My list:
Honey sandwiches
I was a terribly fussy eater as a child. At one point honey sandwiches were about the only thing I'd eat for lunch. One holiday in Wales it got so extreme that the chant was coined "Ham, ham, honey and ham, tuna fish rolls". At least it was just a phase.
Super-fresh Bread
The crust. With nothing but butter.
We used to fight over it every saturday lunchtime after music school. Dad would make bread every saturday morning and it would ready when we got home. We'd have to share, but the crunchy crust, soft centre, and bread just warm enough for the butter to soften but not completely disappear...oh surely that must be one the most satisfying things to eat. Simple pleasures.
Blackberries from the hedgerow
We used to catch the bus to secondary school from the bottom of our road. As I grew up in the country that road was lined with a hedge on one side. The hedge was perfect blackberrying territory. For several weeks at the beginning of the autumn term we would meander back home from the bus stop eating our fill of blackberries all the way. Of course, that would often get us into trouble for spoiling our appetite for dinner, and it was impossible to hide those tell-tale purple stained fingertips and lips!
Chocolate birthday cake
We have a family tradition of chocolate cake for birthdays. Not fancy chocolate cake with 70% cocoa solids chocolate, but a basic chocolate sponge made with cadbury's drinking chocolate and topped with chocolate glace icing. Its not a fudgy heavy version, but its synonymous with birthdays for me. The recipe book's falling apart now, but is still hauled out for every birthday, without fail.
Porridge with demerera sugar
On cold school day mornings my Dad would make this for us to have before we walked to the bus. The demerera sugar would slightly dissolve and end up pooling round the edges of the bowl with just a few crunchy grains left on top. Porridge is my comfort food.
Chocolate Duff with Birds Custard
The ultimate childhood treat. Puddings were rare. This was the most exciting.
Funnily enough I'm not that excited by chocolate puddings these days, but I still love it when this one's on the menu. Has to be Birds Custard though, none of your fancy vanilla seed, homemade stuff. And we used to fight over the skin that formed on the top of the custard. Wierd.
So how about actual meals?
Lamb Stew
This I can't bear, but I also can't deny its place in my life! A regular dinner-time feature throughout my childhood, I suppose because its cheap, easy and filling (and us 3 did cost rather a lot in music bills). My heart sinks when I think of it, but I'm also rather fond of it in a peverse and contradictory way.
Lasagne with peas
My Mum's version is far from an authentic Italian lasagne. It is slightly sloppy, with a hint of nutmeg in the bechemal sauce. There's no cheese (hurrah!). I can eat it by the bucket full. I do recall being deeply suspicious and unwilling to try it the first time it was dished up (I must have been 8 or 9), so quite a turn-around!
Scampi and chips
Weymouth means scampi and chips in the Marlborough fish and chip shop. We'd go down every now and then to visit Aunty Glad (not really an Aunty but my Grandpa's favourite cousin), walk along Chesil Bank, visit Aunty Glad, check out the Sand Sculptor, then go for our fish and chips. Always the same. Always made us perfectly happy.
Writing this I realise that its not an illustrious list of culinary wonders is it?! But can anyone truthfully say that of their childhood favourites? I wouldn't make a very good subject for the series. Maybe everyone lies and makes stuff up for it to make themselves seem sophisticated.
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