Fidelia is Coming…

And she is bringing my darling Seni, her son with her. Seni, who is five thinks I am the coolest grown up ever. He actually asked his mum if I could come for a sleep over at theirs once. I was so chuffed! A five year old thinks I am cool. It’s a wonderful feeling I tell you! Whenever he comes over he has the Nintendo DS and Wii to entertain him and his favourite, the iPad! He got a DS as a present earlier in the year and now he has asked for the iPad for Christmas… hahahaha. If this continues I fear that Fid will put me in charge of purchasing Seni’s major assets!

I met Fidelia through Miss Ola, a friend I share a flat with. Most Sundays after church, Fid and Seni come to ours to chill before heading home. I love it when Seni opens my door to say hi and my lazy ass is still in bed. I know deep down he comes looking for the iPad but I will pretend it’s me he is looking for.  

“Sara, I am coming over in about ten minutes. Do you have that pasta with all the green things inside? Please I am craving it” she says to me on the phone. I literally laugh out loud.  The green leaves she is referring to is spinach and spring onions. I actually keep an emergency supply of cream cheese, spinach and chicken for this pasta just in case she decides to pop round. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoy preparing this dish for her. The joy I feel is unquantifiable when she asks for it. 

I have always imagined me in a big kitchen where people just drop by to eat, talk and laugh. A place that’s warm and welcoming. This is why I love it when the regulars drop by and drag me out of bed to prepare something warm for them to eat.  

If I owned a restaurant right now this dish will definitely be a signature dish. The number of people that have asked for the recipe after sampling it has been overwhelming. Imitation is the best form of flattery. M my dearest friend, who hardly cooks, probably last cooked in 1987 (she is going to kill me!), came to Aberdeen for the weekend and I prepared this dish for her. Guess who called me last Saturday armed with pen and paper to take down notes? Madam was constantly calling to ask about ingredients and methods. At a point when I didn’t pick my phone on time she said “Sara, you cannot be unavailable right now”. It’s not like I never picked up, the phone just rang longer than she would have liked.

She sent pictures of every stage of her cooking. I was completely bowled over when she told me she had really enjoyed her cooking experience so much that she was considering making a weekend of it. WOW! I was really pleased to hear this especially since M thinks I have a problem with food. I feel now she is beginning to understand it is love I have for food. When I asked her how her version of my recipe tasted, she replied “Just like yours!” I smile, my work here is done! Rumour has it M is experimenting in the kitchen again this weekend!!! 

Cooking pasta recipes, especially spaghetti is something I am very comfortable with. I have even gone as far as learning how to make the actual spaghetti from scratch just in case I wake up one night craving spaghetti and there isn’t one stick left in the packet. Crisis I tell you! It is my favourite food in the whole world. I remember how excited I was in school when spaghetti had just been introduced to the dinner menu. I used to get dressed up (well we had to wear uniforms and the only way to improve on the hideous outfit was to wear loads of make up) for “spags” day. I would pretend I was in a posh restaurant having the most delicious meal. When ever I am sad or happy, I think of preparing pasta to “mark” the occasion. It is the comfort food that makes me feel everything will be alright. Nothing beats a huge bowl of spaghetti in a thick spicy sauce for me. I even love the mess I make on my clothes and face when I am slurping it down. Mind you, I am always well behaved when I go out to eat. 

‘Wifey’ and I share this love for pasta so we decided to go to Italy to experience authentic Italian food. We got a really good deal to go to Milan (Sicily would have been perfect but like my people would say “na money kill am”). When the pilot told us we couldn’t land at the airport because of the weather we were like but this is Italy, it can’t be that cold. The amount of snow we met when we got off the plane was unbelievable. I have never seen such in my life before and I live in Scotland! Cars were completely covered up with snow; people were carrying shovels on their shoulders. We were still confused. But this is Italy! Mediterranean climate, which equalled mild winters! Where did the snow come from? Chido didn’t want to leave the hotel room. I had to drag her out after the second day.  There was no way we were going to spend all our time under the duvet. We wore all the clothes we packed for the trip that day. It was that cold! When we got to the town centre we saw signs directing us to the “Winter Olympics”. Winter Olympic? In Italy? In Milan? We were so excited about the dead cheap deal we got that no one even bothered to check what the weather was like or what was happening that weekend in Milan. If we had seen that the winter Olympics was being held there, there was no way we would have gone. We didn’t even know that there was such a thing as “Winter Olympics”. Ignorance is indeed a disease. We did try to sample some recipes but the weather was so terrible that we didn’t really enjoy our time there.

Anyway Fidelia is coming; I need to head to the kitchen:

Pasta a la Fid

250g of Spaghetti

3 Chicken Thighs, diced

8 Spring Onions, chopped

2 Cloves of Garlic, chopped

Fresh Chilli (scotch bonnets), chopped

2 Cups of Spinach, chopped

2 Tablespoons of White Wine Vinegar

1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce

2 Table Spoon of Corn Flower

1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest

2 Tablespoons of Cream Cheese

2 Tablespoons of Sunflower Oil

Black Pepper

In a freezer bag add the diced chicken, soy sauce, corn flower, vinegar, lemon zest and black pepper and mix so that the chicken is covered in the marinade.  Place it in the fridge. In the meantime boil some water (enough to boil the pasta) in a large pan and when it has boiled add the spaghetti. When it’s cooked, drain it and keep it aside. 

In a large wok or sauce pan, heat the oil for a minute and fry the chicken until it’s cooked. Add the chopped garlic, spring onions and chilli and fry for 3 minutes then stir in the cream cheese. Add the spinach and stir until all the spinach has wilted. Season to taste. Add the pasta one serving spoon at a time stirring each time.

This serves approximately four people depending on size and how hungry they are. 

Enjoy!

P.S. - All photographs taken by me unless otherwise stated