Queen Of The Fairy Lights

Simply Nigella concluded last night with a Christmas special and was, as expected, full of head wobbling, saucy lines and innuendos, not least about covering her bundits with lashings of caramel sauce. Nigella's right up there with the Carry On team and Kenny Everett (remember his hilarious double entendre, Cupid Stunt.)

Nigella declared herself Queen of the fairy lights, I'd say it's a close run thing Nigella, as I have fairy lights scattered around my home all year round, particularly in my kitchen and dining room, as I think they add to the ambience of cooking, dining and entertaining. 

Of course the problem with Christmas specials is that we've seen it all before, in fact, the least problematic meal for most of us is Christmas dinner as invariably we all cook the same thing every year. Without fail, my Nigella's Christmas comes out every year, just for the pure pleasure of looking at it as I can cook most of her recipes with my eyes closed and lets face it, there's only so many ways to stuff a bird (guffaw guffaw.)

Amongst the recipes delivered in Simply Nigella's Christmas Special was a stir fry which she 'knocked up' using sprouts, brown basmati rice, pickled peppers and pineapple topped with a fried egg, a sort of posh persons bubble and squeak. The reason it grabbed my fancy was twofold, I love vegetarian dishes and it wasn't very calorific, Nigella used coconut oil (although she was keen to point out that whilst it's the most raved about healthy option now - we'll be told the opposite sometime soon no doubt!)

I think we all fall into the trap of thinking vegetarian and healthy food is bland, there is a funny advert on TV demonstrating this where a family are all gathered ready to watch a dvd and dad says 'let's call out for some cous cous.' Of course in reality we want loaded burgers, pizzas, Chinese takeaways and Haagen daz ice cream. However, some of the most flavoursome meals I cook are both vegetarian and healthy, I adapted Nigella's recipe slightly and I can only tell you that everyone wanted seconds!

This recipe might be worth thinking about on Boxing day, it's the perfect anecdote to all the richness and over-indulgence from the day before because it's light. The ginger (which has a myriad of healing properties) is warming and soothing and gives it an aromatic kick, and it would be the perfect accompaniment to leftover cold cuts as a change from potatoes and piccalilli, alternatively you could serve it with a couple of fried eggs.

Sprout stir fry

Recipe

500g sprouts, shredded

1 dessert spoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 dessert spoon pickled ginger

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon dried chillies

300g spinach (if using frozen, cook in a microwave for 3-4 minutes and squeeze out excess water)

Pre-cooked rice (Nigella used a pouch of brown basmati rice, I used a 200g bag of frozen rice with Mediterranean vegetables which I cooked in the microwave)

Heat the oil in a large pan, add shredded sprouts and cook for 6-8 minutes or until tender

Blitz pickled ginger and garlic with some of the vinegar from the jar and add to the sprouts

Add soy sauce, chillies and season with black pepper

Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes and add spinach

Combine everything well so as the vegetables are infused with flavour

Add pre-cooked rice and continue stirring and cooking for 2-3 minutes

Serve while piping hot

'People eat meat and think they will become as strong as an ox, forgetting that the ox eats grass!'

- Pino Caruso

Love Donna xxxxxx

A Lighter Way To Bake

                                          In my mid-twenties on a beach in Kenya

It's funny how the weight creeps up on you. As a young woman I was a petite size 10, mind you, I grew up in an era before eating a Big Mac between meals became the norm. My mother's kitchen contained a tiny fridge with a freezer compartment only big enough for a packet of frozen peas and an ice cube tray. There was a small larder which contained baking ingredients and a cupboard with non perishables ie a few tins, therefore I couldn't raid the cupboard or freezer for goodies, neither was there a Costa Coffee on every street corner, doleing out coffees at around 400 calories a throw.

British people now spend nearly 30 billion pounds on fast food every year, shopping centres are choc full with fast food outlets tempting us to eat and drink calorific foodstuffs, a far cry from my youth when we only had Wimpy bars.

I have never subscribed to this new fad of 'fast food' I don't eat McDonald's or Kentucky fried chicken, the smell alone emanating from Subway makes me queasy, I dislike everything Nandos and Ranchos stand for (quantity over quality) and as you already know, I avoid processed ready-meals like the plague. I've never been to Sprinkles or eaten a Krispy Kreme doughnut, I don't even buy biscuits for goodness sake, however, I have seen a significant hike in my weight these last 10 years!

Women's bodies can often alter shape in their 40s, a change in the balance of hormones and a slowing metabolism plays a part. As we approach the menopause, oestrogen levels fluctuate and fat distribution is often affected. During my teenage years I went to bed each night hoping that I would awake the next morning with big bosoms, all my friends had sprouted breasts to rival page 3 models. Unfortunately it never happened (thank God for Wonder bras and chicken fillets!) However, when I least wanted them, (like every other part of my body) they started to grow!

Ok, so it doesn't help that I am a restaurant reviewer, or that I enjoy red wine, the high calorific content of which sees the average wine drinker putting on half a stone of fat a year. Each bottle of wine I drink = 644 calories = a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries, (I know which I'd prefer.)

I often wonder, in the current climate of obesity, if young girls who are already hugely overweight in their 20s, understand the ramifications?

            A group of young girls who tucked into massive meals with gay abandon

I've never dieted, however, for many years I ate sensibly Monday through to Friday and then indulged at the weekend - this effectively was similar to the 5 2 diet in reverse. Fad diets are proven not to work and are just a money-spinner for both food and health corporations. Recently, my friend Clarrie (who has featured on this blog several times) decided to go on a diet, she has successfully and sensibly overhauled her eating habits with a view to the long term, (shakes and bars are just a quick fix) she is cooking and preparing fresh ingredients and has eschewed many of the calorific treats she consumed.....although not all. A long term healthy eating plan has to be realistic, none of us can envisage living on whole grains, beans and goji berries without the odd treat and as I've always said: 'Everything in moderation.'

With Christmas fast approaching, Clarrie has been looking at ways to enjoy some seasonal excess without adding too many calories. She recently made these delicious mince pies using filo pastry which has the huge advantage of no fat in the pastry but all the taste.

Filo mince pies

Recipe
1 packet of filo pastry sheets
Spray oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 jar of mincemeat

Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4
Lay the sheets of filo pastry out

Cut into 6 strips

On both halves of each strip place a spoonful of mincemeat
Form 12 triangle parcels

Spray a baking tray with a little oil and brush your parcels with egg wash
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until golden and crisp

These little parcels are absolutely scrumptious without all the added fat of your regular mince pies, well worth making.


'True discipline is really just self-remembering; no forcing or fighting is necessary.'


Love Donna xxxxxxxx  

Pushing The Boundaries.

                                                                      Two Fat Ladies

Last night I happened upon some old re-runs of the TV cookery show Two Fat Ladies. The series ended in 1999 therefore I was probably watching something that was at least 16 years old, however, it seemed utterly ancient compared with modern cookery programmes.

Clarissa Dickson Wright and co star Jennifer Paterson were two eccentric, loud, formidably intelligent, fat women who shared a love of food and an affected unconcern regarding fat or calories and pushing the boundaries.

Both women had plummy accents, rich with haughty disdain, they were both utterly un-pc and Jennifer in particular was wont to drink on set and regularly 'nipped out for a fag.' They used phrases such as 'yummo' whilst mixing large quantities of butter or lard into their recipes with fat fingers clad in chunky jewels.

They drove around the country in a Triumph Thunderbird motorbike and sidecar with the number plate N88 TFL the British bingo call for number 88 was 'Two Fat Ladies.' Clarissa once commented 'I never minded sitting in the sidecar when Jennifer drove, even if I knew she was on her second bottle of vodka.' One can see why the show was apparently the Queen Mother's favourite viewing!

Watching this old episode made me realise how times have changed, we are now constantly under the gaze of self-appointed pc warriors, it is virtually impossible to do or say anything challenging without incurring their wrath. The very notion of calling themselves Two Fat Ladies would now be seen as offensive, thus they belong to a bygone era (although I have no doubt they would have stuck two fat fingers up at the ideology of controlled public speech and thought.)

I've been watching the current series of Professional Masterchef and am amazed that many of the supposedly skilled chefs can't execute basic recipes. Innovation is the lingua franca of the food world and whilst most of the chefs can produce dishes such as chicken, foie, quince and cobnut ravioli or lapsang souchong infused saddle of venison, they can't make a pancake batter or cheese sauce.

In a recent episode chefs were challenged to make buck rarebit, a glorified cheese on toast, but surprisingly they all struggled with this very simple dish. Therefore I think it's worth posting because it really is the ultimate comfort food.

Buck rarebit
Recipe

White sauce
25g butter
25g plain flour
300ml milk

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat
Stir in the flour and combine with the butter to form a paste

Add a little milk at a time, stirring continuously until you have a smooth, slightly thick sauce

Now you can add 1 free range egg and combine into sauce

Add 1 teaspoon of mustard

Add 225g of cheese, I like Stilton but mature Cheddar works equally well

Once the cheese has melted your sauce is ready
Place your bread under the grill and toast it on both sides until crisp and golden
Spread the cheese mixture onto the toast - right to the edges, then sprinkle with a light dusting of cayenne pepper

Place under the grill, 3 inches from the heat, until golden brown and bubbling

                                                                   Deeeeelicious!

'Never throw away squeezed lemons, keep them by the sink. Then you can use them to remove fish, onion or garlic smells from your fingers. Or you can stick them on your elbows while you are reading a book, to soften and whiten your skin.'
- Jennifer Paterson.

'The term 'political correctness' has always appalled me, reminding me of Orwell's 'thought police' and fascist regimes.'
- Helmut Newton.

Love Donna xxxxxx

A Juicy Secret.

Whilst I make no claims to be a connoisseur, I do love a good red wine and when I am in Spain I can lose myself amongst the wine racks of our local bodega for hours at a time. I love that I can select Vintage and Gran Reserva wines for a fraction of the price here in the UK.

They say that women and wine go together like melted chocolate and strawberries, that it's a sacred functional relationship, however, I quite happily supped my way through malibu and coke, pernod and black (blackcurrant cordial) pina colada's and white wine spritzers (all very sweet, which with hindsight appealed to my unrefined palette) before I acquired a taste for red wine, which after all, is the most healthy and hygienic of beverages according to Louis Pasteur!

Experts have discovered the 'gastronomic watershed' an age at which we start to appreciate grown up food and drink (ie not sickly sweet malibu and coke!) Sophisticated adults veer towards olives, blue cheese and anchovies, all firm favourites of mine which coincidentally go very well with red wine. Bizarrely, given I was a vegetarian for many years, I now enjoy the occasional steak, but I'm glad that as with wine, I really appreciate it and look for good quality. A good steak accompanied with an excellent wine is a thing of pleasure, cheap steak and plonk, so readily available, is by no means comparable, as I've found out in my local Beefeater restaurant!

The only problem I have found with buying steak (and readers will know I don't do economy, factory farmed meat) is the cut. Of course, fillet is the best steak but comes at a high price, I have decided I don't like rump steak, but definitely like rib eye and t bone. However, having bought two expensive pieces of sirloin steak recently I was disappointed at how chewy and unpalatable they were (I simply cannot do chewy meat!) It occurred to me that my mother always marinated steak prior to cooking so I did a bit of swotting up and found this advice. Salting your steaks prior to cooking breaks down the protein molecules of the meat, causing them to attach to fat molecules helping to seal in moisture and flavour. Salt has a high affinity for water and steak is full of moisture, the salt coating will pull the moisture to the surface.

You must use coarse sea salt or pink Himalayan salt which is stone ground and has bigger granules (hence you use less) and is less processed than table salt.

Salt your steaks at least 1 hour prior to cooking
Lay the steaks on a plate and sprinkle approximately 1 teaspoon of salt over the surface (for extra flavour add crushed garlic, as the salt enters the muscle fibres it will take the garlic with it.)
Flip the steaks over and cover with salt, pressing the granules into the steak

After an hour, rinse the steaks and then pat completely dry with paper towels (if the steaks are wet they will steam)
Cook steaks to your requirements, place on a plate with a knob of homemade garlic butter and enjoy

I tried this method and our steaks were literally as soft as butter, however, they were expensive grass-fed outdoor reared steaks and the salting method is advised for an inexpensive cut of steak, either way, I shall certainly use this simple trick again.

'Age appears best in four things; old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust and old authors to read.'
- Francis Bacon.

Love Donna xxxxx

Love Is In The Air

                                              Bertie and Holly in Winchester Cathedral.

So, at the grand age of twenty seven my darling boy has flown the nest. Never one to rush in to anything, Bert has kept girls at bay and has led a rather spectacular single life. To be fair, I never encouraged him to move out, he's spent the last few years growing his own business and needed our moral support and with UK property prices soaring, it was almost impossible for him to get a mortgage on anything bigger than a cupboard. Added to which, given that 42% of marriages in England end in divorce, I admired his caution regarding relationships, Bert has always taken emotional intimacy quite seriously and didn't want a trail of abandonment, particularly where children were concerned, behind him, something which is all too common these days.

Although he kept Holly a closely guarded secret for several months, he finally introduced us and both Glenn and I were immediately smitten. Like Bert and I, Holly was born and bred in London before moving to Hampshire, she is smart, full of cockney spirit, funny, beautiful but most importantly, sweet and kind, she seems to be the perfect match for Bertie.

The happy couple have found a lovely starter home, a bijou mews apartment in the centre of Winchester, an ideal destination for young lovers with its world class attractions and architecture, unrivalled shopping and dining, it's a city which is firmly established as a foodie destination (right up Bert's street) and is crammed with hidden treasures, all waiting to be explored.

As the saying goes: I haven't lost a son, I've gained a daughter in law! However, for twenty seven years Bert has always eaten Christmas lunch with me, therefore when he casually told me that he will be spending Christmas with Holly's family I was initially taken a back. But all is not lost, we shall have a mock Christmas day on the Sunday preceeding Christmas with turkey and all the trimmings.

On Christmas day I shall do a lunch that is quick and easy as I've decided Glenn and I will join friends in our local pub for pre dinner drinks. I did a trial run last Sunday and was pleased with the results, for anyone not entertaining a huge crowd this Christmas but still wanting a festive lunch that can be pre-prepared and cooked quickly and effortlessly this is ideal.

Winter spiced chicken

1 medium free range chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
Zest and juice of 2 clementines
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Combiine spices, orange zest and juice with olive oil in a small bowl
Preheat oven 200c/gas 6
Make some cuts in the chicken legs as this will help the chicken cook quicker
Rub the marinade over the chicken and place in the oven
Put frozen Brussels in a baking tray and pour in a good glug of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with salt and coat all the Brussels, put in the fridge

Go to the pub for an hour.............
Remove chicken from the oven

Add potatoes and parsnips (I par boiled and froze them a couple of days earlier as a time saving exercise) coat with the spiced chicken juices and add more oil if necessary, return to oven

Place Brussels in the oven for 30-40 minutes until tender and caramelised
Remove the chicken from the oven 10 minutes before the veg is cooked and cover with foil

Remove potatoes and parsnips and set aside
Add 2 tablespoons of plain flour to the baking tray and over a low heat stir into the spicy chicken juices, scraping up all the sticky bits at the bottom, gradually add boiling water until you have a thick glossy gravy

Carve the chicken and serve with trimmings and gravy

The Brussels are so much more tastier cooked in the oven and it's so effortless, I'd really recommend this method of cooking them.

'It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.'
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Love Donna xxxx

A Remedy Rather Than A Recipe!

We've started Christmas early in our house (doesn't everyone these days) because we will be setting off to Spain on the 27th for a couple of tranquil weeks.

As much as I love the lead up to Christmas, I can't wait to spend time in our little village of Jacarilla. In rural villages most Spaniards start their Christmas by attending Midnight Mass 'La Misa Del Gallo' (The Mass of the rooster) so called because a rooster is supposed to have crowed the night that Jesus was born.

Before Mass families will gather for a traditional dinner which is normally a lavish and joyful affair where the sumptuous meal and the high spirits carry on until Midnight when the ringing of Church bells call the families to Mass.

 After Mass they will walk through the village streets, carrying torches, playing guitars and beating tambourines and drums whilst singing carols and hymns.

                                                  Some of the villagers in Jacarilla

Families will stop at the village bars and cafés for a drink and there is a saying: 'Esta noche es noche-buena, y no es noche de dormir' which means 'Tonight is the good night and it is not meant for sleeping.'

There is a distinct lack of commercialism as Spaniards are more oriented towards joy and celebration with family and friends - a welcome change from the daily grind. This holiday is rather a calm celebration which includes walks, socialising, dropping into bars and generally relaxing and enjoying life.

On Christmas day families gather in the local park or plaza where the children play with their toys from Papa Noel and adults share a drink or two before eating another large family meal during the afternoon.

Although we won't be there for Christmas itself we will be able to enjoy new year and Epiphany which is celebrated on 6th January. Dia de los Reyes Magos is the most important day for children as they wake to find the Three Kings have left gifts for them (Santa will have only left a small gift on December 24th.) On the eve of Epiphany, children place their shoes, filled with straw, on the doorstep, and in the secret of the night, the Three Wise Men pass leaving gifts.

Epiphany is heralded by another social gathering in the village which includes parades where sweets and cakes are distributed to the children by adults dressed as the Kings.

Far from the mayhem of Christmas in the UK which sees us shopping late into Christmas eve and back in the shops on Boxing day fighting over TV sets, Christmas in rural Spain still has a religious connotation and has a magical feel.

Now, back to Christmas here, I've already accumulated a pile of Christmas recipe booklets from various newspaper supplements telling me how to cook the juiciest turkey etc etc...... so I shan't be bombarding you with the same old same old as I'm sure Nigella, The Hairy Bikers et al have given you enough recipes and tips already! Today I'm literally sharing a tip which has nothing to do with Christmas fayre but I feel is certainly worth mentioning. As you know, I have a fear of watery sauces, I hate sloppy, slushy bolognese or chilli con carne (I was recently subjected to a bowl of grey, watery gruel masquerading as chilli at a friends house.) By simply adding a handful of lentils you can transform any watery sauce into something thick and unctuous.

                               Always rinse lentils thoroughly under cold running water

                                                  Add to chosen sauce 20 minutes before serving

                                                                   A nice sticky sauce!

                                                                Oh I do hope so!

Love Donna xxxxxxxxxx

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas (Excess)

Christmas, more than ever, has become an unholy celebration of consumption and greed. In the lead up to Christmas (which starts earlier and earlier each year) we buy too much food, of which we waste a significant amount (averagely 50 million bin bags of unwanted Christmas food reaches landfills.)

We don't spare a thought for the poorly paid workers who toil away making stuff we don't need but must have, or face the lamentable truth, as we engorge ourselves with turkey and mince pies, that all around the world,  every 5 seconds a child living in poverty dies.

Apparently, 13 million Britons can't make ends meet, yet by mid December all trace of birds stuffed with birds, ready-made stuffing and bread sauce, luxury mince pies and Christmas puddings, prepared sprouts, red cabbage, pigs in blankets etc, are gone from the shelves. This is modern Christmas and it comes ready-made!

The rituals of making bread sauce (for example) from stale bread to bulk out a Christmas dinner, as many poorer classes did, are long gone, as has making pastry for a few mince pies or homemade sausage rolls. These days, mum's gone to Iceland where foodstuffs are cheap and plentiful and by consequence, disposable.

An elderly friend of mine told me that she recently asked in her local supermarket where she could find suet? She was met with a blank stare. The manager was summoned and said to my friend he didn't know what suet was, my friend explained she wanted to make dumplings to which he replied: 'What are dumplings?'

Foodstuffs like dumplings were staples in working class households a couple of generations ago when people really couldn't 'make ends meet.' As a child I remember my mother making stews with cheap cuts of meat, neck of lamb or ox tail and bulking it out with vegetables and dumplings.

Even on 'professional' Masterchef the chefs are failing simple skills tests such as making a basic pancake, it seems they're only capable of dealing with exotic and expensive ingredients.

So, after our modern Christmas of overindulgence, rather than consigning your leftover turkey or ham to the bin, why not make a tasty stew and top it with delicious dumplings.

Dumplings

Recipe
125g self raising flour
60g suet

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl
Add the suet and enough water to form a thick dough
With floured hands, roll spoonfuls of the dough into small balls
Add to your stew and cook for 20 minutes or until dumplings have swollen and are tender

'Everything in excess is opposed to nature.'
- Hippocrates.

Love Donna xxxxxxxx