From airport to stove

A brief note on cooking after time away

I have just returned from a holiday visiting family in Sydney. As a summer-loving, sun-seeking water baby, it was a big treat to spend two weeks with sand between my toes and salt water up my nose.

It felt like we were cheating the seasons system, flying away from some of the coldest and most dreary weeks in London. I would love to cheat the system every year from now on, please and thank you.

The thing I really did miss while we were away was cooking, and eating according to the specific whims of my appetite. As is often the case when I’ve been away or out of the kitchen for a meaningful period of time, I longed for the following:

~ Peas, a bowl of them. Straight up, with olive oil, salt and pepper.
~ Eggs, boiled or squiggled into a scruffy omelette with cheddar and sauerkraut.
~ Almost anything with a tomato sauce foundation.

After the 24 hour flight home, my first port of call was the shower for the post-long-haul purge. My second port of call was the stove, to satisfy the aforementioned longings. Peas to start, hungrily followed by an omelette.

This is hardly the sort of culinary inspiration you may have been hoping for as you opened this newsletter. I apologise.

The next day, I inched towards slightly less juvenile territory and crossed off longing number three, for tomato sauce *something*. Tomato-braised greens with fried almonds and olives. Piled onto toast.

If you’re interested, it goes a little something like this: Fry a large handful of chopped almonds in olive oil until golden, then stir through olives. They’ll sputter and sizzle. Scoop out into a bowl. Another glug of olive oil in the pan (a loooong pour), along with sliced garlic and fennel seeds. Fry until golden then tip in a couple of tins of plum tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Smoosh the tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Leave to blip away for 10 mins. Very roughly tear a bunch of seasonal greens. Stir these through and cook in the tomato sauce until tender. Serve with the fried almonds and olives spooned over, as well as crumbled feta or a blob of yoghurt.

Normal recipe service will resume next week as I find my way back into the groove. See you then!