Winter Warmer

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thank you to the Kitchen Fairey for all of her updates.



The truth is you known I started blogging Mums recipes for me to remember them.

Next thing you know someone wants to make a Daytime TV show out your blog.

So you go along with it and make a pilot, with a TV celeb and her Mother in another part of the country while cooking Bread and Butter Pudding over Skype.

I had a Production Company, Directors and interested parties all attempting to create some kinda golden format with golden spoons
.
I then realised to my horror that my little cooking music journal of Mums cooking and my music had ceased to exist.
As did the Daytime TV version.
The Flamenco had gone! What was I doing standing on a Helipad saying to camera "Hello and Welcome to Cooking With Mother?"
Now that is Soreal - Please visit http://www.sorealism.com for a definition of Sorealism if you do not know already know.

An interesting chapter in the early history of an honest blog and a musicians career.

Hey you never know what can happen do you?
My many thanks to everybody involved in the making of the CWM TV Pilot it was an extraordinary way to start last year and I really did enjoy myself making it and I met some really lovely people too.

Since then it has been 100% Music which is why the Fairey has been filling in.

Now last night I had to cook some comfort food for my wife, it was a freezing night out there and I knew she wanted warming after an extra late night at work so I managed to put my guitar down, pick up the phone get in the kitchen and cook with mother.


I dialed Mama but did not record on purpose - (Sorry no Podcook) - instead I thought I'd just write down the instructions and tools needed for:


Chipolata with Caramel Sherry and Onion Gravy on a bed of Creamy Mash Potato.

(Cooking time 45mins)

Ingredients:

Half an Onion
11 Chipolata sausages
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Gravy Granules
13 small to medium sized potatoes
1 Large/double wine glass of Sherry
Mixed Italian Herbs

Utensils:

1 milk pan
1 Baking Tray
1 Frying Pan
A sharp knife
1 Roasting Tin
A chopping board
A Pan
2 Oven friendly dishes

So Mum said:

Put the 11 large chipolata sausages in a Baking Tray and place in the oven at 180 degrees.

She then said chop half an onion and slice it thinly and then heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan and fry the onion slices separating them out.

While frying I peeled the potatoes as instructed making sure I kept an eye on the onions.

When the spuds were peeled I chopped and popped them in a pan with water and a nice splash of Salt and set them to boil.

The onions turned black but did not burn.
I then added one and three quarter mugs of water, and brought it to the boil throwing in 3 heaped Tea spoons of Gravy Granules, a nice big pinch Italian mixed herbs adding seasoning to taste.

Granules stirred in with a wooden spoon it was time to check on the sausages and spuds, the spuds needed longer as did the sausages but do check, you do not want burnt sausages, yours may cook quicker.

Next I took the gravy off the heat and in a milk pan heated up the sherry until it evaporated off all its alcohol and got it to look like caramel, I then poured that into the baking dish holding the sausages, extracting the sausages first. (Be warned the sausages may be stuck to the bottom so remove them carefully.)

Using the wooden spoon and the sherry I cleaned the pan of all of its juices and bits and poured that into the onion gravy mmm, It looked like someone else had cooked it.

I then placed the sausages in an oven dish and dolloped all of the sherry onion gravy on top of them.
I then put a lid on and left it in the oven at just under a 100 degrees to keep warm.

Potato ready I poured out the water and tossed in a desert spoon and bit of unsalted butter and a dribble of milk and began to mash it with the masher.
(This is the first time I had ever managed to make creamy mashed potato.)
Season if you wish but beware do not use too much milk and remember I added salt to the water the spuds were boiled in, which means if you are following these instructions, you did too.

Now place that mash in another oven friendly dish, decorate the mash it with a fork if you fancy then put it in the oven with the sausages ready for serving when ever Doris got in.

It is a real winter warmer sweet and comforting.

Thanks Mum for the natter and thank you for reading.

Buenas Noches

M
AD

(This blog was written whilst listening to WTNR RADIO)

Afternoon all. CWM Fairey returns.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the kitchen is currently taking a break - it needs some time alone, to think about what it wants from it's life, to re-assess its kitchen priorities, y'know. In all seriousness, we're having yet another little pause while we have meetings, make music and all the other bits required to get this show on the road.

We will not however be abandoning you completely dear friends! In my search for new and interesting things with which to fill up this blog, I went a-wandering through our beautiful Hampshire village. We couldn't hope for a more gorgeous day today - it's September for cryingout loud, this time last year we were getting drenched every time we stepped outside. Sun is shining, sky is blue, air is fresh -amazing.







Anyway, just down the road there is a pub. Outside the pub were two chefs, enjoying a relaxing post-work afternoon pint. This pub is renowned for its fantastic food and tireless championing of local producers - everything used in the kitchen comes from within a 30-mile radius. Even the tea served at the bar comes from Tregothnan, Cornwall. So, seeing these two chefs I thought I would take the opportunity to hear some wisdom from the pros.

According to Jonasz, the worst thing about cooking is how it is like a short-lived form of art. 'You create something great and it disappears straight away, so you have to start all over again'. The best thing? 'We need food. Food is a necessity. We would eat it even if it didn't taste good, because we have to. It's nice to be able to make something that could be boring and functional into something exciting and enjoyable.'

And according to James - 'Cooking is about making people feel happy. It's great when you see people's reaction to something you've made'.
James also, in a shameless bit of self-promotion, summed up Jonasz's 'best thing...' comment as follows: 'Eating is a necessity but dining (here) is a luxury.'

So, thanks to two local madmen, I mean culinary wizards, for their thoughts. It really all boils down to art, enjoyment and sharing happiness. Luckily at CWM HQ, those are our favourite things!

Enjoy the weekend, may it be as beautiful as ours is looking to be!

Love from the Fairey and everyone at Cooking With Mother.

Sooo......the Podcook happened....but Kitchen Fairey hasn't seen any footage of it which is why it has not appeared yet on Cooking With Mother blog!

HOWEVER

This doesn't matter too much because it was a BBC-style




!




We have in fact shown you the Butternut Beans recipe in the past but it is a favourite, and a nice simple one with which relaunch CWM. If any footage shows up we will whack it on here for your delectation and we can all improve on last time!

Latest news - CWM is undergoing some fairly seismic changes - TV has again reared its head. If we go in that direction, expect something completely, utterly new and...well...unexpected. Meetings have taken place, and will be taking place in future, to discuss how best to share our Cooking With Mother adventures with the rest of the world.

Hoping everyone else's kitchen endeavours are being met with success. My cooking's gone all ¡Viva España! thanks to the addition of Tai to CWM HQ - our new (impossibly slender) Spanish friend who 'eats five times a day and likes cooking because she likes eating so much'. As good a reason as any!

Much Fairey lovexxx

1 day to go...

...before we podcook!

Hi, the Kitchen Fairey is back and very excited about tomorrow.

Absolutely dead tired from the Bestival - any of you out there who went as well, what can I say? Wow! The bands, the food, the costumes, the woods, the people, the food...unbelievable. Hoping everyone else's weekend was as outrageous as mine.

Don't forget to get your ingredients today - you need:

2 tins of butterbeans
1 medium butternut squash
1 head of garlic
Olive oil
1 whole chorizo
Potatoes
Chicken stock
All nice easy things that you can find in the supermarket, the garden and the grocer's.
Music continues here at CWM HQ, and all is well - apart from Mrs CWM, who has had to give the dog a bath after he rolled in something unmentionable. Keep up with us on Twitter, don't be shy and say hello!

Love and magic and festival-inspired madness
Kitchen Faireyxxx

Hello cooks, mothers, friends. Kitchen Fairey here.

As announced in our last blog, CWM is kicking off next week with a new podcook. We've already given you the ingredients and utensils - so you've got a whole week and a bit to gather them together! We would have started this week, but I have pressing business on the Isle of Wight. There is a very exciting festival there called Bestival, which obviously would not be complete without a Fairey. Above you can see one of my festival friends from last year. Sorry to keep you waiting, but you never know - festivals are great places for discovery, perhaps I will come across some exciting new foodie things that I can share with you all. In fact, an idea is already brewing for a special Bestival-inspired podcook...I'll say no more but it will involve chocolate.

As for CWM HQ, well - it's just started to rain down in Hampshire, after yesterday's glorious sunshine. There are fresh chicken and mushroom pies on the way from the butcher across the road. The abundance of courgettes is at last under control - last time the allotment was harvested it produced millions of the things, huge ones. Mrs CWM was reduced to giving them away to anyone and everyone just to get through them all, while next door came up with an innovative way to make use of their own surplus - courgette cake. Very moist and delicious, if a little strange-looking.

Must return to the grind - though work's never bad when you're doing it in a house ringing with live music being created in the studio above your head.

Happy ingredient shopping, I'll be back with you on Monday!

Love

the Kitchen Fairey

New Term

We are really thrilled at all the people who have been following us on Twitter - even though we've been so lax at updating! Tessa the Kitchen Fairey is going to change all of that.

Well, I am back. Now how many times have I said that eh!?

Well this time I mean it - we have have a new team working on CWM with me this season after our Soho television adventure earlier this year, which as much fun as it was never really delivered what I had in mind originally.

Essentially I want to archive my Mums recipes in an easy to follow format in the shape of a live Podcook with an easy to follow recipe card accompanied by some of the best new music from all over the world.

We have a funky new server, a load of really good meals and some banging chunes which we will be sharing every Friday from our country kitchen here in Hants, England.

Tessa our Kitchen Fairey will be driving our Twitter so please get in touch with her and share all your thoughts, ideas and best of all your food and music.

Monday is going to be Fairey day, Wednesday will be recipe day and Friday will be Podcook day here on cookingwithmother.com

As well as food we will try and also provide you with info about locally sourced ingredients and seasonal produce all served up on a bed of music provided by my new record label Distracks who are our new sponsors.

I'm currently working on a new track with Paul called Big Feeling, which I hope to premiere with the Podcook on Wednesday. Latin breaks with the Spanish guitar to accompany this classic Spanish invention of my mother's. Now I'm going to pass you over to Tessa our Kitchen Fairey, who's going to tell you our plans for next week!

Hi everyone - Tessa, a.k.a Kitchen Fairey here. No that's not a misspelling, that's my actual surname.

So, next week we launch the podcooks. We will be creating the first one on Wednesday 16th September. Get ready for something home grown, fresh and full of surprises - and that's just the food.

Featuring next week will be Isabel D'Cruze's recipe for Butternut Beans
Normally I will announce the week's recipe the Monday directly before the podcook - but we're just so excited at Cooking With Mother HQ that we've given you this one a week early.

We thought we'd start you off with something easy - Butternut Beans is a lovely, simple and homely dish that you can throw together if you don't have much time and can easily feed a big group.

Ingredients:

2 tins of butterbeans
1 medium butternut squash
1 head of garlic
Olive oil
1 whole chorizo
Potatoes
Chicken stock

Utensils:

Tin opener
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Large cooking pot
Wooden spoon

Until our next post it's ta ta from him and cheerio from me.

Buenas

Marcos and the Fairey

Chicken out

Hello

This really will only take a minute.

I just took part in a new campaign to stop the Government making standards for UK chickens even worse!

Jane Kennedy at Defra is considering raising the maximum stocking density for intensive chicken production - effectively allowing more chickens to be crammed into those already overcrowded chicken sheds.

This Compassion in World Farming page made it really easy to send an email to Ms Kennedy, highlighting the issue and asking them to show support for chicken welfare.

You can take part right now if you follow this link:

http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=3425

Thanks!

Marcos D'Cruze