Day 178: heady nostalgia

I beg you to please forgive the shortness of my posts recently. It’s the writing of these blog entries that takes the most time for me. Time that I unfortunately don’t really have at the moment. In a few weeks, however, I hope that I can set aside a little more of it to give these dishes - I really dislike that word, don’t you? - the reflection they deserve. So many of them evoke wonderful memories and others create new ones. Today’s, for example, had me reminiscing over Christmastimes past: whilst no one in my family drinks cream sherry, its heady scent reminded me of the small, cut crystal-glassfuls that my Nan used to drink whilst cooking the Christmas dinner, and, indeed, as an aperitif before most meals! A tradition now ritual on Christmas Eve for my Mum and me whilst we’re preparing everything for the big meal(s) for the days to follow.

Before I get too sidetracked, today’s cookalong was: Nigella’s Chickpeas with Rocket and Sherry.

Nigella’s Chickpeas with Rocket and Sherry

The earthy warmth of cumin; the cosy and nostalgic headiness of sherry; the peppery, but gentle, bitter tang of rocket; and the soft, buttery nuttiness of chickpeas. This is a very new kind of thing for me: I don’t usually opt for meals without sauces and, whilst I would probably choose something a little saucier to serve with it next time, I actually really enjoyed it. I served it with jumbo tiger prawns cooked with chorizo and lemon. There’s quite a lot left, so I think I’ll have some of it with a soft-boiled egg squished on top and the rest cooked up with some tomatoes and chorizo; a chorizo-chickpea stew kind of thing.

The recipe for this one can be found on p155 of Nigella Express and on nigella.com (link below).

I should also point out that the prawns I had with this were totally inspired by N’s Scallops and Chorizo, which you’ll find on p153 of Nigella Express and nigella.com (link below).