Saffron

I got some saffron in Spain.

I’ve never cooked with it before, and it was hard to count out 10 strands (for our dinner) and resist the urge to add more – since I can be quite liberal with my spices – but here it is… my first experiment with it.

Spaghetti with a sauce composed of 10 saffron threads soaked for 20 minutes in hot water, 1/2 onion, 3 cloves garlic, salt, pepper, 1 tbsp caster sugar, juice and zest of half a lemon, some olives, some sliced almonds, 220g chicken – cubed, 1 zucchini, 1 tomato, dribble of cream, dribble of chicken stock, dribble of white wine… I liked the flavour of the chicken and sauce, but not the appearance of this dish or its overall effect – thanks Matt for eating it, and John for not falling off the couch in horror!

There is, I feel, a lot more that can be done with saffron… stay tuned for more saffron experiments!

Oh yes, and speaking of wine, it was such a surprise to find out that Mindfood magazine selected a casual note I wrote to the editor to be “letter of the month”! Thank you, Mindfood and Villa Maria, for this great Christmas present!