ENGLISH MUM

Like many things in cooking, barbecue sauce is one of those things that you buy, until you finally make it yourself, then instantly realise that home made is ten times better than bought. This sauce gets made all the time in our house.  It’s scrummy poured over meat, like pork belly strips, or sausages, before you cook them, or you can bubble it away a little to thicken it up, then serve it as a condiment...

Once again, my Dad’s wonderful apple trees have provided him with buckets of fruit that he has absolutely no interest in cooking (or, indeed eating – I mean, how many apples can one man possibly eat?).  He arrived bearing massive bags of fruit (we won’t go into the missing one – my cousin Moon, visiting from Slovakia, got the blame, but he was far too busy trying to smuggle sausages...

The afternoon we arrived at Bodegas Monje was utterly stunning. The sky was a shimmering turquoise and the rows of vines glowed emerald green, rolling down towards the sea. What a gorgeous place. First up was a tour of the winery (meaning that we had to head into the gloom of the cellar… boooo.)  Still, I learned absolutely loads about wine making (the winery produce a stunning range of wines, mostly...