Hooray today, I've got the multi-talented Trevor Williams sharing a recipe and fun story. Be sure to check out his newest book! 

Happy Reading!

~GINA

When I was writing What Happens in Cornwall I took a few trips down to Cornwall for research purposes. It’s less than an hour’s drive from here and I’ve always loved the place. Cornwall’s still a little chunk of Old England with narrow roads, high hedges, open moorland and, of course, phenomenal beaches and coast. But one thing I was particularly pleased to discover on my travels around the county is that the food is getting better and better.

Traditionally, Britain has had a pretty poor reputation for its cuisine, and Cornwall is no exception to this. Whether it was fatty fried foods, boiled vegetables reduced to a tasteless mess, or the tapioca pudding they used to give us at school, the reputation was well justified. But over the past, say, twenty years or so, things have changed a lot. Ironically, as restaurants in France slowly slip into a morass of fast food and pizzas, British food has come up and up. You really can eat very well indeed here, and nowhere is that more noticeable than in a place like Cornwall.

The most iconic food of Cornwall is the Cornish pasty, also known as a tiddy oggy. These started life as a handy alternative to sandwiches for tin miners in the many mines that stud the county. Diced meat, potatoes and vegetables are crammed into a pastry package and baked in the oven. You can see exactly what they consist of at the official Cornish Pasty website: http://www.cornishpastyassociation.co.uk/

But nowadays, pasties are not the only thing you can find in a Cornish pub. As well as traditional Cornish seafood dishes like Stargazy Pie, with the fish heads peering out through the top of the pastry crust - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargazy_pie - you can now find a magnificent range of dishes, cheeses, seafood and fish. And you don’t need to go to the expensive celebrity chef restaurants to find these dishes. Many local pubs in Cornwall offer an attractive and varied menu to suit all tastes. And, don’t forget, you’ll find the prices in pubs a lot lower than the posh restaurants.

Anyway, all this preamble is to disguise the fact that I am poor on the recipe front. I am married to an Italian and there is no question which of the two of us is better at cooking. The answer is Mariangela, by a mile. We worked that out very early on in our relationship and I have been more than happy to take the role of table-setter and dishwasher since then. The only cooking I do these days is on the barbecue (yes, I know, it’s a man thing) so here’s a simple recipe for a quick and easy meal, all done on the Barbie.

Chicken and bacon chunks. Start off with chicken breasts, boned and skinless. Slice the meat into sausage-sized pieces (say, 3 or 4 inches long) and wrap them in strips of smoked bacon, preferably streaky bacon. Use cocktail sticks to hold the bacon in place. You can also use Parma ham or pancetta for the wrapping if you like. I like to season the chicken with mixed herbs and medium curry powder, but the choice is yours. The bacon gives a lot of flavour as it is. Remember, the bacon is salty so no need to add extra salt. I’ve never tried, but if you can’t eat bacon, you could try slices of Bresaola (air-dried beef). Who knows? It might be better. If you have them, you can slide them onto long skewers for easy of handing on the BBQ. Cook over a not too high flame so that the chicken cooks through and you avoid burning the bacon.

Accompany the meat with skewers loaded with cherry tomatoes, courgette slices, spring onions and red pepper pieces. These need very little cooking. Brush with herbs and olive oil. If you are still feeling hungry, take a couple of aubergines/egg plant and slice them into half inch thick slices, brush with olive oil and grill alongside the meat, but be careful, they burn very easily.

While waiting for the food to finish cooking, grill some slices of bread, rub with garlic, drizzle with olive oil and add a pinch of salt. Munch these with a glass (or several) of good wine.

I hope you don’t poison yourselves by following my recipe. If you read What Happens in Cornwall, you’ll get a bit more information about Cornwall, its dishes, its beers and ciders and its beautiful coastline.

Many thanks to Gina for hosting me on her blog.

Buon Appetito

Trevor

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