Cooking

Paul's website is being converted into a blog, on his website there is a page called Rosie's kitchen, as the website may soon vanish I am pasting some of the postings here.

Welcome to Rosie's Kitchen

Welcome to Rosie's Kitchen, a mix of old and modern recipes, from all over Europe, and long forgotten house hold tips.

So pinnies on girls; lets get cooking.

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My granny and then my mother always cooked good food with plenty of vegetables, the family sitting round the dining table to eat and talk, when my boys were younger we sat around the dining table as I had when I was small and as my mother did when she was a child.

But after the boys left school and went out to work I had them and Paul coming in from work at different times and, as I was working as well, I usually ended up cooking different meals at different times, very often frozen foods from Asda or Morrisons.

Although Sunday lunch was still a meal at the table. Now we live in France I don't go out to work, I've plenty to do here, we are now back to eating at the table, (as Mike has moved out it's the three of us), good fresh food, wine and conversation.

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Your Kitchen

The obvious, good quality, sharp knives, a good selection of saucepans with tight fitting lids, wooden spoons, scales, sieve and rolling pin (even if you buy ready made pastry, its still has its traditional job of keeping hubby in check.)

Recipes

Like your granny used to make, in the days before mass produced rubbish and ready meals lacking in nutrients, when family's sat round the table and not the TV to eat.

Soups

There is little that's easier than making soups, made from fresh and if available home grown produce. I usually make twice as much as I need and freeze the rest. How good is it going to be to have them when the cold Breton winter arrives?

I have one piece of equipment that my granny never had, my electric blender, a very useful tool to have.

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Courgette and Pea Soup

• 1 kg courgettes, (I swapped 6 chicken eggs with my neighbour for mine)
• 250g Peas (the only veg I like to buy frozen)
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled & crushed
• 2 medium onion, peeled & chopped
• small knob of butter
• Thyme, Basil and bay leaf (from my tree) salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 pints water (or mild-flavoured stock)
• cream (optional)

Cook everything together till tender; remove bay leaves, blend with hand blender, simmer for about 10 minutes, serve with a splash of cream, if you have any left over, allow to cool, put in in a freezer bag and freeze.