I thought a video of Tatty trying her first solid food would be a worthy blog post, so here she is!
It is impressive watching how much food can disappear in a short space of time when the house is full. People eat more on holiday than at any other time; there is plenty of time to linger over lunch and dinner and time to kill between meals, when it is all too easy to wander into the kitchen and find something to nibble.
These mince pies with their boozy mascarpone filling and their caramelised, crunchy almond topping are seriously good.
Even at my grand old age, I still feel squirms of excitement when Christmas is approaching. I love planning the delicious things we are going to eat and who we are going to see; thinking about all the time we can spend hanging out, playing games, watching movies and going on long walks. Part of the thrill is decorating the house so that it starts to feel Christmassy. Spraying the tree with white paint is always our first step, at least guaranteeing us snow of some kind. Who gets to decide the colour scheme of the tree is a fiercely fought battle every year, since everyone has their different styles. My mother always opts for one colour throughout; my brother might go for as many colours as possible; my sister a scheme of pink and gold or red and green and my nephew just likes to be in the hot seat of the action.
The joy of this recipe is that it is actually much closer to what the Mexicans eat, rather than a TexMex version. The sweetness of the fruit counter balances the fiery smokiness of the chillies and gives you a completely rounded, mouth-watering flavour. It is hard to express how popular you will be if you whip this out for Boxing Day.
I am writing seven blogs with recipes for Yahoo! in association with Sainburys to help get your tastebuds tingling and keep stress levels at bay so you can have a happy and enjoyable run up to Christmas.
It’s the final show and we are scurrying around town trying to get the last bits and pieces of our filming done in the few days we have left in town.
Mexican Prawn Cocktail – Hot Chorizo & Squash Salad – Churros with Hot Chocolate Sauce
This show is all about jellies, and the whole crew and I rushed around all the markets on a crazed competitive dash to see who could find the best ones to photograph and the smiliest Mexican to film with.
In this next episode I cook up a corn and green chilli soup, a delicious Mexican torta with refried beans and some poached plums in rose syrup.
I hope that lots of you have managed to tune into my new TV show which is being screened on Tuesdays at 7.30pm on Channel 5. We have had 2 episodes so far and lots of positive feedback which I am thrilled about.
Saturday was an incredibly exciting, yet exhausting day!
I am venturing to St Germans, Cornwall, with husband and baby at the end of July to do a demo at the Port Eliot Festival http://www.porteliotfestival.com/
Hope to see some of you there!
Who said maternity leave meant winding down from work?! Last week we had all the Wahaca head chefs back to my kitchen for a butchery day.
We have been planting for the last month and finally things are starting to sprout in the garden. It's so exciting.
At the beginning of April I hosted a Guardian Masterclass for 8 people in my kitchen at home.
A feast of food at Josh Katz's newish restaurant at the Roundhouse...
Tommi featured 2 weeks ago in Sunday Style mag
Starters
Mains
Desserts