Posted by Tania Kindersley.
Wrote today's blog rather quickly with brain slightly fogged from work mania. Suddenly realised it might be open to misinterpretation. I do not want to sound rude to all the Daisies out there. Daisy is the prettiest of names, which is why I spend years wishing I was called it. I just wondered if, because of its very prettiness, it might lead to incorrect assumptions on the part of other people.
As penance for causing possible offence, here is the recipe for the ratatouille, which I had promised but forgot to post:
This was a very plain, classic version. There are as many ratatouilles as there are cooks, so this is not definitive, just mine. I took: two courgettes, one fat aubergine, four cloves of garlic, and two red peppers. Purists would probably insist on onion; for some reason I avoided it. I cubed everything, and then gently fried it all for a few minutes in a big pan with a little olive oil. You need to move it all around with a wooden spoon, and keep the heat low, or the garlic will burn. Then I covered the lot with water, and simmered it very, very gently for forty minutes.
Keep an eye on it, because the water will reduce. Towards the end, you need to give it a stir, from time to time. What you are aiming for is a lovely mush.
Then, I put three big tomatoes in a deep bowl, covered them with boiling water, and left them for about five minutes. This is simply a way of getting the skins off. This is important, because if you chop and cook, little bits of tomato skin will curl up in the ratatouille and ruin the texture. So: slip off the skins, roughly chop, and add to the pan. Turn the heat to medium and cook, stirring gently, for a final five minutes.
To finish, I added a handful of torn basil, a pinch of dried chilli, and a dash of grassy extra virgin olive oil.
And that's it.
I did not take a picture. Here is a photograph of the dogs instead, because, as you may have guessed, I have come to the conclusion that one cannot ever have enough dog pictures.
I always wanted to be Jo (March). Or Sophie, Annabel (or anyone from a Georgette Heyer novel). So much more exciting then being a teenager in the 70s!
ReplyDeleteYour so right there can never be enough dog pictures. Jude
Thanks for the recipe, it's very similar to what I make. I gravitate towards foods that start with fresh brightly colored ingredients and end up in 'a lovely mush'.
ReplyDeleteMy name's Debbie and I always thought it was a boring name, compared to Catherine or Victoria (or Tania). Deborah means 'bee' - and finally, in my 40's, I'm beginning to see how it fits me. Or how I fit it.
You worry too much...there is a lot in a name. I feel the same about Daisy as I do about Poppy - lovely name if you are 5 and have ringlets. Harder when you want to be taken seriously at an interview when you are 25. I blame Daisy Duke. Choosing a name is such an undertaking; I would never have gone with two names that have three syllables - had I known how many times I would be saying them! Lou x (who when playing games as a child always wanted to be called Annette or Dawn...! It was the 80's)
ReplyDeleteNames can be so difficult. When expecting, husband & I were completely out of sync for many. He liked "Mabel" (there was a beer commercial in the States with a peroxide blond, gum-snapping waitress: "Hey Mabel, Black Label...").
ReplyDeleteI leaned toward the Shakespearean -- Miranda (the name of a swimming pool in Amsterdam where hubs grew up; every time he heard it, he smelled chlorine)!
We agreed on Kate (NOT Caitlin, which seems to be more favored in America, or Catherine...simply Kate, so no one could abbreviate it. So my mother calls her "Katie"....)
My full name Patricia means "noble" &, to me, sounds way too formal for jeans, sandals & T-shirts (which have been my preferential wear all my adult life).
In primary school, there were FIVE of us in one class so we became Patricia, Patti, Pat, Treecie and Patsy...I was "Patsy" which still makes me gag!)
What like about Pat is that, minus a title, my gender is ambiguous. Several times I showed up for job interviews to a surprised interviewer who had been expecting a man.