The Woman Who Upped and Left
Page 33
To be honest, Paul has taken charge of the cooking. It’s more his thing, really – he’s a natural. I did a posh French cookery course, and he’s just fiddled about in his kitchen, and he’s far better than I am! What I am good at, though, is making things happen. I don’t want to seem boastful, but I sorted out all the permissions to open the café and got the certificates we needed. I hired the staff and trained them, making sure we do things as efficiently as possible – I think being a dinner lady has been pretty useful actually. Maybe I’m not just good with children, but people generally because our customers keep coming back. We do simple lunches, and afternoon teas, and Morgan looks after the gardens. He loves it. I think he’s found his niche.
Anyway, enough about us. I was delighted that you’re planning to come up and stay. We have plenty of room for you here. Mrs B has a whole upper floor of her house that she doesn’t even use, and I can get a room ready for you. It’s wonderful seeing this old house coming alive.
Paul would love to meet you, Mum, as would Mia of course. The funny thing is, she looks a lot like you!
Much love,
Audrey
To the manager, Wilton Grange Hotel
I enclose a cheque for £434.24 in settlement of my unpaid extras bill for my stay (July 2–24). I realise this is a little late. Apologies.
With many thanks,
Audrey Pepper
(Dinner lady of the year)
Feeling inspired by Audrey’s culinary adventures?
Then turn the page for some of the dishes she tried her hand at.
Happy cooking!
The Highlight Recipes
All serve four
Soupe à L’oignon
Everyone knows cheese and onion
are made for each other …
Ingredients
90g unsalted butter
8 onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp plain flour
6 tbsp red wine
150ml white wine
1 tsp sugar
4 slices baguette
2 tbsp olive oil
150g cheese, grated
Method
• Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently sauté the onions until soft and translucent.
• In a heatproof jug, mix the wines and 1.5 litres of boiling water.
• Sprinkle the onions with flour and stir, then pour the liquid over the onions and stir again.
• Simmer gently for 15–20 minutes, skimming any impurities from the surface. Add a little more boiling water if your soup is looking too thick. Add the sugar and season to taste.
• To make the croutons, rub one side of the baguette slices with olive oil and sprinkle with grated cheese. Grill until bubbling.
• Pour the soup into bowls, float the croutons on top and enjoy.
Moules Marinière
Simple but Frenchly impressive
Ingredients
2kg mussels
30g butter
6 shallots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
150ml dry white wine
A handful of chopped parsley
Method
• Scrub the mussels thoroughly under running cold water. To debeard them, tug away the black threads, then tap each mussel to check that it closes. Discard any with cracked shells or that won’t close when tapped.
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan, toss in the shallots, then the garlic, and sauté for a few minutes until the shallots have softened.
• Add the wine plus 100ml water and simmer gently until it has reduced in volume by roughly a half. Now add your mussels, covering the pan and simmering for around 5 minutes until all the mussels have opened.
• Tip the pan contents into a colander, over a bowl, so you catch the mussels. Pour the wine and shallot sauce back into the saucepan and bubble for a few minutes to reduce.
• To serve, divide the mussels into bowls, pour over the sauce, sprinkle with parsley and serve with fresh crusty bread.
Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme
A pot of buttery loveliness
Ingredients
8 chicken thighs
4 rashers of bacon, chopped small
300g shallots, peeled
500g small new potatoes
Approx. 30g butter
2 cloves garlic
A handful of chopped fresh herbs (e.g. thyme, tarragon, parsley), or a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
Method
• Preheat the oven to 200°C (gas mark 6). Melt a knob of butter in a heatproof casserole on the hob. Add the bacon and fry until coloured, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Add a little more butter to the pan and allow it to sizzle, then add the chicken. Brown in batches until well coloured on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
• Drop the shallots into a pan of boiling water. Simmer for 5 minutes, then drain.
• Drop the potatoes into a pan of water, bring to the boil and simmer until just tender, then drain. Add the shallots and potatoes to the casserole in which you browned your chicken, adding a little more butter if needed. Swoosh them around so they brown nicely.
• Sprinkle a little salt and the dried herbs (if using) over the chicken and place them in the casserole along with the potatoes and onions. Add the bacon and chopped herbs and turn up the heat, stirring so everything is sizzling gently.
• Place the casserole in the oven, with a lid or covered in foil, and roast for 45 minutes, basting the chicken with the buttery juices from time to time. Do keep an eye to check it isn’t looking too dry, and add a little more butter if necessary. Enjoy with a leafy green salad (or leeks vinaigrette, below) and a glass of chilled white wine.
Leeks Vinaigrette
Delicious with just about anything – especially your rustic poulet, above – or enjoy on its own for lunch with crusty bread
Ingredients
6 leeks
Bouquet garni
2 large tomatoes
6 spring onions, finely chopped
A small bunch of chives, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
Method
• Trim both ends of the leeks, leaving just the tender white parts. Chop each leek into three or four pieces and drop into a pan of boiling water with the bouquet garni.
• Simmer for around 20 minutes until tender. Remove the leeks with a slotted spoon and set aside – but don’t discard the water in the pan.
• Drop the tomatoes into the still bubbling water for a few seconds, then lift out carefully with a slotted spoon. Allow the tomatoes to cool a little and strip off their skins – they should come away easily. Meanwhile, keep the pan of water (your leek stock) bubbling away until it has reduced by a third.
• Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and combine with the chopped spring onions and chives.
• To make your vinaigrette dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard and 3 tablespoons of leek stock from the pan until it forms a smooth emulsion. Season well and add the tomato and spring onion mixture.
• Place your leeks in a shallow serving bowl and dress with the tomatoey vinaigrette, finishing with a few grinds of black pepper.
Crème Brûlée
A super-easy take on the classic posh custard
Audrey cooked her custard on the hob, with curdling consequences. This method – gently baked in the oven – is an altogether less nerve-racking prospect. As the brûlées should be chilled overnight, it’s best to make these the day before you serve them.
Ingredients
4 large egg yolks
4 tbsp caster sugar, plus extra for dusting the tops
500ml double cream
1 vanilla pod or a few drops of quality vanilla essence
For individual brûlées you will need four ramekins
Method
• Pre-heat your oven at 110˚C, gas mark 1/4. Whisk together the egg yolks and sug
ar in a heatproof bowl until pale and fluffy.
• Heat the cream in a pan until just below boiling point. Pour the cream into the bowl, stirring as you do so. Slit the vanilla pod if using, scrape out the seeds and add to the bowl, or add the vanilla essence. If you have used a vanilla pod, sieve your mixture to remove the seeds.
• Place four ramekins in a deep roasting tin and divide your mixture between them. Boil a kettle, and carefully pour the water into the tin until it reaches halfway up the ramekins. Take care not to slosh water onto your brûlées. Bake for 45 minutes, then allow to cool and chill in the fridge overnight.
• For the topping, sprinkle each brûlée with caster sugar to around the depth of a pound coin. If you’re being fancy, use a blowtorch to caramelise the tops. Otherwise, set your grill as hot as it can go and place your brûlées underneath until the sugary tops are golden and bubbling. Allow to cool and tuck in.
Madeleines
Buttery, lemony, light-as-a-feather cakes
Makes 12
Ingredients
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
100g plain flour
1 lemon, juice squeezed and zest finely grated
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
100g butter, melted and cooled
You’ll need a shell-shaped madeleine tin for this
Method
• Brush your tray with melted butter, then shake in a little flour through a sieve, brushing off any excess. This will ensure your madeleines easily slip out of the tin.
• Whisk the eggs and sugar until lightly foamed, then whisk in the flour, melted butter, baking powder and lemon juice and zest. Leave to stand for 20 minutes.
• Pour into the madeleine tray and bake for 8-10 minutes until risen, lightly golden and springy to touch. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy with a cuppa.
Ask Me Anything
Here’s what happened when my Facebook friends pinged me some questions about books, writing and other random matters…
What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever been given?
Sharon Wilden
The advice I’ve read over and over is: just get on with it. Write – every day if possible (and I think it generally is). People talk about wanting to write, and that’s fine – sometimes an idea has to simmer away in your brain until you feel ready to get started. But it’s horribly easy to let the simmering go on and on, and to put off actually starting anything. Fear often holds us back. You need to remind yourself that it’s only a rough draft, and that it doesn’t matter if it’s a load of bilge (which my first drafts often are). No one but you and the dog is going to see it.
If you weren’t an author what occupation would you like to have?
Petra Anttila
I had yearnings to be an illustrator as a teenager, and applied to art college. I didn’t get in – I just wasn’t good enough. But I have always loved to draw, and recently I’ve been seized by an urge to carry a sketchbook in my bag and figure out how, and what, I want to sketch. I so want to be able to draw better, and the only way that’ll happen is by doing it loads (not so different from writing, really!).
What do you do when you’re hit by writer’s block?
Teresa Maughan
I’ve never experienced this in any serious way (with three teenagers, I can’t afford to!). But yes, there are days when writing feels incredibly ploddy and difficult. It usually happens when I’ve been working very late, battling away to meet a deadline, and my ideas and inspiration have all but withered up. It’s important to get out of the house, I think – to work in cafes and on trains, and to see life going on around you. Sometimes a day off in the city is the best way to kick-start things again.
What was your favourite childhood book?
Lynn Gibbins
I devoured the entire Famous Five series, but most of all I loved a quirky adventure story called Emil and the Detectives, by Erich Kastner. I had my dad’s battered old yellow paperback copy (it was first published in 1929), and read it countless times. I still have it.
Where do you write your books?
Jo Roxely
My family and I have just moved to a new flat and I have a really spacious workroom - bigger than anything I have had before. I might write on the sofa, though, or even in bed - although that tends to make me sleepy. I do enjoy writing out of the flat, but mainly you’ll see me clattering away at the keyboard in my workroom from around 10am till about 6pm.
Where’s that fiver I lent you in 1987?
Gavin Convery
I spent it.
Do you laugh and cry at your own funny and sad bits as you’re writing?
Cathy Bramley
I don’t laugh out loud as I’m usually concentrating too hard on trying to make a scene as funny as possible. But sometimes I like to push a scene as far as I can, even to the point of ridiculousness (I can always make it less ridiculous when I edit it later), and that’s the really fun part of writing. That’s when I can end up in a state of silent mirth. As for the sad bits, I’ve caught myself becoming all wet-eyed and heightened emotionally, which is a good thing I think – it means the characters are feeling real to me.
How do you come up with your characters’ names?
Sarah Adams
It’s important that the name reflects the age of the person so I am always Googling the top baby names from whatever year my character was born. I also keep a note of names I hear in passing, or read in magazines - even names I spot at the end credits of films or TV programmes. Sometimes I worry that, 10 books on, I have used up all the names I like - but then luckily a new one pops into my mind.
What gets you in a creative mood? Is it still a vicious Argentinian red?
Tony Cross
Ha – I know Tony from when we worked on the much-loved, sadly now departed More! magazine together. We used to hold raucous features meetings in a tawdry little wine bar just around the corner from our office in Orange Street, just off Leicester Square. Many a flagon of rough red was consumed there. When it came to writing fiction, I used to be of the opinion that a large glass (or two) would help to ‘loosen me up’, and make me a better, less self-conscious writer. Then I’d read over my stuff next day and it would be appalling tripe. These days, when I’m working, I’m fuelled only by enormous quantities of caffeine.
Do you wish you could write in a different genre? If so, which one?
Heather Playdon
I do enjoy a dark, creepy psychological thriller. I’d love to write a book that scared the pants off my readers. However, I’m not sure I have the right kind of brain for it. As a fairly romantic, emotional person, nothing fascinates me more than how people behave in relationships – with spouses, boyfriends, friends. I also have a fairly silly, juvenile sense of humour, so romantic comedies probably suit me best at this stage in my life.
What are your favourite and least favourite aspects of life as a writer?
Rebecca Guic
There’s not much I don’t enjoy, to be honest – perhaps the isolation? Luckily, I’ve become better at recognising when I’m starting to feel stale and lonely. As I have recently moved from the countryside to Glasgow it’s easy to get out and about. I’m not crazy about the tedious admin side of things but, as I still imagine the tax man as a scary bloke in a tie who could turn up at any minute and snatch my laptop away, I just grit my teeth and get on with it. By far my favourite aspect is starting a new book. It feels fresh, new and hugely exciting. I feel very lucky to have a job I love.
Midlife crisis? WHAT midlife crisis?!
A warm, funny read for fans of Carole Matthews and Catherine Alliott, Fiona writes about life as it really is.
Click here to buy now.
“What do you need a boyfriend for? You’re a mum.”
Sharply observed and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of dating disasters, this is the perfect read for fans of Tracy Bloom and Kate Long.
Click here to buy now.
A straying husband. A bro
ken heart. And a crazy rescue dog in a town of posh pooches …
Laugh-out-loud funny, Fiona’s writing deals with
those real-life embarrassment moments we all
know so well…
Click here to buy now.
The dreaded mums’ race at school sports day. Every mother’s worst nightmare…
Laugh-out-loud funny, Fiona’s writing deals with those cringe-worthy moments in life we all know so well…
Click here to buy now.
Sometimes you just have to get away…
Lough-out-loud funny, from the Sunday Times bestselling author. Fiona’s writing deals with those real life cringe-worthy moments we all know so well…
Click here to buy now.
Acknowledgements
Huge thanks as ever to my wonderful agent, Caroline Sheldon, and my fantastic editor, Helen Huthwaite, who is always such a joy to work with. Thanks to Jo Marino and Sabah Khan at LightBrigade PR for such great work in publicising my books.
For sixteen years I belonged to an incredibly inspiring and supportive writing group. Tania, Vicki, Amanda, Pauline, Sam and Hilary – you’re such great friends, and even though I’ve moved away I shall still be bothering you from time to time. Thanks as ever to my amazing friends: Jen, Kath, Cathy, Liam, Michelle, Wendy R, Marie, Wendy V, Jane P, Ellie, Jan, John, Jennifer, Mickey and Carolann; to Chris and Sue at Atkinson Pryce Books, and to Kedi for insights on texting with teens.
Thanks too to my dad Keith (who is still sailing the salty seas at 80 years old), his partner Beatrice, and the wonderful staff at McClymont House who look after my mum, Margery, with such kindness (especially Sheila and Ruby).
Finally, to my dear family – Jimmy, Sam, Dexter and Erin, you’re my darlings and I love you.