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Catherine's Kitchen

Catherine Manning

NATALIE'S WEDDING

IT'S ALL OVER NOW and everyone has been leaving over the past two weeks. Only my sister and her husband are left now. My eldest daughter Fleur and her boyfriend left on Wednesday back to cold and wet England. She said it took them 24 hours to warm up the house; definitely wouldn't suit me anymore. I really miss them. Nat and Gerry went to freezing Toronto of all places, on their honeymoon and come back on Sunday. Gerry was born there and went to school there, so he wanted to show Nat around and go to shows.

The wedding was beautiful. It was in the morning and thankfully it didn't rain. It was supposed to be a small simple wedding but didn't quite end up as small and simple as Nat wanted, as the guest list grew from 100 to 200! I had wanted to have the reception here as it's such a pretty setting, but since I have ten dogs, it would have been difficult to keep them shut up for a long time, so we decided to have it at Gerry's parents' house. That is a lovely setting as well, on a cliff and even more windy than here, so it was nice.

The ceremony was at 8 a.m. in a small pretty chapel, at Gerry's old school, which only held 100 people so some guests came to the reception only, which didn't end till 3 p.m. It was a nice simple ceremony and after the photos at the church we got back to the house about 9:30 a.m. and imbibed Bucks Fizz from then till the end. I think we got through 11 cases of champagne. My shoes came off by midday. Everybody enjoyed themselves very much, especially as the men didn't have to overdress in jacket and tie like they would for an evening wedding.

The food was excellent. We had a wide variety and everything was delicious. There were pates and cheeses, roast beef, smoked salmon, fish, shrimp, lobster, fish cakes, buljol, breakfast kebabs, fruit, stuffed eggs, croissants, coconut and banana bread and on and on and it was demolished.

I have another bumper crop of cherry tomatoes, which are used for the:

BREAKFAST KEBABS To serve 4 12 rashers of rindless streaky bacon 2 oz. Emmental 16 button mushrooms 16 cherry tomatoes Vegetable oil 2tsp. tomato paste 2tsp. Worcester sauce 2tsp. Dijon or wholegrain mustard 2tsp tomato ketchup Few drops of hot pepper sauce (optional) Buttered toast fingers Skewers (soak wooden ones in water before use) Cut cheese into 24 chunks. Stretch bacon with the back of a knife, cut in half and wrap a piece around each chunk of cheese. Thread bacon rolls, mushrooms and tomatoes alternately on scewers. Mix together the paste, sauce, mustard and ketchup and brush kebabs. Grill for 5 minutes under a hot grill, brushing and turning frequently. Serve with toast.

I have such a lot of tomatoes that I have been bottling them; trouble is they get eaten instead of sitting for a while to marinate!

BOTTLED CHERRY TOMATOES 21/4 lbs. cherry tomatoes 1tsp. salt to a litre jar 1tsp. sugar to a litre jar fresh basil 6 cloves of garlic per jar (use more if you like) Prick the tomatoes with a toothpick several times. Pack the tomatoes, garlic and basil leaves in the jar, adding the salt and pepper as you go. Stand the jars on a baking tray lined with cardboard in a low oven with the lids on but not sealed. Set the oven at 250F or 120C and cook for about an hour or until the juice is simmering. Remove from oven and seal jars, store in a cool place and eat within 6 months. They go well with anything including by themselves.

BANANA BREAD Makes 1 loaf 2 cups all purpose flour 2tsp.baking soda 1/2tsp salt 4ozs. margarine 6ozs. granulated sugar 2 eggs unbeaten 5 mashed bananas Raisins (optional) Oven 350F. Grease and flour loaf pan. Melt butter in a saucepan, remove from heat and add sugar, then eggs, then the bananas, mix well, blend in flour and baking soda and pour into pan. Sprinkle top with sugar and bake for about 50 minutes, check centre with skewer to come out clean. This is a moist bread that goes dark when it is cooked through.

COCONUT BREAD Makes 1 loaf 1lb. flour 1 Grated coconut 4ozs. butter(melted) 1tsp. vanilla essence 3/4 cup milk 3 tsp. baking powder 6 ozs. sugar 1 egg 1/2tsp.salt raisins (optional) Oven 350F. Grease and flour loaf pan. Sift dry ingredients, add sugar then beaten egg with milk, cooled butter and essence. Stir in coconut and raisins floured if used. Mix well and put in pan. Sprinkle top with sugar and bake. What I usually do is keep back a little coconut and add it to the sugar and then make a well running down the centre of the pan and put some sugar and coconut mixture in it and then close the well and sprinkle the rest on top!

Bon Appetit and enjoy!
Cath