Fried eggs and homemade mayonnaise

January has been full of surprises, exhilarating highs and emotional lows, and as always The recipe swap has helped me maintain sanity in a world that feels like a rollercoaster. The ‘times they are a changin’ as the Bob Dylan song goes, and while not all of these changes will be bad, there is a sense that we will never return to the good ol’ days of 2019.

This month, I loved speaking with Paola Maggiulli is the Tiny Italian about her live online cooking classes. Since making her delicious mushroom ragu, I’ve also joined her in making a fiery *slutty* puttanesca with anchovies, olives, capers, tomatoes, garlic and chilli, and a broccoli pesto with a lemon crumb topping. Paola’s energy is infections, and even though they’ve been online, I’ve felt like I was cooking along with my best friend. She’ll be continuing with her online classes in February and March, and I’d encourage anyone who wants to learn more about Italian home cooking to sign up.

I also spoke with the very thoughtful India MasterChef Dinesh Patel. I loved our conversation about school meals, especially him reminiscing about how he ate the most perfectly balanced cod, mashed potato and parsley fish cakes. “It’s one of my earliest food memories,” he tells me. And while I don’t have any memories beyond soggy breaded beef sticks or burnt bean burritos, what I’ve learned time and time again is how important school meals are. Not only are they a source of nourishment, they also create experiences that lead to a life long love of good food.

But what I’ve loved most this month is my homemade mayonnaise. I follow Jacques Peipin’s recipe for mayonnaise for two reasons: it’s easy to whizz up in a food processor and it makes so much that you’ll be dipping and spreading it on everything for the next four days. I blob it thickly on hot toast, topping it with a fried egg and adding dashes on fermented hot sauce. Dinesh, might have had the perfectly balanced fish cake, but I’ve found the perfectly balanced breakfast!

I’m excited for what February holds. My snowdrops are just emerging from the cold winter ground, and I feel nothing but positivity for the next couple of months. Let’s hope my intuition is right.

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