Summer End and Gomasio

Deja Vu?
This meal was inspired by the one my friend Em made for me not long ago.
I haven't made rice paper rolls for a while (isn't it lucky the rice papers don't mind sitting in the pantry for a long time!). It was always a meal for a hot evening when my daughter was still at home. The big tray of salad ingredients and the leisurely rolling and eating is perfect when the weather is so hot and heavy no one has much appetite.
It was hard to make it just for me.. but then Summer gave a last hot day and I was hungry for the eggs and the sesame greens that Em introduced to my rice paper roll repertoire!
So I puddled around and got it ready and then rolled them all up.

And it was great!

It also inspired me to make Gomasio which I haven't made for years and years and years.
Nothing could be easier! Just toast sesame seeds (I made about a cup full) by putting them in a dry frypan and stirring them over the heat until they are lightly coloured and smelling toasty! Then add enough salt so it is perfect to sprinkle on top of things (about one teaspoon full was right for me). Cool completely and keep in an airtight jar. And sprinkle away!
It is especially good on greens, but try it on roast veggies, or as a lovely finishing touch to a salad.

Tribute

I have been counting back the years to finding my first DWJ book in the children's section of Belgrave public library.
I always searched through the children's section, partly because I was a primary school teacher, and partly because I often found better writing there than in the adults bookshelves.
Do you know, it was more than thirty years ago! That is how old I am!
But how pleased I am that I discovered Diana Wynne Jones back then and so for my whole adult life I have had the pleasure of her writing.
I was stunned by her stories. I hadn't read anything so rich and full of complex ideas and so satisfying. So full of magic and so full of reality.
The first one I read was 'Spellcoats' and the second was The Power of Three. 

The Power of Three remained my favourite until Hexwood. But then, there are so many favourites.

Her writing is like inverted science fiction. Instead of taking the newest ideas from science and extrapolating them forward with stories of people trying to cope in those challenges. She goes back to the old traditions, ancient mythologies and folklore and pops these into the modern world, alternative worlds or future worlds (yes science fiction mixed in!).

Her worlds are so rich and complete and full of wonder and magic. And for years it was her ability to make magic real that I thought was what satisfied me most in her stories. It was the magic in the worlds and the way her characters engaged with it that brought the stories to their satisfying conclusions.

But really it is her families that are the best. She understands how truly awful families can be! Families made of individuals struggling and surviving and interacting according to their character: ineffectual mothers, blundering fathers, narcissistic sisters, ignorant brothers, cruel and selfish or distracted and oblivious. Families that almost work and families cracking to pieces. She does them all with insight and where possible with respect, and generally with great dollops of humour.

In her magical worlds and her complicated families she is writing about power and powerlessness and the jostling of realities. They all work together to make each wonderful book of conflict and resolution.

Here is a picture from Howl's Moving Castle. The movie by Hayao Miyazaki, based on Diana's book. I love the movie, but I love the book more.

I heard yesterday that Diana Wynne Jones had died on the weekend and that is why I have been thinking so much of her.
I have borrowed Hexwood from the library. It has the most complex magic, the most horrible family and the most intricate mix of our traditions of magic (and of science fiction). Every time I read this book I understand it more and respect her vision and talent more. Every time I read it I get lost in the story, the wood, the people, the confusion of time and place ~ and the way it can all come together at the end to blessed reality.

Thankyou Diana Wynne Jones.

Roasted Ratatouille and a Green Visitor

Here is a lovely meal to share with you! It is a healthy made-from-scratch meal, but also full of cheaty bits.
One day I am going to make couscous properly, rolled in a little oil and steamed lovingly over a pot of simmering stew.
But for now, I take the 'smallest pasta in the world / fast food' view of couscous.

I bring one cup of water to the boil in a small saucepan with a pinch of salt and about a teaspoon of olive oil. I turn off the heat and tip in one cup of couscous. On goes the lid and I leave it two minutes. Then I scrape a tablespoon of butter onto the end of a fork and start tickling, combing, it into the couscous until the butter is melted in and the couscous is fluffed up with each grain separate. Then I put a folded tea towel over the saucepan and the lid on top, and let it sit for a few minutes fluffing itself further. 

All done quicker than it took to write this!

And the roasted ratatouille is easy too, but hush! don't tell the rat in the movie! This recipe came from 'Moosewood Simple Suppers' and it is so easy, yet the flavours are true to the traditional pot version. I love it.

Turn the oven to high and put in a big roasting tray to heat up.

Cut 1 zucchini, 3 onions, 1 eggplant, 2 tomatoes and 2 bell peppers into 1 inch chunks and put in a big bowl.

Add 6 cloves of peeled garlic, whole or as chopped as you like.

Sprinkle 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp pepper over the veggies and then add 1/3 cup of oil, and give it all a mix.

(I added some springs of rosemary too).

Then get the roasting pan out of the own (without burning your hands) and tip the veggies in.

Pop it in the oven and let it roast for 15minuets. Give it a stir and then roast for 20 minutes. Another stir and it will only need 5 or 10 minutes more. The veggies should be juicy and fork tender, and the flavours intense.

Serve with some fresh basil leaves.

I added a salad which was less elegant but perfectly delicious. Mmm and there are left overs that are SO easy to warm up!


Here is my green visitor. Sorry she  (or he?) is so blurry. In real life she was neat as a pin, waiting at my back door. Well... tucked neatly in to my back door!