By Christine Salins.
“There is so much we can’t control, but how we feed the people we love and show them that love through a table set with pretty flowers, candles, your best napkins and their favourite food? This is in our control and it’s powerful stuff.”
Never could these words ring truer. Sophie Hansen’s introduction to In Good Company (Murdoch Books, $39.99) reflects what I’m sure many of us have been feeling through the pandemic … that while we can’t control what’s going on in the outside world, we can control how kind we are, to ourselves and to others; that eating well is crucial to our sense of wellbeing; and that the best therapy of all is spending time with the people we love.
As with her first book, A Basket By The Door, reviewed in this column in 2019, Hansen brings such a generosity of spirit to In Good Company. Filled with all the recipes and inspiration needed to throw open your doors and invite people in, she calls it her “love letter to shared tables of good food”.
“It came together over a year of travelling around the country visiting family and friends and taking over their kitchens to cook with, and for, them. We dragged tables into gardens and paddocks and set them up, we shared picnics on windswept headlands, we had cosy kitchen suppers and we barbecued lamb on the back of a boat (while I tried not to fall in with my camera going in for the ‘hero shot’),” says Hansen, who has honed her career as a food writer and blogger while enjoying country life with husband Tim on a farm near Orange.
The book has 120 recipes that are simple, generous and perfect for sharing. They’re presented in menus suitable for everything from a last-minute dinner with neighbours, to a family feast, morning tea or casual summer picnic.
Also included are ideas for creating a memorable atmosphere for any gathering, large or small, plus advice on how to embrace shortcuts to take the pressure off, so you can focus on enjoying the good times rather than stressing in the kitchen.
In short, the book is a celebration of conviviality. “Ask anyone to tell you about the most memorable meal of their life and they won’t give you a chronological playback of what they ate; they’ll tell you about how that meal made them feel,” says Hansen.
Easy Tomato And Chorizo Stew
Serves 6
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 chorizo sausages, diced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
2 brown onions, diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 cup (250 ml) white wine
800 g (1 lb 12 oz) tin whole peeled tomatoes
250 g (9 oz) soft goat’s cheese, to serve
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the fennel seeds and cook for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the chorizo and cook for a few more minutes, then add the garlic, onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes.
Pour in the wine and cook for 1 minute or until the liquid bubbles and reduces a little. Add the tomatoes and cook, breaking everything up with a spoon. Reduce the heat, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and gently simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and then so the stew doesn’t catch and burn on the base of the pan.
Either serve the stew straight away or transfer it to a thermos to keep hot and head off to your picnic. Crumble the goat’s cheese over the stew and serve it with some lovely warm sourdough or garlic bread.
Variation
You could use this stew as a base for a quick and easy seafood stew. Bring the stew to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and add 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) mixed seafood (e.g. mussels, firm white fish, calamari). Cook for about 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and the mussel shells have opened.
Images and text from In Good Company by Sophie Hansen; photography by Sophie Hansen. Murdoch Books RRP $39.99.
