Writing about cooking and eating with friend’s stops when you start writing about it. Believe me.
In fact the whole of life as I knew it and the reality of what is being written about ..has not recently not played out.Time to get a moment to stop to share and enjoy it.
So this morning I got up ten minutes early threw clean jam jars in the oven, boiled the damson jelly I made yesterday up and poured it into the jars.I threw, in just 2 minutes flat, a caraway and raisin soda bread into the oven and did the school run.
On return I walked into to a house filled with the smell of fresh baking and ran around the kitchen tidy tidy tidying. A quick coffee, fresh soda bread and warm damson jelly for breakfast with some chat and gossip with the girls.
Now I remember why I love cooking so much.
I love eating.With friends.
Now I must get back to writing about it - for real.
My parents are extraordinary people.As my Mum and Dad they get a gold medal for being supportive.In fact just today my father picked up my three children fed them their tea and looked after them all afternoon (and alone, as my mother was out !) .. whilst I was being filmed cooking Chili Chocolate cakes at home.... in peace.
But I am not writing about their babysitting skills.I am writing about their brilliant wine making skills. ... for my parents have just won some of the top awards in the British wine industry for their wine.
I am so proud of them.
The Mercian Vineyards Association is one of 6 representative bodies for vineyards and wine enthusiasts in Britain. It is a member of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association and has members from all over the UK.There were 150 wines in the competition and Fleurfields won the following awards:
The best Mercian Sparkling Wine
The best Vintage Wine
The best wine in the East midlands
Silver Medal awarded to the pink Bubbly Champs d’amour de Rose
Bronze medal awarded to Champs D’amour.
So now my parents have their own award-winning vineyard.
This morning I called in early to see my parents. They were sitting in bed reading The Times.. as they do every single morning, for as long as I can remember. We chattered about the recipes and I talked about the fact that I am thinking about Christmas recipes, in particular Christmas cake and pudding. My father smiled as he recalled my grandmothers cakes. It was my grandmother who taught me to bake.
People use to come from miles and miles away to order cakes off your grandmother he said. Christmas cakes, wedding cakes, christening cakes. She was renowned for her amazing fruit cakes. He told me that the making these cakes were a social occasion. Made before the invention of television. Oh yes - they could bake and gossip. No one was immune to the gossip.. and boy they could gossip.
Whilst Dad was lost in the memory of cake baking and a bunch of chattering aunties busy baking, my mum disappeared downstairs to reappear with an envelope. You might like this. There was spidery writing over an old yellowing envelope. I opened it gingerly, sitting on the end of my parents bed like a 7 year old girl again. Inside was treasure. My grandmothers Christmas cake and pudding recipe. She made this cake from the time she was married. Over 85 years ago. Tears prickled my eyes as my mother said you can keep it. Safe.
She sent me out into the stables to find my grandmothers original tins. So here I have it. The original recipes and the original tin still wrapped in brown paper and string that my grandmother tied on to stop the last cake she baked burning too quickly in an old fashioned oven. She died over 20 years ago.
Now I must decide if I can bear to untie the string she once tied on to clean up this tin to re use it as she once did.
I think I’ll sit and wait a while.
She would have told everyone, everyone about this book.
For as long as I can remember I have eaten this dish, it is the very best pasta dish imaginable. It's fast . just the thing for a hungary time short foodie. The exact origins of it are lost in the mists of time, but my mother is Italian, so there is a connection from Naples somewhere.I am aware that my readers are not six years old, so for the sake of treating you adults I have called this dish tomato and garlic pasta, but in our house, since I was a child, it has always been known as garlic yum yum.Despite the name and the huge amount of garlic in this there is very little direct garlic taste.It is the intense sweet tomato that comes to the front of the pallet, with soft mellow garlic base under this rich sauce. This is a fast dish that has depth. The speed at which you can take the ingredients out of the store cupboard and have this ready to eat on the table is seriously impressive.
It's worth making extra. I use this as the topping for my Pizza.
Peel and finely chop all the garlic cloves. Put the pasta on to cook according to the instructions on the packet. Add a teaspoon of salt to the water before cooking.Heat the olive oil in a saucepan for a minute or two. Test it is hot enough by dropping a small piece of garlic in, when it sizzles it is hot enough so add the rest of the garlic in.Cook for about 1 -2 minutes.You are not looking to brown the garlic at all to keep the heat at a mid temperature.
Stir in the tomato puree and turn the heat to a slightly lower temperature.Keep stirring. As the tomato cooks it incorporates most of the oil and turns from a fresh red to a deeper darker red.After 4 – 5 minutes it should be done.
Drain your pasta and add to the tomato sauce stirring well. Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan, a glass of merlot and a crispy green salad to finish.
