The Rubik's Cube analogy originally came from an Ella Risbridger Substack. It made complete sense to me when I read and I often think of it now. Your three go-to dishes sound sublime!
I love reading your posts Fiona. Home economics seems to have gone out of the curriculum. Shame really, we all need to know how to cook, and it’s good to know how to sew.
There are many dishes that are woven into the culinary fabric of my life.
I loved this Fiona. I like the bones of a recipe, but I can’t help tinkering - adding this, leaving out that, following a hunch. I don’t have a set of signature dishes. Each meal is made in the moment, with what’s to hand. Sometimes delicious and nourishing, sometimes eccentric, sometimes plain shocking. Always a reflection of the day.
I completely agree with you, I love the framework of a recipe and who am I to mess with the expertise of the cook who has produced said recipe. The only thing I never need to use a recipe for is lasagne. It's entirely my own recipe and like you say, it's written on my heart and I hope one day it'll be written on George's too.
The tuna recipe is written in my heart too. Over the years it’s produced a bumptious child with added lemon juice and zest plus a goodly dollop of cream. Yes, lemon again! Never fails
That sounds lovely. My daughter came up with a version with cream and grated cheddar and a tiny bit of tomato ketchup, so it was a bit like the filling in a tuna melt sandwich...
There's a great John Irving quote about cooking being the only worthwhile thing you can salvage from a day. I like tinkering too, but I appreciate the structure of recipes.
I love your comment about the Rubik's cube of flavours and textures in your head. That is exactly what it's like for me!
Love the sounds of your Italian lemon chicken too. I think that may be my lunch tomorrow.
I am trying to think of the dishes I whip off without even thinking... I would say variations of:
Lemon roasted salmon with minty new potatoes and buttered green beans.
Steak stir fry with a gingery, limey, sesame and soy dressing, noodles and broccoli.
And a prawn spaghetti, made simply with shallots and garlic, a little white wine, lemon, chilli and parmesan.
Not a bad trio!
Do let me know if you try the lemon chicken!
Lemon chicken went down a treat. Even my daughter liked it! (She's 5 and doesn't like anything).
Brilliant!
Will do!
The Rubik's Cube analogy originally came from an Ella Risbridger Substack. It made complete sense to me when I read and I often think of it now. Your three go-to dishes sound sublime!
Thank you! There's a reason we come back to them all the time!
Ah, I shall have to search Ella out. Thank you!
I love reading your posts Fiona. Home economics seems to have gone out of the curriculum. Shame really, we all need to know how to cook, and it’s good to know how to sew.
There are many dishes that are woven into the culinary fabric of my life.
1. Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauces
2. Sri Lankan chicken curry, Dahl, ghee rice, mallung ( greens, chilli, coconut), chilli sambal.
3. Nasi goreng
I hope your lamb dish is enjoyed on a perfect holiday in France.
Thank you Lisa! I love your posts too! And I also love nasi goreng - my mother used to make it if we had any left over roast pork from a Sunday roast.
That’s exactly what mum did too.
I loved this Fiona. I like the bones of a recipe, but I can’t help tinkering - adding this, leaving out that, following a hunch. I don’t have a set of signature dishes. Each meal is made in the moment, with what’s to hand. Sometimes delicious and nourishing, sometimes eccentric, sometimes plain shocking. Always a reflection of the day.
That's a lovely philosophy.
I completely agree with you, I love the framework of a recipe and who am I to mess with the expertise of the cook who has produced said recipe. The only thing I never need to use a recipe for is lasagne. It's entirely my own recipe and like you say, it's written on my heart and I hope one day it'll be written on George's too.
I'm sure it will. Any time I make any of the three dishes here, I think of my parents.
The tuna recipe is written in my heart too. Over the years it’s produced a bumptious child with added lemon juice and zest plus a goodly dollop of cream. Yes, lemon again! Never fails
That sounds lovely. My daughter came up with a version with cream and grated cheddar and a tiny bit of tomato ketchup, so it was a bit like the filling in a tuna melt sandwich...
There's a great John Irving quote about cooking being the only worthwhile thing you can salvage from a day. I like tinkering too, but I appreciate the structure of recipes.