world.'
- Vivienne Westwood

Love Donna xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Malaysian Cuisine.

                                        The food hall at The Malaysian High Commission

In my early twenties I worked in and around Knightsbridge and London's west end in various department stores. Whilst working for a skin care company in Selfridges I befriended a group of Malaysian women who were working beside me. One girl in particular, named Wen-Chi, became a very close friend, which was inevitable due to her being even more mischievous and fun loving than I.

Between us we became the bane of our perfumery buyers life, always playing practical jokes on unsuspecting customers and other members of staff, arriving back late from lunch and often giving each other facials or makeovers at one another's counters, we really were like a couple of naughty school girls and I suspect our rumbustious behaviour wouldn't be acceptable in high end stores in this day and age.

Like me, Wen-Chi loved her food and lots of it. London was an expensive place to lunch out so invariably we would go to The Malaysian High Commission which had a canteen. Initially the canteen was opened to cater for homesick Malaysian students staying in the hostel above and provided Kelantanese Malay food at affordable prices. This arguably became every Malaysian in London's best kept secret, diners had to be Malaysian or brought in as a guest by a Malaysian.

Due to its affordability, Wen-Chi and I used to tuck in to several dishes apiece, I loved the symphony of flavours which included a melange of Asian spices, my favourite dish was laksa, a noodle dish served in a sour, spicy, slightly sweet coconut broth. Traditionally this dish would include many ingredients such as palm sugar, dried shrimp, galangal, fish balls and tofu, to name but a few. I have since eaten many bastardised versions of laksa, none of which have come remotely close to the dish I ate in the Malaysia food hall canteen unfortunately.

I recently had such a yearning for laksa that I trawled through endless recipes online which claimed to be 'authentic' and decided to pick out ingredients which sounded familiar with the flavours I remember. I concentrated on the flavours for the paste and cooked it simply with some white fish fillets, to my surprise the flavours were very reminiscent of the laksa I ate all those years ago and I will definitely add homemade fish balls and fried tofu the next time I make this dish.

Of course I'm more than aware that cooking blind, ie not knowing what to expect of a dish, can be off putting. Amongst my hundreds of cookbooks I tend to sweep over recipes I am not familiar with, especially if there are no accompanying photos. This dish is actually very easy once you have the right spices and I promise you, if you like the combination of hot, sweet and sour, you'll love this. I would class this as comfort food and in fact many Malaysians eat this for breakfast.


Laksa

Recipe
For the laksa paste
8 small chillies, chopped, alternatively, 1 tablespoon dried chillies
2 tablespoons dried shrimp, alternatively, 1-2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 red shallots or small red onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric

Combine all these ingredients in a blender until you have a paste

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan, cook paste for 2 minutes
Add 1 litre of stock, stir and simmer

Add pieces of fish - alternatively you could use prawns
Add 500ml of coconut milk
Simmer until fish is cooked

Meanwhile, cook noodles per packet instructions and drain
Divide noodles into bowls and ladle laksa ontop
Garnish with fresh coriander
Serve immediately

'Food is our common ground, a universal experience.'
- James Beard

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

James Durrant Great British Chef.

                                      James Durrant, proprietor of The Plough Inn.

What can I tell you about great British chef James Durrant? Well, quite a lot actually. I met James at his stunning pub, The Plough Inn, only last week where I enjoyed one of the best dining experiences ever, not only in terms of James's excellent cooking or the beautiful surroundings, but, moreover in James's sincerity and down to earth friendliness as a host.

Given my journalistic career is still in its infancy and James is at the top of his game and consequently very much in demand, I didn't imagine that, not only would I be eating a delicious meal hand cooked by James, but that I would be granted the pleasure of an interview.

James was a protégé of both Gordon Ramsay and Jason Atherton, working at 3 Michelin star restaurant 'Gordon Ramsay' for three years and a further two years as sous chef at Claridges. In 2005 James took on the role of head chef at Maze working alongside Jason Atherton. In the first year of operation, Maze won numerous awards including a Michelin star. James won the prestigious caterer and housekeeper Acorn award for young achievers. In 2008 James was made executive chef at Maze.

In 2012 James left the glitterati of London life to pursue his ambition of opening his own restaurant and found himself in the delightfully picturesque Test valley village of Longparish Hampshire. In the first year of operation, The Plough Inn won The Good Food Guide UK pub of the year award along with a Michelin Bib Gourmand and two AA rosettes. The Plough has been in the Budweiser Budvar top 50 gastro pub awards for three consecutive years and in January 2013 James was awarded the Gastro Pub Chef of the year award. The Plough has recently been placed 17th in The Good Food Guide top 50 pubs in the UK and in 2015 was ranked number 4 in the UK top 50 Gastro Pub awards, this years highest achiever.......are you keeping up.

To top it all, James appeared on BBC2's Great British Menu last year and was crowned main course winner.

                                                    James on The Great British Menu.

Beyond all the celebrity status and accolades, I admire the fact James has taken up the mantle as Hampshire's first food tourism ambassador. James has a a strong allegiance to his local community and county and is keen to champion the best dining experiences, suppliers and growers that Hampshire has to offer, far from self congratulatory promotion of his own superb pub, (very little PR work has been done at The Plough) James is adding to his gruelling schedule by promoting Hampshire via the media, personal Internet blogs, functions at The Plough and appearances at live events and demonstrations throughout the country.

Bedazzled by James's culinary biography I was anxious regarding meeting and interviewing him, yet I couldn't have wished for a more affable chap, this is a man with huge credentials yet with absolutely no delusions of grandeur, no small wonder the local community love him.

For my money, The Plough Inn is a perfect food destination. Longparish is an idyllic quintessential village, far from the madding crowd, The Plough is a historic village pub which has retained its original 18th century features and thus remains true to its origins, yet it is that rare and elusive combination of traditional country pub and gastronomic excellence, it ticks every box.

With a choice of menus which include A La Carte, bar meals and daily specials, all of which are freshly prepared to order, I was torn between the fish of the day, homemade scotch eggs or James's mac & cheese. I opted for the salmon with shrimp and caper sauce which was sublimely fresh and cooked to perfection. Martin, my companion, went for the mac & cheese which James makes with truffles, cured ham and veal stock, it was rich and truly scrumptious, both dishes were beautifully executed and for food of this calibre, unbelievably good value.

                                                Salmon with shrimp and caper sauce

                                                             James's mac & cheese

                                     Say 'Cheese' front of house manager Jack Salter

                                                               One very happy lady!        

With so many imperilled public houses getting it wrong, The Plough Inn is a hidden jewel and one that is well worth visiting.        

'There is a difference between dining and eating. Dining is an art, when you eat to get the most out of your meal, to please the palate, just as well as to satiate the appetite, that, my friend, is dining.'
- Yuan Mei.

Love Donna xxxxxxxxxxx                  

     

Heartburn.

                                           Nora Ephron on the left with Meryl Streep

I have just finished reading Heartburn, a book written by much loved journalist, novelist, screenwriter, director and Blogger, Nora Ephron.

Ephron was inspired to write the book after she discovered her husband was having an affair with their mutual friend. With her usual comic genius, Ephron's heroine, Rachel Samsat, describes her husband as 'being capable of having sex with a venetian blind' and that their friend, with whom he was having an affair, looked like a giraffe with big feet.

One of the many reasons I love Ephron is that she loved food with a heartening fervour, Heartburn is about the break up of a marriage but the heroine is a food writer and this is how she describes it: 'The cookbooks I write do well. They're very personal and chatty - they're cookbooks in an almost incidental way. I write chapters about friends or relatives or trips or experiences, and work in the recipes peripherally.'.............Just like my blog!

Sometimes I rattle on about things and actually the recipes really do become incidental, I'm not really sure how readers feel about that?

As many of you will know, I was inspired to write a food blog after seeing Ephron's movie, Julie & Julia. Julie Powell was frustrated at being in a soul-killing, dead end job and embarked on a project where she prepared all 524 recipes from her favourite chef, Julia Child's landmark cookbook 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking.' Powell documented this in a blog which went viral, culminating in Ephron's film starring Meryl Streep.

I'm pretty sure the film inspired many like minded people to embark on a food blog, mine is just one of thousands, but whilst I don't write it as often as I'd like, I do thoroughly enjoy blathering on and I hope my recipes are of consequence. A typical recipe in Heartburn reads like this: 'Bacon hash, cut some bacon into small pieces and cook over a slow flame so that the fat is rendered. Then add diced cooked potatoes and cook until the potatoes and bacon are completely crunchy. Eat with an egg.

On that note, this next preparation is child's play (excuse the pun.)

Delicious tomato salad

Recipe
2/3 pounds of mixed ripe tomatoes
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, peeled and grated
1 fresh chilli, seeded and chopped, optional

Cut your tomatoes into uneven sizes, place in a colander and season with a good pinch of salt

Shake the tomatoes, the salt will begin to draw out any excess moisture
Leave the tomatoes in the colander on top of a bowl for 15 minutes, discard excess juice
Transfer tomatoes to a large bowl
Make a dressing using 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, add garlic and chilli and stir well
Serve as part of a regular salad or with some torn mozzarella and crusty bread

'You can never have too much butter - that's my belief. If I have a religion, that's it.'
- Nora Ephron.

Love Donna xxxxxxx