March's Cookery Book

My chosen cookery book for March was Jamie's Italy, published in 2008, so most likely a freebie from when John worked in a bookshop many years ago.  It's an undervalued book that I've used a few times, but never really spent much time cooking from. It's clearly a lovingly researched book full of beautiful travel photography, and chapters are organised into Antipasti, Primi (soups, pasta, risotto), Salads, Secondi (fish, meat) and Desserts. I don't really understand the Italian way of having pasta then another second course after that - pasta is the one and only course in this house, unless someone wants to rummage for fruit or yogurt for dessert.

It was the pasta and risotto recipes which fitted most easily into the way I cook on a weeknight, both in terms of preparation time and cost of ingredients, and the first one I chose was a twist on a favourite here, spaghetti carbonara, but made with sausage meatballs rather than the usual pancetta.

You skin sausages, form them into little bite-sized balls, then fry while the pasta cooks. The sauce is your standard carbonara except for the addition of the zest of a lemon.

I was dubious, I'll be honest, but it was transformative, and easily the best carbonara I've ever eaten at home. John and I loved it. Bella and Angus however disliked the (tiny) addition of the lemon zest and said it was "too fruity". Kids, always wanting what is familiar...

Next was a chicken and mushroom pasta bake, but made with spaghetti, and I was intrigued how this would work. Also, as the only one in this house who likes mushrooms, I was deviously hoping I could sneak the fungi past everyone else and create a new family favourite. 

You fry the chicken and mushrooms before adding stock and cream and simmering while the spaghetti boils. The pasta and sauce are then baked with a topping of breadcrumbs and parmesan, very delicious. 

I loved it, but the other three members if this household were indifferent. Too mushroomy, apparently, but I did enjoy eating up the leftovers reheated for my lunch at work the following week.

Our next recipe, cauliflower risotto, was much more successful. 

You begin by making a pangrattato, a mixture of breadcrumbs, anchovies and chilli which is fried until crispy and sprinkled over the finished risotto at the end.

The rest of the risotto is fairly standard. The cauliflower stalk is finely chopped and added to the onion, celery and garlic at the start, while the florets simmer in the stock until soft before being gently crushed into the risotto.

The result was a heavenly cross between a plain risotto and cauliflower cheese. It had flavour and texture and was creamy and delicious. I didn't think the pangrattato was necessary really, it would be lovely on it's own, and I am definitely going to make this one again.

Next, a lunch recipe from the salad chapter: farro salad with roasted veg, although I used bulgar wheat. 

You roast some vegetables while the bulgar wheat is simmering, and then finely chop the cooked vegetables with lots of fresh herbs. I used basil and parsley from the supermarket with oregano and mint from the garden.

Then everything is mixed together and dressed with a little olive oil and lemon juice.

It's fantastic, you don't really need a recipe for a salad like this, and I will definitely make it again. I felt it could have done with a little more oomph though, perhaps a little feta sprinkled over the top, so I used the pangrattato leftover from the risotto to give it a bit more of a kick.

Finally, I tried something from the Desserts chapter. This was a bit of a struggle which surprised me; the desserts felt too summery for a cold, wet March, and I was trying to choose something which everyone would enjoy, not just me. 

I chose Nada's cake, a plain sponge cake scented with orange and lemon zest and scattered with blueberries.

I love blueberries but find them a flavour lottery, being either very sweet or sharp. These were sharper and I felt the cake batter could have done with a little more sugar. Anyway it was ok - nice but not amazing. It makes a large tray bake though, so I froze half of the cooked cake as I thought it might be nice defrosted, warmed and served with a little creme fraiche.

So, overall I'd call this a success - three nice meals and two really good ones which will definitely make it into our repertoire of family dinners. 

Spring Miscellaneous

There's nothing and everything going on here at the moment. I feel like I never stop, but I also don't have a lot to show for my busyness. Recent weekends and evenings seem to be spent constantly driving children to and from various parties, clubs, activities. But the weather has warmed up, the garden is emerging from its winter slumber and we have a weekend of gardening and DIY planned which I am happy about. I'm at that stage with the garden where I'm genuinely delighted by it, by what I see each time I go out there, so happy to be out in it pottering around after a long winter and interested to see what's growing, what's new. This will be our fourth summer in this house and I'm still getting to know the garden, as we've done quite a bit to it since we moved in, creating borders, moving plants etc. I still get a thrill when something new blooms. The daffodils are fading but the tulips are just about to open and are looking very cheerful indeed.

 The rhubarb has shot up in the last two weeks, along with the weeds...

 and I spied a tiny pink carnation flower in a sorry looking pot.

I filled the wooden planter on the decking with a mixture of daffodil bulbs again last autumn - it's right in front of our kitchen patio doors so I like to make an effort with it - and it's bursting with yellow, white and orange flowers. I am loving these ones below, although I have no idea what variety they are - some kind of multi-headed narcissus, maybe?

I am really, really looking forward to the Easter holidays. That two week break in the middle of spring always feels like a treat, especially if the weather is good. It's often a holiday we spend in the garden and doing DIY, and I can't see that this one will be any different. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to the spring Craftpod. I have a few projects that I've saved from previous boxes and I might do some embroidery over the Easter holidays, add a few more hoops to the wall in the dining room. 

Crochet-wise, I decided to start with the Ombre Shawl as it's something I can wear during the spring and summer. I had a bit of a wobble about the brightness of the pink but I've done a few more rows since then, and it's starting to subside. I will like it more when the grey comes in, I think.

Last weekend I made baked doughnuts from this recipe and they came out really well. You have to accept that they are not really like a traditional doughnut, since they don't contain yeast and aren't deep fried, in fact they're really just a doughnut shaped cake. But they are so light, and once they are dipped in melted butter and coated with cinnamon sugar...so, so good, and a lot nicer than the stale jam doughnuts I bought from Tesco's a few weeks ago.

My after work dog walks have been lovely lately. It's light until seven pm now, although I usually walk Ziggy between four and five, and the blossom everywhere is such a pretty sight, especially the magnolia.

We had a really gorgeous walk at the beach on Sunday afternoon. I was hot in my boots and coat and it truly felt like spring had arrived.

I love this time of year. The longer days give me such a boost of energy, and I am full of plans for all the things I want to cook and paint, sew and crochet, plant and make. There are cupboards to be emptied, rooms to be spring cleaned (and of course rearranged) and flowers to pick from the garden. Lovely spring. 

Crochet, plain and fancy

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions around children and cooking. I have written them all down and will be returning to them. This week, Bella has been much more involved in the preparation of meals (lots of chopping vegetables) and I think something really simple like pasta or baked potatoes will be a good starting point for her. Lots of you mentioned spaghetti bolognese as a good starting recipe, but John prides himself on the ragu sauce he makes (it simmers in the oven for hours - it is incredible) and I think we'll have some difficulty wrestling that one from his grasp.

Anyway, crochet. It's been all go here lately with yarn and hook, and I've been making some very practical household items for bathroom and kitchen. They've proved to be the perfect in-between project after the jumper and blanket, and now I am ready for something a bit more challenging.

I wanted to learn how to crochet waffle stitch, and a few simple square facecloths seemed like a good way to start. My skin care regime - if it could be called that - consists of removing eye make-up then washing my face with soap and facecloth, so I wanted the cloth to be soft but exfoliating too. I found a really great video tutorial for waffle stitch here and bought my yarn. I wanted 100% cotton, unmercerised (so non-shiny) in neutral colours, and in Hobbycraft I found some 25g balls of cotton called Ricorumi - small balls of coloured cotton and DK yarn aimed at amigurumi crochet, but ideal if you need a little bit of one colour but don't want to buy a big ball. (I wish I'd known about these when I was making my crocheted fruit and vegetables a few years ago, it would have saved lots of leftover yarn when I only needed a tiny bit of, say, green for a stalk or something.)

I bought two 25g balls each of white, cream, light grey and silver grey. Using a 3.5mm hook, one and a half balls made a facecloth and with the rest I made washable make-up remover pads, or scrubbies, to replace the ones I buy to remove my eye make-up. There are lots of very similar patterns online but I liked this one.

I was starting to find all these cloths quite relaxing to make, so whipped up a load of new dishcloths using some cotton yarn in aran/worsted weight and a 5mm hook. 

Just rows of double crochet for these, nothing fancy. 

Now for the fun stuff: all the new projects I have to look forward to this spring! My mother-in-law kindly gave me some Wool Warehouse vouchers for my birthday, and I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours last weekend choosing, downloading and printing out patterns and spending my vouchers on yarn, without any guilt about the cost. 

I chose this basket by Lakeside Loops perfect for holding yarn or a plant. Like blankets and cushions, there is always room for another basket in this house, and another houseplant to put in it.

Next, I felt like making another lightweight shawl. I wear my shawl so much, and for a long time have wanted to make the Ombre Shawl by Sarah Shrimpton, especially as she recommends a ball of Scheepjes Whirl for the yarn. 

For a long time I've hoped to try crocheting with one of these colourful yarn cakes and eventually chose the colourway Raspberry Rocky Road.

Finally, something else I planned to make this year was some more crochet socks. I have a couple of pairs of crocheted bed socks that I wear all the time, but I wanted to try making some finer everyday socks in a smaller stitch, and went for this pattern by Vicki Brown.

I treated myself to some beautiful variegated sock yarn - Arco Iris sock yarn by Malabrigo - and now have the fun task of winding this into a ball. Buying yarn this way always feels like a bit of a novelty to me. 

So now I have three projects, all nicely organised in those bags Wool Warehouse send their yarn in, ready to go. Trouble is I just don't know which one to start first.