Sacrifice for a new oven

A new oven necessarily calls for a virgin sacrifice!

Note of interest: by ‘virgin sacrifice’ I mean the ‘first thing ever cooked in this new/virgin oven’, not the actual sacrifice of a virgin!

 

This new oven was a longed for acquisition, and the decision was forced when ‘old oven’ took three hours to cook an orange cake! It was supposed to be cooked in 45 minutes! That was the proverbial last straw! In that three hours, my oven ‘crossed the line’ of what was fair and tolerable.

In the food challenge I undertook to entertain a friend who had broken two ribs, I had rediscovered my joy of cooking. Now that I have found that again, I need an oven that does not lie to me, and oh boy ‘old oven’ told some massive lies: ‘yes, honestly I am 180 degrees’, or ‘yes this really is 200 degrees’. Massive porkies! The oven thermometer we bought told another tale, that of 40 or more degrees less! (Yes, I know the seals are shot, but that’s no excuse!)

New oven. Virgin sacrifice. Necessary!

With a vegan and a vegetarian in the family, I decided that the ‘virgin’ should be something we can all enjoy, so we have settled on scone biscotti, from a recipe book given to me by my gorgeous broken ribs friend. A big batch, and four different flavours, I am thinking: salted pistachios; lemon zest, slivered almonds and preserved ginger; cinnamon and apple; chocolate and cherry. I can think of no greater way to celebrate a new oven, and break in the virgin, than by an orgy of aromas, colours and flavours. To be enjoyed by the whole family, along with a fabulous coffee of a vanilla flavoured tea!

Scone biscotti is a completely unnecessary luxury, an indulgence…hence, I think, an entirely appropriate ‘virgin’. And four different flavours, cooked all at once because ‘new oven’ has thermowave and a temperature gauge that has been raised to always tell the truth? Simply because I can!

A new oven is not something to be taken lightly. This will be the first new oven I have ever had, so needless to say I am ridiculously excited! The ‘virgin sacrifice’ is a must, and it cannot—surely—be something practical, sensible, it must be something indulgent, and celebratory!

And yes, I will be making another orange cake at some stage, a gluten free one to share with my dear gluten intolerant martial artist friend—who can kick my ass clear across the room, and whom I occasionally accidentally hit with an eskrima stick …but who loves me nonetheless!

The joy of preparing food, and then sharing that food, is an expression of love. That particular expression of love does, rather, hinge on having an oven that works properly! Let’s just say I shall be expressing a whole lot more love!!

The cooking challenge

One of my dearest friends injured her ribs, and was off work for a week.

Now, this chick is an absolutely gorgeous human being, and a foodie. After leaving her home—twice—with cuisine magazines I hatched a plan. In order to entertain and amuse her (and challenge me), I decided on a game! I would make a recipe out of one of those magazines every day for the remaining four days of the working week!

Day One: Brownie cake with boysenberries. Truly truly deeeelicious! Rather than burden my friend and her family with the task of eating all of it (and I hasten to point out here that I gave her only half the cake and kept the other half for my own family) I issued her with a challenge:  she had to make every person who visited her eat a piece!

Day two: and this was a massive undertaking, it was quince and roquefort frangipani tart. I have never eaten blue cheese in my life, indeed I phoned my friend and asked “Is Roquefort supposed to smell like that?” to which she replied “Yes.” Tart made, I took it round, and insisted she try it first as I had no idea how roquefort, quince, a pastry base with icing sugar in it, and frangipani was going to work. She loved it, so I tried some, and I have to admit folks, it works so utterly gorgeously because of the Roquefort!!! It was a smash hit!!! Since her lovely parents were there they helped us to eat some and (in continuance of the game) took two slices home, plus some brownie cake! I came home with a little under half of the remaining tart and my daughter and I finished it off.

           

Day three: by this time I knew that both I, and dearest friend, were concerned for our waistlines, and so I scoured the two magazines for the right recipe, and when I selected it I made it, took it round, raved about how long it had taken me, told her “You are going to love this!” Naturally she was fearing another extravagant and fattening dish…and so I removed the tinfoil cover to reveal: fruit kebabs with a lemon yoghurt dipping sauce!!! She laughed, with—I believe—both delight and relief!

Day four: still concerned at sending my friend’s scales—and my own—to new heights, I opted for a roasted tomato and labneh recipe. Basically, tomatoes with garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of smoked paprika and caster sugar, seasoned with salt and pepper, then roasted slowly. Once done, a scattering of sliced almonds, and dollops of labneh (greek yoghurt mixed with a tsp of sea salt and strained for 24 hours). Again, I sold her on the delightful dish, and then did the great reveal of something simple, healthy, and low calorie! However…she had phoned me up and give me a recipe, earlier in the week, for salted caramel, and so I am afraid I made that also, and to compensate for the healthy dish, I took some of the salted caramel as well.

Admittedly I have had a fun week, and probably could have done some more writing … but the wonderful thing for me, is that I feel a renewed enjoyment of cooking! I feel re-inspired!

It is so easy to get sick of cooking, and it is so easy to not make the time for another person. This week I have rediscovered the joy of cooking, and got to spend time with a person who is often out of the city with her job, and busy for most of the rest of the time. She is, as I said, a truly gorgeous human being, one who’s very presence lights up the lives of those around her.

It was a great week! When I saw her yesterday and she gave me another cuisine-type magazine I quickly asked “There’s no challenge with this one, is there?”, and her ‘No no no!” was uttered rather too quickly!!!