All that glitters by Ali....: Hey good looking...what ya got cooking?

I grew up in a home where my Mum brought me to school every day, was there when I came home in the evenings...running around all day looking after everyone (but herself).
The kitchen was her territory...wandering in to make myself some toast was almost like taking part in an obstacle course 'let me do that for you' was her regular greeting.
It was therefore a shock to the system when I moved out of my family home at the age of 26 and the best I could do was boil an egg. The years of Home Economics's from school couldn't even save me from what could turn into a 'pot noodle' lifestyle. I will forever blame my issues with cooking on a particular difficult day in this class 'The American Meatloaf Saga'...minced meat, sausage meat...it was all too much when some of my more 'lively' class mates decided to throw it around the class...I walked out of that class a vegetarian (lasting seven years).
When I arrived home from school that day with my completed meatloaf in a lunch box it went straight into the bin, I announced over dinner that I would not be eating meat ever again(now I was a child of the 80's, my father had already experienced a recession, job losses, a difficult time when you are bringing up three daughter's, so the fact that a daughter of his was refusing to eat the food he had slaved away for hours in work to buy was not received well)
Of course Mum or 'Dotty' had her own techniques to deal with this...shredding meat and hiding it under cabbage on my plate, I always discovered it, she always did her best shocked expression. So for those seven years of my life I ate lunches which consisted of bread, lettuce and salad cream...some days if I was feeling crazy a bit of cheese...at Sunday dinner's as my whole family sat down to a big roast...I would eat the vegetables and potato's (As Dotty tried to invent new ways of concealing meat on my plate)
As the years went on I slowly but surely after much pleading from Mum began eating fish, then chicken...but it was at an event in the Four Seasons (a mix up of food orders, sitting with colleagues I didn't want to make a fuss) that I took my first big step into the world of red meat...a Fillet Steak...every slice was as good as the next.
My love with food returned and now I love spending my weekends creating dishes, excitedly waiting to see if people enjoy it. It is also the one time in my day that I am silent (much to the relief of Boyfriend) as I concentrate while chopping, peeling, boiling all of my ingredients.
Like writing, there is something so therapeutic about preparing food. I am now experiencing a recession like my father did all those years ago, so entertaining at home has now become a major part of every one's life here in Dublin.
I hope to one day cook as good as my Mum, who prepares feasts for the family at our Sunday Sessions (8 adults and 3 minis in attendance - no longer with the added pressure of having to hide meat from me under vegetables) with such ease...arriving to the house the table is covered in her home made floral arrangements (hand picked from the garden my Mum and Dad have so lovingly cared for) warm bread on the table, while the sweet smells waft in from the kitchen..we all eagerly sit at the table, chatting over glasses of wine.
As for the dessert, Mum never fails to impress, not one, not two but three choices (we jokingly call it a Dotty special)..Pavlova's with mixed berries, apple crumbles or my personal favourite her Lemon Drizzle cake.
So every week I will invite you in to my home life to see what's been cooking in Ali's Kitchen!!!

Ali
x

Sundays dinner...

Chilli Crusted Monkfish

Monkfish fillets (Mine are from www.tasteofthesea.ie/)

Cherry Tomatoes
1 lime
1 red chilli
1 clove of garlic
Cayenne pepper
Juice of 1 lime
2 stems of spring onions
2 large dessert spoons of oil

Put all crust ingredients into food processor and puree until they are in a soft paste. Cut up Monkfish into chunks and spread over the monkfish, leaving to marinade for 4-6 hours.