Do I Look Like A Sauce to You?

Now I can reveal why Pebble Soup's posts have been so scarce lately, I was busy co-writing a book which will be published by Contact Publishing on the 1st of November.

"Writers in Black & White : Contemporary Authors Discuss the Writing Life" was a brilliant commission. In collaboration with another author, Alanna Lynott, and a street photographer, Anne Mortensen, we collated 30 mesmerizing authors' interviews among which quite a few famous ones.

In an endeavour to offer a wide range of perspectives, I interviewed fiction and non-fiction writers. The food-writers community will be represented by the delightful and stylish Jennifer Joyce and the romance writers' voice is that of the equally lovely Heidi Rice.

On my way back from interviewing Heidi, I stopped at the Roccoco Belgravia's store where I had been invited to sneek preview of their newly designed Artisan Bar.

Iwas amazed to meet with Chantal Coady who started Roccoco Chocolates in 1983. Yes I know, I should have expected her to be at the lauch of her own designs, but I must have been a bit of an airhead on that day because I was even surprised to see her there. I was much, much more surprised when after taking one look at me, she frowned and said "you remind me of a family recipe." difficult to reply to such a statement, so I smile back and went "gggghhaaah" "Yes" she continued "Tomato sauce with vodka, we use it on gnocchi."

That was it, I dashed back home and re-created the Coady's family recipe: fry the onions in oil, add a tin of peeled tomatoes, pinch of sugar, salt lots of pepper and vodka. A kind of Bloody Mary sauce, add the gnocchi and to my great relief that tasted delicious.
The new Artisan Bar wrappers come in 16 different designs, Chantal says "I was inspired by a casual glance onto our celebrated tiled Morocco garden in Motcomb St store"