Ah, cooking aromas are the key to happiness

There is nothing like the smell of home cooking to bring smiles to the faces of family.

It is half-term, so my daughter and I are at home for the week, both of us working on coursework in someway, either catching up on assignment work, or planning and preparing for the next half-term. Whoever thinks teachers get loads of holiday, certainly needs to shadow a computing teacher for a year, as we don't seem to stop, and are constantly learning new skills and software.

So after a morning working we needed a break and this afternoon we went on a lovely drive into the New Forest to our favourite farmshop to get some meat to last us until Friday when we can get the weekly shop. It is lovely shopping where you are known so well, the butcher remembering that hubby bought some neck of lamb last Friday for a stew on Saturday, to be put in the slow cooker so that after our trip to the open day at Coventry University we had a lovely hot meal with little effort apart from popping some frozen peas and a few fresh herby dumplings in for the last 30 minutes.

The film Julie and Julia is a Foodie's dream, an inspiration to get cooking. I was so fascinated I bought the boxed set of Julia Child's books and love reading them and browsing through her recipes when I get time. I love her recipe for Coq au Vin and as I haven't cooked anything from her recipe books for ages, I thought this was an ideal time to cook this as I'm not so rushed. You can't beat a free range chicken and I jointed it, keeping the carcass and giblets for stock, (yes you get giblets still at Danestream). If you want to try the recipe it is easy to find the recipe through a search on the web.

We are using lacto-free butter and gluten free flour at the moment as my daughter seems to be intolerant, but that doesn't change the flavour of the dish in anyway. The first aromas are the bacon frying in the butter, lush and certainly make you feel hungry. Then browning the chicken followed by flambee-ing the pan with brandy, this is so magical and the aroma always draws my daughter into the kitchen. Pouring the whole bottle of red wine in always causes a gasp, I mean, a WHOLE bottle of wine, not a sip escapes, even though a glass would be wonderful to help with the preparation, but a shot of brandy in a glass works even better.

Now that my daughter is expanding her cooking repertoire, it is lovely sharing the preparation and my tricks with her. Simply pouring boiling water over the baby onions for 30 minutes before peeling them, makes the job so much easier and stops the tears.

It is always difficult to stop checking the pan and checking the taste of dishes that are so scrummy, if there is any left then our favourite way to serve is with some plain rice to soak up the juices.