First Thaw Your Olive Oil…
Back in March 2020, as the UK went into lockdown for the first time, I decided to use some of my extra time at home working my way through my 500+ cookbooks, and, for a bit of fun, sharing the results on Twitter — the picture in the book compared to the picture of my plate. Much to my surprise, I started to gather a small following of appreciative people, and had requests for some of the ‘behind the scenes’ shots — so I started posting threads showing the process from raw ingredients to final dish. And after a few weeks I missed using my own imagination, so I left the cookbooks on the shelf for a bit and did my own thing. And the audience grew…
I thought it would only go on for a few weeks — well, didn’t we all? But 8 months later, I’m still doing it, and the audience keeps asking for more… and to know when I’m going to do a book. So I promised that before Christmas I would put some of my recipes together.
Then along came Marcus Rashford. We all knew, I think, that there are hungry children and families, and individuals, in this country. But I don’t think most of us realised just how many, and how hungry they are, until he opened our eyes. I thought about stopping my tweets — it felt pretty insensitive to be indulging myself when so many others can’t. But then I thought that a more constructive thing to do would be to carry on, to put a little ‘book’ together, and to ask people to donate to Fareshare in return for a copy.
And then @RachelBurnham came up with an even better idea — not just to include my recipes, but to ask those who follow me for their contributions too. I’ve acquired quite an eclectic set of followers over the years — many of them of course from my 28 years working in and around the NHS, a whole bunch of lawyers (not quite sure how that happened but they’re very enjoyable company!), food and wine people, a few journalists… A diverse group of people who know how to live well, and even more importantly, very much want to support others.
So this is your chance. If you would like me to include one of your recipes, please can you let me have the following details:
- Name or twitter handle (let me know if you would prefer to remain anonymous though)
- Recipe name
- Approximate prep time and cook time
- How many it serves
- The ingredients
- The method
- And, if you would like to:
- A dedication to someone you want to recognise for their contribution to health, care or society in general over the last few months, e.g. ‘my shoutout goes to…’. Include their Twitter handle if you know it.
- Or any other ‘reason I chose this recipe’?
- Any acknowledgements if you got the recipe from someone else, eg “This is one of Nigella’s”
- Photos of the meal / related to the bullets above
I’m posting this blog on Monday 9th November. Please can you send your contributions to me at:
by close of play on Sunday 22nd November. I’m sorry that doesn’t give you long! But Rachel and I will need a week or two to collate everything and be able to have it ready to be downloaded by you before Christmas, in return for a donation to Fareshare.
I imagine you’re wondering why I called this blog ‘First thaw your olive oil…’. Almost twenty years ago, in late December 2000, my parents and I drove up to a tiny cottage in Skipness on Kintyre to spend the New Year break. It started to snow as we passed Glasgow, and by the time we arrived at the cottage, at about midnight, there were several inches of snow on the ground. The temperature stayed at or below freezing all the time we were there… and there was no central heating. Every evening, before we could cook anything, we had to warm through the oil which had congealed in its bottle. And my mother and I decided that if we ever did write a cookery book, its title would be ‘First thaw your olive oil’.
It was a glorious few days all the same, and it turned out to be the last such time I would spend with my father. He died suddenly in May 2001. Somewhere I have a photograph of us having a barbecue on the beach that New Year, we cleared the snow away and cooked sausages on one of those little disposable tinfoil things. If I can find it, I’ll include it in the book. Good food is not (just) about haute cuisine and fine wines, it’s about sharing things you love with people you love, and I hope I have inspired some of you to do that even more than you already did.
I’m very much looking forward to receiving your contributions!
