I’m pleased with the way the tomatoes have ripened. I was wondering whether they would rot before they ripened and some of them have, but mostly they have ripened well. We still have a dozen tomatoes left to ripen, which is okay, as I would have been disappointed to have been left with a couple of trays of green tomatoes. I know this means that I could have made chutney, but I’m not in a chutney making mood and you really do need to be in that mindset, otherwise it just becomes one big job that by the time you have managed to get to the end, you feel quite vindictive towards it. I am sure that food is meant to be made with love, not the evil imaginings of a forty something woman trapped in the kitchen for the afternoon.

As we bought some hot smoked salmon nicely reduced at Ikea yesterday, (still in date for a month) I’ve made hot smoked salmon fishcakes with horseradish for supper. Or should I say We have made fishcakes for supper, son no.2 and I. I think my boy did really well at shaping these for me. I try on a daily basis to include at least one of my sons in the cooking process. From this they have learnt and can knock up a reasonable chilli con carne or a spaghetti bolognese, fajitas also feature quite strongly on the things they can cook. They’ve been making pancakes since they were eight..

Look good don’t they?

You might not have seen this technique before. My nan taught me this technique. She used to make two (industrial sized) trays of fishcakes three times a week until she was in her late seventies for probably the oldest fish and chip shop in Kenilworth. They sold, as they say, like hot cakes. They were floured and battered and sold as requested. But at home, you don’t want to be messing around with deep fat frying, well not in the days before thermostatically controlled chip pans and if you have a large family, its nice to sit down to eat together.

So her method, was to chill the ingredients before shaping, shape them and then fry them gently without having floured them. You fry them until they form a nice crust, you do not at this stage move them around in the pan, always using fresh oil for each batch. When they have fried on both sides, place them in a lightly oiled (so they don’t stick) baking pan and bake them off in a moderate oven, about 170 C for 25 to 30 mins and serve.