Food – The de-la-Haye Girls

Pasta, pronto!

The world’s fastest and most delicious pasta recipe.

There are three things I’ve never been able to give up…not for Lent, for a diet, or for charity. I’ve tried and I’ve failed. My three non-negotiables are: pizza, potatoes and pasta. I live off these magnificent carbs and they are a firm staple in our weekly shop, although if I had to pick, based on versatility then pasta would have to be my MVP. This is my favourite way to cook pasta because it’s so speedy. I try not to eat once I get home from working at the theatre, but on the off chance that I’ve had an after hours medicinal wine at the bar and have no self control, this is my go to. It’s faster than ordering a take away and tastes far superior too!

Pronto Pasta

Serving Size:

Time:

20 mins

Difficulty:

If Chip had thumbs, he could do this

Ingredients

dried oregano or mixed Italian herbs
salt and pepper
bunch of spaghetti or linguine
a good chunk of butter, (or a vegan alternative)
parmesan/cheddar/hard cheese of choice
2 x bay leaves

Directions

Put a pan on to a medium heat and bring a large pot of salted water to boil
Drop your pasta of choice into rumbling water and sprinkle your dried herbs or oregano into your heated pan to release their flavour. I just eyeball this but I assume it’s roughly 2 tbsp
Once you can smell the herbs, add in a ladle full of the hot pasta water and your bay leaves. It should sizzle and then simmer, so turn the heat down
Add your chunk of butter – notice I said chunk and not knob, please don’t skimp on the butter, it’s what makes the dish so damn delicious
Once the butter has melted away, (roughly enough time to top up your wine or lay the table) remove the bay leaves and add a good helping of cheese. Again, I don’t measure for this but I’d say it’s a fair portion, maybe a cup?
Drain your pasta, but reserve a little of the cooking water in case you want a looser consistency
Add the steaming fresh pasta to the cheesy, creamy sauce and mix with love
Garnish heavily with cracked black pepper and extra cheese. I like to adorn with any loose fresh herbs that I have, basil works nicely. Mix in pre-cooked bacon to turn this into a carbonara or mushrooms cooked in liquid smoke for a vegan alternative. Add a garlic flatbread and a green salad and this super speedy meal can satisfy a whole family.

What’s your favourite recipe for something yummy in a hurry? Let us know in the comments ~L.

Treat Yo’shelf

L shares her latest reading recommendations.

We de-la-Haye Girls have always been avid readers. E is far more adventurous in selecting her material than me, but we often recommend and share books amongst our family. I’m always reticent to try anything new without a recommendation, such is my stubborn Capricorn nature. Prior to this year, I would only allow myself to read “for pleasure” during the holidays. There’s nothing better than selecting your beach reads at the airport and getting stuck in on the aeroplane, is there?

Recently though, with everyone having to go a bit slower and finding ourselves with more time at home, I’ve been treating myself to reading more often. There is a sense of cultivating a habit, or a flow, with the reading, but once formed there is nothing more luxurious than curling up with a blanket and something warm to drink and escaping into those pages.

Travel books are some of my favourite reads at the moment. Planning my next escape already!

With this in mind, I thought I’d share a list of our my most recent recommendations: the books that have had E and me hooked from cover to cover. Please do let us know what you are currently enjoying reading – we’d love to add to our shelves!

The Other Bennet Sister – Janice Hadlow. Don’t let the intimidatingly large size of this book put you off! Both L and E romped through this “alternative” and extension Pride and Prejudice story within a week. The perfect tonic post Bridgerton.
Quite – Claudia Winkleman. This funny, frank and fabulous book had me chuckling out loud. Our beloved Strictly presenter is so unashamedly herself in the writing, it really feels as though your talking to her. Or rather, she is talking to you, sharing her thoughts on all things from art history to the benefits of bangs.
I Am Not Your Baby Mother – Candice Brathwaite. Lots of wonderful female authors in this list, what better tribute to this week’s International Women’s Day? We’ve been long time followers of Candice on social media and her debut book is beautiful and brilliant. Enjoyable whether you’re a mother or not – beg, borrow or steal a copy!
In Paris – Jeanne Damas and Lauren Bastide. Paris is my happy place. It always has been. I’ve often fantasised about running away and starting a new life across the Channel, renting a tiny apartment in the Sixth…ideally with Vince and a cat. Whilst this is still a pipe dream, I love to read about my favourite city, circling all the cafes and streets I want to explore. Excellent reading if like me, you’re mourning the end of Call My Agent.
Yes Please – Amy Poehler. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been recommended this book by friends of mine and during this lockdown, after having picked it up several times, I finally managed to complete it. It’s a lovely, fizzy read which I’m sure I’ll come back to again.
Cook, Eat, Repeat – Nigella Lawson. Without fail, each Christmas, both E and I will receive some type of cook book. Cooking and sharing food is a huge part of our family and Nigella’s most recent serving is truly delicious. It reads more like a novel than a cookbook thanks to the way Lawson talks about the emotions surrounding food. It is so comforting during these uncertain times. Oh, and her recipe for Linzer Cookies went down a storm for our German Themed Date Night two weeks ago!

What have you been enjoying recently? ~L.

Date. Night.

L shares her new favourite lockdown activity – themed date night!

Two words that put the horrors into me and my partner. I have friends that insist a weekly date night becomes a necessary evil once you have children, but we don’t, as yet. Notwithstanding this, and as I mentioned in a previous blog, I’m on the hunt for new activities to keep me out of trouble this lockdown.

Before we entered this new normal, one of our shared passions was travel. We loved nothing better than exploring the culture, music and cuisine of an unknown place. It’s something that E lovingly passed down to me. So, given that we can’t currently travel, I thought, why not bring the travel to us?

On our daily walk, we hatched a plan. Each week we will pick a place: a country; a region; a continent; whatever takes our fancy. We will have a home-cooked meal celebrating food from the selected place, followed by a film inspired by or set in the same location. The only rules are: no fish/celery (at Vince’s behest), neither of us can have seen the movie before and we have to be brave and include at least one item on the menu we wouldn’t normally prepare and eat at home. And there you have it, dinner and movie, lockdown style.

For our inaugural week, we decided the theme should be the USA, as this seemed both easy and wholly appropriate. After toying with whether to go down the TexMex, Soul Food or cowboy food route, we settled on a menu inspired by our childhood and holidays.

And yes – aperitif was spelt phonetically for humour. The menu was designed to be read in your best southern drawl

Buffalo chicken wings and ice cold beer immediately transports me back to working for Royal Caribbean aboard the beautiful Oasis of the Seas. Every Wednesday, the ship would host a “Crew Appreciation Evening” where all departments were welcome to join for free beer and wings. For variety, I’d love to swap out some of the wings for cauliflower florets for a vegan twist.

Celeriously delicious. Breaking my own non-celery rule in week one!

Our main course had to be hotdogs. We both had fond memories of those jumbo bad boys from family trips to Florida. Now let me tell you a secret: the trick to a great hotdog is nothing to do with the bun or meat; it’s all about the toppings. We created our own selection bar with crispy bacon bits, relish, macaroni cheese, chopped onion, mustard, ketchup and grated Cheddar. Really the combinations are endless; you could feasibly chuck any leftovers a top your hotdog and make it delicious. Chilli con carne dog? Sauerkraut and smoked cheese? Linda McCartney veggie-dogs and mushrooms? Ok, ok – I’ll stop!

After a long debate with E about what film we should screen, (she hilariously suggested An American Werewolf in London…yep), we settled on Tony Kaye’s American History X. It was quite a heavy watch of a Thursday evening but I couldn’t believe how relevant it still is 23 years on. It’s available on Netflix and worth a watch if you haven’t seen it before.

Our evening finished with a slice of good old-fashioned apple pie. It’s long been known between the de-la-Haye Girls that E is the baker. Whilst we both love to potter in the kitchen, anytime something sweet has to be made it never goes well in my hands. But, dear reader, I’m delighted to report that I may have broken the curse! It might not have been the prettiest pie but the bottom wasn’t burnt and the filling tasted good. Better than good actually; it was delicious.

It’s such simple idea but we both really got into it, listening to Johnny Cash all day and feeling like we’d escaped for just a moment. Next week we are going to Japan. Recommendations for food and films are most welcome! ~L.