Cooking colours

Because I am a new and enthusiastic user of Instagram and a blogger of many years, I take an awful lot of photos of random domestic moments; and as I scrolled through my photos last night, I realised that I have a wonderful record of my cooking at this time of year.

Like many people, the arrival of autumn gives me a renewed enthusiasm for cooking.  The cooler weather, a new series of The Great British Bake Off, unexpected seasonal treasures in my Abel and Cole box, and a generally energising back-to-school-and-University air of new timetables and new diaries, all contribute towards this for me.

Chicken and leek pie, with a cheesy breadcrumb topping

Spicy chicken and vegetable soup

Chocolate brownies - these made by Olivia

Potato, bacon and onion hotpot

Making apricot flapjacks

   

The colours in these photos are autumnal too: the orange of my big Le Creuset bistro pan which I cook with at almost every meal, the wholesome browns of freshly baked bread, the yellow of eggs and squashes, the golden crust of a cheesy topping.  I even use orange and brown hundreds-and-thousands on my buns at this time of year.

Cinnamon and apple cake - adapted slightly from a Nigel Slater recipe

Using up the veg in the fridge to make a vegetable curry for supper - the night before my new Abel & Cole box arrives

Fritatta with cavalo nero, onions and chorizo

Autumnal iced buns

We've had the first mince-and-dumplings of the season, and the first slow-cooker stew is planned for later in the week.  I also think a particularly spectacular pie might be in order to celebrate the return of Strictly Come Dancing this weekend.  

As if autumn wasn't already my favourite time of the year, there's all this abundance of good food to share and enjoy too.   Good times indeed.

A giant cheese scone - fresh out of the oven; and two loaves of bread waiting to go in

10 Christmas things

• The decorations and tree were all packed away this morning.  I enjoy feeling Christmassy during Advent, but once it's over, it's over.  The house feels so spacious and tidy without the tree!  Every year it reminds me of this book - a favourite with C and O when they were little.
• I have left the jugs of holly and ivy up on the mantelpiece.  They feel wintry rather than Christmassy.

• I like this week between Christmas and New Year very much indeed - there is a feeling of time being suspended; the pause button being on.  Rules are relaxed and things are more free-form.   
• I made a wallet for my new Kindle.  It is padded with quilt wadding, so that I can drop the Kindle into my satchel without fear of it being scratched or turning itself on.


• I love the juxtaposition of grey, functional, electronic gadgets and bright fabric cases.  My phone, my laptop, my camera and my iPod all live in padded sleeves like this.
• There is good cooking to be done in this holiday week.  At lunchtime we had a glorious Boxing Day soup of leek and potato with some of the leftover roast chicken from yesterday.  I also used the leftover giblet stock and a slug of champagne that we somehow failed to finish yesterday.  There is no other time during the year when I would put champagne in soup.
• Tomorrow's cooking will focus on the leftover sausagemeat stuffing.  I always make about twice what I think we will need so that we will have some spare.  I think this year it will end up in a spicy tomato and pepper stew.
• As well as my Kindle I also received some actual books for Christmas - River Cottage Veg Everyday is as wonderful as I hoped it would be.  Once all the leftover chicken and stuffing is finished, I shall be turning my attention back to vegetable-based meals which is how we eat most of the time.
• I love not getting up until the sun has risen - it feels incredibly decadent.
• We're still eating (and baking) mince pies.  Everyone in this house loves mince pies.

How a fig seed made me eat miso soup

There I was, eating the last piece of my favourite orange and fig chocolate, and one of the teeny, tiny fig seeds got stuck in a tooth. I poked my tooth with a fingernail and out popped the seed, but also a filling.
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"Oh!" I shrieked, and started scrabbling around on the floor to find the filling. As if the dentist might be able to re-attach it like a lost limb.

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As I searched through the dust and lint on the floor, it slowly dawned on me that this was not good news. I was going to have to go to the dentist.

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I am very, very frightened of dentists. When I was a child, our family dentist had a great big alsatian that used to sit in the corner of the surgery, growling mennacingly at the patients. I've never liked dogs. Then when I was at University, the dentist there took one of my teeth out without anaesthetic and managed to accidently remove part of my jaw bone along with it. How do you accidentally remove a piece of someone's jaw??

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After that butchering it was ten years before I visited a dentist again, and it is now nearly nine years since that last visit. Two visits in nearly twenty years. The dentist's Receptionist was appalled when I confessed this over the phone to her earlier in the week.

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"Nine years is a VERY long time!" she scolded.

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"But I bring my children for ALL their appointments," I said, with middle-class parenting angst. "They have ALWAYS been to the dentist. Very regularly."

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The receptionist could not have cared less. "We'll see you on Friday at 11:30," she said flatly.

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So this is how a fig seed is responsible for me eating lots of miso soup this week, as I try not to damage my tooth any more than it already is. Miso soup is basically Japanese bovril, but none the worse for that. I like it. It is comfort food that also feels healthy. And with a visit to the dentist looming over me, I need some comfort food.

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My favourite way to eat miso soup is with noodles and green vegetables. With broad beans in season I thought some of those would be a good addition. I kept them raw, which probably isn't the best thing for a broken tooth, but they taste greener and fresher than cooked beans in a way that very much suits the soup.

And when I don't need to be brave any more, and my tooth is all fixed later today, I have a more luxurious treat waiting for me...

...these honey buns, made from a recipe in Rachel Allen's Bake.