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A very urgent appeal

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Dear Friends.

I never ask for charity money because I know how overwhelmed we are by extra information and for people asking for money etc. I have witnessed the work of this charity from the beginning and I can assure you that ALL the money raised goes towards curing the blind. Please send what you can and ask your friends the same thing; instead of getting one Christmas present this year, ask them to use that money to change somebody else’s life, I can assure you this will be one of the best investments you will ever make.

THREE MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE…..

How many times have you heard/seen an appeal like this?
“Your donation of £15 will cure another blind person in India”.
How many times have you not responded because of a suspicion that your £15 would not in fact do this?
You are right to be suspicious. Your £15 can only be curing a blind person if all that money goes to the hospital incurring the surgical costs for that operation. Your £15 can only be curing a blind person if that person is actually blind.

You can help to improve the lives of people who are less fortunate than you...

The man in this picture is 32year-old Dr.Shiva, an eye surgeon living in the state of Orissa in India. The woman is ophthalmologist Dr.Lucy Mathen from the London-based charity Second Sight. The boys are 9year-old Subala Suna and 12year-old Ranjit Bariha. Both were blind and had their sight restored by cataract surgery. Earlier this year, Lucy met Dr.Shiva and discovered that:
He had single-handedly cured 6,000 blind people in the past year
He had offered all the surgery free of charge
He took no salary and sleeps on the floor of his office
He works from 4.30am till midnight most days
Why?
Because the state of Orissa has at least half a million people unnecessarily blind from cataract. And he can restore sight in just three minutes (perhaps five minutes when it comes to children like the two in this picture).
Shiva comes from a poor family himself. So he has dedicated his life as an ophthalmologist to eradicating blindness from his home state…an area where up to half the population lives on less than 15pence a day. With his surgical skills he could be earning a fortune in one of India’s wealthy cities (where 80 per cent of eye surgeons work in private practice).
Second Sight seeks out doctors like Dr.Shiva who are actually curing the blind.
Second Sight’s own experienced volunteer surgeons also work alongside teams like Dr.Shiva’s and cure the blind themselves.
Second Sight does not spend one penny of donated money on office costs. Second Sight is run by volunteers. So
Just £12.50 donated each month would cure a blind person in India. A monthly direct debit for a year would mean 12 people would regain their sight because of you.

This should have taken around three minutes to read (the time it takes Shiva to do a cataract operation). If you are convinced, why not try the Three Minute Appeal on just five friends? www.secondsight.org.uk lucymathen@yahoo.com

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tomato glut and what to do with it

Monday, October 12, 2009

It is mid October and given the climate we had this year in the UK, this means that vegetable growers are harvesting tomatoes right now, hurrah!

If you have a glut of tomatoes, you can a) buy the tomato book and get recipes to make chutneys, salsas and ketchups or b) work with them as they ripen.

Below is a simple yet effective recipe that can be used for tomatoes that are ripening at various times, in other words ideal for tomato growers, it makes a delicious tomato sauce that a) takes no time and b) is absolutely delicious.

Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan, add a clove of pureed garlic –or two, and fry gently until aromatic, add some optional pimenton and stir, add some ripen or nearly ripen tomatoes, cut in half or in wedges depending on the size, season well with salt, pepper and add a little sugar, mash the tomatoes up with a wooden spoon whilst stirring, add some water so that you end up with a gloopy sauce.  Add some roughly torn basil leaves.  Add this tomato sauce to freshly cooked pasta and serve with parmesan shavings.This sauce tastes of heaven, it is fragrant and delicious, it will remind you of Italian holidays.  Its simplicity and the flavour combinations are sublime, ideal for a mid-week meal.

some of the produce from our garden

some of the produce from our garden

Having said all of that, obviously you don’t have to grow tomatoes to enjoy this sauce… just buy some of the heaps of tomatoes available and give it a go, it is truly yum!

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Pick your own food…

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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This is the time when we should harvest our own fruits and vegetables.  This is the time when we can start making local contacts with our neighbours and share food.

Bring common sense to your life.

Grow your food and share it with those near you.

Click here for more information.

Delicious Granny Smiths from the neighbours next door.

Delicious Granny Smiths from the neighbours next door.

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Autumn schedule of cookery classes

Saturday, August 29, 2009

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Now that the summer is nearly over and the kids are going back to school, there might be some things that you want to do with your time, like getting inspiration for cooking good things.  Or maybe you just want to be the student and do a cookery course.  Or you might just want to have some fun and watch a cookery demo.  Whatever is the case, below is a schedule of classes that I will be doing during the autumn that include cookery demos, hands-on classes and full courses.  They all promise to be highly interesting, fun and inspiring, so come and join at any of the various venues where I teach.

Thursday 10th September 11 am: A Middle East Hands on Feast.  Cookery day at Just Cook info@just-cook.com

Drawing on influences from Turkey, the Lebanon, Syria & others, our expert Sofia Craxton will guide you through varied techniques, from learning how to bake the Turkish way, use of herbs & spices to create fabulous vegetarian dishes & a variety of dips, sauces & marinades, to produce a stunning Middle Eastern banquet which will amaze & astound your friends.

SOLD OUT Saturday 19th September 11am: Working It 9 to 5: Fast Food for Busy Lives with Sofia Craxton at www.booksforcooks.com

Do you love food, fashion and cooking for friends and family yet find your busy lifestyle gets in the way? Join Sofia Craxton for a class that will tantalise your tastebuds and your inner fashionista as she cooks from Ravinder Bhogal’s Cook in Boots and take home simple, tasty and effortless dishes to dress up or down.

SOLD OUT Thursday 1st October 11am: Ottolenghi Flavours with Sofia Craxton at www.booksforcooks.com

Ottolenghi draws on a wealth of culinary traditions – in particular the Mediterranean basin – to make inventive honest food from quality ingredients. Sofia Craxton shows you how to rustle up three courses in no time using recipes from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.


Saturday 31 Oct  11am: Festive Feasts from Around the World at Divertimenti Brompton  http://www.divertimenti.co.uk/Cookery_school/sc1m-festive-feasts-from-around-the-world.html

Autumn is the start of festival season in many parts of the world. Religious, historical and culinary themes form the basis of celebratory and remembrance feasts. Join Sofia Craxton as she prepares a number of these festive favourites from the wonderful to the weird! Recipes include Mexican Sugar Skulls (Mexican Day of The Dead), Aubergine Persian Stew with Crusty Smoked Rice , Pumpkin Pie (American Thanksgiving) and Corn Bread Conkies (Guy Fawkes Night Barbados Style!).. Just to name a fabulous few!

SOLD OUT Saturday 14th November at 11 am: Flavour at www.booksforcooks.com
With kitchens that feature olive oil next to soy sauce, vanilla pods next to chilli powder, oregano next to garam masala, we can all enjoy the tastes of many parts of the world in our own homes. Inspired by Vicky Bhogal’s Flavour: A World of Beautiful Food Sofia Craxton takes an array of aromatic ingredients and shows how to combine them according to their flavour in simple and imaginative ways and you take home a collection of exciting new dishes.
Wednesday 25 Nov at 11 am :  Super Soups! Hands-on Masterclass at Divertimenti Marylebone http://www.divertimenti.co.uk/Cookery_school/sc2m-super-soups-hands-on-masterclass.html/

Join soup supremo and former New Covent Garden Soup chef, Sofia Craxton, for a hands on masterclass. Learn how to prepare super soups and stocks, using the best ingredients this season has to offer. Recipes include Chicken Lemon and Tarragon Soup, Spinach Tomato and Mascarpone Soup and Spicy Butternut Tom Yum Soup.

Thursday 26th November at 11 am: Serving Up Simple Dinner Parties at www.booksforcooks.com

Sofia offers a creative guide to inspirational yet practical menus for stress-free dinner parties over the festive season, while you get to take home a collection of tried-and-true recipes for great dinner party fare.

I also do lots of private cookery classes e-mail me for information info@sofiacraxton.co.uk

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Gee, I did not know Ghee was this good!

Friday, August 28, 2009

We all know that butter is not that healthy and that we must use it sparingly.  I was surprised to read that Ghee or clarified butter is actually a very healthy thing.  It has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years as a vehicle for healing medicinal herbs and as a therapeutic staple in Ayurvedic diets.

The book Teach yourself Ayurveda tells us that ‘its lipophilic properties enable it to penetrate deeply into the cell membranes, making it a potent brain tonic that strenghtens the nervous system, improves memory and concentration and it promotes a good complexion and eyesight’. *

It has also been found that it increases good cholesterol and decreases bad cholesterol.  Ayurveda recommends that it should be used instead of unrefined cooking oils (apparently olive oil causes cellulitis).

So ghee not only tastes delicious, it is good for the body!

You can purchase ghee from many places at considerable expense but you can make your own at a fraction of the price.  Below is a method for making it at home.   Just remember that once made you will need to place it in a jar and wait for it to cool down before sealing with a lid, keep at room temperature and never in the fridge -moisture and condensation are not good for it.  Ghee improves with time, it does not go rancid, which means you can make a large batch and use as you require.  Another thing, always use a clean spoon each time you help yourself to ghee to avoid contamination.

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fresly made ghee in its liquid form

Method for making Ghee: [from Teach yourself Ayurveda]

Use a good quality unsalted butter.  It is good to make a large batch so you can use 2-3 x 250 g blocks at a time.  Place the butter in a clean and dry pan and on low heat, let it melt gently and then simmer on the lowest possibly heat.  At first the butter will make a crackling noise, it will look thick and cloudy and a foam will form on the surface.  Stir it from time to time for the first 2 – 3 minutes and then leave it to simmer for 15 – 20 minutes, the ghee will tell you when it is ready because the crackling sound will go and the butter will turn clear and acquire a golden colour.  Do not stir.  Take off the heat, skim any foam from the surface and strain the clear liquid through a piece of muslin into a clean and dry jar and allow to cool before sealing.  The milk solids should remain in the pan.

Use ghee instead of your normal cooking oils and enjoy delicious tasting foods that are actually beneficial for you, but like with everything in life, do not use to excess, because then like all things in life it will stop being good.

*from Teach yourself Ayurveda by Sarah Lie 2007.

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for when you harvest corn…

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

corn, corn and more corn

corn, corn and more corn

Here is a very simple recipe for Mexican Corn Cake which is particularly delicious using home-grown sweetcorn.   This cake can be eaten on its own with tea or coffee, it can be served as a pudding and it can be served warm as a side dish to accompany things like mole or simply roasted or chargrilled green poblanos or capsicums.   If you are thinking of serving it as a savoury side dish, reduce the amount of sugar by about 20%.

Makes 1 x 18 cm round cake tin, or makes 8 muffins.

Ingredients

250 g sweetcorn kernels

50 g butter or ghee (this one is healthier and tastier)

50 g unrefined caster sugar

50 g plain flour

2 medium eggs

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

Heat up the oven to 180 C conventional oven / 160 C fan oven / Gas Mark 4

Grease and line the bottom of the cake tin and grease the sides as well.

Clean the sweetcorn and using a knife, dislodge the corn kernels from the ear of corn, put them in a food processor and whiz until they are more or less smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients and process again for about 1 minute to incorporate well.

Pour this mix into the cake tin and put in the middle shelf of the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes, check that it is cooked by inserting a skewer to the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean, then it is done, if it is not, then give another 5 – 10 minutes; the top should be golden without being burnt.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool on a rack, serve.

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Courgettes

Monday, August 10, 2009
Courgette flowers as sold in Mexican street markets

Courgette flowers as sold in Mexican street markets

Or zucchini are abundant at this time of year.  It is lovely to wake up and find large yellow flowers fully open and a few days later off they go, one after the other and another and another until we feel overwhelmed by such abundance!

If that is the case and you have run out of ideas here is a recipe that featured in my first book ‘The Mexican Mama’s Kitchen’ and it is for a cake.  The principle is similar to that of a carrot cake, but here you use courgettes and I hope it is of use for those of you with a courgette or zucchini glut!

Mexican courgette and walnut cake:

Makes one x 23 cm round cake

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time:  40 minutes

3 large eggs

320 g 1 /2 cups caster sugar

250 ml / 1 cup vegetable oil

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

300 g / 2 cups plain flour

2 Tbsp chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon salt

350 g grated courgettes / zucchini

1 x 23 cm size baking tin, lined with greaseproof paper

Heat up the oven to 160 C (fan oven), 180 C (convection oven), 350 F, Gas Mark 4

Sift the flour with the baking powder, and put in a bowl.

Mix the cinnamon and sugar, put in another bowl

With a balloon whisk, beat the eggs until they look fluffy.  Add the sugar, cinnamon, oil and salt and continue beating.  Add the grated courgettes, walnuts and the sifted flour and baking powder mix.  Stir well until incorporated.

Bake the cake in the oven for about 40 minutes or until set.  One way to tell if a cake is made is to stick a skewer in the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, then the cake is ready.

Take out of the oven, cool a bit, un-mould and leave to cool on a wire rack, decorate with sieved icing sugar and serve with vanilla scented ice-cream or crème anglaise.

courgette and walnut cake!

courgette and walnut cake!

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Am I going crazy?

Friday, July 24, 2009

But I have never seen clouds like these before! July never fails to surprise.

A very strange set of clouds after a very strange summer storm. July 2009 A very strange set of clouds after a very strange summer storm. July 2009

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Rudo & Cursi… Tough & Soppy?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Another Mexican film brought from the people who have contributed to the creation of New Mexican Cinema, Rudo and Cursi is a funny tale which touches many aspects of Mexican society.

From a simple point of view it can be seen as a post-modern Mexican tale of two brothers and their tangled stories –a kind of Cane and Abel of the present day; but this story discloses many more aspects worth thinking about.

From the beginning we know that the brothers’ stories are tangled and that they are also fraught; this suspense keeps the film going, we wonder at what point the characters are going to fail; we don’t want them to but  we feel that they will irremediably have to fail, will they?

This film touches on subjects which are part of the everyday in Mexico; football, corruption, drug trafficking, mass media and the constant struggle for many in Mexico to get out of poverty.  Most of these aspects are touched-up with a sense of humour and to some degree, irony.  These aspects make this film funny and serious at the same time -one cannot but laugh at the idea of a gangster threatening Rudo to pay his debts or else; whilst at the same time, worrying at his wife’s reaction because of his inability to find a particular brand of nappies for their child.

Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna as the rural heroes who are destinied for grand things, treat us to very natural styles of acting showing us a maturity that goes beyond their teenage period films such as Amores perros and Y tu mamá tambien.  I guess that because of their friendship, it becomes easy for them to interact in the way they do, producing that style of acting which is familiar to us.  At the same time the story of the film and the actors themselves assert their individualities, showing us that they are separate identities who can work very well together.

This film feels like the product of a large family, the Cuarón brothers, Inarritu, del Toro plus Garcia Bernal and Luna get together to produce something funny and interesting, it is out in London now, it is a perfect antidote to the blues one gets with all the clouds and summer rain in July!

have a look at this

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A memorable meal…

Sunday, July 12, 2009
the most gorgeous vegetable patch!

the most gorgeous vegetable patch!

… comes from choosing the right ingredients and from cooking with love.   Last week I went with friends to Billingsgate Market and bought some red mullet.  My father in law likes fish and he was going to be alone, so along with American aunt Ruth, plus fish and some home grown swiss chard we drove all the way to west London to feed this most gorgeous of men!  On arrival we found that he had dug some potatoes from his vegetable garden and I cut some vine leaves from the pergola and got hold of some wild fennel that grows there, there were some future onions in the earth and  some mature carrots.  With that we made the most delicious meal.  Nothing fancy in blanching some vine leaves and stuff the fish with some fennel and onions and season well with olive oil, salt and pepper, then wrap in the leaves and bake in some parchment.  Ruth braised the carrots with butter and a little water.  I pan-fried the chard and boiled the potatoes.  Food was ready in a flash and we washed it down with some white wine.  A nice catch up  with the family and a full moon made it even more special.

What made this meal memorable was the fact that all the ingredients had grown and had been gathered with love and attention and also cooked in a simple manner so that the best of each ingredient showed at its best.

In our busy lives it is difficult to do this, but even if we put a little love and attention to our ingredients and how we prepare them and how we eat them can make a huge difference, try it and see!

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