Abercrombie & Feast

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about chefs who write really pernickety recipes. Recipes that call for about 12 more steps than seem necessary… “toast the almonds before adding them to the mixture”, “soak the dried chilli in hot water for 10 minutes before chopping it”, “collect a fresh eye of newt to include in your stew”… those kinds of steps.

Some chefs are notorious for writing very prescriptive, slightly fussy recipes. I generally avoid recipes by those chefs, preferring to throw caution and flour to the wind. But in the past week I’ve made two recipes by chefs I have previously admired, but avoided due to their finicky natures, and in both cases I have been thrilled with the outcomes.

Chef #1- Delia Smith. I know, I know. Delia can do no wrong, Delia is a saint, Delia knows everything and I know nothing. All of that is true, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that her recipes often look complicated to me. I once read an article in a cooking magazine that quoted Delia as saying that when you’re making a cake, if recipe calls for a certain size / shape pan and you don’t have that pan you’re basically setting yourself up to fail from the start. I found this very disheartening. I don’t really own many pans and I can’t afford to run out and buy a new cake tin every time a recipe calls for a slightly different size. Since reading that article I have admired Delia from afar, but assumed that her recipes would require a lot of time and specialised equipment that I don’t have.

Well, I was right about one part of that. The Delia’s carrot cake recipe did take a while to finish, but it didn’t require any kitchen equipment more complicated than a box grater. It was also, if I may say so, one of the nicest cakes I have ever made, ever. I didn’t have the correct sized cake pan that Delia called for, so I made my carrot cake in a loaf tin instead. It took about twice as long to cook, but once it was done it was delicious… moist and full of soft sultanas and warming spices.

There were a few extra steps in this recipe that I didn’t think were necessary, but I followed the instructions and I’m really pleased that I did. The extra steps (such as toasting the almonds before adding them to the batter) really did enhance the final product. It was worth it!

I’ll tell you in a few days about the second pernickety recipe I tried recently. It was an even bigger success than the amazing carrot cake. I’m starting to think there’s something behind all of these really fussy recipes- great food.

Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Delia’s Vegetarian Collection

For the cake
150g (1 1/4) whole wheat flour
50g (a little less than 1/2 cup) plain flour
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp bicarb of soda (baking soda)
175g (about 3/4 cup) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
150ml (5 fl oz) light vegetable oil such as sunflower oil
200g (a little more than a cup and a half) of peeled and grated carrot
2 handfuls of raisins
50g (1/3 cup) chopped almonds plus extra for decoration

For the frosting
250g cream cheese, room temp
100g butter, room temp
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g icing sugar

Begin by placing the almonds in a dry frying pan and placing over a medium heat.  Toast the almonds until they are golden brown and fragrant, but watch them carefully as they will burn quickly.  When the almonds are toasted, remove them from the pan so they don’t continue cooking in the residual heat. 

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3, down to gas mark 3, 325°F, 170°C and grease your cake pan (or loaf pan) with butter. 

To make the cake, whisk the sugar, eggs and oil together in a bowl with an electric hand whisk for 2-3 minutes, then check that there is no sugar left undissolved.

Now sift the flour, spices and bicarb of soda into the bowl, tipping in the bits of bran left in the sieve.  Then stir all this in gently, followed by the remaining cake ingredients. 

Tip the batter into the prepared cake tin.  Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes.  Use a skewer to check whether the cake is done. 

While the cake is baking, make the cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  Beat the cream cheese, butter, cinamon and vanilla in a bowl until light and fluffy.  Sift in the icing sugar and mix until smooth.  Top the cooled cake with this frosting and a sprinkling of chopped almonds. 

You know how they say that chicken soup is Jewish penicillin?  Well this soup (yes!  another soup… I know!) could be considered Thai penicillin.  Warm and aromatic and full of things that are guaranteed to make you feel better if you’ve got a bit of the sniffles, this soup is spicy medicine in a bowl.

Thai food has to be some of my favourite food ever.  I love the chillis and garlic and piles of coriander that are used to flavour the food.  I adore the scent of fresh ginger and lemongrass.  When this soup is bubbling away my house smells like a restaurant in Bangkok, rather than a little flat in rainy, cold England. 

Some of the ingredients in this soup may be a bit hard to find for people (like me!) who live in smaller towns.  I made a trip to the nearest city over the holiday break and went to the Chinese grocery store.  I found almost everything I needed to whip up authentic Thai flavours at home.  So, to get my Thai food-fix I can either drive 20 minutes and cook for myself, or take an 11 hour flight.  I know which I’d rather do (frequent flyer points!), but this soup makes it bearable on days when all I can manage is the drive. 

Thai chicken noodle soup
The measurements I’m giving you for this soup are the ones that I use, but you might not want your soup to be exactly the same.  The key to this soup is to include more of what you like and less of what you don’t. 

Serves 3-4

For the soup:
2 smallish chicken breasts
1 inch of ginger, peeled and left whole
1 stalk of lemongrass, cut into pieces
3 kaffir lime leaves, torn to release their oils
1 handful of coriander (cilantro) roots and stalks
1 birds eye chilli
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs chilli oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 chicken flavoured stock cube
2 carrots, cut into thick strips
2 handfuls of snow peas or sugar snap peas, cut into matchsticks
2 large button mushrooms, thinly sliced across
1/2 package of rice noodles

For the garnish
fresh ginger, cut into very fine matchsticks
fresh chillis, chopped
4 small radishes, sliced very finely into rounds
one large handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves, roughly chopped

Start by placing the chicken breast into a large stock pot and covering with plenty of cold water- enough to almost fill the pot.  Then add the ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, coriander stalks, chilli, soy sauce, chilli oil and sesame oil to the water.  Bring this mixture to a gentle simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes. 

Remove the chicken breasts and bring the broth to a rapid boil.  Crumble in the stock cube and allow to dissolve.  Taste the broth.  You want it to be very flavourful.  If you think it needs more salt, add soy sauce.  More heat?  Add more chilli oil.  Once the broth tastes great to you, drain it into a large bowl to remove all of the ginger, lemongrass, etc.  Then pour the broth back into the stock pot and return to a medium heat.

Cut the chicken into thin strips.  Add the chicken, the carrot strips and the snow pea strips to the broth.  Allow to cook for 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are just cooked through.  Then add the mushrooms for another 2 minutes.

While the chicken and veg are cooking, prepare the rice noodles according to the instructions on the package.  I have to pour boiling water over mine and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, until soft. 

Once the noodles are cooked and the veg is ready, you can layer up your soup. 

In a large soup bowl, place a dash of chilli oil at the bottom of the bowl.  Then add some noodles.  Top the noodles with strips of chicken and some of the vegetables from the broth (I pull the veg out of the broth and add them to the bowl first, but Andy thinks I’m crazy for doing this.)  Ladle in broth to fill the bowl.  Then top each bowl with the sliced radishes, strips of ginger, a sprinkling of fresh chilli and a handful of coriander leaves. 

Last weekend we joined our friends and neighbours, the lovely and talented Paul and Ali, with a large group of their friends in a huge house in Derbyshire to celebrate Ali’s 30th.  Everyone brought food and we organised big, delicious communal meals.  Which, obviously, included a communal breakfast (brekkie) or two.  Bacon, toast and… ugh… eggs. 

The lovely (and festive!) birthday girl!  Happy birthday, Ali!

It is well documented that I do NOT like eggs.  I just don’t like them and you can’t make me.  This does make the idea of a group breakfast a bit of a bummer for me.  We often go away for weekends with groups of friends and the same thing always happens.  Everyone wakes up, a tiny bit hungover and sleepy from all the wine and laughs and SingStar the night before, and starts frying eggs.  I don’t want to be boring or a pain in the bum, but bacon and toast alone does get old after a while. 

The amazing old house we all stayed in.  Proper British, right??

This time, I was determined not to miss out on the group brekkie experience.  So I took matters into my own hands… and my own casserole dish.  I made a brekkie dish that would satisfy me, satisfy a crowd and not contain any eggs.  It was easy, too tasty and smelled TOO good while it was cooking. 

A side view of the casserole on Saturday morning… see the yummy layers of potatoes, cheese and spinach??

This dish has a lot of traditional brekkie components- bacon, milk, potatoes- all layered up and baked until golden and bubbly.  Served hot with a piece of toast, you won’t even miss the eggs.  I know I didn’t!

Brekkie dauphinois
This is a version of a recipe that I’ve posted previously.  I just added a few little bits to make it better for brekkie! 

Serves about 10-12 as part of a brekkie spread

1 kilo (about 2 lbs) potatoes
6 pieces of streaky bacon
3 cups baby spinach
3 spring onions (shallots) chopped finely
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup double cream
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 170C or about 325F. 

Chop the bacon into lardons or medium sized dice.  You don’t want the bacon chopped too small, you want to be able to see it and taste it in the casserole.  Fry the bacon until it is almost crispy and remove from the pan.  Drain on a plate lined with papertowels.

Drain most of the fat off from the pan you used to cook the bacon and return it to a low heat.  Wash the spinach well, but don’t drain it completely.  Leaving a little water on the leaves will allow them to steam.  Place the spinach in the pan and put a top on it.  Allow the spinach to steam down, tossing frequently to help out.  Once the spinach has shrunken down and steamed, remove it from the pan and place in a strainer.  Squeeze as much moisture as possible out of the spinach.  You don’t want water in the casserole.  Once the spinach is almost dry, toss it to separate the leaves.  Set aside. 

You can peel the potatoes or leave the peel on, either way.  Thinly slice the potatoes.  I used my mandoline and it was much easier, but you could simply slice the potatoes by hand.  You’re aiming for really thin slices. 

Butter a 9 x 6 1/2 inch ovenproof dish.  Layer the potatoes in the dish, adding a bit of cheese, spinach, bacon and spring onions between each layer.  When you’ve layered all the potatoes, pour the cream and milk on top.  Then top the whole thing with the rest of the grated cheese.

Bake for about 45mins to 1 hour.  Test with a knife to make sure the potatoes are completely cooked and the liquid is absorbed.  If the top starts to get too brown, cover loosely with tin foil for the rest of the baking time. 

Let rest for 10 mins before serving.

Baby, it’s cold outside.  The 6 inches of snow that we got on Tuesday night is rapidly turning into frozen slush and slicks of ice on the sidewalk.  It was -7 when we woke up this morning and there was ice on the inside of our bedroom windows.  The inside, people. 

Despite the fact that I can’t feel the tips of my thumbs for most of the day, I’m kind of loving this weather.  After 4 “winters” in Australia, during which I could generally wear my flip flops whenever I wanted, this feels like a proper winter.  I just want to cuddle and be near fire places.  I want to wear fleece and drink hot tea and eat soup. 

Oh, the soup.  I love soup all the time, every day in every season, but I adore soup when it’s cold.  Having a batch of soup bubbling away in my big red cast iron pot makes me feel warm all over. 

Last night I got my hair cut.  That has nothing to do with the soup, but I thought you might want to know.  As soon as I got home, before pouring a glass of red wine but after taking 37 minutes to get all of my dripping winter gear off in the hall, I put the cast iron pot on the hob.  I chopped some bacon, chopped some onions, boiled some stock and in less than an hour had a sunny yellow cauldron of Corn and Cheddar Chow-dah (Hi, mom!) ready for dinner. 

This soup is ideal for a weekday dinner because it’s fast, it makes enough for leftovers for lunch and it will warm you all the way down to your fleece covered toes.  Enjoy it with a blanket and a fireplace on the side. 

Corn and Cheddar Chowder
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Serves 4-6

 5-6 slices of streaky bacon, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 chilli, seeds removed, chopped
2 tbs butter
3 tbs plain flour
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 litre chicken stock
2 cups white potatoes, unpeeled and diced
2 1/2 cups corn kernels
1/2 cup sharp cheddar, grated, plus extra for serving. 

Place a large, heavy stock pan on medium high heat.  Cook the bacon in the olive oil until the bacon is crisp.  Remove the bacon and place it on a plate lined with paper towel (kitchen roll.) 

Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter, onion and chilli.  Cook for about 7-8 minuted, or until the onion is translucent. 

Stir in the flour, turmeric, salt and pepper.  Cook for about 3 minutes. 

Add the chicken stock and the potatoes.  Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. 

Add 2 cups of the corn to the soup.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  Then, using an immersion blender or a regular blender, working in batches, blend the soup until smooth.

Once the soup is smooth add the remaining 1/2 cup of the corn and the cheddar.  Stir these into the soup and allow to cook for about 5-7 mins, until the cheese is all melted and the soup is very hot.

Serve in large bowls with extra cheddar and some of the reserved bacon sprinkled on top. 

I think your New Years resolution should be to improve your spaghetti sauce. 

Think about it.  This makes WAY more sense than starting a diet that you are going to quit on January 23, which will make you feel bad about yourself.  It also makes more sense than vowing to improve your French or Spanish, which means you’ll spend a lot of money on those CD’s you listen to in your car, but you’ll get bored on your drive to the grocery store on Feb 11, switch the language discs for the newest Jay-Z CD and you’ll never put los discos back into rotation. 

But, improving your spaghetti sauce is the perfect New Years resolution.  It will enhance your life in a number of ways; such as:

1.  You will be more popular… everyone loves spaghetti sauce. 
2.  You will be happier… because YOU love spaghetti sauce.
3.  You will eat more tomatoes, which may help you avoid cancer.
4.  You will feel a sense of achievement for having kept a New Years resolution for the first time ever (or is that just me?)

So, if you do choose to make this your resolution, I ask that you let me be your guide. 

Spaghetti sauce (or spaghetti bolognaise- spag bog- in England) is one of my very favourite comfort foods.  I have refined my recipe over the past few years and have learned, through trial and error, several little tricks that make a huge difference. 

You can apply these tips to whatever recipe you currently use to make your spaghetti sauce even better!  Ring in the new decade with spaghetti!

1.  Add some carrots
Tomatoes can be very acidic, so some people add sugar to their sauce to balance this.  However, I think carrots work even better.  Carrots are high in natural sugars, so you get the same effect whilst adding a vegetable and losing the extra sugar.  Cut one medium carrot up into a very fine dice and add it in when you brown your onion at the beginning. 

2.  Don’t add water!
I know that a lot of people add a can of chopped tomatoes, then fill the can with water to “rinse out the bits left in the can” and pour that into the pot.  Don’t do that!  Water doesn’t add any flavour and you don’t want to add anything that doesn’t have flavour.  Instead, add beef stock or red wine.  They will increase the liquid amount AND the flavour. 

3.  Use a mix of meats.
Don’t just use ground beef, that’s boring!  Mix it up and add a few different meats.  This will make your sauce more flavourful and complex.  I usually use lean ground beef, ground pork and a few Italian sausages removed from their casings. 

4.  Dried herbs are best. 
I am usually a big fan of fresh herbs, but for spaghetti and meat sauce, dried is best.  This is because dried herbs are stronger.  You won’t need as much and you can adjust as needed.  I usually use dried basil and dried oregano.  I’m sure this isn’t traditional, but it tastes great to me!

5.  Brown your meatballs first.
If you’re making meatballs, you want to use them to add flavour to the sauce.  You also want them to taste good.  This is why it’s important to brown your meatballs in a frying pan first.  You’ll get those delicious brown bits on the meatballs, which will add flavour to the sauce.  Once the meatballs are browned on 2 sides (don’t cook them all the way through!), you can add them to the sauce, where they will finish cooking, flavour the sauce and get soft and delicious.

And… it’s all over.  The gifts have been opened.  The candles have been burned.  The sweet potatoes have been eaten.  The wine (and wine, and wine…) has been drunk.

This was my first year making a whole Christmas lunch on my own.  I’m pretty pleased with my efforts, if I may say so.  The mashed potatoes were creamy, the turkey was moist, the cranberry relish was puckeringly tart. 

But, as good at it all tasted around 3pm on Christmas Day, my absolute favourite part about Christmas lunch is always the leftovers.  Is there anything better than having a fridge bursting with delicious leftovers, ready for you whenever you’d like??  And, the leftovers ALWAYS taste better the next day, don’t they? 

I mean, on Christmas Day, when you’ve been awake since dawn, hoisting a huge bird in and out of the oven, drunk half a bottle of champagne (who, me???)… can you really fully appreciate the sweet potato casserole?  In the midst of the madness can you really give your attention to the subtle flavour that the maple-cured bacon added to the Brussels sprouts? 

By Boxing Day, things have calmed down.  The food is still there, but you don’t have to make a huge effort to get it ready to eat.  This time, you can enjoy the food without the fuss.  I love it. 

This year, like most years, I made a lot of turkey sandwiches.  Thickly sliced wholegrain toast serves as the base of my Leftover Masterpiece.  It’s important to toast your bread… you want it to be firm, you’re about to load test it! 

Spread one slice of toast with your cranberry relish or sauce, and… this is KEY… spread the other slice with cream cheese.  Just do it, it’s good for you!  Then, slice up some of your turkey and toss it in a hot frying pan with a few scoops of your stuffing or dressing and a glug of the leftover gravy.  Give it a few mins to warm through and add this mixture to your sandwich.  Squish the whole thing down (this step is very important to the structural integrity of a fully loaded sandwich) and enjoy! 

I served these babies on 27 December, with a side-dish of fried mashed potato patties, and for me Christmas dinner was even better the second time around… and the third.

I am a little late with this post, aren’t I? 

I’m sure you’re like, “Who needs Christmas goody recipes, lady??  My holly jolly goodies have been baked for WEEKS.  Slacker.”  Wow.  You’re kind of angry and well-prepared.  Here… look at my tree and breathe deeply. 

Yet, no matter how tardy I am, I urge you to give these ever so merry recipes a go in the next few days.  Actually, the gingerbread could be made any old time… it’s not really Christmas specific.  But it’s goooooood.  And the Christmas pudding truffles?  Too cute, too easy, too tasty.  I brought them to my work Christmas party and they were gone in a flash!

Christmas pudding truffles
adapted from Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen

For the truffles
125g best-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
350g leftover, or freshly cooked and cooled, Christmas pudding
60ml sherry or port
2 tablespoons golden syrup

For the topping:
100g white chocolate, finely chopped
red glacé cherries

Line a baking sheet (that will fit in the fridge) with parchment paper or baking paper and set it to one side while you make the truffles.

Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended above a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave according to the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Crumble the cold Christmas pudding into a bowl, add the sherry and golden syrup and stir briskly till all is incorporated.  A strong wooden spoon is good for this. 

Pour the melted dark chocolate into the pudding mixture and stir again: this will make the mixture much more cohesive.  If you feel your mixture is still too wet to form small balls, crumble in a bit more of the pudding.  Mine was a bit wet, so I added a tiny bit more pudding and it was much better. 

Now, get ready to roll!  To make this step easier, put on a pair of those disposable vinyl gloves sold in hardware stores and supermarkets, pinch out small lumps of mixture and roll so that you have little rounds about the size of a chocolate truffle. You should get about 30 out of this mixture; fight the impatient urge to make these balls larger as you go.

As you roll the balls place them on the sheet covered with parchment paper, or put them into small candy cups.  Cover with clingfilm and slot into the fridge to firm up.

To decorate, melt the white chocolate either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave according to the manufacturer’s guidelines, then let it cool for about 5 minutes, to make it easier to work with, while you chop the red cherries into small pieces (to evoke berries.)

Using a teaspoon, drip a little of the melted but slightly cooled white chocolate on each bonbon, then arrange the pieces of cherry on top.

Ultimate gingerbread
adapted from jamieoliver.com

400g shop-bought shortbread
170g coarse demerara sugar
3 level teaspoons ground ginger
40g mixed peel, chopped
40g crystallized ginger, chopped
70g plain flour
a pinch of baking powder
40g golden syrup
40g treacle
70g unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3 and find a baking tray about 20×35cm.  If you don’t have a tray this size (and I don’t) you can use a pie plate or a loose-bottom tart pan.  

Put the shortbread, sugar and 2 teaspoons of the ground ginger in a food processor and whiz until you have crumbs. Remove 100g of the mix and keep this to one side.

Add the remaining teaspoon of ginger to the processor, along with the mixed peel, crystallized ginger, flour and baking powder, and pulse until well mixed.

Melt the syrup, treacle and butter together in a saucepan big enough to hold all the ingredients.

When melted, add the mixture from the food processor and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is thoroughly mixed together. Tip into the baking tray and spread out evenly. Press the mixture down into the tray, using your fingers or something flat and clean like a potato masher or a spatula. When the mix is a flat, dense and even layer, pop the tray in the preheated oven for7 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven and sprinkle the hot gingerbread with the reserved crumbs, pressing them down really well with a potato masher or spatula. Place the mixture back into the oven for a further 3-4 minutes or until the crumbs are slightly golden.  Don’t over cook. 

Carefully cut into good-sized pieces with a sharp knife, and leave to cool in the tray before eating.

I’m baaaaaack!

Please forgive me for the extra long break from my beloved blog. There were a variety of really boring reasons that I wasn’t here for the past few weeks (The flu!  Christmas season crazy schedule!  Lots of takeaway!), but I’m back now.

And don’t worry, the story I have for you today is going to make it all worth it.  You’re all going to ask me to go away again, just to see if I can come back with something this cool a second time (spoiler- I can’t).

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.  Here we go.

I spent last Saturday helping to prep and cook in the kitchen of a Michelin starred restaurant.

I KNOW!  How cool is that???  It was my Christmas present from The Greatest Husband of All Time, and I loved every single minute of it.

I have to apologise for the lack of pictures.  Andy sent me off on Saturday with a fully charged and ready to go camera in my bag- but I got so busy and so wrapped up in what I was seeing that I totally forgot about the camera until I was on the train home at the end of a long day.  I felt like a total loser.

I can’t give you a minute by minute account (as much as I’d like to!), because we could be here until next Saturday.  So, I’ll hit a few of the highlights for you:

• I was the only woman in the kitchen all day.  There were waitresses in and out, but the cooks and chefs were all men in their late 20’s or early 30’s (I’m guessing on the ages.)  The “F” word was used a lot, which was fine with me as I have been known to drop an “F” bomb myself from time to time and I’m not really precious about that kind of thing.

• This restaurant makes EVERYTHING in house.  Even the crackers for the cheese are made in by the chefs in the kitchen.  I got to help with the bread-making first thing in the morning (pre-9am.)  I was thrilled to get my hands into the smooth, elastic dough so early in the morning.  I’ve never worked with dough that wonderful- mine is always a slightly sticky mess.  The chef encouraged me to not be so afraid of yeast.  We’ll see how that goes.

• You eat with your eyes.  The kitchen staff were fastidious.  They wouldn’t put together a plate of food without first wiping (the already clean!) plate down twice.  The final platings looked like art.  I spent most of my day in the larder section, slightly away from the heat and scariness of the big ovens and ranges.  Twice the chef in that section had to put together dishes “on the fly” for customers who couldn’t eat a certain ingredient, or who were waiting too long for their meals.  He just whipped up dishes that would take me days of thinking and planning… and my versions would still not be as lovely as the plates he sent out.  This was true of everyone in the kitchen.  These guys were artists.

• Quality matters.  I got to work with hand-dived scallops, foie gras, salmon, braised oxtail and other beautiful, very high quality ingredients.  Everything that went on the plate was considered and expertly cooked.  The chefs all treated the ingredients with a lot of respect, which was obvious when you tasted the food.

• The food was awesome!  Part of the package was a lunch for me, prepared by the chefs.  I had sea bream that was perfectly cooked, served with potatoes and bacon and yum yum yum.  It was lovely.  As were the rolls that I had helped with, which came out of the oven half way through my lunch and were served to me still hot.  Heaven.

• The kitchen crew were SO nice!  I know that I must have been all kinds of annoying and in the way whilst the guys tried to do their job quickly, neatly and well… but they never stopped being kind, explaining what they were doing, asking me to put little garnishes on the plates, letting me taste sauces and generally being as welcoming as possible.  It made me think, would I be as friendly to someone who came along for the day just to “watch me do my job?”  I think I might just view them as an annoyance, and I’m sure I was one(!), but they never made me feel like I was in the way… unless I was actually in the way, then they asked me nicely to scoot.

• I was exhausted at the end of the day!  I didn’t even stay all the way through dinner service, but when I sat down on the train at 9pm I was totally knackered.  It is hard work!  On your feet all day, moving around at a fast pace, concentrating and doing small, precise work.  I was worn. out.

Those are just a few quick observations that I made during my day in the kitchen.  I really did have a wonderful time.  I always say that I’d rather have an experience than a gift… take me on a walk, to dinner, to a concert, to a museum, to France…anything.  This was honestly one of the best “experiences” I’ve ever had.

And, as I told Andy, I am going to be COMPLETELY insufferable now. Don’t even think of questioning the food I make… I’ve cooked in a Michelin starred restaurant!  “There’ll be no living with her now.”

I want to tell you about my grandmother-in-law, Andy’s grandmother, Jethel.

Jethel was a proper, old-fashioned, Southern country woman.  She was beloved by the members of her small, Baptist church.  She never forgot to send cards for every holiday and birthday.  She collected thimbles and photos of her grandchildren.  She was an amazing cook.

She wasn’t an amazing chef.  There’s a difference.  Jethel didn’t use fancy seasoning.  She didn’t worry about presentation on the plate.  And she definitely didn’t cook anything hip and trendy.

But, she could cook.  She made food you can raise a family on.  Food that warms up grandkids on winter mornings.  She made cornbread every single day.  She could cook any meat that her family of hunters brought her from the woods around her little house.  She made tables groaning with food on Thanksgiving.

Andy and I have been a couple since I was in high school, so I’ve spent years and years celebrating Abercrombie family holidays out in the country at Jethel’s house.  We’d all drive out there, with various casserole dishes filled with food, or cakes wrapped in tin foil.  Jethel would have the wood-burning stove fired up and we’d all begin shedding our jackets and sweaters as soon as we walked into her tiny, toasty living room.  The TV was never on.  There was never a radio going in the background.  Instead, we all focussed on each other and on the food.

With Jethel on our wedding day

As she got older, more and more of the food was brought by relatives.  Fewer and fewer things came out of her well-worn kitchen.  But, the things that she did make were wonderful.  Sticky buns flavoured with orange, sweet and crumbly corn bread, greens or green beans braised with pork, and sweet potato pie.

For Andy, Jethel’s sweet potato pie is the standard against which all other sweet potato pies are judged- and found lacking.  Her pie was very simple.  No fancy spices, no whipped cream on top.  Basic and tasting of what it was… sweet potatoes.  Hers was a pie for purists.

I loved Jethel like she was my own grandmother.  She was always kind to me, always made me feel included in the family holidays… even before I was officially part of the family.  When she died this summer, I felt like I’d lost the opportunity to learn more from her.  I asked my mother-in-law to save me one of Jethel’s well-worn cast iron skillets from her kitchen.  I love the idea of having that little piece of Abercrombie family history in my own kitchen… being used to, some day, feed a new generation of Jethel’s family.

We don’t get to really celebrate Thanksgiving here in England, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy some of the traditions of this, the greatest of American holidays.  This year, for the first time, I made sweet potato pie.  I was prepared for Andy’s scrutiny, and I got it.  I added too much cinnamon to the pie filling.  But, I really liked the pie with a touch of cinnamon, so I said a silent apology to Jethel and left the cinnamon in.  This isn’t her pie exactly, but I was inspired by her whilst making it.

We’ll be at work on Thanksgiving Day, but I hope that many of you are lucky enough to be with your families, your own grandmothers, surrounded by food.  I hope that you’re lucky enough to have a slice of sweet potato pie.

Sweet Potato Pie

pastry for one pie crust (make your own or shop bought)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups mashed sweet potato (I baked mine until they were super soft, then just scooped out the middles)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon*
1 stick (113g) butter
1 small can evaporated milk

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Line a pie plate or a tart case with your pastry and place in the fridge to firm up.

Meanwhile, combine all of the other ingredients in a large bowl and beat well, until smooth and creamy.  The mixture will be very runny.  That’s ok.

Remove your pie crust from the fridge and fill with the sweet potato mixture. 

Bake the pie for 1 hour or until golden on top and firm to the touch.  The pie filling will “rise” up a bit during cooking.  Don’t worry.  That’s just the eggs.  The pie will settle down after a few minutes out of the oven. 

Serve warm, at room temp or cold… it’s delicious!

I have to admit something to you right up front here. I’ve based this entire meal, this entire blog post… hell, this entire DAY around cooking something in my new casserole dish.

I brought this dish back in my hand luggage from Holland, where we just spent a wonderful long weekend. I will tell you more about Holland in my next post, but for right now, let’s just take a few minutes to admire the pretty pretty dish.

Ahhhh, so pretty.

So I wanted to use the pretty pretty dish to make our dinner. And, I wanted dinner to be quick and yummy and hot. And, I wanted there to be leftovers that I could have for lunch tomorrow. And, I didn’t want the meal to have any meat. And, I am a total pain in the patootie who thinks that finding the perfect recipe can make my whole day better.

Cue:  Baked Lemon Pasta!

It was a tall order, but I think this recipe ticks all the boxes. I’m not going to type out the recipe because I (GASP!) followed it exactly and that blog describes it better than I ever could.  I’ve actually been eyeing this recipe for a while, but never got around to making it before tonight. Don’t know what took me so long… it’s lovely. Perhaps I was just waiting for the perfect pretty pretty dish??