Wednesday 27 February 2013

The beauty of cooking

I love food. I think I mentioned this quite a lot in previous posts, but I just had to say it again! The delicious smell of cooking spreading through the house is just as nice as Diptyque candles (and probably cheaper unless you are making a lobster with caviar). I always enjoyed eating food, but I only started cooking (properly) after Little Miss S was born. I was spoilt when I was a child - both my great-grandmothers, grandmothers and my mum were excellent cooks and they all wanted to feed me, so when I 'grew up' I thought a) - I'll just get a cook (?!!) or b) - hopefully my husband will be able to cook. I got b) in end. My Hubby is not just capable of cooking, he actually really enjoys it and is very good at it. So I never bothered with cooking. Just eating. Plus, there are lots of fabulous food establishments in London in case you get stuck!


Put food and wine in front of me and I'm happy!


However, there is nothing like Motherhood changing your old ways! The whole thing about 'nesting' when you are pregnant and trying to create a cosy, healthy, spotless, happy environment for your child is absolutely true! The minute I found out I was pregnant - I was off! Cleaning, moving sofas, reading cookery books and 'beating myself up' for not watching my mum cook more often!!
These days I pretty much live in our kitchen. Before Little Miss S reached the grand age of One, pureeing vegetables wasn't extremely exiting, but now she eats pretty much everything - I really enjoy preparing her meals. What is more, I started cooking dinner for my Hubby, once Little Miss S is tucked up in bed. Although, this can be a bit of a battle because, actually, My Hubby finds cooking 'therapeutic', therefore sometimes it is hard to 'remove' him from the kitchen. And, Oh My God, I understand this 'therapeutic' cooking! See, when you are cooking for a toddler, you are most likely to be chasing after your toddler at the same time (best Course for multitasking), but when you are cooking for 'adults', you can chop away without worrying about crashing noises in the dinning area, you can just relax, listen to jazz and have a sip of wine! Bliss! Tonight I made a very easy, but very tasty chicken in garlic, white wine, and cream sauce!

Cut chicken breasts into thin strips. Put them into a bowl, add some olive oil and about 6-7 crushed cloves of garlic (we love garlic in this household). Leave to marinate for as long as you can (I left overnight).

Heat the oven up and place the chicken in there. After 35 minutes add some fresh rosemary and then add a tub of single cream and white wine (if you prefer). Put back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Smell should be absolutely amazing!

Serve with either roasted or mashed potatoes (and some vine tomatoes drizzled with olive oil if you are a tomato addict like me!). And nice crisp zesty wine!!
Bon appetite! X


4 comments: