lunch – Bea's cookbook

When I think of Poland, where I come from, and my family home, I think of the big wooden table that stood in the middle of the living room. That table has always been the heart of the house, the heart of the family. Gosh. Everything happened there. Literally EVERYTHING.

I’d be sitting there fighting with my brothers over who eats the last piece of mum’s apple cake, flipping cottage cheese at each other during breakfast time, we’d be playing cards, throwing dice, paint, do the homework, then put a perfectly ironed tablecloth to get it ready for a family dinner. All the family celebrations happened around that table: birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas. All the aunties, uncles, cousins would come, and everyone had their ‘own’ favourite spot.

Just a piece of furniture you’d think but it has seen it all: the homemade seasonal pies, countless cups of tea, spilled milk, Sunday roast, and all those lazy weekend breakfasts. It witnessed all the laughs and cries, the good times and the bad times too. It holds all the memories.

And there I am in my own, little house, with my own little family, with our own (not so little) wooden table in the middle of the room. And it feels like home. It feels like home because we can sit together, share the food, share the joys and the troubles, have friends round and make memories. Oh the simple things in life! They make the life worth living. And those simple things like a meal together, a smile, a hug, holding hands, a kind word or the smell of freshly made waffles might feel small at the time, but when you look back you realize how magical and BIG they really are.

All these beautiful plates you can see here in this post are just a lovely reminder of what really is important in life.
Designed by Royal Doulton and one of my favourite people and a role model Ellen DeGeneres and inspired by the casual entertaining at home, each plate, bowl and mug has a world ‘love’ written in the centre. Such a warm and positive touch! The look on the face of my loved ones when they finish the meal is just priceless. I am with Ellen on this one for sure – all the world needs these days is more love, joy and kindness…..maybe some more waffles too, slow mornings and more time spend together.

I’ve used Royal Doulton tableware for a long while now (this favourite set of mine, for example), and the quality always makes every meal special. Can you tell blue is my favourite colour? So I am just going to mix & match them to breath in some fresh air into my tableware. Happy!

Check out the Royal Doulton collection here : www.royaldoulton.co.uk , Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

Sooooo, the waffles! Can you actually smell them? I don’t think there is anything better than the smell of freshly made waffles! Seriously!!!

If you don’t have a waffle maker yet, I HIGHLY recommend you get one or put it on your Birthday list. You really won’t regret it! This recipe is my favourite and although it requires resting the batter for one hour, trust me, it will be worth the waiting! It’s truly the best recipe and I don’t make any other waffles now.

When I lived with my mum and dad I never used to have any interest in cooking.An ability to prepare some scramble eggs was enough to survive in case of a hunger attack and so I had no urge to learn more.
Eating,however,was a totally different story!
My mum can really work magic in the kitchen and she would always spoil us rotten with the delicious meals.Sharing food with other (ravenous!) dwellers (including two brothers and one always hungry dad!) was never easy…It involved a lot of ferocious fights over who is licking the bowl or why someone had eaten more apple and carrot salad!Hiding food was sometimes the best(if not the only)option,so I would tuck oranges and apples under the pillow in my bedroom 🙂
Mum would always try her best to make everyone happy and made sure that everyone had their fair share,she would divide a tin of cake into 5 long slices and cut first letters of our names with a knife on the top of each piece so we didn’t argue who’d eaten more cake…
(Just to let you know,nobody starved to death,we all survived and love each other to bits :))

Despite my lack of interest in cooking,I am amazed of how much I learnt about preparing food from my parents.They always emphasized that making a meal starts long before turning the oven on.It starts from choosing the ingredients.They would always pick fresh and seasonal produce from shops and farms they knew and they trusted.
It stayed with me and this approach is a fundamental principle of how I cook.Ingredient is what really matters.

You know that tomato on the shelves in the supermarkets in the middle of winter,picked before it ripened and shipped thousand of miles is not a tomato really.It only pretends to be.A real tomato turns into its colour on the vine,somewhere at a local farm,warmed by the summer’s sunshine and is super delicate,sweet and juicy.And this real tomato is the one you want to cook with!

Simple food.This is exactly what I love the most.Garden picked,seasonal vegetables,juicy tomatoes,fresh eggs and fragrant herbs thrown together onto an iron pan and baked in the oven is all I need these days.
We always have a batch of fresh eggs at home and we like to turn them into some amazing meals.
This recipe is our ultimate WINNER!

RECIPE:

for 2

INGREDIENTS:

1kg ripe tomatoes
splash of rapeseed oil
2-3 shallots
2-3 baby courgettes
1 small yellow pepper
4 duck eggs
favourite herbs(dry or chopped fresh ones)
salt,pepper

METHOD:

1.Boil a full kettle of water.Cut a shallow cross on the ”bottom” of each tomatoes,place them in a pot and cover with boiling water.The skin(where the cross is cut) should start to peel after about 20-30 seconds.Remove from the pot and leave to cool.You may place them in a bowl full of ice to cool quicker.Remove the skin and stems and chop them tomatoes.Place in a pan and cook for around 30 minutes until all the water will evaporate and you’ll be left with a thick tomato sauce.Season with salt and pepper and add some of your favourite herbs.

2.Preheat the oven to 190C.

3.In the meantime,add a splash of oil onto a frying pan,add chopped shallots,pepper and sliced courgettes.Fry for few minutes until they are all soft.Leave on the side.

4.Grease two iron pans with a little oil,arrange the tomato sauce and vegetables,leaving space for eggs,then crack the eggs in.

5.Bake for 15 minutes for soft eggs or 20 minutes for hard.

NOTE:You can prepare the tomato sauce the day before if you would like to eat baked eggs for breakfast but haven’t got enough time to cook it.(This is what I often do!)

Tag: lunch

Slow mornings with Royal Doulton & Ellen DeGeneres collection + a recipe for PROPER WAFFLES

Baked eggs

RECIPE: