The Family Cook Book

Project kitchen is coming to an end. The steel guys finished off today and I can't wait to see it. Clearly this post isn't of any use if you are looking to cook anything, but if you love cooking you will appreciate just how exciting the prospect of getting behind a new hob is. Shame that work has to interfere with my cookery....oh well!

The whole cook massive (minus Gus) descended on northern Spain for grandma Betty's 80th birthday.Despite some teething problems with the villa and a bonkers weather system that involved rainstorms of biblical proportions, we all had a great time. We didn't find any fabulous markets to buy gorgeous produce but we did find a big supermarket that provided most of the essentials although precious few fresh herbs. top tip: I had downloaded a few favourite Spanish recipes to the notes pages of my iPad which is a he'll of alot easier to carry than a load of bits of paper and significantly lighter than dragging the Moro cookbook with you. We cooked very small lamb chops mechoui style over charcoal and had it with chickpea salad made with very nice jarred chickpeas and served with plain yoghurt.We bulked it out a bit with some cooking chorizo and aubergine caviar or baba ganoush ...... Delicious! We also cooked paella with a special twist courtesey of Charlie Cook mistaking

this is excellent stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=IfeyUGZt8nk