Easy Summer Supper for Friends

Pan fried king prawns in garlic, butter and lemon

Roast Corn-Fed Chicken with cannellini bean mash and fresh steamed asparagus

Lemon drizzle cake with Italian-style strawberries

Some friends came to stay the other Friday who we haven’t seen for four years and I was really struggling with what to give them for supper. We have Italy in common – indeed, they are largely responsible for the four years N and I spent in Italy as they, too, had spent formative working years in Milan and Bologna and couldn’t recommend the experience more highly – so I contemplated doing something Italian. Italian is usually quick and easy with great results; the weather had perked up from the wintry stuff we’d been enduring; and, finally, I didn’t have much time to prepare a fancy meal as I was going to be out of the house, involved with a school summer fayre, until about half an hour before they were due to arrive. And I still had their room to prepare, flowers to cut and arrange and a whole load of tidying up to do! Yes, ‘quick’ and ‘easy’ were going to be vital ingredients in the meal.

Having felt totally uninspired all morning, I opened a few cupboards and peered in the fridge and suddenly decided. I would do roast chicken with cannellini bean mash (instead of potatoes, to make it more interesting – and I had no potatoes in the house anyway!) and asparagus. So, with renewed vigour, I scuttled off to the supermarket and found two very presentable corn-fed free-range chickens, some more asparagus to add to the bunch I already had in the fridge (more time and I’d have gone to our local florist who has a fantastic range of fresh fruit and veg and a fabulous new range of Italian, French, Spanish, you-name-it quality food products) and an extra can of cannellini beans to add to the two I already had in the larder. I then threw in about 300 other items for good measure before scooping up youngest child and dashing off to Summer Fun Friday half an hour away at her big sisters’ school. A frantic hour and a half ensued while the children threw themselves around bouncy castles; while we were blasted out by music from the Cheerleading displays; while I tried to catch up with all the mothers I don’t normally get to see because my girls usually take the school bus; while I tried to keep track of my three daughters who scattered in every direction; and while I tried to feed them hotdogs (and resisted their pleas for ice-cream – monstrous queue, no way) so I didn’t have to bother feeding them when I got home and shoved one down my own gullet in un-comely haste as I’d had no time for lunch. By the end of all that and a hot journey home, the clock ticking, I had a screaming headache.

I burst through the door and went straight to make up beds and make the place look presentable – flowers, clean towels, soap, shower gel, loo paper, all that ‘preparing for guests’ kind of thing – and finally, 15 minutes before their arrival, got to the kitchen. I grabbed the two chickens with their gorgeous yellow corn-fed hue, and put them in the roasting tin. I stuffed their cavities with half a lemon, half an onion, some peeled garlic cloves and a whole bunch of rosemary and thyme from the garden. I poured a good slug of white wine over them, rubbed in rosemary sea salt and finished them off with an equally large slug of olive oil and popped them in the centre of the roasting oven. I think I probably chucked some quarters of onion and unpeeled garlic cloves round the edges, but can’t quite remember. Good if you do, doesn’t matter if you don’t. Right, they would be good for an hour, so I concentrated on the cannellini bean mash.

Now, this was inspired from a recipe in a magazine but, as usual, I adapted it to my own palate and designs (largely because I could no longer find the magazine!). I opened three cans of cannellini beans, emptying each into a sieve and sticking them under the cold tap to wash off the can juices. I took some fresh rosemary sprigs (about 3 good sized ones) and about 3 large peeled and slightly squidged garlic cloves and put them in a saucepan with about 400ml of milk and a sprinkling of salt and brought it to the boil before reducing to a simmer. At this point I added the beans and let them soak in the simmering milk for about 10 minutes. I removed the rosemary sprigs and chopped them finally and put them back in the saucepan with the other ingredients. Then I mashed the beans with a hand-masher and adjusted the flavourings. This meant adding many twists of my tropical mix pepper grinder (the original recipe suggested pink pepper corns but I couldn’t find any locally – subsequently found out that Waitrose stock them) and the juice of a lemon to add some bite. I also poured in a generous amount of quality extra-virgin olive oil and stirred in a large handful of rocket leaves which I had lying around the fridge. Eventually satisfied, I put the mash into a bowl and poured some more good greeny olive oil over the top with a few more twists of pepper and salt and a sprig of rosemary to make it look pretty.

By now, of course, the guests had arrived. We’d walked round the garden and were making in-roads into our second bottle of fizz and all was well with the world. I popped the mash into the warming oven to join the chickens which I’d put in there after about an hour of roasting and which were looking golden and gorgeous and smelling divine, as only chicken can.

While this was all resting I set about knocking up a first course. I remembered I had some frozen king prawns in the freezer, so took them out, defrosted them in the microwave and chucked them in a frying pan with some melted butter, crushed garlic, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce (the magic ingredient – a trick I learned eating fried prawns like this on the beach in Portugal) and torn up leaves of parsley. They were done in a trice and put on a plate with a handful of lambs lettuce salad which I also had lurking in the fridge and needing eating.

While the first course plates were cleared I steamed a couple of bunches of asparagus. After a few minutes when they were al dente and bright green, I put them into a serving dish and poured the ubiquitous quality extra-virgin olive oil over them with generous twists of salt and pepper from the grinders. The chickens were ceremoniously removed from the warming oven and placed on a board for carving. I told N to do it ‘rustically’ – i.e not slicing like you would a normal English Sunday Roast chicken, but effectively cutting each bird into quarters. The lovely juices which came out of the roasting tin – with just a little white wine, milk, butter and bouillon added - were poured into a jug and there you have it, a tasty gravy.

The third course was just as easy. Having eaten a little Italian and local cheese for good measure, I got out the home-made lemon drizzle cake I’d bought at the school summer fayre (deliciously heavy and moist) and married it with Italian style chopped strawberries. To do this you take a punnet of strawberries, hull them, chop or slice them up, add about 4 or 5 tablespoons of caster sugar and the juice of a lemon and let the mixture rest for 20 minutes or so. This produces a lovely sweet syrup around the chopped strawberries which goes beautifully with icecream, cake, anything chocolately or just on its own. And to be really Italian, you would add a twist of black pepper. Optional, but worth a try - it's surprisingly good!

There. Job done. They seemed to like it. Hope you do too.

PS: I would have loved to have shown you pictures but it seemed a bit much to get the camera out in the middle of the meal so you’ll just have to use your imaginations!

Sausage and Bacon Casserole

My parents are coming this evening to stay for a few days and I’m going to do a sausage and bacon casserole for them. There are two reasons for this: firstly, because it is easy to prepare in advance; and secondly, because my mother does a mean sausage casserole herself and I know it is one of their favourites. My mother’s version is usually gentler and paler looking than mine and she doesn’t add bacon. Instead she often cooks sliced potato in with it, so it is a real one-pot meal. You could certainly try that, but I think I will do mash with mine. Here’s what you need (and what I also happen to have in the fridge – of course!):-

Pack of 10 chipolata sausages (or whatever type you have)
2 large rashers of smoked bacon (or more if you only have small – or diced pancetta would do just as well if that’s what you happen to have about your person)
2 medium white or red onions
1 washed leek
2 small apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
Beer (Fosters in our case, but any would do) or cider
Apple juice
Flour
Salt and pepper

Method

Peel and slice the onion and fry in just a little olive oil in the base of a good solid casserole dish.
Cut the chipolatas in half and throw in.
Chop up the bacon rashers and add to the pot.
Slice the leek thinly and add (but if you don't have any leeks, this casserole is just as tasty without)
Peel and core your apple and chop into large chunks (use one large apple or two small, depending on the supplies in your fruit bowl – this is a good way to use slightly-past-their-best apples. I tend to use coxes because they are strong in flavour and sweet, but a good green apple or Braeburn or something would do. Floury red apples or golden delicious are slightly less good, but if that’s all you’ve got, just go with them).
Grab the flour packet and give a good shake (about a tablespoon?) over what’s in the pot so it will thicken the juices.
Season to taste.

Once all this has browned and softened a bit, add about 200ml of lager/beer/cider and about 200ml of apple juice.


Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the middle of the roasting oven (for those not using Agas, then just the normal temperature you would cook a casserole i.e moderately hot) for about three quarters of an hour or until the sausages are browned up nicely and the juices are thickening. If you have an Aga, you can put it in the roasting oven for about half an hour, then move down to the simmering oven until you are ready to eat it. If the juices over-reduce, just add a little hot water and give it a good stir.

I like to serve this with steamed or sautéed cabbage (savoy, sweetheart or white are my favourite cabbages for this) and a lovely creamy, buttery mash to soak up the juices.

Now all you have to do is open a good bottle of red wine and....eat!

Two Hearty Soups

Ok, since the weather's gone vile again and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's December, I thought we needed to have something on here a little more warming than salad!

Here are two: one quick and easy involving opening a tin and enhancing it with chicken and rice; the other requiring a little more input but still incredibly easy.

Both use up leftovers.

Ok, let's go.

ENHANCED TINNED CHICKEN SOUP

I opened the fridge one day and found that I had some leftover chicken and a small amount of white rice sitting there unloved. I think the girls were around and I wanted to make a quick, but not totally unhealthy, lunch. They love tinned chicken soup - but by opening it, shoving it in a saucepan to warm through, adding the cooked rice, some chopped up chicken and the dog ends of a bottle of milk, you suddenly have a reasonably nutritious, and certainly, tasty bowl of soup. With a slice of bread or toast it was also nicely filling. Job done.

(And for me the best bit was getting rid of a milk bottle which had been hanging around to leave space for something more interesting - like a nice chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, for instance!)


CABBAGE, POTATO AND BACON SOUP

This is another favourite with the children. In fact we even included it in suggestions for a Brownie Recipe book. It is a very good way to use up leftover potato and cabbage from the Sunday Roast. Here it is:-

Ingredients

8 medium sized roast potatoes or the rough equivalent in mashed or boiled potatoes
Half a green cabbage, already chopped and cooked
Two rashers of bacon (smoked or unsmoked)
Half a pint of milk
400ml chicken stock

Method

1. Chop the bacon rashers then lightly fry them in a pan
2. Roughly chop the roast (or boiled) potatoes (no need if using mash, of course)
3. Put the bacon, potato and cabbage in blender and add the chicken stock and milk
4. Blend until reasonably smooth in consistency (more if using roast potatoes)
5. Adjust seasoning to taste


May that warm the cockles (not to mention feet and hands)!

Two Italian Salads

It is now generally pretty well known and understood that the worldwide popularity of Italian cuisine lies with its simplicity.

Simple combinations + ingredients packed with flavour = a recipe for success.

I was lucky enough to start my domestic cooking career in Italy. My mother is a great cook but my scant interest as a teenager was quickly dampened by the fact that whenever I offered to help in the kitchen she always started interfering with what I was trying to do. Nothing more annoying! (I now, of course, find myself falling into the same trap – sneaking into the kitchen when hubby’s not looking to taste his Bolognese sauce and asking, with as much nonchalance as I can muster, infuriating questions like, ‘Did you put a bay leaf in? And a touch of brown sugar?’ He steadfastly refuses to do the classic Italian base mix of chopped onion, chopped celery and chopped carrot – but I guess I’ll have to let him off that. It tastes pretty good without – and I don’t want to put him off as it’s the only thing he cooks!)

So, yes, my interest in cooking really began when I first went to live in Italy as a 27 year old, courtesy of Boring Accountant’s career (not so boring accountant, after all?). We were based in a small apartment in Padova (Padua) in the Veneto region of North East Italy, just down the train line from Venice. Not a bad place to start one’s culinary journey.

Venice has a cuisine all of its own – largely based around seafood from the Adriatic of course, but infused with more exotic elements, too, which were embraced during the glory days of the mighty Venetian Republic and its status as Europe’s foremost trading post with the East. So alongside dishes of salt cod, seafood risottos and pasta infused with the black ink of cuttlefish, you will find the Eastern accents of cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The Veneto region, meanwhile, has its roots firmly in its farming past despite the prosperity it now enjoys from its manufacturing revolution (more on this another time, perhaps – it’s a fascinating story). As such, the basis of its cuisine is simple, wholesome, unfussy food centring around the famous Arborio and Carnaroli rice that it produces on its planes, and the potatoes and cured meat dishes which stem from the stunning mountainous region of the Dolomites. Put this together with a magnificent array of cheeses from myriad small producers and the famous, and unique, gem-red radicchio of Treviso, and you have a banquet fit for a king.

One of the things that I loved most about Padova was its three ancient central piazzas. On the Piazza della Frutta there was a daily market with stalls exquisitely displaying the fruit and vegetables of the moment. In Autumn it would be earthy scented mushrooms of every variety, with porcini being the most prized; in Winter bright orange clementines and red radicchio dominated; in Spring there would be a sea of bright green asparagus, artichokes and peas and in summer the heady scent of basil and tomatoes – another explosion of green and red. Now, put these last two together with the white of creamy mozzarella and you not only have the colours of the Italian flag, but one of the simplest and tastiest combinations you could ever hope to find. It simply sings with the optimism of summer, bursting with flavour generated by the heat of the sun.

Ah yes, the sun. This is why I have chosen to write about salads today. At the beginning of the week we had the most glorious Spring sunshine, imbuing everything with the most extraordinary clarity of light which had one rushing outdoors to soak it all in. Salad was the only thing I could think of to eat at my table outside on the terrace, the sounds of nature all around me. I wanted something quick, easy, healthy and flavoursome. I had some dolce rosso (small and sweet - available at Morrisons) tomatoes and the remains of a bag of rocket (rucola) in the fridge, basil on the windowsill, onions in my vegetable store and tinned cannellini beans and a tin of tuna in the larder. All I had to do was throw them all together – and this is how:

Chop one small white onion into small cubes (or throw it in the blender).
Open the cannellini beans (pinto beans would do too) and drain them.
Open and drain the tin of tuna.
Slice about 10 to 12 tomatoes in half.
Throw all that in a mixing bowl.
Add a generous slug of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Squeeze a small lemon and add.
Add a touch of good quality balsamic vinegar (a good shake or two) but if you don’t have this a decent quality red wine vinegar would probably do.
Salt and pepper.
Pick off a handful of basil leaves, tear and add to the mix, together with a little fresh flat leafed parsley if you have it – but not to worry if you don’t, it’s just as tasty without.
Give it a good stir round, taste and adjust flavours/seasoning as necessary.

When you are happy with the balance of flavours, put into a bowl, put a handful of rocket on top and Bob’s your uncle (or should that be Roberto e il tuo zio?).




I went outside, laid up a place setting for one, opened a bottle of Italian pinot grigio from Trentino, the northern neighbour of the Veneto, (acquired from Waitrose, half price), slopped on some more olive oil and feasted like a king. It was only Monday, but it was a fantastic start to the week.


The second salad I had recently was just as simple:

It was comprised of two of the same ingredients as above – rocket and dolce rosso tomatoes. The addition was a couple of big chunks of mozzarella di bufala (FAR superior to the cheap rubbery flavourless stuff – click the link for more information) and some fine spears of asparagus, lightly grilled (they could also be steamed).


Again, all you need do is season the whole with ground salt and black pepper to taste, then drizzle with quality olive oil and either lemon or balsamic vinegar. Simplicity itself.

Footnote: for these recipes to work, you really do need quality Mozzarella (see above)and tomatoes. I used Dolce Rosso, but any small cherry or plum tomato from a hot country (but preferably Italy - fewer air miles than Israel) should do. Good quality extra virgin olive oil is also a must. I was using Jamie Oliver's, available in Sainsbury's and elsewhere.

Spanish Omelette Primavera

Spanish Omelette Primavera
[For any linguists out there, this could sound a bit confusing, but I can’t think what the word for ‘Spring’ is in Spanish, so Italian will have to do!]

You can probably guess the ingredients – eggs, potatoes, onions, peas, green beans, that sort of Springy thing.

I had been down at the village school creating raised vegetable beds all morning which required much digging and lugging heavy things around. I then went to the supermarket as my cupboard was bare after the Easter holidays, and by the time I came home I felt sick and faint from hunger with a headache building. I had a house full of plumbers putting a new boiler in and I was dreading one of them accosting me with some problem or other before I’d had a chance to put any food down my throat. So I snuck in the back way, grabbed the first thing I could find out of the shopping bags (smoked mackerel pate), ripped open a packet of breadsticks which were lurking handily by the breadbin, and dug into it in the sort of fevered and uncouth manner that you see in films when people who haven’t eaten for weeks - having endured some horror or other - are finally presented with sustenance.

After I’d devoured half the tub and spluttered a mouthfully sort of apology to one of the plumbers who’d emerged from the cellar to check for intruders (having heard a bit of clattering about above), I suddenly remembered (brain reacting to food) that I was meant to be having omelette for lunch: I had some potatoes, dwarf green beans, peas and sugar snaps left over from the Sunday roast – add sliced onion and egg and you had a healthy, filling meal and got rid of the bowl of dog-ends cluttering up the place too. So, regarding my mackerel gobbling activity simply as a little hors d’oeuvre, I set to work:-

I took a half used red onion out of the fridge and sliced a chunk off it which I then chopped and put in a non-stick sauté pan (frying pan would be fine too) with about a teaspoon (= small slug) of olive oil. While they were softening I took the three roast potatoes and cut them into chunks, and also chopped up the sugar snaps and beans and chucked them in the pan (a large handful of each, to give you an idea), together with the leftover peas.


You could either slice some garlic at this point and add it with a knob of butter, or use garlic butter if you have some in the fridge (Lurpak do ready made garlic butter which I always keep by me for those lazy moments). Meanwhile I cracked three small eggs (or two large/medium) into a bowl and whisked them up with a fork. When the veg were warmed through and the onions soft (after a few minutes), I poured in the beaten eggs and added a good twist of salt and pepper from the grinders. I let it cook a little on the hob and then transferred it to the middle shelf in the Aga roasting oven to cook it from the top for a few minutes. (You could try putting it in a conventional oven, but if the oven’s not already on and heated, it is probably quickest and easiest just to cook it on the hob.)


When it was looking nice and golden, and gently firm but not too spongy, I took it out and put it on a plate with some rocket slopped over with good quality extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Of course, dressing for the salad, if you choose to have that with it, is au choix. A French dressing would be just as nice. Also, entirely up to you whether you leave the omelette open, or choose to fold it over.


And when you’ve finished you’ll be bouncing around like a Spring lamb. Promise! (well, depending on how much wine you drink with it of course, in which case you might be feeling a bit snoozy!)

Magic Mushrooms

Good grief, where does the time go? My apologies for taking so long to write another post, but I have been hors de combat with sick children, then I was away for five days (re-sampling the joys of Italian food), then I had family staying. Anyway, before Easter hits and I am on the road again, I knew I just HAD to post something. So, although I have more recent ideas, I thought I would post something I first wrote, before actually setting up the blog, nigh on a year ago (13th April 2008, to be exact). This came about while searching for a very simple but tasty, quick supper with husband returning late from his daily toils with his calculator. (I’d obviously been on the sherry when I wrote it, but don’t let that put you off!).

As with all the things that I will be writing here, these are not ground-breaking recipes, just ideas to bear in mind and stimulate your own creativity as you peer into the recesses of your fridge wondering what you might be able to knock up from the eclectic mix of bits and pieces which lurk within.

Ok, so here it is…(and please read the footnote at the end):

Magic Mushrooms 1

[Opens fridge] Hmm, what have we got today?
1 packet of chestnut mushrooms. Sell by date 2nd April (it’s now the 13th).
1 packet of large flat mushrooms, sell by date 5th April (bit better).
Tub of crème fraiche – full fat, none of that rubbishy half fat stuff that lends no density of flavour and usually splits on cooking anyway.

Opens packet of chestnut mushrooms. Phwaw! Ok, maybe not! Bit slimey and smell like something died in there. Ok, let’s try the flat ones. Yep, they’re still firm and smell of earth not death. They’ll do. So, chop up into large chunks. Find a heavy saucepan or frying pan – preferably non-stick for easy washing [Aga did a fab range of casseroles with a combined sauté lid – German of origin I believe. It is ALWAYS worth spending money on high quality pans – they last a lifetime. Fissler (German again) are fantastic. I saw a demonstration in Harrods when I was compiling my wedding list and they, together with my Henckels knives, are still going strong 17 years down the line, still looking good as new]. Ok, where was I? Right, melt healthy slab of unsalted butter (c.25g). Take two fat cloves of garlic and crush into pan. Add mushrooms (3 of the large flat ones chopped is good for two people of moderate appetite, 4 for a little more than you really need for a light lunch/supper).

Let them sizzle gently, absorbing butter and garlic for a few minutes. Add a slug of white wine (also always lurking in fridge) and some big shakes form the fresh lemon juice bottle (or about half a small lemon squeezed if you can be bothered).

Leave to reduce for five minutes while tuck kids up. Come back down and add slug of amontillado sherry, together with a good shake of the Worcestershire sauce bottle (store cupboard must-have) and a teaspoon of sugar (caster, brown, granulated or soft – who cares, whatever you have), a twist of salt and pepper, and a tablespoon of crème fraiche. Let this bubble some more while you try and make head or tail of strange subtitled Spanish film on T.V. Absent-mindedly put two slices of toast in the toaster – or on the Aga if you have one. Butter when done. Turn attention away from toast and TV back to mushrooms. Pick some parsley from the windowsill/garden/packet and tear onto mushrooms. Give a stir and divide onto the two slices of toast. Serve to mesmerised husband/partner/friend in front of weird Spanish film.
-----------------------------
Footnote:
I’m also keen to stress that while sell-by dates are obviously to be respected to a certain degree and in some cases more than others (chicken, an obvious example), I think we all know that in this new world order that we live in, a little lee-way is actually built in to the dates so that companies aren’t getting sued left right and centre if a consumer gets ill. I think we just have to use a little common sense – and it is certainly madness (and against the interests of food waste) to be chucking out things which if prodded, poked and smelt, are actually still ok, despite the dreaded sell by date. (To really scare you, I had a strawberry mousse in the fridge the other day with a sell by date of November ’08 – I chucked it in the bin, thought again, took it out, opened it, and for interest stuck my finger in, tasted it and you know what? It was just fine…I ate the lot with no repercussions! Ok, so that’s a bit extreme, but it makes the point about flexible sell-by dates!)
28th March 2009
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Magic Mushrooms 2

Below is a more recent variation of the above that I made when I had some radicchio in the fridge that needed eating up, together with a dog end of gorgonzola and three rashers of bacon. This time I used chestnut mushrooms as they were all I had and, unlike the previous time, they were still reasonably fit and healthy, albeit slightly shrivelled!

You follow the method as above, simply putting the chopped bacon rashers in the pan first to get going, then adding the chopped mushrooms and finally the chopped radicchio and gorgonzola a minute or so after the mushrooms hit the pan. When I did this one, I lacked crème fraiche. It was tasty without, but if you have it, add it – or even a small amount of cream – it just balances the flavours a little and melds them all together nicely.

All you need to go with it now is a glass of the red stuff...

Buon appetito!

In The Beginning...

You may be wondering why I have been a bit silent on this ‘great new blog idea’ of mine. Well, having decided to set it up and give it a go, I noticed just days later that a) Delia got there before me in the 1970s with Frugal Food, the book that has recently been republished and appeared on the shelves again and b) there’s another book also recently published called ‘The Frugal Cook’ which I noticed in the ‘Gifts for the Girls’ catalogue while flicking through for inspiration for Christmas presents. I have since discovered that this is the book of the blog (yes, another blog-turned-book success story, but sadly not mine!). As ever, I’ve missed the boat again. Story of my life: having great ideas, not acting on them quickly enough and so someone gets there before me.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it and have decided to say ‘Sod it’ and carry on regardless. No-one has the copyright over ideas as broad as trying to be creative with food while saving money and waste at the same time. It’s a good cause so I may as well contribute in my own small way.

So if anyone accuses me of ‘copy cat’, then accuse away. My conscience is clear, knowing that I have been thinking about this (and even talked with my mother - an excellent cook - some years ago now, about joining forces with her as it was an idea she’d also toyed with) way before we all became recession and credit crunch obsessed at the end of last year.

There’s another crucial difference between me and the other two above: I’m not an established cookery writer. I’m just a plain old mother at home cooking two meals an evening: one for my children, another for me and my husband. I have lots of cookery books, but most of them I refer to simply for ideas. I’ve never been good at following instructions. I’d rather trust my own instincts. And that, I would say, is one of the ingredients for making a good cook. The others are Confidence, Creativity and, it goes without saying, A Good Palate. No good being creative if it tastes like shit.

Since I moved to this house I cook with an Aga. I didn’t grow up with one, but I always wanted one. Initially I was drawn to them because I loved the idea of them being the (clichéd) ‘Heart of the Home’. I loved the idea of coming down to a warm kitchen and a permanent source of heat to cuddle up to and dry your socks on. Now, the eco warriors may at this point click their mouse and bog off somewhere else with much tut-tutting and rolling of eyes. Yet I can assure you that the Aga is not the monster it has been portrayed as being. Most of the critics just simply have no idea how to make the best and most efficient use of them. Because, trust me, it is one of the best and most efficient ways of cooking food which has ever been invented. And since they were invented by a physicist, I think you can take my word for that. But for me, another of the key reasons I love cooking with an Aga is because I am a confident cook. Timings and temperatures freak me out. I use my senses to cook: sight, smell, taste. That is all you need. They are the best and most reliable guides you have.

(At which point I have to throw in a quick caveat: I’m no baker or pastry chef! Logically enough, this is because baking requires precision and I am not a naturally precise person. I also do not have a very sweet tooth. I’m a starters and main course kinda gal. So, all those of you who can’t pass a patisserie without slavering may as well leave the room now!)

I have a feeling this will not be a conventional food blog because I don’t do conventional, but if you fancy coming along for the ride, then Welcome Aboard!