This week seems to be 80′s week on the BBC. Delia through the Decades and The British Family both look back to the glam and sham of it all.
In the middle of the decade Delia published ‘One is fun!’ A book the social archaeologist could accurately date stamp from the list of prop suppliers: Harrods, The Conran Shop, David Mellor, Osborne and Little.
Despite the word fun and the flourish of the exclamation mark in the book’s title I’m not convinced Delia fully bought into the notion of cooking for one.
‘Happy Endings’ and ‘Mixed Doubles’ feature through out and sound more fun than cooking for ‘The Lone Vegetarian’ which from personal experience is exactly what being a vegetarian was back then; no matter how many were seated round the table.
So what did Delia devise for the Lone Tomato Lover back in the 80′s?
She got it so right:
- ‘It’s hard to beat a plateful of skinned, sliced tomatoes, sprinkled with crushed rock salt, freshly milled pepper and a few drops of fruity olive oil’.
And yet so wrong:
- Chilled Marinated Trout with peppers and tomatoes
And somewhere in between:
- Fresh Tomato & Courgette Soup
- Tomato Sauce for pairing (she’s got me at it now) with Deep-Fried Gnocchi or Cheese, Sage and Onion Sausages
- Provencale crusted cod with Provencale Tomatoes
So probably not the tomatoes finest hour. On the other hand I consider her advice to:
’Keep a jar of Hellman’s Mayonnaise in the larder ‘
and if it all becomes too much to
‘Settle down in front of a good TV programme with a super snack and a glass of wine and still feel cosseted ! ’
to be timeless words of wisdom which have stood the test of time in a way so much from the decade has not !
