We had a marvelous Christmas and didn’t pay too much attention to the rules, as there has to be time off from the regime. That said the roast potatoes were done in sunflower oil, and were deliciously crispy (though I do say so myself) and the vegetables were the centre piece of the table and plate.
Once the main holidays had been enjoyed and the appropriate food rituals observed, we set off to new pastures to remedy my urge to balance our summer spent in English fields. And the place we chose was Rome. The kids were decidedly undecided about the venue for our new year sojourn, but I was committed to go where we had never been before, in short plane time, so we arrived shell shocked after the Christmas blast in Rome on the 28th December.
And then we settled into the Roman groove, and our family flow, and had possibly one of our favorite family holidays ever. I don’t know if it was the time of year, the age of the kids or the weather (it didn’t rain once) but we had a blast. We all seemed to be bound together in our desire to have fun and our thirst for discovery. Together we were educated, entertained and enlightened. And we were very well fed.
We will share recipes for some of the food we ate shortly. Here though is a simple bruschetta to be going on with.
- 1 loaf wholemeal or seeeded baguette
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 8 medium tomatoes
- 1/2 small red onion
- 50 grammes fresh basil
- 30 ml balsamic vinegar
- 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
- pinch Salt
- First dice the tomatoes and then place in a sieve to drain.
- Very finely dice the red onion and add to the drained tomatoes, along with the chopped basil.
- Mix the vinegar and oil together with a little salt and stir marinade into tomato mix. Cover and leave for at least an hour.
- When you are ready to eat, slice the baguette into 1cm slithers (on the diagonal) and rub the surface with a garlic clove. Place the slices on a large baking tray, then bake in a medium oven for a few minutes: keep an eye on them as they won't take long.
- Remove bread from oven, and load each slice with tomato mix.